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Alliance-Union Universe
Serpent's Reach
Within the Constellation of the Serpent, out of bounds to all spacefarers, humans live among the insect-like aliens--and one of them, a woman named Raen, is bent on a revenge that will tear apart the truce between human and alien. "Brisk pacing . . . and genuinely brilliant world-building".--ALA Booklist.
287 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1980
7 people are currently reading
805 people want to read
About the author
C.J. Cherryh
292 books3,561 followersCurrently resident in Spokane, Washington, C.J. Cherryh has won four Hugos and is one of the best-selling and most critically acclaimed authors in the science fiction and fantasy field. She is the author of more than forty novels. Her hobbies include travel, photography, reef culture, Mariners baseball, and, a late passion, figure skating: she intends to compete in the adult USFSA track. She began with the modest ambition to learn to skate backwards and now is working on jumps. She sketches, occasionally, cooks fairly well, and hates house work; she loves the outdoors, animals wild and tame, is a hobbyist geologist, adores dinosaurs, and has academic specialties in Roman constitutional law and bronze age Greek ethnography. She has written science fiction since she was ten, spent ten years of her life teaching Latin and Ancient History on the high school level, before retiring to full time writing, and now does not have enough hours in the day to pursue all her interests. Her studies include planetary geology, weather systems, and natural and man-made catastrophes, civilizations, and cosmology…in fact, there's very little that doesn't interest her. A loom is gathering dust and needs rethreading, a wooden ship model awaits construction, and the cats demand their own time much more urgently. She works constantly, researches mostly on the internet, and has books stacked up and waiting to be written.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews
November 16, 2022
Really more a 3.5 rating, Serpent's Reach is loosely set in the Alliance/Company wars universe, but is a stand alone, and a relatively early work, first published in 1980. Humanity discovered the Hydri Reach group of stars about 700 years before the main story takes place, and encountered there an alien race dubbed Majat. The Majat are a hive intelligence, something akin to ants, but much larger. The Majat are divided into several 'hives' (red, blue, gold, etc.) and at first, they killed humans on sight. After a few doomed forays, however, the Majat recognized humanity as intelligent beings, and came to something of an alliance. The first exploratory crew was allowed to settle on the Reach worlds, and initiated trade relations with the rest of human space, but only through one planet/station; the rest of the 'reach' is under strict quarantine...
Cherryh does aliens well, and the Majat are interesting, if perhaps not her most original aliens. Each hive has a queen, workers, warriors, etc. like an ant colony, and memories are kept via the drones, and go back millions of years. Each 'unit' of the Majat is relatively short lived, but the collective goes on and on. The Majat produce various biotech stuff for trade, as well as grown jewels and other stuff, some of which has become economically vital for the rest of humanity. The Majat, distressed by humanity's short-lived intelligence (and still in wonder that they are singular!) deduced a way to grant immortality to the original exploration crew-- the 'family'-- which now serves as a government for the Reach itself. The original crew also brought millions of human eggs with them, which they proceeded to breed/clone into two distinct 'lower class' varieties of humans, the 'betas' which are essentially base humans (albeit conditioned for loyalty to the Family) and the Azi, who are clones used for menial labor and closely work with the Majat in their hives, or as farmers, etc.
While much of the novel consists of the intricate world building, there is a plot predicated upon revenge. Raen, the youngest and last of one of the 'hive-keeper' families (the rest were slaughtered in some Family dispute) wants to avenge her family (and hive, the 'blues'), but knows this will take some time. Raen is only 15 or so when the novel starts, and by the end more than 30 years have passed...
I would have rated this higher, for I loved the aliens and the complexity of the world Cherryh built here, but this is marred by some stop-and-go pacing, at times very dense prose, and a wealth of typos, etc., that a good copy editor should have fixed. A blurb on the cover from American Library Association Booklist states "Cherryh's customary strengths are all here-- brisk pacing, above-average characerization, and genuinely brilliant world-building" and I agree. If you are into Cherryh, you will enjoy this!
Cherryh does aliens well, and the Majat are interesting, if perhaps not her most original aliens. Each hive has a queen, workers, warriors, etc. like an ant colony, and memories are kept via the drones, and go back millions of years. Each 'unit' of the Majat is relatively short lived, but the collective goes on and on. The Majat produce various biotech stuff for trade, as well as grown jewels and other stuff, some of which has become economically vital for the rest of humanity. The Majat, distressed by humanity's short-lived intelligence (and still in wonder that they are singular!) deduced a way to grant immortality to the original exploration crew-- the 'family'-- which now serves as a government for the Reach itself. The original crew also brought millions of human eggs with them, which they proceeded to breed/clone into two distinct 'lower class' varieties of humans, the 'betas' which are essentially base humans (albeit conditioned for loyalty to the Family) and the Azi, who are clones used for menial labor and closely work with the Majat in their hives, or as farmers, etc.
While much of the novel consists of the intricate world building, there is a plot predicated upon revenge. Raen, the youngest and last of one of the 'hive-keeper' families (the rest were slaughtered in some Family dispute) wants to avenge her family (and hive, the 'blues'), but knows this will take some time. Raen is only 15 or so when the novel starts, and by the end more than 30 years have passed...
I would have rated this higher, for I loved the aliens and the complexity of the world Cherryh built here, but this is marred by some stop-and-go pacing, at times very dense prose, and a wealth of typos, etc., that a good copy editor should have fixed. A blurb on the cover from American Library Association Booklist states "Cherryh's customary strengths are all here-- brisk pacing, above-average characerization, and genuinely brilliant world-building" and I agree. If you are into Cherryh, you will enjoy this!
May 26, 2019
I’ve loved virtually all Cherryh has written. The ending became a bit confusing for me. Of course it might have been because my puppy tore the last 20 pages and I was patching what was left together.... Either way her aliens, as usual, are truly alien- and sometimes the outposts of humankind, isolated for many years, are pretty alien too! The azi and their story continue to interest and sadden me.
March 7, 2020
It is 2020, and I am still making my way through C.J. Cherryh's backlist! While I finished the main stretch of the Company Wars last year, turns out there is plenty more. Serpent's Reach is one of the earliest installments in the Alliance-Union timeline; its publication predates Downbelow Station by a year, but is set nearly 800 years later*. It works well independently, but having myself arrived by way of both 40,000 in Gehenna and Cyteen, it was interesting to see the seeds of those books planted so early in Cherryh's work.
The obscure constellation Hydri has been under quarantine for 700 years, ever since the insectoid aliens known as the Majat ate one exploration party and only reluctantly allowed a second to colonize. Now, Hydri is a source of important exports to Outside, but the descendants of those explorers have constructed a strange, stratified society. There are the immortal Kontrin: who are joined with the hives as intermediaries and live lives of unparalleled luxury and endless political scheming; the 'betas': descendants of those lab-born colonists who came with the second probe; and finally, the azi: a cloned slave caste common in Cherryh's Unionside works.
The story opens with Raen a Sul hant Meth-maren, a 15-year-old Kontrin woman, on the eve of her family's murder. Politically anathema in the aftermath, she drifts on the privilege of her position but never lets go of her desire for revenge. The overall story is one part alien contact, one part political machinations, one part doomsday scenario... and the things I want to talk about the most would rather spoil the ending. Hmm.
Raen is an interesting main character. Both privileged and self-possessed, she doesn't undergo any great transformation in the story. Neither is she the direct cause of events. She's a key role, but not THE key role. For the most part, I enjoyed reading about Raen, except for one thing: her relationship with an azi companion named Jim.
For those new to Cherryh's works, azi are brainwashed, lab-born, genengineered humans. Some of them are sophisticated or socialized (see Cyteen), and others are programmed only for service. Jim is the latter, and I pity him.
The narrative shifts between Raen and the other Kontrin (aka the Family), who try desperately to maneuver around each other and the eldest of their number. This was particularly interesting, as the Eldest was over 700 years old and showed no signs of dying anytime soon. Younger generations of Kontrin assumed the elders' views were outdated, but you do get to see from these aged people's perspective, and it becomes clear just how much about the Hydri Reach has been forgotten/lost except to them.
Moving on, the Majat are fantastic. Insects are not my specialty, and I'm sure there are errors, but Cherryh paid remarkable detail to how insect intelligence might work. This isn't telepathy, it's biochemistry, with different 'units' relaying messages to the rest of the hive.
Insectiphobes beware: there is gratuitous detail.
Biochemists rejoice: there's not so much detail it bogs down the prose.
Not so fast-paced as some of her work, nor as bogged down in politics as other installments. I think Serpent's Reach strikes a good balance on pacing, and the Majat prop up the rest. Thoroughly enjoyed.
(As a side note, those of you who enjoy 1980s SF cover art: I strongly encourage you to go look at the other editions of this work. It's worth it.)
---
*There has been much discussion of where exactly Serpent's Reach falls in the timeline, as dates given within the book itself are impossible to reconcile with other works. Retcon consensus places the beginning of the book in the year 3141.
The obscure constellation Hydri has been under quarantine for 700 years, ever since the insectoid aliens known as the Majat ate one exploration party and only reluctantly allowed a second to colonize. Now, Hydri is a source of important exports to Outside, but the descendants of those explorers have constructed a strange, stratified society. There are the immortal Kontrin: who are joined with the hives as intermediaries and live lives of unparalleled luxury and endless political scheming; the 'betas': descendants of those lab-born colonists who came with the second probe; and finally, the azi: a cloned slave caste common in Cherryh's Unionside works.
The story opens with Raen a Sul hant Meth-maren, a 15-year-old Kontrin woman, on the eve of her family's murder. Politically anathema in the aftermath, she drifts on the privilege of her position but never lets go of her desire for revenge. The overall story is one part alien contact, one part political machinations, one part doomsday scenario... and the things I want to talk about the most would rather spoil the ending. Hmm.
Raen is an interesting main character. Both privileged and self-possessed, she doesn't undergo any great transformation in the story. Neither is she the direct cause of events. She's a key role, but not THE key role. For the most part, I enjoyed reading about Raen, except for one thing: her relationship with an azi companion named Jim.
For those new to Cherryh's works, azi are brainwashed, lab-born, genengineered humans. Some of them are sophisticated or socialized (see Cyteen), and others are programmed only for service. Jim is the latter, and I pity him.
The narrative shifts between Raen and the other Kontrin (aka the Family), who try desperately to maneuver around each other and the eldest of their number. This was particularly interesting, as the Eldest was over 700 years old and showed no signs of dying anytime soon. Younger generations of Kontrin assumed the elders' views were outdated, but you do get to see from these aged people's perspective, and it becomes clear just how much about the Hydri Reach has been forgotten/lost except to them.
Moving on, the Majat are fantastic. Insects are not my specialty, and I'm sure there are errors, but Cherryh paid remarkable detail to how insect intelligence might work. This isn't telepathy, it's biochemistry, with different 'units' relaying messages to the rest of the hive.
Insectiphobes beware: there is gratuitous detail.
Biochemists rejoice: there's not so much detail it bogs down the prose.
Not so fast-paced as some of her work, nor as bogged down in politics as other installments. I think Serpent's Reach strikes a good balance on pacing, and the Majat prop up the rest. Thoroughly enjoyed.
(As a side note, those of you who enjoy 1980s SF cover art: I strongly encourage you to go look at the other editions of this work. It's worth it.)
---
*There has been much discussion of where exactly Serpent's Reach falls in the timeline, as dates given within the book itself are impossible to reconcile with other works. Retcon consensus places the beginning of the book in the year 3141.
September 2, 2010
I read lots of sci-fi in my Lost Youth, but fell away from it once I went to university. I discovered Cherryh in grad school--- took "Serpent's Reach" home one random Friday night...and was enthralled. Here was sci-fi that was austere, cold, well-crafted, with characters that had depth and intelligence and plots that weren't (allowing for aliens and interstellar travel) just silly or trivial. Cherryh wrote about what happens to human societies interacting with the truly alien, about politics in an alien key.
"Serpent's Reach" is a key early Cherryh, and, to my mind, one of her very, very best. The aliens in the novel are probably the best insect-creatures in sci-fi, and their human trading partners/allies are ever so subtly other-than-human in their ways of thinking and plotting and playing at politics, wealth, and war. "Serpent's Reach" has been a favourite of mine for half my life now--- and one of the very few sci-fi novels I'd like to see filmed...and one with a captivating and darkly brilliant and remorseless heroine.
(Though...live action or anime for the film? Hard to say...)
"Serpent's Reach" is a key early Cherryh, and, to my mind, one of her very, very best. The aliens in the novel are probably the best insect-creatures in sci-fi, and their human trading partners/allies are ever so subtly other-than-human in their ways of thinking and plotting and playing at politics, wealth, and war. "Serpent's Reach" has been a favourite of mine for half my life now--- and one of the very few sci-fi novels I'd like to see filmed...and one with a captivating and darkly brilliant and remorseless heroine.
(Though...live action or anime for the film? Hard to say...)
March 8, 2021
C.J. Cherryh's worldbuilding is to die for, but I sometimes struggled to keep up with the motivations and aims of characters.
November 17, 2017
Serpent's Reach is an early CJ Cherryh novel. Published in 1980, it's one of the earlier stories in the Alliance Union universe. The Morgaine Cycle and The Hanan Rebellion were published previously, but The Company Wars and Chanur come afterward.
It does read like an early novel if you are familiar with Cherryh. There isn't the level of psychological exploration in the characters that is normally present, but there are the seeds of it. Lots of maneuvering by characters though.
This might be a fair novel to start with Cherryh's catalogue, if reading her for the first time. However, it doesn't seem to be readily available in print. I had to get an inter-library loan for a falling apart hardback.
Serpent's Reach refers to the area in the Alliance-Union universe where the story takes place. The stars in this area are inhabited by the Majat. They are an insect-like hive-mind alien race, with a cross between bees and praying mantises (plural?) coming to mind for me. Bees for the social structure, praying mantis what I assumed they looked similar to.
The main character, Raen, is a young female, part of Kontrin Family. The Kontrin were originally merchants/traders who had first contact with the majat. They settled on the planet, giving azi to the majat, and the majat providing something akin to precious jewels.
No one else in the universe is allowed interaction with the majat, except the Kontrin, so they have a monopoly on the trade, and it's made them wealthy.
Furthermore, since the majat have a hive-mind that has many years of memories, it decided to give the Kontrins the secret to longevity, since they didn't like those pesky humans dying off so quickly and new ones appearing. I'm not sure if it's true immortality, but there are elder members of the family that are a few hundred years old.
After all these years, the Konrin Family is sprawling. There is a system of Houses, which then contain Septs. Each family member has a House and a Sept. It was too difficult for me to keep track of, honestly.
There is a big family dispute right in the beginning, which includes a lot of violence. Raen, part of Sul Sept, Meth-maren House, runs off during the attack and ends up as the last living survivor of her immediate family. The attackers, Ruil Sept of Meth-maren House, aligned with red and gold majats.
The majats color coding refers to their corresponding Queen. I don't think they are literally that color, but I could be wrong.
Raen vows revenge. She survives on her own, drifting to different places in Serpent's Reach. Her life is in constant danger, with multiple attempts on her life. I was reminded of Ari II from Cyteen in this regard.
Betas are new, and I am rather certain they're not in another Cherryh novel. I initially mistook them for an azi, but they are not. The betas are born from non-clone human eggs, but they are brainwashed or something along those lines to serve the Kontrin.
Essentially, Raen works with betas, azi, and majat to get her revenge.
Now that I have read a few of Cherryh's books, I appreciate the detail she puts in to creating different alien species. The majat, hisa, calibans, etc. She takes the time to make them unique and memorable. They aren't carbon copies of humans with antennas coming out of their head. They aren't all out to kill all humans either. They have their own priorities.
Raen has unlimited money in the book, due to a status she was born with. I thought it strange that she was able to keep the status, considering so many people wanted her dead, or thought she was a total outcast. Certainly made things convenient for her. If she didn't have the money and the resources, then she would have had a much harder time in her vengeance.
The ending of the book left me with a lot of questions.
General question for the Alliance-Union books. What is up with the human women sleeping with the male azi? Cause the males are all young and in good health?
Overall, the book is a quick read. Don't get bogged down by all the different Kontrin characters that come out of the woodwork. I tried to keep track of them in the beginning, but then gave up, and it didn't affect anything. Just remember it's Raen vs. everyone and that will be enough.
There apparently is some conflicting information as to when Serpent's Reach occurs in the Alliance Union timeline. From the Wikipedia article, possibly the storyline starts in 3141. To contrast, Union was formed in 2300 and Downbelow Station events take place in 2352.
Probably safe to say Serpent's Reach takes in the distant future compared to the rest of the books in the timeline, and stands safely alone. It makes sense, considering I don't remember any references to majat. I wonder if Cherryh ever wanted to go back to that time and write more books?
It does read like an early novel if you are familiar with Cherryh. There isn't the level of psychological exploration in the characters that is normally present, but there are the seeds of it. Lots of maneuvering by characters though.
This might be a fair novel to start with Cherryh's catalogue, if reading her for the first time. However, it doesn't seem to be readily available in print. I had to get an inter-library loan for a falling apart hardback.
Serpent's Reach refers to the area in the Alliance-Union universe where the story takes place. The stars in this area are inhabited by the Majat. They are an insect-like hive-mind alien race, with a cross between bees and praying mantises (plural?) coming to mind for me. Bees for the social structure, praying mantis what I assumed they looked similar to.
The main character, Raen, is a young female, part of Kontrin Family. The Kontrin were originally merchants/traders who had first contact with the majat. They settled on the planet, giving azi to the majat, and the majat providing something akin to precious jewels.
No one else in the universe is allowed interaction with the majat, except the Kontrin, so they have a monopoly on the trade, and it's made them wealthy.
Furthermore, since the majat have a hive-mind that has many years of memories, it decided to give the Kontrins the secret to longevity, since they didn't like those pesky humans dying off so quickly and new ones appearing. I'm not sure if it's true immortality, but there are elder members of the family that are a few hundred years old.
After all these years, the Konrin Family is sprawling. There is a system of Houses, which then contain Septs. Each family member has a House and a Sept. It was too difficult for me to keep track of, honestly.
There is a big family dispute right in the beginning, which includes a lot of violence. Raen, part of Sul Sept, Meth-maren House, runs off during the attack and ends up as the last living survivor of her immediate family. The attackers, Ruil Sept of Meth-maren House, aligned with red and gold majats.
The majats color coding refers to their corresponding Queen. I don't think they are literally that color, but I could be wrong.
Raen vows revenge. She survives on her own, drifting to different places in Serpent's Reach. Her life is in constant danger, with multiple attempts on her life. I was reminded of Ari II from Cyteen in this regard.
Betas are new, and I am rather certain they're not in another Cherryh novel. I initially mistook them for an azi, but they are not. The betas are born from non-clone human eggs, but they are brainwashed or something along those lines to serve the Kontrin.
Essentially, Raen works with betas, azi, and majat to get her revenge.
Now that I have read a few of Cherryh's books, I appreciate the detail she puts in to creating different alien species. The majat, hisa, calibans, etc. She takes the time to make them unique and memorable. They aren't carbon copies of humans with antennas coming out of their head. They aren't all out to kill all humans either. They have their own priorities.
Raen has unlimited money in the book, due to a status she was born with. I thought it strange that she was able to keep the status, considering so many people wanted her dead, or thought she was a total outcast. Certainly made things convenient for her. If she didn't have the money and the resources, then she would have had a much harder time in her vengeance.
The ending of the book left me with a lot of questions.
General question for the Alliance-Union books. What is up with the human women sleeping with the male azi? Cause the males are all young and in good health?
Overall, the book is a quick read. Don't get bogged down by all the different Kontrin characters that come out of the woodwork. I tried to keep track of them in the beginning, but then gave up, and it didn't affect anything. Just remember it's Raen vs. everyone and that will be enough.
There apparently is some conflicting information as to when Serpent's Reach occurs in the Alliance Union timeline. From the Wikipedia article, possibly the storyline starts in 3141. To contrast, Union was formed in 2300 and Downbelow Station events take place in 2352.
Probably safe to say Serpent's Reach takes in the distant future compared to the rest of the books in the timeline, and stands safely alone. It makes sense, considering I don't remember any references to majat. I wonder if Cherryh ever wanted to go back to that time and write more books?
July 7, 2016
This novel is set in the far future of the aftermath of the Company Wars. The Serpents Reach is a small section of space that is centered on one planet intially where a alien life form is found that is ant like in nature but possessing intelligence. Only one group of humans are allowed to interact with them and they form the Kontrin Company to interact and eventually trade with the aliens, called majat. The Kontrin become the de facto rulers of the Serpents Reach and the story is about 800 years after the intial discovery and centers around a young Kontrin called Raen. There is plenty of political intrigue and assaination as well as out right attacks. The main plot is about Raen and how she handles her immediate family being killed and plotting her revenge. This is a fast paced story and alittle unlike C.J Cherryh usual pattern of everything told threw the main character. This time we hear of events from other characters as the plot advances which quickens the authors normal fast pace. This is an intriguing blend of alien civ, human intrigue and treachery, as well as some major consequences for people and aliens over reaching their desires. It is a stand alone story that I think is one of the best stories C.J. Cherryh has written because of the tight story line, sympathetic characters, and wonderfully inventive world. Highly recommended.
April 12, 2018
Read 1993, re-read 2017, 2018. One of the classic Cherryhs, written before she got the idea that a 300 page story needs 600+ pages to tell.
September 4, 2021
A lot of times, if I go back to an author I read in the past, my opinion of their work will have changed significantly. Sometimes I find myself appreciating something that previously left me cold, but unfortunately it’s usually the opposite.
I read several of Cherryh’s novels in my teens, when I pretty much read sci fi and fantasy exclusively, but she was never a favorite. I liked her ideas, but found the writing style hard to get into.
As it turns out, decades later my reaction to her is exactly the same! Serpent’s Reach is a pretty good story. The world building is intricate and convincing, and the heroine is a badass. But holy moly, was this one a struggle to get through. The writing style is so dry and detached, that even in the midst of intrigue and fight scenes, I just couldn’t get invested. Even when the heroine’s whole family is slaughtered, I just didn’t care.
I guess I will skip her novels as I slowly work my way through past Hugo winners, because at this point, I don’t feel like it would be fair to either her or me.
I read several of Cherryh’s novels in my teens, when I pretty much read sci fi and fantasy exclusively, but she was never a favorite. I liked her ideas, but found the writing style hard to get into.
As it turns out, decades later my reaction to her is exactly the same! Serpent’s Reach is a pretty good story. The world building is intricate and convincing, and the heroine is a badass. But holy moly, was this one a struggle to get through. The writing style is so dry and detached, that even in the midst of intrigue and fight scenes, I just couldn’t get invested. Even when the heroine’s whole family is slaughtered, I just didn’t care.
I guess I will skip her novels as I slowly work my way through past Hugo winners, because at this point, I don’t feel like it would be fair to either her or me.
May 8, 2021
Complicated and political. I was lost politics-wise most of the time, but it was interesting enough to keep my attention. I appreciated the philosophical themes about class and artificial life raised by machine-learning.
"I am not real," he thought suddenly, as he had never thought in his life. "I am only those tapes."
"I am not real," he thought suddenly, as he had never thought in his life. "I am only those tapes."
October 19, 2024
I thought that this one was one of the better Age of Exploration novels that seem to take place kind of on the sidelines of the bigger Cherryh epics of Chanur, Alliance, Union, and the Faded Sun. It works well because of the extraordinary world-building with the fascinating Serpent's Reach space adjoining Alliance space that we have not explored elsewhere in Cherryh's novels. The adventures of Raen are entertaining as through her adventures we get to explore planets and stations and learn that despite this being Alliance space, it was colonized by Union and so, like in Cyteen, we encounter azi clones. Somewhat like in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?/Blade Runner, the immorality of enslavement of the azi is a major theme here which also adds to the attractiveness of the story. If you are unfamiliar with Cherryh, I would probably not start here, but I would recommend it once you have read at least Downbelow Station and the aforementioned Cyteen.
January 18, 2008
This is one of my comfort books. As usual, Cherryh avoids the anthropomorphic trap with her aliens.
January 9, 2011
One of my ultimate favorites, amongst all of her books.
August 10, 2021
This is the first book by C.J. Cherryh and I definitely want to try more. I loved the description of majat and how their society worked. The book also hinted at some very interesting worldbuilding and Raen was also a really well-written protagonist - unfortunately apart from basically all the other characters that aren't really that developed. The plot however isn't it that great, uneven and unclear at times. The ending is really tense though, but I wish the aftermath of the conflict was more expanded upon.
December 27, 2025
Favorite Characters - Raen, Jim, Merry
Favorite scenes - The trial of Raen, Raen and Jim play dice
She’s just so goooood! Really love her take on a revenge tale!
Favorite scenes - The trial of Raen, Raen and Jim play dice
She’s just so goooood! Really love her take on a revenge tale!
March 10, 2022
Two and a half stars
What a weird book!
What a weird book!
August 8, 2019
Quarantined from the Union, a group of humans and generations of engineered decedents live alongside alien hive-minds. This is a mirror to Forty Thousand in Gehenna, both narratives about human society evolving alongside an alien culture, but where Gehenna takes a long and distant view of social change, Serpent's Reach is an intimate view of sudden, cumulative change. As an early deep-dive into azi conditioning and personhood, it's also a predecessor to themes in Cyteen. But So much of what's interesting happens just offstage, and while the evidence of it is everywhere--in the protagonist's unsettling comfort in the physical communication of the aliens; in the azi character's complex and evolving PoV--it's overwhelmed by the action and its punishing fallout. Cherryh strikes this balance better elsewhere, like in the Morgaine and Chanur novels; perhaps in a series there's more room for combat and resulting exhaustion to transfer into characterization and relationship progression; here, it detracts rather than enriching. I read this out of Alliance-Union publication order because it was harder to obtain, but I'm glad I didn't skip it entirely. The aliens are great--I would read a thousand iterations of Cherryh's humans-in-weird-intimacies-with-aliens, they are a universal pleasure--and it speaks to reoccurring and interesting themes in her work. It also reads easier than most Cherryh, a little less dense, less terse. But it's not as strong as what she achieves elsewhere.
July 14, 2016
Incredible concept of evolved insects w/a collective consciousness, and their approach to being colonized. As collective consciousnesses, the four hives are four ENTITIES, who had different responses to the protohumans that colonized them. (I say protohumans of the Kontrin b/c IMO the closest resemblance to us in that universe are their creation called the betas, who in turn made the azi. but that's just how I'M reading it) Quick read, and well worth the time.
January 23, 2014
Cherryh is one of the greats, but IMOP this is one of her less than greats. Interesting idea, but it's kind of a convoluted mess.
But what do I know.
But what do I know.
March 17, 2018
First book I ever read of C.J. Cherryh. Loved her ever since!
October 14, 2018
I love how insect hive-mind civilization interacts with humans. Author does great world building describing different social classes, gene manipulation etc.
August 27, 2022
I have to hand it to C.J. Cherryh, she can build a world like nobody's business.
Sure, Serpent's Reach is ostensibly set within the larger Union-Alliance universe. However, the events of this novel take place in the Hydri Reach constellation, placing them far from the events of the Company Wars books, and within a society that is truly alien. The Hydri Reach - or Serpent's Reach - has been quarantined, due to the dangers inherent in human relationships with the indigenous species, the insectoid Majat. Human colonies still exist there, but have limited interaction with the outside star systems. The allowed engagements are tightly controlled and focus on trade. The Majat are hive-based, with a communal mind that retains memories for thousands of years, making the species seemingly immortal. The humans who work with the hives receive technology that allows them to extend their normal life spans as well, making them well nigh immortal too. Meanwhile, they have developed Azis, human clones, who serve as a lower-caste. They are designed to be a shorter lived species, expiring automatically at around the age of 40.
The story begins on Cerdin, the home world of the Majat. Conflict between the ruling houses of the humans leads to the slaughter of the Meth-maren House by the rival Ruil sept. Raen, a young woman of about 14, is the sole survivor. The Majat protect her and she eventually gets off planet, laying low among the stars of the Serpent's Reach as she grows to maturity and plots her revenge. With the inability to die from natural causes, assassination has been a regular pastime among the rival septs, and this puts life in danger. As the last member of the Meth-Marens, there are those who want her dead. Nonetheless, her status as a member of the ruling Kontrin caste, despite being in exile, makes her fabulously wealthy and offers her opportunities for eccentricity that mask her true intentions.
In the hands of a lesser writer, this could be a traditional revenge fantasy story. The child could come back as an adult and kill all those who caused her pain. Cherryh doesn't go there. Raen's motives are always multi-tiered, involving her love and affection for the Majat, her concern for the Azis and their diminished status, and her own desire to see the Serpent's Reach be healthy and whole again. Other characters prove to be similarly complex. When Raen takes an Azi named Jim as a consort, we learn about the mental "programming" the clones receive but also find the ways in which an individual can break that code or go beyond what they were engineered to do.
The latter portion of the book takes place on a remote world called Istra, which serves as the entrepôt for the Reach. The star above Istra bombards it with blistering heat, and its surface is covered in dry dirt. As described, Istra feels like a remote colonial place, austere, bleached out, and hot, built only for the hardiest and most introverted of souls; it is a true frontier world, in every sense of the word.
The political games Raen has facilitated come to their culmination here, with Kontrin, Majat, Azi, and even humans of the Alliance all fighting each other. But who are the heroes and who are the villains? The narrative has most closely aligned us with Raen, but her motives remain obscure and no one is purely good or purely evil. Despite the alienation inherent in this place, Cherryh seems to understand that there is no such thing as an unmixed motive.
In the end, this work probably doesn't rise to the level of Cherryh's classic Downbelow Station, which would be released a year or two later. Still, it does several things I really appreciate in good science fiction: It takes me to places I have never been before, and it revels in the complexity of what it means to be human. I'm happy to take that kind of trip anytime.
Sure, Serpent's Reach is ostensibly set within the larger Union-Alliance universe. However, the events of this novel take place in the Hydri Reach constellation, placing them far from the events of the Company Wars books, and within a society that is truly alien. The Hydri Reach - or Serpent's Reach - has been quarantined, due to the dangers inherent in human relationships with the indigenous species, the insectoid Majat. Human colonies still exist there, but have limited interaction with the outside star systems. The allowed engagements are tightly controlled and focus on trade. The Majat are hive-based, with a communal mind that retains memories for thousands of years, making the species seemingly immortal. The humans who work with the hives receive technology that allows them to extend their normal life spans as well, making them well nigh immortal too. Meanwhile, they have developed Azis, human clones, who serve as a lower-caste. They are designed to be a shorter lived species, expiring automatically at around the age of 40.
The story begins on Cerdin, the home world of the Majat. Conflict between the ruling houses of the humans leads to the slaughter of the Meth-maren House by the rival Ruil sept. Raen, a young woman of about 14, is the sole survivor. The Majat protect her and she eventually gets off planet, laying low among the stars of the Serpent's Reach as she grows to maturity and plots her revenge. With the inability to die from natural causes, assassination has been a regular pastime among the rival septs, and this puts life in danger. As the last member of the Meth-Marens, there are those who want her dead. Nonetheless, her status as a member of the ruling Kontrin caste, despite being in exile, makes her fabulously wealthy and offers her opportunities for eccentricity that mask her true intentions.
In the hands of a lesser writer, this could be a traditional revenge fantasy story. The child could come back as an adult and kill all those who caused her pain. Cherryh doesn't go there. Raen's motives are always multi-tiered, involving her love and affection for the Majat, her concern for the Azis and their diminished status, and her own desire to see the Serpent's Reach be healthy and whole again. Other characters prove to be similarly complex. When Raen takes an Azi named Jim as a consort, we learn about the mental "programming" the clones receive but also find the ways in which an individual can break that code or go beyond what they were engineered to do.
The latter portion of the book takes place on a remote world called Istra, which serves as the entrepôt for the Reach. The star above Istra bombards it with blistering heat, and its surface is covered in dry dirt. As described, Istra feels like a remote colonial place, austere, bleached out, and hot, built only for the hardiest and most introverted of souls; it is a true frontier world, in every sense of the word.
The political games Raen has facilitated come to their culmination here, with Kontrin, Majat, Azi, and even humans of the Alliance all fighting each other. But who are the heroes and who are the villains? The narrative has most closely aligned us with Raen, but her motives remain obscure and no one is purely good or purely evil. Despite the alienation inherent in this place, Cherryh seems to understand that there is no such thing as an unmixed motive.
In the end, this work probably doesn't rise to the level of Cherryh's classic Downbelow Station, which would be released a year or two later. Still, it does several things I really appreciate in good science fiction: It takes me to places I have never been before, and it revels in the complexity of what it means to be human. I'm happy to take that kind of trip anytime.
January 1, 2021
Downbelow Station is my touchstone to Cherryh's universe. I think this book was written in stand-alone fashion, but because of some common elements was later able to be grafted into that same universe at a point several centuries later. In Serpent's Reach, Cherryh builds a complex culture in a remote sector of star systems quarantined from Alliance and Union, populated with three varieties of near-humans, and a hive-mind alien species.
17 August 2009 - ***. The main character starts as a teenage girl whose entire family is wiped out in inter-family power struggle. She stages a long-term plot for revenge, the how of which is only revealed to the reader as the plot develops. As much as I liked the character at the beginning, I found her middle-aged self to be cold and unsympathetic, as she acquires a sex slave to relieve her boredom, and plots nihilism. It is worth noting that her people, the Kontrins, are the nearly immortal descendants of the original human settlers of the Reach, and are no longer precisely human. The Kontrins have bred the Betas from eggs stored on board their ship at the time of settlement, and these have been steered into lives of shallow-minded capitalism. Finally, the Betas have in turn bred the cloned Azi, intellectually incomplete humans with a short predetermined lifespan, dedicated to particular job functions - and sometimes sold to the aliens. Raen's slave Jim is an Azi, and his programming is challenged by the stress of events. His story, I think, gives the book an optimistic lift, which would otherwise be lacking. He (and we) can rise above the predestination of our programming.
17 August 2009 - ***. The main character starts as a teenage girl whose entire family is wiped out in inter-family power struggle. She stages a long-term plot for revenge, the how of which is only revealed to the reader as the plot develops. As much as I liked the character at the beginning, I found her middle-aged self to be cold and unsympathetic, as she acquires a sex slave to relieve her boredom, and plots nihilism. It is worth noting that her people, the Kontrins, are the nearly immortal descendants of the original human settlers of the Reach, and are no longer precisely human. The Kontrins have bred the Betas from eggs stored on board their ship at the time of settlement, and these have been steered into lives of shallow-minded capitalism. Finally, the Betas have in turn bred the cloned Azi, intellectually incomplete humans with a short predetermined lifespan, dedicated to particular job functions - and sometimes sold to the aliens. Raen's slave Jim is an Azi, and his programming is challenged by the stress of events. His story, I think, gives the book an optimistic lift, which would otherwise be lacking. He (and we) can rise above the predestination of our programming.
December 30, 2023
The Reach is at the hind end of human space and has been quarantined for dangerous alien contact. The aliens are giant ants, and they killed the first humans the met. They are divided into different groups, and the blue group decides to make contact with the humans. The humans are also divided into groups, and the blue ants and the blue humans become the most powerful force in the Reach. That's how it stays for 700 years.
Then the red ants decide to reach out to the humans. They band together and kill all the blue ants and the blue humans. All except one 15 year old girl. She is set free as long as she agrees not to cause any problems. She wanders from planet to planet for 20 years doing nothing and plotting revenge. Finally she comes to the farthest planet in the Reach, the only one that has contact with human space, and there finds the seeds to plant her revolution. Naturally, the powers that be try to stop her.
This is a very good book with Cherryh's usual complex politics at play. You have the all powerful female lead who steamrolls her way through everyone, super smart with all the social skills of an autistic 8 year old. The government is super corrupt and functions about as well as King's Landing in Game of Thrones, complete with covert assassinations and mass purges. And aliens with near psychic level communication and racial memory going back millions of years.
I have really enjoyed the Alliance-Union Universe and this is another fun corner of it. A stand alone novel that is made even better if you have read the other books that better explain the Alliance and especially the azi and the betas.
Then the red ants decide to reach out to the humans. They band together and kill all the blue ants and the blue humans. All except one 15 year old girl. She is set free as long as she agrees not to cause any problems. She wanders from planet to planet for 20 years doing nothing and plotting revenge. Finally she comes to the farthest planet in the Reach, the only one that has contact with human space, and there finds the seeds to plant her revolution. Naturally, the powers that be try to stop her.
This is a very good book with Cherryh's usual complex politics at play. You have the all powerful female lead who steamrolls her way through everyone, super smart with all the social skills of an autistic 8 year old. The government is super corrupt and functions about as well as King's Landing in Game of Thrones, complete with covert assassinations and mass purges. And aliens with near psychic level communication and racial memory going back millions of years.
I have really enjoyed the Alliance-Union Universe and this is another fun corner of it. A stand alone novel that is made even better if you have read the other books that better explain the Alliance and especially the azi and the betas.
November 26, 2025
(Note: I believe this is only published as part of the collection The Deep Beyond; at least that's the only way I found to buy it.)
Out of the half dozen of the author's Alliance-Union series I've read, I think the worlds described in this are the most dystopian. The Kontrin live endless lives of decadence and scheming, their free subjects are grasping materialists, and the azi are genetically engineered slaves living short lives of drudgery. Kontrin wealth is based on their partnership with/exploitation of the majat, aliens that live in eusocial hives similar to ants or bees. The rest of humanity has sealed off the Hydri Reach; traders may go in to a single station and return again, but nothing born of the Reach may leave. It gradually becomes clear that they aren't trying to protect themselves from the majat. They're trying to prevent Kontrin civilization from contaminating the rest of humanity. In order to work with the majat, humans have become something else, and that can't be allowed to spread.
The main character is Raen a Sul hant Meth-maren, teenaged daughter of the Sul sept of the Meth-maren branch of the Kontrin family. The entire Sul sept is purged in one of the Kontrin family's endless squabbles, only she escapes and she begs entry from the nearest majat hive. Against all custom, they let her in, and she communes directly with the queen, an experience that changes her.
Out of the half dozen of the author's Alliance-Union series I've read, I think the worlds described in this are the most dystopian. The Kontrin live endless lives of decadence and scheming, their free subjects are grasping materialists, and the azi are genetically engineered slaves living short lives of drudgery. Kontrin wealth is based on their partnership with/exploitation of the majat, aliens that live in eusocial hives similar to ants or bees. The rest of humanity has sealed off the Hydri Reach; traders may go in to a single station and return again, but nothing born of the Reach may leave. It gradually becomes clear that they aren't trying to protect themselves from the majat. They're trying to prevent Kontrin civilization from contaminating the rest of humanity. In order to work with the majat, humans have become something else, and that can't be allowed to spread.
The main character is Raen a Sul hant Meth-maren, teenaged daughter of the Sul sept of the Meth-maren branch of the Kontrin family. The entire Sul sept is purged in one of the Kontrin family's endless squabbles, only she escapes and she begs entry from the nearest majat hive. Against all custom, they let her in, and she communes directly with the queen, an experience that changes her.
July 18, 2025
A build up to lots of action and a dystopia squarely based on modern class theory.
The novel begins with the wiping out of one of the ruling human families and its allied majat (giant ants) hive. Raen, a bored spoiled girl beginning an eternal life, is the lone survivor and is out for revenge. The first part of the novel has its suspense in us not knowing what she is planning. The second part shifts into lots of action with wholesale death and destruction. Very different from the action in her "Foreigner" series.
The giant ant society of queen, drones, workers and warriors is mirrored in the lab breeding programs of the families, turning out beta and azi humans to staff the economy that keeps them in unlimited funds. Raen begins the novel not considering the betas and azi as fellow humans and treating them as instruments for her to use. Cherryh shows her changing her mind as she becomes attached to one azi she won by gambling. The society, with its elite cynically using merchants and workers to better themselves reminds me of the classic story "The Marching Morons". The lab psych conditioning of the azi is "Brave New World" in action and the whole centrally controlled economy is the nightmare that socialist utopias become when put into action. Dystopia defined.
A great read and different from Cherryh's latest novels.
The novel begins with the wiping out of one of the ruling human families and its allied majat (giant ants) hive. Raen, a bored spoiled girl beginning an eternal life, is the lone survivor and is out for revenge. The first part of the novel has its suspense in us not knowing what she is planning. The second part shifts into lots of action with wholesale death and destruction. Very different from the action in her "Foreigner" series.
The giant ant society of queen, drones, workers and warriors is mirrored in the lab breeding programs of the families, turning out beta and azi humans to staff the economy that keeps them in unlimited funds. Raen begins the novel not considering the betas and azi as fellow humans and treating them as instruments for her to use. Cherryh shows her changing her mind as she becomes attached to one azi she won by gambling. The society, with its elite cynically using merchants and workers to better themselves reminds me of the classic story "The Marching Morons". The lab psych conditioning of the azi is "Brave New World" in action and the whole centrally controlled economy is the nightmare that socialist utopias become when put into action. Dystopia defined.
A great read and different from Cherryh's latest novels.
September 12, 2023
A provocative standalone novel set in a strange future world. The writing is spare and the plotting moves briskly, with complex social systems coming organically into focus. Most remarkable is Cherryh's portrayal of hive societies and humanoid societies' influencing and synthesizing each other.
The psychological space represented in Cherryh's writing is more interesting and arguably more dynamic than the norm. While ultimately relying (too heavily, in my opinion) on readers' identifying with, and projecting onto, the elite protagonist Raen, Cherryh is sophisticated enough at least to signal ambivalence both toward the world being depicted and toward the protagonist's role within it. This would be "five stars" for me if Cherryh more clearly portrayed Raen as semi-evil or at least deeply corrupted by power, and struggling with the social and moral consequences of her actions and status.
This is my first novel by C. J. Cherryh. I started Cyteen a while back but ultimately chickened out, unsure whether I would enjoy it. After this reading experience, I'll be sure to read more Cherryh and probably give Cyteen another shot as well.
The psychological space represented in Cherryh's writing is more interesting and arguably more dynamic than the norm. While ultimately relying (too heavily, in my opinion) on readers' identifying with, and projecting onto, the elite protagonist Raen, Cherryh is sophisticated enough at least to signal ambivalence both toward the world being depicted and toward the protagonist's role within it. This would be "five stars" for me if Cherryh more clearly portrayed Raen as semi-evil or at least deeply corrupted by power, and struggling with the social and moral consequences of her actions and status.
This is my first novel by C. J. Cherryh. I started Cyteen a while back but ultimately chickened out, unsure whether I would enjoy it. After this reading experience, I'll be sure to read more Cherryh and probably give Cyteen another shot as well.
June 22, 2024
Serpent's Reach begins on the planet Cerdin, where humanity have been permitted to live within domed cities by the native ant-like race, the Majat. Conditions are extremely hostile, with deadly glaring heat during the days and potentially lethal encounters with the Majat hives. Political tensions arise amongst the humans, resulting in a massacre of an entire family which leaves a young woman named Raen as the only survivor. She swears revenge, turning to the Majat in an unlikely plea for support.
This book is quite confusing at first, offering up many names of characters, sects, houses and locations. As the story progresses, you begin to get a grasp on this complex world and the civilisation that inhabits it through some fantastic writing. The Majat are absolutely fascinating and imposing, with Cherryh establishing their behaviours in a believable manner. The plot opens up to a much broader scale then I expected at first, at times faltering in its direction and becoming quite muddled before reaching its conclusion. While I didn't completely love it, there are some incredible elements and I will be reading some of Cherryh's more popular works in the future.
This book is quite confusing at first, offering up many names of characters, sects, houses and locations. As the story progresses, you begin to get a grasp on this complex world and the civilisation that inhabits it through some fantastic writing. The Majat are absolutely fascinating and imposing, with Cherryh establishing their behaviours in a believable manner. The plot opens up to a much broader scale then I expected at first, at times faltering in its direction and becoming quite muddled before reaching its conclusion. While I didn't completely love it, there are some incredible elements and I will be reading some of Cherryh's more popular works in the future.
May 4, 2022
The main problem with Serpent's Reach is the perspective in which it's written; according to wikipedia (and I believe this is typical of Cherryh's style) she writes in a 'limited third person' mode. This means it's third person but with very little description of backstory, thoughts, or surroundings which the protagonist is unable to see. Anything that the main character already takes for granted is simply not explained. As a consequence, this book felt like I was thrust blind into a very unfamiliar world that needed much more illumination. It felt like I was in a foreign city with no phrasebook.
I won't read any more of Cherryh's books for a long time, unless someone I trust recommends one (which has so far never happened; I found this one by chance).
The tiny bit of worldbuilding about Istra in particular, and the Reach in general was pretty good, and some of the ideas about the Azi were quite memorable (albeit disturbing).
Also this whole thing reeks of Dune. Three stars.
I won't read any more of Cherryh's books for a long time, unless someone I trust recommends one (which has so far never happened; I found this one by chance).
The tiny bit of worldbuilding about Istra in particular, and the Reach in general was pretty good, and some of the ideas about the Azi were quite memorable (albeit disturbing).
Also this whole thing reeks of Dune. Three stars.
July 25, 2019
An unexpectedly great book. Considering the author, I was expecting a good one, but not *this* good, especially since DOWNBELOW STATION garnered all the attention at the time.
My only nit is that you never do find out why the azi were on Alliance worlds. The book would’ve made more sense in that respect if the Reach was in Union space, but it’s not. Maybe another book of hers explicates it, but within the book’s own confines, it is super strange to experience how well integrated into the society and thought patterns the azi were — though they did make quite an interesting contrast to the majat view of life. This is a very minor nit, however, having almost no bearing on how much I enjoyed this novel.
My only nit is that you never do find out why the azi were on Alliance worlds. The book would’ve made more sense in that respect if the Reach was in Union space, but it’s not. Maybe another book of hers explicates it, but within the book’s own confines, it is super strange to experience how well integrated into the society and thought patterns the azi were — though they did make quite an interesting contrast to the majat view of life. This is a very minor nit, however, having almost no bearing on how much I enjoyed this novel.
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