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Sime/Gen #7
Ambrov Keon
Sime Risa Tigue begins hunting down Sergei ambrov Keon, a Gen whose selyn can save her life at the cost of his own
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
4 people are currently reading
49 people want to read
About the author
Jean Lorrah
65 books65 followersJean Lorrah is a science fiction and fantasy author. She has produced several Star Trek novels and often collaborated with Jacqueline Lichtenberg. Her most recent work with Lichtenberg is on the Sime - Gen Universe. Her fantasy series The Savage Empire, from the 1980s, is mostly solo work. She is also a professor of English at Murray State University and received her PhD from Florida State University.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
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October 23, 2025When Sime killed Gen, it was the normal way of things--after all, Gens weren't really people, were they? They existed only to provide Simes with life-giving selyn. And then Risa Tigue, a Sime, injured and needing selyn, stumbles on the trail of a gen named Sergi ambrov Keon. Sergi is a companion, a Gen who can control the transfer of Selyn without harming either Sime or Gen. In Risa, Sergi sees the potential for that rarest of beings, a Channel. But can Risa survive the transformation--and even if she can, can Simes and Gens learn to live together peacefully? This is the legendary romance of Risa and Sergi. Sime~Gen, Book Seven.
July 22, 2018
This book drew me in and held my interest. It also featured plot twists capable of making me gasp out loud. Very rare! Jean Lorrah knows how to create memorable characters.
July 27, 2011
This is part of a series I loved in my teens that was published from the 1970s through the 1980s, and I don't believe any are in print. I find that a shame. Though I wouldn't count this a deathless science fiction classic featuring an awesome prose style such as that of say, Ursula LeGuin, it's one I enjoyed in the same way as books by Marion Zimmer Bradley or Anne McCaffrey. As good, solid action/adventure, often featuring romance and imaginative world-building. So this isn't rated so highly because it's groundbreaking science fiction in the same league as Asimov or Heinlein. I'm rating it so high because this is favorite comfort food reading, with characters I love. I own eight of the Sime/Gen books, all I could track down after reading the first one, and of those eight, this one, Ambrov Keon, is my favorite.
The premise of this book is that in the far future humans have mutated into two different types. One kind, the Sime, feeds on the energy of the other kind, the Gen. But this mutation--or possibly genetic manipulation, erupted suddenly and violently, with Simes going through a change at adolescence in which they gained tentacles allowing them to rip the energy from Gens--causing death. And their cycle means they have to do it every month.
As a result, civilization collapsed and reemerged split into two sides. In the Gen society, when some adolescents change into Simes, they're immediately killed. In Sime society, if their energy settles into Gens, they become slaves and food. And parentage is no predictor. So parents raise children knowing that one way or the other they could lose them, see them become monsters or cattle.
But things have begun to change. A Sime and Gen, in love, discovered that certain Simes, called Channels, could take this energy safely and transfer it to other Simes. And certain Gens, called Companions, could control the transfer of energy so both could survive.
Enter Risa Tigue, born into Sime territory and trained to think of Gens as not human--until she meets Sergi, a Companion who changes her life. Risa is the primary reason this is a favorite. She's that oddity in science fiction, especially when this was published in 1986, a strong female character, a leader. It occurs to me her name is similar to FM Busby's Rissa of Rissa and Tregare, another strong female figure in science fiction from decades ago, and I suspect the name might be homage, because I can see a lot of similarities in their spirit, and in the entrepreneurial drive both share and which Risa uses to help transform things around her.
The premise of this book is that in the far future humans have mutated into two different types. One kind, the Sime, feeds on the energy of the other kind, the Gen. But this mutation--or possibly genetic manipulation, erupted suddenly and violently, with Simes going through a change at adolescence in which they gained tentacles allowing them to rip the energy from Gens--causing death. And their cycle means they have to do it every month.
As a result, civilization collapsed and reemerged split into two sides. In the Gen society, when some adolescents change into Simes, they're immediately killed. In Sime society, if their energy settles into Gens, they become slaves and food. And parentage is no predictor. So parents raise children knowing that one way or the other they could lose them, see them become monsters or cattle.
But things have begun to change. A Sime and Gen, in love, discovered that certain Simes, called Channels, could take this energy safely and transfer it to other Simes. And certain Gens, called Companions, could control the transfer of energy so both could survive.
Enter Risa Tigue, born into Sime territory and trained to think of Gens as not human--until she meets Sergi, a Companion who changes her life. Risa is the primary reason this is a favorite. She's that oddity in science fiction, especially when this was published in 1986, a strong female character, a leader. It occurs to me her name is similar to FM Busby's Rissa of Rissa and Tregare, another strong female figure in science fiction from decades ago, and I suspect the name might be homage, because I can see a lot of similarities in their spirit, and in the entrepreneurial drive both share and which Risa uses to help transform things around her.
February 21, 2015
This book is one of my favorites in the Sime~Gen world as it follows a strong female Sime from being the daughter of a store-keeper to her final destiny. A well written story that will be re-read from time to time.
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February 21, 2015a favorite in the Sime~Gen world
This book is one of my favorites in the Sime~Gen world as it follows a strong female Sime from being the daughter of a store-keeper to her final destiny. A well written story that will be re-read from time to time.
This book is one of my favorites in the Sime~Gen world as it follows a strong female Sime from being the daughter of a store-keeper to her final destiny. A well written story that will be re-read from time to time.
September 19, 2013
One of the best of the series for me, in large part because Jean Lorrah is a true story teller and doesn't get swept too deeply into technicalities the way Lichtenberg sometimes can.
February 26, 2015
1988 grade A-
Series book SG7 (A Sime/Gen novel)
Series book SG7 (A Sime/Gen novel)
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews