City of Pearl

The Wess'har Wars #1

by Karen Traviss

Three separate alien societies have claims on Cavanagh's Star. But the new arrivals -- the gethes from Earth -- now threaten the tenuous balance of a coveted world.

Environmental Hazard Enforcement officer Shan Frankland agreed to lead a mission to Cavanagh's Star, knowing that 150 years would elapse before she could finally return home. But her landing, with a small group of scientists and Marines, has not gone unnoticed by Aras, the planet's designated guardian. An eternally evolving world himself, this sad, powerful being has already obliterated millions of alien interlopers and their great cities to protect the fragile native population. Now Shan and her party -- plus the small colony of fundamentalist humans who preceded them -- could face a similar annihilation . . . or a fate far worse. Because Aras possesses a secret of the blood that would be disastrous if it fell into human hands -- if the gethes survive the impending war their coming has inadvertently hastened.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Space Opera, Fantasy, Aliens, Space, Science Fiction Fantasy

392 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 1, 2004

About the author

#1 New York Times best-selling novelist, scriptwriter and comics author Karen Traviss has received critical acclaim for her award-nominated Wess'har series, and her work on Halo, Gears of War, Batman, G.I. Joe, and other major franchises has earned her a broad range of fans. She's best known for military science fiction, but GOING GREY and BLACK RUN, the first books in her new techno-thriller series RINGER, are set in the real world of today. A former defence correspondent and TV and newspaper journalist, she lives in Wiltshire, England. She's currently working on SACRIFICIAL RED, the third book in the Ringer series, and HERE WE STAND, book three in the NOMAD series.

Reviews

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. One of the best debut novels I have read in years. Excellent world-building, fascinating aliens and a terrific main character. Looking forwrard to book 2 of the series.

The novel takes place in the years between 2198-2374 and involves an earth mission to a planet called (by Earth) Cavanagh's Star. The planet is already claimed by three alien races: (1) The Bezeri (squid-like water dwellers) who are the planet's natural inhabitants, (2) the Isenj (invaders there to take advantage of unused land, and (3) the Wess'har (the mediators, here to defend the Bezeri from Isenj pollution). Also coexisting on the planet is Constantine, a Christian colony of humans who landed on the planet several generations ago in an attempt to escape the corruption of Earth.

The balance of this excellent plot involves the political tensions among the different factions and the strange "guardian" Wess'har known as Aras who is charged with safeguarding the native population. This is an exceptionally well written novel and superb debut. Highly recommended!!

Nominee: John W. Campbell Award for Best Novel (2005)
Nominee: Philip K. Dick Award for Best Novel (2005)
Nominee: Locus Award for Best First Novel (2005)
Nominee: Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (2005)

[Robert · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is filled with ideological messages. On top of that it is a slow read. Nothing much happens. There is some walking around some talking and that's it!

But the worst is the ideological messages that are forced on you. No doubt the author is a fan of veganism. In the book the character Aras (the alien) say that he can't smell the meat on Shan (the female lead character) to which she replies something like "no of course not, we don't really need to eat meat some people just like it" What a sickening display of contaminating a fictional story with ideological nonsense.

And then there is the environmental thing. All life is sacred, don't pollute etc. Any sympathy you might have for this message quickly evaporates when you realize to what extreme this is being taken. It is of the same order as buddhist monks carefully sweeping the path they walk on out of fear that they might step on an ant.

There seems to be a lot of self hatred in the book as well. Reading the book you might come away thinking all humans are bad and humanity an evil plague. Again a nice scene from the book, Aras says something like "you consider these rats vermin" to which Shan replies "the only vermin I know walk on two legs". Nice!

So on conclusion, not recommended unless you are a hippie vegan green loving environmentalist. If you happen to be one than you'll probably come away thinking this book is awesome.

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the year 2198 Superintendant Shan Frankland is looking forward to calling it quits in the Environmental Hazards unit, retiring and finally growing those contraband, non-genetically-modified tomato seeds her father cultivated.

One government minister has other plans for her, though. She is sent to the far reaches of space, a trip that takes 75 years, on a mission that she knows nothing about because it is submerged in her brain, waiting to be released gradually once triggered. She joins a group of 7 assorted scientists, all sponsored by major corporations, and 7 marines, and has been given authority over them all. They reach the colony of Constantine on Cavanagh's Star, expecting to find the humans who had reached it over a century before to be all dead.

They aren't. They're a deeply Christian colony, and by having to provide everything for themselves wear undyed hemp clothes, toil every day to grow their own food on this strange orange and blue planet, and all with the permission of the peacekeeping race that live on the neighbouring planet, the Wess'har.

The Wess'har are matriarchal, abrupt, frank, always honest (they simply cannot lie), never negotiate and mean exactly what they say. They're supremely advanced in their technology, and seek only to maintain a balance. The planet which the colony of Constantine is on, Bezer'ej, is the home of the bezeri, squid-like beings that live far beneath the sea. They asked the Wess'har for help from the isenj, beings which bear similarity to humans for their over-populations, their smothering of the land in blank grey buildings. Needing more room, they located to Bezer'ej only to be wiped out by the Wess'har. Completely. The planet was restored as if they had never been, the pollution was dealt with, and now only the human colony of Constantine lives on the surface alongside a Wess'har temporary city, for defense. The isenj consider the planet theirs still, and now there are new humans coming. The scientists want to collect as many samples as they can, all for the profit of the pharmaceutical etc. companies back home, but the main condition of being allowed to land at all is that they do not remove or take anything.

To complicate matters even further, the planet's guardian, a Wess'har called Aras, is host to parasitic organisms called C'naatat which make him live forever, heal all wounds and adapt his body constantly by borrowing and experimenting with the genes of other creatures. It's something the humans and isenj would kill to get their hands on, since it brings immortality. Aras looks more human than Wess'har by the time Shan arrives, but he is still alien. Yet she finds more in common with him and his philosophy than with the gethes, as Aras calls humans: carrion-eaters.

The various races are on a collision-course for open warfare, with the isenj and humans equally greedy and arrogant, the Wess'har implacable in their will and ability to destroy them. And between them all rests a fragile planet of strange creatures and struggling populations.

Those of you who know me know that I don't read much sci-fi. There's very little of it that I like, and some of it I've hated (Neuromancer anyone?) so much that it's biased me against most of it. See, I'm more of a Farscape girl than a Star Trek/Stargate/Battlestar Galactica/blah blah blah kinda girl. I hate the whole "we're human, we're superior, let's travel the universe and help the poor little aliens cause they can't help themselves" shite. Those of you who know me even better will also be aware that I don't hold the human species in very high regard, and I certainly don't consider us the most important organism on this planet. Since we seem to be the only sentient creatures on this planet, we have quite a responsibility towards it. There's a lot I love and respect about humans, but there's just so much that disappoints.

So you could say that City of Pearl is right up my alley. Ouch.

I love fiction with a conscience. Is that the right way to put it? With principles, maybe. Although it is set far in the future, it's more of a warning finger wagging at our own situation. The genetically-modified soy and wheat and canola, the corporations who own copyright of seed so that farmers have to always buy buy buy, the experiments on animals in the name of research... Although I'm a now-and-then meat-eater, I don't believe in injecting animals with hormones, steroids etc. or in the methods used to kill them. Did you know they hang chickens upside-down and electrocute them so that their feathers fall out? Sometimes this doesn't even kill them. So no, I don't have a terribly high opinion of humans, since the crap outweighs the good stuff.

On the other hand, you can quite easily read this book as simply well-written speculative fiction. The characters are realistic, the aliens are alien and think differently, the plot is extremely tight and well-paced, and Aras is so wonderfully charismatic and enigmatic, I think I'm a little bit in love. He's just so lonely! And I'm only human... :) I doesn't have a definite ending, so I'm hoping Traviss is writing more about Shan and Aras.

I eagerly recommend this to anyone who likes sci-fi, and even those who don't. It makes me interested in looking for more sci-fi that isn't just about big ships with big guns fighting over galactic space. So if you can think of any that's not like that, or as pretentious as Neuromancer (I'm sorry, I really didn't like it. I didn't even finish it), I'd be happy to check it out.

[Peter Tillman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recall enjoying this one and little else. Won the Locus Award for Best First Novel (2005).

Here's a good review by the reliable Russ Allbery:
https://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/reviews/...
"Give this one a bit of time, since it starts slow and not that promisingly, but it's a great book. It is, however, quite clearly the first book of a series, and the resolution is only temporary."

[Kara Babcock · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some science fiction revels in its immersion in the futurescape, that unknowable presentation of technology and society that seems so distantly related to our own. Utopian fiction likes to posit that we will somehow overcome our vices (though, for the sake of story conflict, discover wonderful new ones). Dystopian fiction does the opposite, amplifying our vices with scary new methods of oppression, while also offering the hope of an easy dismantling of the totalitarian bureaucracy, very often by a plucky young protagonist who doesn’t know any better.

So, it’s kind of nice when someone like Karen Traviss offers up science fiction that throws such comfortable ideas out the window.

City of Pearl offers no easy answers. There is no magic formula that persuades antagonists to change their mind, no way to smooth over relations and create a happily-ever-after. From the moment Shan sets down on the planet around Cavanaugh’s Star until the moment the other human ship arrives, everything just seems to get worse, despite all her efforts to make it better. In the end, Traviss makes one question whether one person can ever be enough against the inexorable tide of folly that seems to follow our species around.

This is a postcolonial novel. Science fiction is one of the best settings for postcolonialism, as City of Pearl demonstrates. It’s too easy these days to think that colonialism is "over", that just because the "colonies" are gone the attitudes don’t remain. Traviss shows that colonialism is an ongoing process, one that would extend into space travel if it possibly could. This is a story about how corporations have colonized our heritage and pushed people out into the stars, only to come chasing after them, waving patents and injunctions like so many smallpox-infected blankets. The psychic and physical destruction wrought to Bezer’ej by humans and isenj in the name of “survival”, “commerce”, or any other totem, is no different from the way colonizers of the past and present have asserted and continue to assert their rights while trampling on those of indigenous people, be they inhabitants of a continent on Earth or the bezeri in this book.

Shan is our window into this world. She exists to provide a facet of nuance to an otherwise bleak morality play that indicts humanity’s expansionist ethos. I love that Shan is so far from perfect there’s no point in measuring. She is flawed, and so human and conflicted in her choices and actions. Ostensibly an agent of “the man”, a government enforcer of bureaucracy and regulation, she nurses a wilder, more rebellious side that agrees with what some of the eco-terrorists she represses are trying to do. This is all supposed to be moot when she takes the 75-year journey away from Earth to a distant planet. But with the arrival of Actaeon, everything comes crashing down. Shan is forced to act, perhaps rashly. Yet she remains our rock, our only point of sympathetic reference, because so many of the other humans in this book seem to be fucking awful.

From the self-absorbed, self-righteous scientists to the distant governments of Earth, the other humans in City of Pearl make me ashamed of my species. And I think that’s what Traviss is going for. This is not a "yay, humanity!" book. Unfortunately, it seems all too realistic a prediction of what could happen if interstellar colonization becomes possible. Any hope that the past few centuries of history and hindsight have changed us for the better is fatally misplaced.

That’s not to say that the antagonists are one-dimensional. Some of them certainly seem that way on an individual basis. But there are plenty of people, like Eddie and Lindsay, who are grey areas. Neither antagonist nor protagonist, they are free agents who aid or act against Shan based on the dictates of their consciences, which might differ from her own. Lindsay’s character arc particularly fascinates me. She begins by supporting Shan, even when Shan’s actions start to become extreme from the others’ points of view. But as her own sense of authority erodes in proportion to her pregnancy, Lindsay begins to question whether Shan’s morality is the best for the mission. Aras’ decision to save Shan’s life by infecting her with the c’naatat compounds the problem, for when Lindsay finds out it could have saved the life of her infant, she flips out. And, on balance, it seems obvious that Shan and Aras have the right of it when they defend their decision. But that doesn’t lessen the emotional impact of the event, or make Lindsay’s pain any less real.

The climax is a harsh lesson that often there is no easy answer to these vast dilemmas. There is no easy way for Shan to shake off c’naatat and avoid a hearing regarding her actions as expedition leader. There is no easy way to deal with the political tangle of Earth governments getting cozy with the isenj even as the colonists have become closer to the wess’har. Instead, the situation just gets messier and messier, until something has to give.

City of Pearl isn’t exactly about colonizing a planet as it is not colonizing it. It’s the story of how being 75 years away can mess up the best laid plans of governments and politicians. It’s the story of how individuals make mistakes and try to make amends, and sometimes it’s just not enough. It’s messy and tragic, occasionally funny, and very entertaining.

[Brownbetty · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're reading this on Goodreads, you'll see I gave it four stars, and honestly, I almost gave it five, but decided not to only because of some uncertainty about the sequel. Not that I've read it, yet, because my public library, for reasons best known to certain city officials, lacks the funding to catalogue paperbacks, so every library expedition is a bit like a dungeon crawl. Does the library own the sequel? Who knows! Certainly not the Public Library! (Mr Katz, I hope to make you the number one google result for "library cheapskate." You're welcome.)

Back on topic. A lot of the SF I read is more properly space opera; it may pay some lip service to relativity, but the only physics it obeys are Newtonian. Here is SF with science behind it; undergirding it; moving it. Not the sort where a half chapter is taken up with cats in boxes and lecturing the reader, but the sort where the science is almost palpably a character in itself.

Shan Frankland is an interesting protagonist: a retirement-age civil-servant and former police officer. She's explicitly Pagan, something I would have liked to have seen more of, although there are something like five sequels to this book, and quite a bit more room for it to come up.

The other interesting thing, to me, was how much of the book was about ecology, and human (and alien) environments, environmental sustainability, and biology. More than is evident at the start of the novel, certainly. I want to say more, but am wary of spoiling.

I'm not entirely certain if this book is very good, or just very much the sort of thing I enjoy. It takes mature loners and gives them a connection which they didn't expect to find. I like those sorts of stories.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading City of Pearl. Most of the authors I read in SF/F are the F side of the genre, so whenever I come across a female SF writer it gives me an extra level of enjoyment. Julie Czerneda remains my SF powerhouse favorite, but I think Karen Traviss is now putting in a good strong bid for second place.

There were some small things I didn't quite like about the book, I'll admit--but they were fairly minor nitpicks. I'll get those out of the way first. The flow of time in the story was a little odd for me to follow sometimes; only a little after the fact, as I read through each chapter, did I start to grasp that the story was taking place across a span of months rather than days. This necessitated less focus on the development of the relationship between the primary characters than I really hoped for--and yet, that also meant a tradeoff of widening the scope out somewhat and making it broader and grander, so I'm ultimately okay with that. Also--I was vaguely distressed that there were pretty much no sympathetic characters among the scientists on the Thetis--that almost universally their only interest was to get data to get back to their employers, and none of them seemed to have their attitudes tempered by acceptance of the fact that they were visitors on an alien world inhabited by other sentient species. The only even remotely sympathetic scientist was the geologist, and he was almost a non-entity.

Nor did it really help that the most major human characters, Shan and Lin, consistently collectively referred to the scientists as "the payload". I realize that might be an accurate reflection of how military personnel on such a mission might be referring to their passengers, but just as a reader, I found it vaguely distressing. For a story where one of the big overall points is stressing understanding between the humans and the wess'har and the bezeri, understanding between the various contingents within the Thetis's own crew and passengers was surprisingly absent. I realize also that setting up the schism between Shan and the scientists was necessary to get her to where she needed to go, and I don't dispute the necessity of having the most vocal of the scientists (Rayat) going against her... but it would have been nice to see at least one noticeably sympathetic scientist who tried to support Shan and was perhaps shot down for his or her efforts.

Now, moving on to the stuff I really did like.

First and foremost... Aras was a fabulous character, and I loved the entire development of the relationship between him and Shan. I loved all the history leavened into his initial appearances, especially the hearkening back to his friendship with Ben Garrod, back when the human colony was first founded. I loved his reaction to Shan's being the first being in a very long time to touch him, knowingly and without reservation. And I loved how he wound up diving without reservation into having to share his c'naatat with her to keep her alive.

Second... I also really liked Shan as a character. Tough as nails in a way that reminded me of Ripley from Aliens; I could totally see Sigourney Weaver playing her. Refreshingly direct, not without her angst, but it's angst that she handles--which I really appreciate in a character these days.

Third... I liked all the little details of life on Bezer'ej that let the reader know that "why yes, you're on an alien world", things like a different level of gravity, a different rotational spin of the world, a longer day, a longer week. The alien wildlife. The differences between what Aras had set up in the human-compatible colony and the actual wilderness outside it.

Fourth... the various alien races. None of them too heavily sketched in (again, perhaps because of the broad scope of the story), but all of them sketched in enough to establish them firmly in the readers' minds. I liked how the bezeri communciated in color and light, how the wess'har are matriarchal and the males carry the offspring, how the isenj have built over their entire homeworld with buildings (a disturbing and cautionary detail for the humans, indeed).

Fifth... the setting up of emotional conflict, and then handling it in a clear-eyed and brisk kind of style. This came through beautifully with Lin's grieving fury at finding out that Shan might have saved her baby and chose not to. See previous comments re: appreciating a relative lack of angst. :)

And all the other little details as well... the colonists being religious and yet not obnoxiously so. Eddie turning out to be an interesting and sympathetic character. Ade being the most sympathetic of the Marines by far, and in another little hint of a reminder of Aliens, getting sweet on Shan and yet never having an opportunity to do anything about it. (Sniff. I still miss Hicks from Aliens and am still vaguely put out that they killed him off during the credits of the third movie!)

And oh my the ending: Shan beginning to change with her own c'naatat, and having to turn her back on her entire species. It'll be interesting to see how she manages to win a place among the wess'har and how her relationship with Aras will continue to evolve.

Very much looking forward to Crossing the Line, now!

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The Frankland woman says humans have discovered other aliens since our mission left Earth, but it’s not aliens that bring them here. It’s the planet.”

“Detected,” Aras said, correcting Josh almost without thinking. As if other species had no existence until humans chanced upon them and defined them, discovered them. “Have they ever met a species with a more advanced culture than theirs?”

“If you mean technology, no. Culture—well, in our past, humans have discovered other humans with advanced cultures, but with inferior technology.”

“I think I recall what happened to them. I will be fascinated to learn how these gethes deal with being in that position.”

Oh gosh, this book -- about an expedition sent to investigate a missing colony on a distant planet, only to wind up embroiled in an alien situation above their paygrade -- really hit the spot in terms of things that I love in space opera. First contact that isn't easy, where the relations are rife with misunderstandings and accidental offense, people wrestling with culture shock and political dynamics they don't understand. Seeing an uneasy balance between human military and civilian forces, these researchers and scientists sent to study an alien planet (and the makeup of the team reminded me of Prometheus; although these scientists weren't quite as stupid as that, although it was sometimes close). In terms of the crew's one-way trip to a faraway planet and needing to leave everything they know behind, it reminded me of Mass Effect: Andromeda.

I also enjoyed seeing the aliens' distaste for humans -- calling us gethes, carrion-eaters -- and the fact that mankind weren't the colonisers for once, nor even fighting ineffable space horrors. They are simply out of their depth, foolish and inadequate, and struggling to unwire their innate assumption that we're the powerful conquerors. Now the boot's on the other foot, and we're the ones under the heel of a more powerful and more civilised civilisation.

There's rich character work mostly with Shan Frankland and Aras, their alien ambassador (who I loved!! in all his bluntness and diplomacy and understanding and also loneliness). I also really dug Lindsay Neville, the female commander of the military detachment, and the way she and Shan grow from antagonism to becoming friends and trusting each other (more female friendships in fiction please!!).

Mostly, this story is about environmentalism & conservation. The long picture, safeguarding the future, and not razing nature in our wake. Lessons that mankind needs to learn. But also: it's about loneliness, isolation, and striving for connection between people. I enjoyed this picture of the future, a high-tech sort-of-dystopia suffering under corporatocracies and big business -- especially since Shan is so tired of it. She's ready to retire, to get away from it all; she hates humans as much as the aliens could hate us, because she's seen too much of us and knows our worst sides.

The Suppressed Briefing is also such a great touch, in which even our protagonist doesn't entirely know what she's doing either, until her subliminal mission brief comes back to her. The alien species are also great: there is one particular scene that got me in my heart and where I immediately burst into tears over them!!

All-in-all, the book is fairly slow, unfolding in a pretty thoughtful manner as Shan and her expedition ease their way into the colony and try to wrangle an unexpected collision between cultures. It took me 9 days to read with my still stupidly-addled pandemic-brain, but it didn't feel long: I was actively excited to get back to City of Pearl and kept stealing five minutes here and there to read, which was a sign of how into it I was. Stoked to read the rest of the series. 4.5 stars.


A slight off-the-page warning: The friend who recced this book also warned me that Karen Traviss has taken an anti-immigrant, transphobic, anti-LGBTQ stance on Twitter in recent years (although her account is now cleaned-out) -- which is incredibly disappointing and even surprising, considering how inclusive and progressive this book feels. There's a diverse set of characters, an extremely strong environmentalism theme throughout, a nod to queerness, there's undermining of 'traditional' gender roles and expectations with Shan's gruff take-no-shit demeanour; with the tough-as-nails commander becoming pregnant; and Ade Bennett, the ~macho marine~ except that you see him panic, vomit, and soil himself during a crisis.

So. Obviously, every reader has to make the decision themselves in a case-by-case basis, and in this instance, I'm able to separate the author from the art because her views don't seep into this 17-year-old book; in fact, those views seems to run contradictory to the book itself and its far-better messages. So I still really enjoyed this! But I did feel it worth mentioning regardless.

[Paradoxical · Rating 3 out of 5]

I both enjoyed and didn't enjoy this at the same time. For one, it's very extreme in its views. There are little or no greys in the picture, it's basically black and white, this is good and this is terrible. So yes, very preachy. On the other hand, the story was somewhat compelling, and I did enjoy the book as I read more of it. It brings up several interesting points of discussion (even if Shan is very firm on her opinions of said points of discussion).

That said, I disliked the fact that all of the scientists were terrible people who were either obnoxious or completely morally defunct (or both at once). They were all portrayed as money hungry people who were, quite frankly, rather stupid as well as narrow minded and shallow. It bugged me.

As for Shan herself--it was a mixed bag of feelings. I liked her, but her views were a bit too extremist for me (her hate for the human race just sort of made me shrug). Her personality however? That I liked. The directness, the stubbornness, the way she did what she thought was best every time with no compromise was refreshing to see. Those traits made me like her. I just disliked some of her thoughts, ha. Aras, too, was fun to read. Lonely and detached, he made an interesting read by way how differently he thought.

So both good and bad. I liked reading it and I disliked it as well. Solid 3 stars from me.

[Tomislav · Rating 4 out of 5]

“La pure valeur (s'il y en avait) serait de faire sans témoins ce qu'on est capable de faire devant le monde”
Pure valor would be to do without witnesses what one is capable of doing in front of the world.
-François duc de La Rochefoucauld

Superintendent Shan Franklin, the protagonist of Karen Traviss’s first novel, lives a life with several instances of such valor. As a cop in the Environment Hazard Enforcement of a near-future pan-European state, she wears an armor-hard demeanor, earned in earlier enforcement actions. There is a defining experience in her past, in which she took public blame for doing the right thing, and that is only revealed slowly as the current plot unrolls. She is recruited to lead a combined military/for-profit-science expedition to a planet around Cavanagh’s Star, but under condition of Suppressed Briefing. In other words, her mission objectives are implanted in hidden memory, which will only be recalled on site if needed. There could be first-contact aliens. There could be survivors of a religious colony from a few centuries ago. Seventy-five years later, upon awakening, both are found to be true. In fact, there are several spacefaring intelligent aliens in contention for the planet. She has her hands full with conflicts between species, a mysteriously powerful alien who does not seem to belong very well to any of the groups, and growing factions within her own mission group.

I have grown used to character-driven SF being light on speculative concepts. Well, this is surely character-driven, with its complex and interesting protagonist. But the interplay of alien species and technologies is also well developed and original in parts, at least in the opening half. The novel was nominated (but did not win) several annual science fiction awards in the year of publication. But by the second half, both of the native alien societies have turned out to be conventionally matriarchal, and the secondary character Aras transitions from mysteriously alien to disappointingly humanoid, even coming to consider aspects of his interspecies relationship with Shan in male/female terms. Fortunately, the narrative stays away from an exotic romance between them, and Shan’s feelings in that regard remain unrequitedly focused on several members of her mission group. At a guess, I would say Traviss’s target audience would include members of the British military, as that is the institutional perspective and jargon which persists in this 24th century setting.

Karen Traviss has subsequently released five more novels in what is now the Wess’har Wars series. I’m not sure if I will be reading them, at this time. She has also written tie-in novels in the Star Wars universe, and in several gaming platform universes.

[Cheryl]

May win WotF May 2022.
Ryan wants to read soon.

[StarMan · Rating 3 out of 5]

VERDICT: 3.0 stars overall. Well-written but low on action. Book 1 in a series.

[Charles · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the author's first published novel. I didn't realize I'd read several of her later books, in the Gears of War and Halo series. (The prose in the first couple of chapters of this book was eerily familiar to Gears of War.)

Writing was good, but not exceptional. Dialog and descriptive prose are all technically correct. I think Traviss's background as a journalist has taught her to pare down her prose too much. I found myself looking for the loving details that new authors include in their first book. Traviss is too professional for that. The prose of this story is work and not a labor of love. I did like that the story has a very Britsh-English flavor to it. (The previously mentioned Gears of War and Halo stories had been "Americanized".)

Characters needed some work. At first I thought it was odd, that so many of them were women. And that was OK, except that as read on, I got this nagging feeling they were actually men in drag. That is, I didn't get a uniquely female perspective from them. This was particularly true in the dynamic between Frankland and Neville. The Aras character seemed a bit too human to me, despite the premise. In general, the Wess'har and Bezeri aliens, did not seem alien enough to me.

Tech and world building are OK. The tech was supposedly circa 2200. However, I'm thinking its actually 2020 or just a tad further out. This includes both the earthian MIL-tech and the space tech. This is a common complaint of mine-- failure of imagination by authors projecting too far into the future. Also, the alien-tech wasn't remarkably alien. Finally, I think the planetary science of the Cavanagh's Star (a binary world) received a bit of hand waving. For example, the Bezeri must have had to deal with some interesting tidal issues.

Plotting is good. The story clips along well in a very logical progression. I thought the author missed a good opportunity for a stronger sub-plot based-on the time dilatation of sub-light interstellar travel and earthian political change.

I liked this story, but it was unremarkable. It was an easy read, but not a 'great work'. However, it was much better than the video game contract-novels the author has written so many of recently. What I liked about this story is that its more idiosyncratic, and British than the contract novels. (I suppose they pay the rent more easily?) That its part of a six book series, and left me hanging was expected. However, I'm not likely to start the next in the series, Crossing the Line. Life is too short, and there are too many better series 'out there' to be drawn into. If I get a chance, I'm going to try to read a later, non-video game story by the author, like Going Grey.

I found this book (and several others) in a list of 'Best Military SF' written by women. Having recently read First Light (The Red, #1) by Linda Nagata I'm going to be reading-up on MIL-SF written by women. Other titles I'll be reading include: Probability Moon and Trading in Danger.

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 4 out of 5]

The themes of humans finding a planet already being fought over by other races, and time stretch on long star voyages, are not new to SF but they are new to the characters so we accept how it feels to them.

Seems this was a first published novel so I won't go too hard on it but there were some features I liked and some I disliked. The visions of the future and shifting corporate controls are good. The concept of vegan farmers quietly colonising another planet with basic tech is good though not immensely realistic. Who wouldn't want antibiotics, honey and other things you can't get from soya?
I found enough environmental references to lead me to treat the story as allegory - beaching marine life, patented seeds, polluted water, overpopulation etc.

What I disliked were the characters being so one-dimensional and the journalist not actually being very good as a journalist. Not to mention, he would need to have another skillset to bring and employ on such a long voyage, because idle hands could not be brought and a person who could back up an existing person would be very useful. The mission leader realising that she was pregnant was a very nice touch as we don't generally see enough portrayal of women as women.

What broke the setting for me was the capital punishment. No way. The police officer and mission leader would have worked with every side and tried to get the concept of restitution, penalty, compensation across rather than say "X had it coming" for making one mistake. So when that happened I stopped liking and believing the book.

Also we don't see the city of pearl until the last chapter, so the title is not a good fit. Read it and see what you think, there are plenty of discussion points.

[Empress · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the whole series. I am so happy I stumbled upon this and I am so surprised how underrated it is.

The rating of 3.89 indicates a good book, but with less then a 1000 votes I think it says even more. Karen has become one of my favorite writers. She has come up with amazing cultures and aliens. There is a lot of characters in the book and she is developing them with the story. I would highly recommend this.

If you decide to read the whole series this is a statement from the author about the second book. I was persistent and found it but an ebook might be a cheaper options:

You probably won't be able to get a hard copy of Crossing The Line, because although it's still in print, HarperCollins aren't making it available for reasons they have yet to explain to me. It's available as an e-book, but if that means you'll skip it because you don't like e-books, it's best not to read the series at all – you'll just miss too much of the plot to fully understand the rest of the story.
-The Author

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sci-fi with an evironmental twist? Hmm…It’s not exactly space opera, since most of the story takes place on another planet. It’s not exactly military sci-fi, because the military presence makes up a small part of the cast of characters. It’s a mixture of a little bit of everything. The book touches on everything from religion, environmental policy, the scary possible future of the corporation, family values, ethics in journalism, and human/alien relations. It sounds like a lot, but all of these subjects are integral to the story and Traviss covers them all without seeming disjointed or being preachy. The issue that stood out most to me was the conflict between interference and non-interference. How do you make scientists get along with a society that believes in not interfering with any form of life? It was really interesting. The main character, Shan, is also kick ass. She’s a tough, no B.S. cop with a mysterious past. I liked her. If you enjoy strong, female leads, and sci-fi with something more than just action, then you should check this out.

[Coucher de soleil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just as a note (and here's hoping I don't sound pompous): this is the very first time I give a book 5 stars. However, I thought that in this case it was warranted.

I've read many reviews of this book on different sites and I noticed that many readers seemed uncomfortable with the ideas at the core of it, which is not surprising. The first thing I would say about this book is to acknowledge that the ideas within are extreme.

I don't agree with every principle suggested in this book and I doubt most people will, but part of its strength is that the author succeeds in making you consider the possibilities. Actually, the author succeeds in making you THINK and consider new ideas, whether you agree with them or not. To my mind, this is something that many attempt but few achieve: writing something which goes beyong mere entertainment (which I don't intend to knock, BTW).

All I can say is: wow.

[Banner · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best science fiction books I've read. The book flows so smoothly with action, character development and universe building. While this book is the beginning of a series, it is a very satisfying and self contained story. You will want to read the next book (I've already ordered mine).

Just a note about the alien culture, I think Karen Traviss has developed a truly alien culture yet was able to make it accessible. The alien protagonist is one of the most interesting characters in science fiction.

The book also deals with questions of morality, God and the afterlife that add a flavor to the book. These are not predominate themes, but they are dealt with as you would expect in real life. Sometimes, I read books and think "Are characters really that sterile in thinking?" These are not.

I highly recommend this book!

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

In keeping with my practice of cutting slack to debut novels.

Fun read. Well created worlds, though she didn't reveal why the "moon" has a higher gravity than it's "planet." Lots of conflict and confrontations. Nice to see the earthlings at the bottom of the technology pyramid.

I like novels which explore issues. Traviss looks at the effects licensing and patenting genetic-engineered food stuffs. It's sort of the back story, but critical to some people's motives.

Cover Art: don't you hate it when the artist hasn't read the book? The Conch shell city on the cover bears no resemblance to the pearl-covered city described in the book.

[Leon Aldrich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent prose. Well written. The dialogue and character interaction reminds me of a Michael Connelly "Harry Bosch" novel (only this one is science fiction).

Her debut novel has made me a fan. Not only will I read more of this series, but I'll dabble at her Star Wars novels as well.

[Rochelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really love the female protagonist in this book and was taken by the moral quandaries about personhood that the book raises. Well paced and well written, and I’m definitely considering reading the rest of the series.

[Dave Whalen 🐋 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn’t read much as a kid but I devoured Karen Traviss’s Republic Commando tie-in novel. Of course, because I demonstrated an interest in reading at all, my mom’s response was to buy me the sequel and Traviss’s debut novel, City of Pearl. At the time I was much more excited about another Star Wars book than some random sci-fi novel, and thus I never bothered to read it. Fortunately, I finally gave that debut novel a shot and I’m so happy I did. It’s a unique first contact story with philosophical musings throughout. There were many resonant moments that reminded me that it’s okay to just be human, only as long as it’s not in conflict with other life. I appreciate this story so much and I look forward to reading the rest of the series.

[Jonathan Bergeron · Rating 2 out of 5]

An ode to hardcore environmentalists everywhere - City of Pearl

When I was getting my AA, I was single, a few years before I met my wife. I took this Intro to Environmental Science class, because there were a lot of cute girls in the class. I learned a lot actually. I can still pick out a live oak from a turkey oak, slash pine from long leaf pine; point out palmettos and sea oats. I learned that Florida had the largest cedar forest in the world until a whole crap load of pencils were made, so then enormous swaths of land were sowed with nice neat rows of slash pine. You can see those forests nearly everywhere in Florida. As you drive by you'll notice the trees are in rows. Nature doesn't plant in rows.

I got into recycling because of that class.

I became an environmentalist, or so I thought.

City of Pearl is unreal in its message, literally and figuratively. It supposes that all of humanity is horrendous, except vegans. Vegans are great, because they eat soy, and soy is a savior to environmental problems. I'm pretty sure that latter part was intimated. She certainly went into quite a lot of detail about how wonderful soy is. There is a possibility she's on the payroll for a soy farming company though, not sure.

The characters ALL sound the same, and their reactions are completely implausible. A person gets murdered because they unknowingly killed a jelly fish that happened to be a sentient being. The person gets murdered and the only response from the remaining civilians and the 7 Royal Marines is, "That's not right!", then they go about their daily lives.

The lead character is very chummy with an alien, because he doesn't eat meat, because vegans are angels and holy and good; and believes literally EVERY SINGLE THING the alien tells her. Why? Because this alien is a vegan.

If you don't go out of your way to inconvenience yourself to not step on an ant or a blade of grass or swerve into oncoming traffic to not run over a toad, you're a piece of shit and a horrible human being. That's the message the book tells you.

I do recommend the book, believe it or not, simply so you can see what sort of books somebody in ALF (Animal Liberation Front) or ELF (Earth Liberation Front) has on their reading list.

[Adelaide Metzger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, this is Karen Traviss’ first original novel. Yes, you should read it if you’ve enjoyed her work before. And, yes, there is Karen-drama galore!

As usual, Traviss has an extreme connection with her characters and plays off of our emotions to tell the story. I know I shouldn’t have expectations for books because it throws off what the author may have been trying to get across, but I went into this expecting some kind of Karen-drama moment to satisfy my girly, emotional side. I got what I asked for, but the kind of feelings Traviss stirs in you are not simple blues and reds. I didn’t feel simply “angry,” or simply “sad,” (that’s not a mistake, I don’t think I’ve felt “happy” when reading her realistic work). I found myself reacting with--what I can only describe as--a soft storm of sad, angry, disturbed, taught, and thunderous tension with every serious plot turn.

The writer part of me loved this (the more drama the better)! As a reader, I felt as helpless as the unfortunate characters, but you didn’t really expect butterflies and flowers on this hostile-looking alien planet, did you? Traviss does a wonderful job here making you feel for Aras, the primary alien character, who crosses paths with Shan Chail, the primary human character. I wish I had read this earlier in the summer instead of at the beginning of a college semester so I could actually pay attention to all the wonderful themes this book and its characters had to offer, but there was so much philosophy that I missed because I was distracted with real life.

Traviss is amazing. I want to say first off that she’s not just a writer who loves science fiction. This girl has credibility up the wazoo and it’s seen in her writing as she’s served in the Royal Navy and Territorial Army. In fact, I don’t think I’ve seen a Traviss book that isn’t involved with some kind of military plot device. This more technical style of writing may be difficult for some people, but if you can overlook the army talk, this is truly a great piece of literature.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tough human cop Shan and alien superwarrior Aras meet on a planet whose vulnerable aquatic residents are being protected from being wiped out by other aliens. They bond, and he gives her that Certain Gift (if gift it be). Then Earth makes contact with the invaders. Strong themes of responsibility, particularly for natural environment. Action scenes are well done, characters are uncomplicated but not stereotypical, the pacing a touch slow but not obnoxiously so. Looking forward to the sequels.

Money lines:
"So every time I look at something that isn't human, I have to ask myself who's behind the eyes, not what."

"He's as pleased as a dog with two dicks."

"This was what it felt like to be on the receiving end of someone else's morality."

[Jacqueline Langille · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finished reading for the second time. Just as good as I remembered. On to the second book in the series, for the first time. I couldn't stop thinking about this book so I finally tracked down the rest of the series online and purchased them. I'll be immersed in the Wess'har wars for a few months! See you when I resurface. 😀😍

[Alexa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the plot line thoroughly and eagerly looked forward to the sequel. However with each new book the author's underlying neo-fascist politics became more and more pervasive and now the entire series has left an unpleasant taste in my mouth.

[V. · Rating 3 out of 5]

That thing with seeds? Not science fiction at all. We are really close to being there.

[DarkHeraldMage · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't originally going to pick this up based solely off the synopsis, but after multiple others in my book club said they enjoyed it, I grabbed it and dove in. I fully agree with the widespread consensus that the first 20% of the book is a confusing mess of terms and ideas that are difficult to understand, but getting past them and into the real worldbuilding and character growth does ultimately pay off. I am happy to have read this, and will certainly finish the series in time, if only to find out what happens next since book one doesn't necessarily end on a cliffhanger, but certainly does not explicitly resolve much of what was built up through the course of the story.

[Nacho · Rating 3 out of 5]

El mensaje ecológico tiene toda la sutileza de un ladrillazo en la cabeza, pero no molesta demasiado. Capaz que un poco pesada la misantropía, pero bueno.

Las partes feas son las que se leen más como una carta de amor a la policía y al ejército. Son más sutiles que la parte ecológica, pero incomodan feo.

Igual el libro es ágil y entretenido.