Fine Prey

by Scott Westerfeld

Once the Aya came, there was only one way for humans to get ahead: by learning the ways of Earth's new mentors. Now, there is a whole new generation training at the Aya School, adopting the Ayan language and customs at the expense of their human heritage.

Is it worth the sacrifice? Worth the loss of a world to gain the universe?

To Spider, one of their star pupils, it's not enough. For Spider rides the Fine Hunt and knows the meaning of freedom.

But Spider's about to learn that there's more to the Aya—and the Hunt—than meets the eye...

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Young Adult, Science Fiction Fantasy, LGBT, Aliens, Fantasy

288 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 1, 1998

About the author

Scott Westerfeld is a New York Times bestselling author of YA. He is best known for the Uglies and Leviathan series. His current series, IMPOSTORS, returns to the world of Uglies.

The next book in that series, MIRROR'S EDGE, comes out April 6, 2021.

Reviews

[Elizabeth Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy cow I forgot how much I adore this book.

Somehow Westerfeld dances around the edges of "hard sci fi" without actually making any of it...hard. He throws in technology, aliens, economy, language, drugs, science....and you can just sit back and enjoy the heck out of it, without ever feeling lost.

Love the details of the "claw hunt" and "fine hunt," the two sports that replaced anything equestrian once the new masters of Earth landed on the planet and pretty much took over. (A very polite and mostly bloodless takeover from the sounds of it, and yet everyone's still scared to death of them. Nice trick there.) Love the details of the Aya's language (let's see if I can build this analogy correctly: Learning Ayan is to learning Mandarin what learning Mandarin is to learning a nursery rhyme. It's HARD is what I'm sayin'.) Love the decadence of it, love the violence, love the sex, love the fact that you're gonna go half the book before figuring out FOR SURE the gender of the main character. (Seriously, it's done in such a subtle way you suddenly go "wait....hang on.." Not sure why Westerfeld did that, but it's fun anyway.)

All in all fantastic stuff, very fun. Nothing against young adult literature, but I sure wish he'd start writing adult stuff again. You can't put much sex in the young adult stuff..

[Mitchell Friedman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Odd adult sf. This was Scott Westerfeld's second book and as expected it was pretty cool. I can kind of see how you get to Uglies from this. But I still wish he was still writing adult sf, and maybe he'll go back to it some day. This book was worth buying it in order to read it. It starts in the middle and kind of ends vaguely abruptly, though does have an ending. As with his first book, it is a young woman pov throughout. But this one is also about language and aliens (just off screen) and hunting and the changing of society. In a lot of ways not much happens. But basically pretty cool.

[Estelore · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my new favourite book, tied with Hesse's "Der Glasperlenspiel." To appreciate this book's titular subject at all, you have to read the book, which demonstrates that concept through the book's own structure. The narrative threads and meaning of this book don't come together fully until the last page, like an Ayan proverb which offers a gradual dawn of significance and comprehension, rather than a koan-like instantaneous understanding.

This book has so much representation in such subtle and understated ways. The protagonist's gender isn't indicated until halfway into the book. The protagonist is bisexual and arguably polyamorous. A BDSM relationship and drug addiction and class warfare are presented with vital honesty, yet none of them is made central to the plot at all.

The presence of the colonizers is everywhere and touches all things elegantly. We are told twice - TWICE! to emphasize it, because it is important! - that the Ayans are, much like Arabs, a linguistic group rather than a race or species or nationality or religious group. This becomes the most important thing in the story, in the final page.

The episode that opens the story seems unrelated to everything else that happened, once you're halfway into the book, but I think that was the rain that came down and washed the Itsy Bitsy Spider out of the water spout - the social ladder - and put her in a position to benefit when the sun (the Aya) came out and dried up all the 'rain,' allowing Spider to make a new ascent on her own power with Ayan grace.

Alex seems so important at the beginning; I find it very interesting that we learn so much about him, only for him to be painfully absent for almost the entire story.

I hope that I'm not the only person who caught onto the joke hidden in Spider's original name! "Little Rose Stone," indeed.

I'm still unpacking this book mentally, but I know I love it, and it's left a few of its teeth in me.

[C.I. DeMann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is Westerfeld's 2nd novel, I didn't even know it existed until recently, and it's pretty much a book about language. Can't quite call it satisfying, but it had some nice moments and Westerfeld's writing's good enough that I saw it through to the end. Three and a half stars.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a hard time figuring out what was going on, but Westerfeld’s such a good writer I just sat back and let the story wash over me. I liked the exploration of linguistics.

[Beck · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although there were individual moments in this book I liked immensely, overall I found the plot confusing and the characters inscrutable.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Westerfeld's incredible range continues to amaze me. This is one of his early books (1998), and it's very different from his more recent work, but equally powerful.

Earth has been colonized by the Aya, and Spider is a human who from childhood has studied the complex Ayan language and customs in order to be able to serve as an intermediary between Ayans and humans in the future.

But one summer Spider discovers things about herself that threaten all that and set her on a very different path. What happens and how she deals with it form the basis of a gripping story. I'm still not sure I completely understand all its nuances.

Unlike Westerfeld's more recent work, this is not a book for young adults. It includes an intense sado-masochistic love affair. In fact, it's the first time I've seen s-m portrayed in a way that makes me begin to be able to understand it.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was very, very good, and more people should read it. I'm stunned that out of 372,000+ people who read and rated Scott Westerfeld's Uglies, only a handful have sought out his older, non-YA work. Westerfeld is a damn fine sci-fi writer.

It's not about the hunters or the prey or the drugs or even the aliens, but about the acquisition and development of language and the power that brings with it.

Great stuff.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Early book by Scott Westerfeld, before he started writing exclusively for teens. VERY adult, and a little hard to follow the first time through. Not as good as "Evolutions's Darling", but entertaining in an odd way. Be prepared to go through a lot of obsessive dissections of language while reading this.

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maybe my favorite Westerfeld novel, in spite of the fact that I probably didn't really understand it. Science Fiction to me often has this quality of incomprehensibility, as if it's operating on a higher plane than I am as the reader. Still, the unfolding of events in this novel captivated my mind and moved me deeply.

[Audrey Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book needs a sequel. Plot points, I thought, needed to be fleshed out. At the pace it was going it could be twice as long. But really, I just really really liked the world he created. But Scott Westerfeld has always been good at world building.

[Liz Fisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved The Uglies series as a teenager. I'm so glad to have found his other novels. You can definitely see common themes of his books here. Love a badass female hero, and the beauty of looking at languages in this book.

[michelle]

7/26/06

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent story, Spider Stone is an interesting character with a good cast of supporting characters. I would prefer more descriptions of the Ayans, and about the life of Spider

[Pipkia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favourite