In the Company of Others

by Julie E. Czerneda

When the terraforming crews introduced the alien Quill to worlds where they did not belong, they saw them only as a mindless form of fungal life. But the Quill multiplied and mutated until they were no longer harmless. In the ensuing chaos, many stations failed. For the survivors, their only hope rests in finding a way to wipe out the Quill.

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

565 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2001

About the author

Having written 25 novels (and counting) published by DAW Books, as well as numerous short stories, and editing several anthologies, in 2022, Julie E. Czerneda was inducted in the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. Her science fiction and fantasy combines her training and love of biology with a boundless curiosity and optimism, winning multiple awards. Julie's recent releases include the standalone novel To Each This World, her first collection Imaginings, and A Shift of Time, part of her Night's Edge fantasy series. For more visit czerneda.com Julie is represented by Sara Megibow of Megibow Literary Agency LLC.

Reviews

[Justine · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

An interesting and unusual take on first contact, with so many great little details included throughout.

I loved the whole setup and presentation of station life, the plight the residents suffer, and the absolute cluelessness of the Earthers about the realities of the station.The book was pretty fast paced through the first 2/3 with the characters just moving from crisis to crisis pretty much nonstop.

The last 1/3 was a bit slower, untangling the whole mystery of the Quill and of the main character's inability to safely make physical contact with others. It's also where the story became a romance, and so your mileage might vary depending on how you feel about that. I thought it was OK; it didn't seem out of place and honestly played well into how the main storyline was resolved.

Overall I found this mostly good, light hearted enjoyment and I would give another book by Czerneda a try.

[Mistybell · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books of all time and one of my favorite Czerneda books. I also love A Thousand Words for Stranger. This was a very character driven novel and I think this was the first time I was really aware of a character driven story vs. a plot driven story. I loved the characters in this book. (I read it years ago and so I don't remember anyone's name.) What happens to people when they are offered an entire universe to settle, and then are forced to live on space stations due to an alien lifeform that kills off humans on other planets. Earth is afraid to let them come back, space station life is forced communal life and there isn't enough of anything to keep everyone satisfied. Then along comes someone who thinks she might have the answer. Someone whose parents were responsible for the deaths of thousands (millions?) of colonists. But she can't do it alone. It also some incredibly beautiful prose.

[Oleksandr Zholud · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is SF space opera/first contact novel. It was a Philip K. Dick Award Nominee (2002). I read is as a part of monthly reading in January 2020 at The Sword and Laser group.

The book starts very interesting: a couple flies to an unregistered terraformed world. The wife is about to give birth, when she find out that her husband is a grandson of the terraformer, who changed this world (which is great) and that the terraformer’s name was Susan Witts (which is very bad), who, it assumed, infected the terraformed worlds with the Quill, which killed all humans there and also lead to other problems, like all colony ships had to dock to space stations (which never assumed such population density) or try to return to Earth (and be destroyed due to the fear of contamination). The wife gives birth and a baby boy in named Pardell to honor the name of the world to which they fly and husband’s father. So, in a very brief intro we are made aware of the setting and then the couple dies (?) during the landing, for the Quill are on this planet as well.

Then we fast forward two decades to the real story that starts at the Thromberg Station, one of a few that received a great number of former colonists. Our main protagonists there are Aaron Pardell (see above) and his friend, a giant of a man, Hugh Malley. We, the readers get accustomed with how the situation of extreme population density affected the station (sleeping in shifts, re-using everything they have, a barter-like economy, etc). There are newcomers: a research ship from Earth. The third and maybe most interesting protagonist is introduced: Gail Smith, a born diplomat (and manipulator) who decided instead to become a scientist and reconquer the terraformed worlds from the Quill.

The setup is very promising even if it sometimes doesn’t hold water, like the idea that all terraformed worlds were ready for colonist at the same moment (and terraforming was extremely fast, like years). The true problem of the novel is that it started to re-iterate and prolong the story unnecessary, often with short chapters, each ending with a cliff-hanger. So, what started as a 4-star read ended up 3-star story, which an interesting and unusual ending.

[Lee (the Book Butcher) · Rating 3 out of 5]

a trope breaker that mirrors the uniqueness of the author's background. Czerneda is a brilliant biologist turned author, and that fresh perspective is evident in this book. not your normal Sci-Fi fair. there are so many refreshingly odd details that took me off guard. I am not going to list them here but if you do read this put a few trope breakers in the commits.

The story starts out explaining how earth's big scale terraforming expansion project is turn back by a killer mysterious entity. the first wave of colonist killed with few report how. the other colonist are turn back from earth by force and forced onto crowed space stations that where we meet our heroes. Gail Smith a scientist in the mold of the author is looking for the only known survivor of the deadly "quill effect". the politics depicted are fascinating. but the storyline is bogged down and the pace is awful. Gail finally gets her test subject and is surprised to find out he has special abilities. Aaron bring along he overprotective best friend and they are off to rediscover a terraformed planet believed to have quill that also happened be Aaron birth place. the story becomes more compelling if not faster paced as Aaron is subjected to test and the nature of the quill is discussed the true purpose of the book. Gail has many love interested chief among them Aaron her test subject himself. many have complained about trite love narrative but I think it's necessary because it's part of Aaron Quill effect abilities. they get to the planet and make contact all along being pressed by unexpected dangers.

on the surface in the company of other is just another first contact tale, but told from a expert biologist viewpoint a woman whos profession was to think about organisms in ecosystems. using that expertise she created one of the most believable extra terrestrial entities in literature. not a ferocious killer but a cognitive fungi. the debate over how sentient a being the quill is gives the general public a look into scientist outlook. that entity is the reason to read this book everything else is secondary. the writing style is dry hard science presented as analytical it sucks a lot of the emotion and suspense out of the narrative. the plot is almost non existent and even if the world building is good the set up is expansive and leave many to ditch the book before the quill make it's appearance the characters are well written and the author using shifting view points to great effect there are even some really entertaining Segway in between character perspectives. I would only recommend this to the avid sci-fi lover who want to read something a little different.

[Dawn F · Rating 3 out of 5]

I couldn't get into this book for the longest time. The characters did nothing for me, I felt we were missing a lot of information to set the stage of the story, like this was book two of a series and I had skipped the first. The book tries to make up for its abrupt start by a lot of infodumping which is a terrible way to tell a story, as it doesn't let you experience the action or get emotionally involved.

The result is I was bored through half the book, and thought nothing really happened. Then it changed. The infodumping had stopped and by now there *was* a setting and a story, and suddenly I was engrosed. The last half of the book flew by and I really enjoyed the first contact plot.

Three stars for a good but highly unevenly paced story.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

One star is for if I wasn't able (through some failing of the book) to finish it. Two stars is for if I was able to finish but wish I hadn't bothered. Some background:

For me, a book is worthwhile if it stimulates me emotionally (through the characters) or intellectually (through the ideas). I love the characters in the Liaden series series to death, but I can't say that the ideas appeal to me in any particular way. Karl Schroeder, on the other hand, writes some of the most dazzlingly imaginative (and accessible!) far-future SF I have ever encountered, but I don't care at all about the characters. Lois McMaster Bujold generally excels at both and that is why I love her to death.

So.

In the Company of Others did neither of those things. The pacing and plot were a mess. The whole beginning part where they were trying to get Pardell off of the station needed a good edit; much of the action was irrelevant to the main plot, and the information could easily have been incorporated elsewhere. The two romantic leads did not meet until about halfway through the book, and by that time I was half convinced that Gail was destined to give in to Malley's bipolar advances.

Characterization was erratic. The romance (when it did make an appearance) was composed almost entirely of bizarrely strong physical attraction.

Speaking of, from what I figure Pardell should be 20. He's received little to no formal education and has spent his whole life on and around that space station. Gail is, presumably, older. She is very smart, yes, but to be put in charge of this mission means she's spent quite a lot of time getting educated, playing politics, and establishing herself within the scientific community. I'd expect her to be at least in her 40's. Even if she was in her 30's she'd still be cradle-robbing. With such a great imbalance as this, it would have to be very, very persuasive to convince me that they can view each other as equals. (Bujold did this very well, in my opinion. The age difference is gigantic, but they both contribute something to the relationship and respect each other.)

And the Quill! Make! No! Sense! Too often I felt like they worked that way because the author wanted them to work that way but didn't want to bother actually thinking up a coherent justification.

I'm a bit surprised at myself, actually. I wanted to put the book down during the interminable station bit but...I didn't. It wasn't through any sense of curiosity--I had a strong hunch from the writing style that the mystery of the Quill would not be resolved to my satisfaction. It wasn't for the characters either, really. I think it's because I had this vague idea that it was on my to-read list for a good reason so I wanted to give it a fair shot. (I just checked--it was a Nebula Award Nominee. That would be the reason.)

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

When humans reach space and start terraforming new worlds, they first encounter an extra-terrestrial organism they called the Quill. The terraformers thought them a barely sentient oddity, and kept them as a sort of pet. But when the first wave of colonists try to land on the new worlds, the Quill turn mysteriously lethal, killing any who land on the new planets. As panicked colonists turn back to the space stations who don't have room for them, and an overcrowed Earth fires on returning colonists out of fear of Quill contamination, the terraformer who introduced the Quill is demonized by popular opinion, and commits suicide out of guilt and despair.

Fast forward several generations later; Earth's scientific wunderkind, Dr. Gail Smith, is the foremost expert on the Quill. But that's not saying much, since no-one has ever managed to get a sample of the Quill to study; machines can't find them, and most humans die on contact. Gail thinks she might have located a man who lived through contact, though, a descendant of that original terraformer. But if Aaron Pardell even exists, he lives on Thromberg Station, where an overcrowded, highly unstable, stratified mob mentality has emerged over the past years of isolation from Earth. Can she even find him, and if so, will studying him provide the key to conquering the Quill?

Czerneda has done some excellent world-building; almost too well done. It was SO detailed, and took forever to get through, so that I had to put the book down from time to time to relax my brain. But I really liked Aaron; I think that's what got me through the book, since I wanted to see what came of him.

[S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book looks at the prospect of living off-planet in a closed society. It looks at what it means to be different--so different that you are alone. How do people act when they are in fear of you? What will you do about it. And all from an well-written science fiction base.

[Dee · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book felt like a Jody Foster movie. The concept was great, intriguing - I didn't give it one star only because of that. Otherwise, the writing style was too emotional for my liking, with every facial expression, internal thought, eyebrow raised, and nuanced body language painstakingly explained and yet sometimes also bizarrely not explained but just observed, as if the reader, having been subjected to page after page of explanations, should at those points understand what the author was trying to convey. I think my only favorite character was Grant. He was the only one whose actions and speech and body language didn't annoy me, the only one who acted sensibly and with some semblance of recognizable motive. The rest grated on my nerves. A lot. The only reason I read til the end was because I really wanted to see the solution the characters dreamed up. Even that was, sadly in the end, not that interesting or even clear.

[Dave Packard · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book never really grabbed me - I liked the characters ok, but didn’t love them, you know? The plot was ok and the premise was interesting, but just not enough to get my engines going. I really didn’t care that the two main people got together in the end, I was just “meh.”

[Reyna · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was OK. I was just expecting a bit more, that's all.
It wasn't bad though. Still a good time if you have nothing else to do.

Why wasn't it excellent? Well, probably because I was too pissed off at the main female character for most of the book, after a while I just felt disappointed with Gail.

In the book it's stated that she is such a genius and oh so smart but I never saw evidence of it. Supposedly she had handled conspiracies and intrigue to get the academic career that she had, why then is she so blatantly naive and stupid when she comes to the station?

I hate perfect characters that always do the right thing all the time, but I also hate stupid main characters...

I was also annoyed at how they so quickly came to the right conclusions about the Quill... Not believable.

But still not too bad.

[StarMan · Rating 2 out of 5]

REVIEW: Slow. 100+ pages just to get a guy off a space station. First 5% & last 20% interesting. Rest = *yawn*.

VERDICT: 2.33 stars for me. . Maybe 3+, if you like drawn-out drama, and some odd "romance" in your SF.

[AndrewP · Rating 3 out of 5]

This an usual take on a first contact story with a twist and some morality questions at the end.
Overall I enjoyed this book once I finished it. But during the reading I found it slow and a bit of a chore. At 500+ pages I only just finished it before my library load expired, and that was over a weeks vacation at Christmas.

There were a few good characters but most of them were a bit stereotypical. Not necessarily a bad thing in a story driven plot, but in such a long book I expected more. I also had a problem with the characters being super smart, but missing the obvious for the longest time.

Quite well written as you learn most of the plot along with the main characters. A short prologue gives a bit of background that made things a bit to obvious in my opinion. Still, there were some good ideas here, just dragged out far to much for me.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

Saw this book on a list of sci-fi books you "have" to read and decided to give it a whirl. After all, I haven't read much sci-fi lately and the premise, coupled with a female author, seemed to promise something new. So I gave it a shot. Turned out to be a decent book, but it was far below my expectations.

The premise is pretty much as the synopsis tells it. But from there everything felt two-dimensional. So much so that at one point about halfway through I put this away. After 200 pages I just didn't care what happened to anyone. But about a week later I picked it back up to finish. In the end, I still didn't care. Nobody was likable, and the only emotional attachment I had was to the actual "bad guy" Quill, who in the end become harmless and victims of humanity.

Here's the way it plays out. Aaron Pardell, the "survivor," is nice enough, but lacks anything redeeming about himself. He lets himself get pushed around and exists pretty much on the fringe of everything and everyone. Gail Smith is the brilliant -- yet beautiful! -- scientist who figures it all out but is bullied by everyone and isn't "complete" until she finds a man to love. Hugh Malley, Aaron's best friend, is a huge bulldozer of a man who is incredibly intelligent but loves to use violence as a first resort and sleeps around unashamedly. Grant (I forget his first name), is the military escort for Gail Smith...with a secret of his own. He'd be likable, but the author pretty much paints him the way you'd expect. And there's a host of other side characters who are all stereotypes as well, including another beautiful scientist who falls for Malley and another doctor who chooses his female assistants based on looks and their willingness to sleep with him. (MeToo much?)

All in all, the plot was enough to keep me to the end, but the characters weren't. And, from a female author, I expected more than the cardboard female characters who were ALL good looking, conniving, and in search of a male counterpart. It just seemed so 1950s. So, if the plot sounds interesting (and the premise is really quite good), and you can stomach cut-out characters, this isn't a bad book. But if you value characters you can like and root for, I can't recommend this book.

[Chrystal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Have read other science fiction novels by Julie Czerneda and loved them (in particular, her Species Imperative series). Therefore, I began reading this book with hopeful anticipation.

The story is very good and the big ideas intriguing. However, they too often get lost. This novel would have benefited from an editor requesting that it be cut by at least one-third. (Editors sometimes ask authors to lengthen their novels, which might have happened here.) Too much of the book includes unnecessary description, comment, even whole sections. I found myself skipping a lot, trying to pick up the lost (or buried) thread of the story.

For these reasons, I am ambivalent about rating this work. Settled for 3 stars, with 2 for writing and 4 for story/ideas.

['Nathan Burgoine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really decent and deep delve science fiction novel from Canadian Czerneda, this puts humanity in far-reaching space stations, when their attempts at terraforming went terribly wrong. Biological disaster left Earth with no choice but to quarantine all those settlers - trapping them in the midst of nowhere on the stations, and unable to land on the planets that were contaminated.

One man holds the key to potentially reversing the disaster, and giving those space-born individuals a second chance at feeling fresh air.

If you like your science fiction a whole lot psychological and inclusive of the characters having debates over topics (in this case, what constitutes a viable life form that should be respected, for one), it's a good read.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting concept, but a mediocre climax.

[Wayne McCoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

'In the Company of Others' by Julie E. Czerneda was the January pick for my online book club. I thought the book was pretty good.

In the future, we travel to other planets and terraform, but something goes wrong. A species called the Quill is found and they are deadly to most humans. When a baby is rescued from the planet, years later, it is determined that he may be the key to solving the conflict with the aliens, either through destruction or understanding.

I liked the complex motives of the many characters. There is a love story that develops along the way, and I was less crazy about that, but your mileage may vary.

[piranha · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's been many years since I first read this, and upon re-reading I wondered a little why it had stuck in my mind as particularly good. My reading tastes must have developed a lot more than I realized. Not that it's bad, mind. But it's not that impressive, and parts are outright... embarrassing. I'm guessing it was because it had interesting aliens, for which I am a total sucker, and believable characters, which often is a crapshoot in SF-- when you get big ideas, characters can get short shrift. But Czerneda always delivers both.

I probably have near-zero patience these days for the sort of romance that takes place here -- the kind of romance where people fall in love head over heels based solely on physical attraction. I know that happens in real life (and it rarely ends well), but I hate this in fiction because fiction has only words to convey what attracts people to each other, it has nothing beyond that, no "chemistry", no non-verbal connections, and so the words need to carry a whole lot more information. Alas most bad romance writers don't realize that (or maybe they expect the reader to fill in the blanks based on other equally bad romances), and so we get this fait accompli which tends to feel empty to me instead of being filled with the kind of wonder the real thing elicits. Ms Czerneda's romance never makes my heart go pitter-patter; instead I generally wish it weren't part of the books -- my favourite is the Web Shifter series where the most important relationships are friendships (though come to think of it, the primary one one also has this distressing instant simpatico thing going which at first clued me falsely into it becoming a romance as well, but at least there's development).

In this case the romance actually has an important point to make, which has already been made in other ways in the first part of the book, but those attempts don't really carry the message well enough -- how horrifically lonely it must be for a human being to experience the touch of other humans as painful. So I am okay with it being in the book on principle, but I wish there had been more substance to the development. Especially since those two people must be what, at least 20 years apart in age? There is a tremendous imbalance in experience here, two people from dramatically different worlds coming together, and it doesn't feel amazing to me, instead it feels weird, like Gail is robbing the cradle, and with somebody over whom she has power as a scientist versus test subject to boot -- Malley is right to distrust her. I'd have been happier if the romance had been between Malley and Aaron (no, not because then it would be gay, though that would be cool as well, but simply because they had a lifetime to grow close, and they do clearly love each other deeply -- I find that relationship much more emotionally fulfilling to read about).

In general the characters are well-developed, and the interactions between the scientists shows that Czerneda has some practical life experience in navigating that type of environment; this is similarly satisfying as that aspect of Species Imperative, and Gail has a similar competence to Mac.

Anyway, onto the sfnal part, which is more satisfying. I liked those aspects, especially the life on a crowded space station, though it would have been a good idea to foreshadow the later actions of the 'siders; that came out of the blue, and it would have been really nifty if one could have suspected it -- as an inveterate mystery reader I am always looking out for clues and derive a lot of pleasure from piecing things together as a book progresses. The dealings with the alien Quill are IMO not developed enough, or at least the pacing seems off; everything happens very quickly at the very end. The central warning sort of goes under -- a warning humans will likely not heed, because it's not like they ever have before; the warning about environmental contamination and its unforeseen and sometimes deadly consequences. Maybe this book tries to do too many things -- I could easily see this being at least a duology.

The ending made me sad in the way Flowers for Algernon made me sad.

[terpkristin]

Man, Sword & Laser feels like it's letting me down. I've abandoned so many picks in the last 12 months or so.

I tried to get into this. I read in print, I listened to audio. I just didn't care. When I knew it was waiting, I opted to do other things. Hopefully February is better, since January 2020 was definitely a no-go.

[S.A. Parham · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had serious trouble putting this book down while reading it, and considering the length, it swallowed a large amount of my time. The alien Quill have taken over Earth's terraformed worlds, stranding colonists on overcrowded space stations. Since the Quill Effect is deadly, no one has been able to grasp a sample to figure out a way to clear it off the colony worlds. Throw together a determined scientist, a man who survived the Quill Effect as a newborn, a jack-of-all-trades stationer, and a military officer with enough determination, and eventually the problem is solved. I didn't expect the solution presented at the end and was very pleasantly surprised. Characters are likable and (mostly) believable, and of course there's a nice little love story tucked inside the larger plot.

[William Saeednia-Rankin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fantastic read of the sort where putting down the book took a serious amount of willpower.

I'm not sure what to say, but this was a very intelligent Science Fiction story, cleverly written to raise important questions, with an overarching mystery...and it was a serious page turner with a romance that pulled at my heartstrings.

I shot through the last quarter and now I need to remember how to breath.

Wow!

[Catwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved this book. I hated this book. There were great moments and incredibly vivid characters but it also seemed really drawn out. I am glad I read it but at the same time when I was finally done I wanted to donate it to my brother's pet rabbit. I kept it in the end.

[Stephanie Foust · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great world building in this novel of terraforming meets accidental introduction of a seemingly harmless alien life form,the Quill.Realistic and intelligently written characters in this stand-alone book.Highly recommended.

[John Stimson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A complex build-up concluded with a magic resolution. I enjoyed reading it but felt let down by the ending.

[Anne-Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This could have been a five star book except for the shoehorned in insta-love situation (and very slow beginning).

The novel opens up during humanity's deep space colonization efforts going wrong thanks to the Quill Effect - instant death when in contact with a formerly benign iridescent fungal/strand-like organism that spacers wore. As Sol shuts down and prevents all humans outside the system from returning home with the contagion, rumours begin to swirl of a survivor. Two decades later, and Thromberg Station is visited by a research vessel seeking that very survivor - Aaron Pardell, born with the inability to touch another human being without extreme pain. And he holds the secret to curing the Quill Effect.

The first half of the novel is spent on Thromberg station - we learn a lot about Thromberg's culture, people, and history and we're introduced to some of our key characters, including Pardell and his best friend, Malley. The second half is spent travelling to one specific planet and then attempting to fix everything going horribly wrong (because humans). Unfortunately, I think readers would've benefitted from at least 50 less pages at Thromberg and 50 more pages in the second half.
And no goddamn insta-love and pseudo-love triangle. I refuse to believe Czerneda managed to write herself into a corner so badly with the Quill's conceptualization that the only way things could have been resolved is Gail Smith and Aaron Pardell falling madly in love in a matter of days and their bond helping save everyone. She's a good writer so no excuses.

Gail Smith is the quintessential driven, smart, self-centered, seeking scientific glory, character. And she throws a lot of the away after she meets Aaron. I could've believed their relationship more if they had spent more than a few weeks together! It was honestly maddening how quickly those two fell in "love" (all the more tortured because they couldn't touch). Meanwhile Gail and Malley have a weird semi-sexual tension thing going on too... This book would've been a lot better without those elements, in my opinion.

Thankfully the writing, the rest of the plot, the world building, and secondary characters like Malley and Grant (who needed his own POV chapters I think) made up for it and had me reading all the way to the conclusion. Which was satisfying but could've used more pages to wrap things up in my opinion. The short story added to my edition, "The Franchise," was excellent as it follows some of the minor characters from Thromberg Station and I really recommend it.

Overall, this was a book I picked up completely on whim - had never heard of the author or title - and enjoyed the experience (except for the above ranting). I'll probably check out more of Czerneda's works because her worldbuilding and characters (for the most part) are fantastic.

[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was really good. Czerneda doesn't have many stand alones, but they are both good. This book kinda had a slow start, but not really. The story was always going and things were always happening, but it took till half way before all the main characters were on one ship, conscious, and talking. Until then, it's a mixture of world building, character intro, and action. This one uses Czerneda formula, but has some different flavors, some different character dynamics. The ending has a nice bitter sweet touch to it. The ending feels like the opposite of her newest book "To Each This World." This one also has probably my fav romance she has woven into her scifi (Im usually not crazy about her romance aspects), but I will say, in the first half, she could have made Malley and Aaron gay and it would have also been really good and gay. However, I approve of how the romance worked out. Very Pushing Daisies. There were some good ethics questions about intelligence, life, and just a bunch of stuff. It was so good. No major complaints that I can think of at the moment.

[Genesee Rickel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought the Quill were cool, and how they related to Aaron was interesting. But damn did this book move slow! The romance that evolves is pretty much insta-love, but it seems like it takes WAY longer to develop than it truly does because of the book’s pacing. Let’s not forget the choices the author made to refer to the only prominent character of color (a woman) as “exotic” (within a sexual context, in the thoughts of a white man considering how his friends would react). Just because I’m reading this book in 2020 doesn’t mean that shit wasn’t racist in 2001 when the book was published. There is also a moment when people are horrified at wha someone with a mental illness “could do” and they are described as monsters. What utter, ableist trash! Ugh, these two moments in the book really took me out of enjoying the story.

[Richard Eyres · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first group read of the year for the Sword and Laser group. Never heard of this author before as it falls in an area that i am not really bothered about - space opera.
The story is fine, but the characters felt a little flat to me and i didn't form a strong connection with any of them. The story pacing was sometimes a little slow - then suddenly jumped to the next segment of the story.
This is a stand alone book, which is a plus in my book. Too many times the author want (or is persuaded) to write a trilogy, then the basic story will not support it. This is self contained and doesn't need a sequel.

[Clara · Rating 3 out of 5]

mid, but at least the prose was readable