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Cyteen #1
The Betrayal
The first part of C.J. Cherryh's award-winning triad introduces the planet and complex politics of Cyteen, part of the Alliance/Union universe. Resources are limited and the scientific compound of Reseune, which produces computer-trained clones called azis, is a major power center. Reseune's lead scientist, the fierce and cruel Dr. Ariane Emory, has dominated Cyteen's political scene for decades. When she is assassinated, Reseune officials railroad a suspect and then experiment by creating a personal duplicate of Ariane. The bad news is, a clone isn't good enough. They want to recreate Dr. Emory's mind as well, and devise an artificial life for the little Ariane who'll be raised just like the original.
359 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
17 people are currently reading
1455 people want to read
About the author
C.J. Cherryh
293 books3,571 followersCurrently resident in Spokane, Washington, C.J. Cherryh has won four Hugos and is one of the best-selling and most critically acclaimed authors in the science fiction and fantasy field. She is the author of more than forty novels. Her hobbies include travel, photography, reef culture, Mariners baseball, and, a late passion, figure skating: she intends to compete in the adult USFSA track. She began with the modest ambition to learn to skate backwards and now is working on jumps. She sketches, occasionally, cooks fairly well, and hates house work; she loves the outdoors, animals wild and tame, is a hobbyist geologist, adores dinosaurs, and has academic specialties in Roman constitutional law and bronze age Greek ethnography. She has written science fiction since she was ten, spent ten years of her life teaching Latin and Ancient History on the high school level, before retiring to full time writing, and now does not have enough hours in the day to pursue all her interests. Her studies include planetary geology, weather systems, and natural and man-made catastrophes, civilizations, and cosmology…in fact, there's very little that doesn't interest her. A loom is gathering dust and needs rethreading, a wooden ship model awaits construction, and the cats demand their own time much more urgently. She works constantly, researches mostly on the internet, and has books stacked up and waiting to be written.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
February 18, 2010
5.0 to 5.5 stars. This is one of the most brilliantly written books I have ever read and I believe is a work of special genius (no pun intended based on the subject matter of the book). This is not an EASY book to read and is not what I would describe as TONS of FUN. It is a complex, richly detailed, psychological science fiction mystery peopled by characters of vast intellect and extreme cunning. This makes the story one in whiuch the reader must pay close attention. However, the pay off for such attention is well worth it. This is a very important book. In sum this book is BRILLIANT, VERY ORIGINAL AND A SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT. HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION.
May 4, 2025
La valoración y reseña de esta primera parte no es definitiva ya que Cyteen es un libro partido en tres partes para facilitar su edición.
En esta primera parte nos encontramos con la introducción de C.J. Cherryh a un mundo donde la Humanidad se ha expandido por la Galaxia y la clonación es habitual.
Tiene un inicio interesante, la autora escribe sin andarse por las ramas y te da las referencias necesarias para no perderte. Hay un giro donde se anima bastante la cosa y lo que creía que iba a ser una historia más detectivesca al final cambia y termina siendo un análisis de cómo la educación y los factores externos influyen en el desarrollo de una personalidad. Que como análisis me parece interesante pero leer 500 páginas de cada cosa que le ocurre a una niña clon me ha terminado cansando un poco.
Y se termina sin más, por lo que para leer la historia completa es necesario que tengas el segundo y tercero disponibles. En cuanto los termine tal vez modifique la valoración.
En esta primera parte nos encontramos con la introducción de C.J. Cherryh a un mundo donde la Humanidad se ha expandido por la Galaxia y la clonación es habitual.
Tiene un inicio interesante, la autora escribe sin andarse por las ramas y te da las referencias necesarias para no perderte. Hay un giro donde se anima bastante la cosa y lo que creía que iba a ser una historia más detectivesca al final cambia y termina siendo un análisis de cómo la educación y los factores externos influyen en el desarrollo de una personalidad. Que como análisis me parece interesante pero leer 500 páginas de cada cosa que le ocurre a una niña clon me ha terminado cansando un poco.
Y se termina sin más, por lo que para leer la historia completa es necesario que tengas el segundo y tercero disponibles. En cuanto los termine tal vez modifique la valoración.
October 2, 2025
I was introduced to Cherryh’s work with Downbelow Station nearly (god) four years ago. I adored it, and bought what’s branded as the sequel (actually just the chronological next story set in the same universe) almost immediately. It then sat on my bookshelf shaming me until, oh, late-September. But, having finally overcome years and years of inertia to read the first book of the collected trilogy, I can confirm it is really, truly excellent. Entirely deserving of the Hugo it got back in the ‘80s.
The book is set on the planet of Cyteen – the second non-terran world ever discovered by humanity with its own biosphere, and the only one without advanced native life. It is mostly set, specifically, in the cutting edge laboratory complex that pioneered both the industrial-scale cloning and the hypnotic education ‘tapes’ that played such a large part in Cyteen (and the larger Union around it) winning independence from Earth and establishing itself as a galactic power. Now Arianna Emory, the scientific genius behind much of that pioneering who rules the labs (and Union’s scientific apparatus in general) like a queen, is doing everything she needs to to secure secrecy and unlimited funding for one new project. Well over a century old, she’s well aware that she’s pushing the edges of what Union’s rejuvenation therapies can do – and with legacy in mind, she is determined to find a way to clone and reproduce the history-shaping genius of, well, people like her. As things transpire, it will end up being needed sooner than anyone anticipated.
So this is book 1 of a trilogy, and I do see why most editions have them all bundled together in one volume. This is basically a book-length prologue for what is clearly the real meat of the story. It is, as it happens, a prologue that’s incredibly interesting and compelling in its own right, at least for me. But still, it is table setting and a bit of rising action, a vast number of characters with barely any complete arcs, and an utter, complete lack of redemption or catharsis. As a stand-alone reading experience it would be pretty unsatisfying.
One of the things I greatly appreciated about Downbelow Station is just how coolly and ruthlessly the narrative treats its characters; Cyteen shares this (and far more than Cherryh’s other work that I’ve read does). Far more than the truly overwhelming majority of genre fiction I’ve read, these feel like events that could really happen. Which is to say, all the fantastical technology actually feels like technology rather than convenient plot devices, and chance and circumstance seem blind and uncaring rather than clearly elevating one or two or ten people as The Protagonists of the Universe (impressive work, given that this is a story where two or three of them objectively literally are).
It is also ruthless in the sense of being largely a story of a) bureaucratic politics and favour-trading and b) the abuse of the vulnerable by the powerful, and all of it in what is a rich, functional, optimistic and outward-looking slave society. All of Union society is built on the Azis – genetically engineered and mass-produced clones providing every sort of labour and subjects for every sort of experiment one can imagine. Some are more privileged than others, and some citizens treat them with more respect and care than their peers – but the story is quite matter-of-fact and almost off-handed in showing or mentioning all the different ways they are abused or used up and disposed of. Given where the story is set, it is unsurprising that ‘abolitionists’ are a bunch of boogeymen and dangerous cranks, but it adds something to the quiet horror of it all that no one (not even the thoroughly indoctrinated and tape-educated Azi POVs we get) of real importance to the narrative ever questions the whole system.
In addition to all the in-universe exposition, the book also has little excerpts from an in-universe educational serial giving glimpses into the whole industrial economy that is the Azis life cycle. Which is exactly the sort of thing that is just total catnip for me in any circumstance, but was especially well-suited for this I think. The line of how tragically the rejuvenation therapies just don’t help with the strain and injuries they tend to get and so aren’t worth applying, and how this means the caste of Azis grown for manual labor rarely lives past 40, is probably one of the most striking in the whole book.
Not that it’s just Azis who are mistreated. This is a story very interested in how much different people are considered to matter by their societies, and the horror that is declaring someone to be a Great Man (or, in this case, Great Woman). Ari Emory is indisputably a genius, has personally advanced the fields of cloning and genetic manipulation by leaps and bounds, has spent decades making herself the beating heart of scientific politics (and funding) throughout Union. And so the fact that she habitually abuses her personal Azis (and how cavalier she is declaring research subjects lost causes and terminating them as soon as their purpose is complete) passes basically without comment, and the number of younger (much younger) and more junior researchers or interns she has coerced into sex over the decades just an embarrassing foible one keeps quiet and works around. (One of the most striking conversations near the end of the book is one of the senior bureaucrats in the Science Directorate explaining to one of our protagonists how he does sympathize with him and is doing what he can to protect him, but making it quite explicit that he considered Ari a friend and will not stand for him publicly besmirching her legacy).
I have read a decent number of stories written in the ‘70s and ‘80s over the last couple of months, and it’s striking how much less dated Cherryh feels than most majority of them. Not not dated, to be sure; there’s any number of verbal and stylistic tics that are very 20th century (people really stopped using ‘damn!’ as an exclamation with teeth at some point), and the tropes and worldbuilding are clearly very much in conversation with now-basically-forgotten traditions of space opera and futurology. But still – the character work is embarrassingly better and more devoted to psychological realism than any of the book’s contemporaries (and a great many well-regarded books released now too, to be fair), and Union as it’s portrayed (racially integrated, genuinely gender-egalitarian, a horrifying expansionist scientific-industrial slave state) feels far closer to modern sociological-minded space opera than most of what I’ve seen that was in the water as it released. Though I suppose it might be more accurate to just say that this is a common ancestor of a lot of more recent fiction I’ve enjoyed as well.
Anyway, great book, thorough recommendation, looking forward to starting book two.
The book is set on the planet of Cyteen – the second non-terran world ever discovered by humanity with its own biosphere, and the only one without advanced native life. It is mostly set, specifically, in the cutting edge laboratory complex that pioneered both the industrial-scale cloning and the hypnotic education ‘tapes’ that played such a large part in Cyteen (and the larger Union around it) winning independence from Earth and establishing itself as a galactic power. Now Arianna Emory, the scientific genius behind much of that pioneering who rules the labs (and Union’s scientific apparatus in general) like a queen, is doing everything she needs to to secure secrecy and unlimited funding for one new project. Well over a century old, she’s well aware that she’s pushing the edges of what Union’s rejuvenation therapies can do – and with legacy in mind, she is determined to find a way to clone and reproduce the history-shaping genius of, well, people like her. As things transpire, it will end up being needed sooner than anyone anticipated.
So this is book 1 of a trilogy, and I do see why most editions have them all bundled together in one volume. This is basically a book-length prologue for what is clearly the real meat of the story. It is, as it happens, a prologue that’s incredibly interesting and compelling in its own right, at least for me. But still, it is table setting and a bit of rising action, a vast number of characters with barely any complete arcs, and an utter, complete lack of redemption or catharsis. As a stand-alone reading experience it would be pretty unsatisfying.
One of the things I greatly appreciated about Downbelow Station is just how coolly and ruthlessly the narrative treats its characters; Cyteen shares this (and far more than Cherryh’s other work that I’ve read does). Far more than the truly overwhelming majority of genre fiction I’ve read, these feel like events that could really happen. Which is to say, all the fantastical technology actually feels like technology rather than convenient plot devices, and chance and circumstance seem blind and uncaring rather than clearly elevating one or two or ten people as The Protagonists of the Universe (impressive work, given that this is a story where two or three of them objectively literally are).
It is also ruthless in the sense of being largely a story of a) bureaucratic politics and favour-trading and b) the abuse of the vulnerable by the powerful, and all of it in what is a rich, functional, optimistic and outward-looking slave society. All of Union society is built on the Azis – genetically engineered and mass-produced clones providing every sort of labour and subjects for every sort of experiment one can imagine. Some are more privileged than others, and some citizens treat them with more respect and care than their peers – but the story is quite matter-of-fact and almost off-handed in showing or mentioning all the different ways they are abused or used up and disposed of. Given where the story is set, it is unsurprising that ‘abolitionists’ are a bunch of boogeymen and dangerous cranks, but it adds something to the quiet horror of it all that no one (not even the thoroughly indoctrinated and tape-educated Azi POVs we get) of real importance to the narrative ever questions the whole system.
In addition to all the in-universe exposition, the book also has little excerpts from an in-universe educational serial giving glimpses into the whole industrial economy that is the Azis life cycle. Which is exactly the sort of thing that is just total catnip for me in any circumstance, but was especially well-suited for this I think. The line of how tragically the rejuvenation therapies just don’t help with the strain and injuries they tend to get and so aren’t worth applying, and how this means the caste of Azis grown for manual labor rarely lives past 40, is probably one of the most striking in the whole book.
Not that it’s just Azis who are mistreated. This is a story very interested in how much different people are considered to matter by their societies, and the horror that is declaring someone to be a Great Man (or, in this case, Great Woman). Ari Emory is indisputably a genius, has personally advanced the fields of cloning and genetic manipulation by leaps and bounds, has spent decades making herself the beating heart of scientific politics (and funding) throughout Union. And so the fact that she habitually abuses her personal Azis (and how cavalier she is declaring research subjects lost causes and terminating them as soon as their purpose is complete) passes basically without comment, and the number of younger (much younger) and more junior researchers or interns she has coerced into sex over the decades just an embarrassing foible one keeps quiet and works around. (One of the most striking conversations near the end of the book is one of the senior bureaucrats in the Science Directorate explaining to one of our protagonists how he does sympathize with him and is doing what he can to protect him, but making it quite explicit that he considered Ari a friend and will not stand for him publicly besmirching her legacy).
I have read a decent number of stories written in the ‘70s and ‘80s over the last couple of months, and it’s striking how much less dated Cherryh feels than most majority of them. Not not dated, to be sure; there’s any number of verbal and stylistic tics that are very 20th century (people really stopped using ‘damn!’ as an exclamation with teeth at some point), and the tropes and worldbuilding are clearly very much in conversation with now-basically-forgotten traditions of space opera and futurology. But still – the character work is embarrassingly better and more devoted to psychological realism than any of the book’s contemporaries (and a great many well-regarded books released now too, to be fair), and Union as it’s portrayed (racially integrated, genuinely gender-egalitarian, a horrifying expansionist scientific-industrial slave state) feels far closer to modern sociological-minded space opera than most of what I’ve seen that was in the water as it released. Though I suppose it might be more accurate to just say that this is a common ancestor of a lot of more recent fiction I’ve enjoyed as well.
Anyway, great book, thorough recommendation, looking forward to starting book two.
September 5, 2016
After finishing this, I realized there is a type of scifi out there that I just have no tolerance for. Dry, adult scifi that is strictly about the ideas at the expense of expression or fun or the joy that is the future. Put Cherryh in this group alongside KSR, and Isaac Asimov (to some extent, he's probably the only one whose dry play with ideas I find interesting; Asimov's play feels like the play of gods and so fits his style). This was too dialogue driven in that cheating way that scifi writers use because they can't think of a more creative way to move the story (I wanted to shout out read some freaking Le Guin, Clarke or Bradbury for crying out loud! And learn to write dialogue that's not produced by a computer.) I think this one just displaced KSR's 2312 as my least favourite scifi novel ever. I give it two stars though because I appreciate the density and uniqueness of the ideas. The ideas were great, but the execution was lacklustre. I was so bored throughout I had to speed read to make sure I finished it. I'm surprised this won the Hugo.
October 4, 2016
Allá por 1995, cuando sólo leíamos lo que se podía encontrar en papel, conseguí el 2 y el tres de esta saga. Ambos 8/10. Fui incapaz de encontrar el primero.
Y ahora le consigo …¡y vaya fracaso!.
Intrigas políticas aderezadas con personas creadas de forma artificial (tipo clones, vamos, a los que llaman “azi”). Todo dobles juegos, desconfianza y ningún personaje me ha llegado. El Justin es especialmente patético. El resto de personajes les tienes que ir pillando el truco, hasta tal punto que si no fuese porque quería acabarle le hubiese abandonado al 28% porque me aburría el poco desarrollo tanto de la historia como de la Ari/Justin/Jordan & azis asociados.
Como no quiero meter un spoiler del horror no os puedo contar cuando se anima la cosa. Quedaos con que este libro es necesario para disfrutar de los dos siguientes de la trilogía.
Y ahora le consigo …¡y vaya fracaso!.
Intrigas políticas aderezadas con personas creadas de forma artificial (tipo clones, vamos, a los que llaman “azi”). Todo dobles juegos, desconfianza y ningún personaje me ha llegado. El Justin es especialmente patético. El resto de personajes les tienes que ir pillando el truco, hasta tal punto que si no fuese porque quería acabarle le hubiese abandonado al 28% porque me aburría el poco desarrollo tanto de la historia como de la Ari/Justin/Jordan & azis asociados.
Como no quiero meter un spoiler del horror no os puedo contar cuando se anima la cosa. Quedaos con que este libro es necesario para disfrutar de los dos siguientes de la trilogía.
September 10, 2014
Dado que Cyteen es un libro partido en tres partes para facilitar su edición hacer una reseña de la primera parte sin hacer spoliers es complicado.
El argumento explora las posibilidades de la clonación humana, tanto como banco genético de reserva de la especie frente a la dispersión por el espacio como por la factibiliad de recrear la mente del donante. Cherryh se pregunta si es posible crear un clon con la mente de sus original recreando las situaciones (educación, contactos, experiencias...) que desde la infancia acaban conformando la personalidad de una persona. La respuesta: en los dos siguientes libros.
La trama se retuerce sobre si misma, los personajes viven dentro de un clima de desconfianza extrema: todo lo que se dice, o se calla, tiene un signicado o un objetivo, nada parece ser lo que aparenta. Y dentro de todas estas paranoias yo tengo la mía: . A ver si acierto.
El argumento explora las posibilidades de la clonación humana, tanto como banco genético de reserva de la especie frente a la dispersión por el espacio como por la factibiliad de recrear la mente del donante. Cherryh se pregunta si es posible crear un clon con la mente de sus original recreando las situaciones (educación, contactos, experiencias...) que desde la infancia acaban conformando la personalidad de una persona. La respuesta: en los dos siguientes libros.
La trama se retuerce sobre si misma, los personajes viven dentro de un clima de desconfianza extrema: todo lo que se dice, o se calla, tiene un signicado o un objetivo, nada parece ser lo que aparenta. Y dentro de todas estas paranoias yo tengo la mía: . A ver si acierto.
June 21, 2022
While well written, this is exactly the sort of CJ Cherryh novel that I dislike, where much of the story involves characters suffering intense psychological stress over traumatic and what (at least appear to be) no-win situations. Set about a generation after the events in DOWNBELOW STATION, this novel features just a much intrigue, but focuses on the Union world of Cyteen, and specifically its cloning labs. While everyone in the book seems to believe that the clones ("azis") are protected and well-cared for, they are essentially slaves, manipulated by conditioning from birth, that in some ways make them superior to "born men" (at least skill-wise), but at the same time makes them VERY dependent on their human "supervisors" and often emotionally fragile, if not actually unstable. . Warning: this is not a stand-alone novel, and the plot ends without much being resolved, and I'm not really feeling the incentive to pick up the sequel. On the subject of the plot, I'm not really sure that the book's blurb should have mentioned the assassination of Dr. Ariane Emory, since that event happens almost 150 pages into the story. 2.5 stars. When it comes to this universe, I think I'll stick with the CHANUR novels.
September 10, 2010
I think I read this in omnibus form under the title only "Cyteen." I am rereading the whole omnibus now to try to remember it clearly enough to read "Regenesis." Though I don't like the characters (most of them), there is no doubt that they jump off the page. They are scarily real, and reading the book you feel there is no way to escape some of them. The book has a suffocating feel, though again, I'm reading it in omnibus form. This omnibus has no ISBN and is nearly 900 pages long, which is considerably longer than the omnibus advertised as Cyteen on Goodreads already. I was very worried that it might contain "Regenesis" because three different volumes are all called by the same name. However, I believe Regenesis is actually new.
As with so many of Cherryh's plots, it is very difficult to summarize them. The effort (on bookreads.com) done by someone very brave and hard-working to clarify what Cyteen is about, gives you a sense of the setting, which is mostly a terraformed part of the world below the space station above it, and a new lab-planet in formation. The politics, on the other hand, would be very difficult to describe without introducing spoilers. And so, just to summarize, Ari (Ariane Emory) the brilliant geneticist, is working on the planet with her "family", the only human-born people in her city of Reseune, all of whom she basically despises and uses and torments. In any normal life one would expect serious trouble for Ari, and such does arise, but to say more would be to introduce the spoilers I'm determined to avoid.
After reading nine "Foreigner" books on my own, and then 8 of them so far again (aloud), I realize that the early Cherryh's are much more exciting and alive than her later ones. I'm actually getting bored with the Foreigner series as I read aloud pages and pages of the hero's thoughts that are basically the same thoughts as they were pages and pages and books and books ago. Therefore, the fact that no one can possibly be bored by "Cyteen" is a real improvement, in my mind. Since Cyteen was written a long time ago, this is a bad sign for Cherryh's new writing, because as I understand it, "Foreigner" and all its sequels are her new writing, and Cyteen is old. I loved her Chanur series (old) and her Serpent's Reach (old) and her Fortress series (old to medium new). Chanur had the same rush as sitting down to "Star Wars" as a movie (Part III) for the first time. I want that kind of excitement back, along with the anthropological musings and careful constructions of worlds. So, although I am a current fan of C.J. Cherryh, I am not sure that it will hold up.
Back to Cyteen. Exciting. Scary. Interesting. Isolating. All the elements of a creepy horror story on Halloween night, with none of the hokum. I would recommend it, even on second reading.
What I do wonder is if Cherryh actually writes about five books at a time, each in a different series. Does anyone else think that?
As with so many of Cherryh's plots, it is very difficult to summarize them. The effort (on bookreads.com) done by someone very brave and hard-working to clarify what Cyteen is about, gives you a sense of the setting, which is mostly a terraformed part of the world below the space station above it, and a new lab-planet in formation. The politics, on the other hand, would be very difficult to describe without introducing spoilers. And so, just to summarize, Ari (Ariane Emory) the brilliant geneticist, is working on the planet with her "family", the only human-born people in her city of Reseune, all of whom she basically despises and uses and torments. In any normal life one would expect serious trouble for Ari, and such does arise, but to say more would be to introduce the spoilers I'm determined to avoid.
After reading nine "Foreigner" books on my own, and then 8 of them so far again (aloud), I realize that the early Cherryh's are much more exciting and alive than her later ones. I'm actually getting bored with the Foreigner series as I read aloud pages and pages of the hero's thoughts that are basically the same thoughts as they were pages and pages and books and books ago. Therefore, the fact that no one can possibly be bored by "Cyteen" is a real improvement, in my mind. Since Cyteen was written a long time ago, this is a bad sign for Cherryh's new writing, because as I understand it, "Foreigner" and all its sequels are her new writing, and Cyteen is old. I loved her Chanur series (old) and her Serpent's Reach (old) and her Fortress series (old to medium new). Chanur had the same rush as sitting down to "Star Wars" as a movie (Part III) for the first time. I want that kind of excitement back, along with the anthropological musings and careful constructions of worlds. So, although I am a current fan of C.J. Cherryh, I am not sure that it will hold up.
Back to Cyteen. Exciting. Scary. Interesting. Isolating. All the elements of a creepy horror story on Halloween night, with none of the hokum. I would recommend it, even on second reading.
What I do wonder is if Cherryh actually writes about five books at a time, each in a different series. Does anyone else think that?
February 19, 2014
Sub-genre: Political Sci-fi
Literary conflict:Man vs. Man Politician vs. Politician
Solid editing/polish: ✔
Tripple dose of politics:✔
Fun characters: -
Witty repartee: -
Great "how-it-works" technology descriptions: -
Unbelievable moments: -
Rapid head-hopping: -
Great ending: ✔
Thought provoking: ✔
Cyteen is one of the most carefully crafted novels in the Sci-fi genre. This politics heavy novel is not for the action seeker though. Imagine the The Pelican Brief, but without any guns. There's only mention of aliens and spaceships.
It's a bit of a slog, weighing in at just under 600 pages of mostly dialog. Several of the dialogs with the "Uncles" are circular and repeat the same points three times. What a luxurious use of words!
Did I say there was a lot of politics? The literary conflict isMan vs. Man Politician vs. Politician. Don't even consider the book if you don't like a healthy portion of politics in your science fiction.
It's hard in the beginning to guess who the main characters will be, and that usually troubles me. In this case, it's simply a result of such an intricate and rich storyline. The book spans over two decades.
A very respected Goodreads reviewer, Stephen, called this the most brilliantly written book (period). I'll agree that at the paragraph level it's true. The dialog, where it doesn't repeat, is incredibly well done. The book was thought out to the finest detail. Cherryh is masterful.
If I ignore for a second the incredible dialog and the meticulous planning, how about suspense and emotions? Not quite as impressive. I was not prepared for the slow pace and plot. It's a character driven drama. High-action in this book is someone being drugged against their will or getting arrested. And for delivering emotional impact and gotcha moments, I'll look elsewhere.
Do I recommend this book? It's not for everyone, for sure. It's thought provoking, however. No one else is writing anything like this. If you get hooked, it's a huge universe with dozens of books. You'll be happy for a long, long time.
Literary conflict:
Solid editing/polish: ✔
Tripple dose of politics:✔
Fun characters: -
Witty repartee: -
Great "how-it-works" technology descriptions: -
Unbelievable moments: -
Rapid head-hopping: -
Great ending: ✔
Thought provoking: ✔
Cyteen is one of the most carefully crafted novels in the Sci-fi genre. This politics heavy novel is not for the action seeker though. Imagine the The Pelican Brief, but without any guns. There's only mention of aliens and spaceships.
It's a bit of a slog, weighing in at just under 600 pages of mostly dialog. Several of the dialogs with the "Uncles" are circular and repeat the same points three times. What a luxurious use of words!
Did I say there was a lot of politics? The literary conflict is
It's hard in the beginning to guess who the main characters will be, and that usually troubles me. In this case, it's simply a result of such an intricate and rich storyline. The book spans over two decades.
A very respected Goodreads reviewer, Stephen, called this the most brilliantly written book (period). I'll agree that at the paragraph level it's true. The dialog, where it doesn't repeat, is incredibly well done. The book was thought out to the finest detail. Cherryh is masterful.
If I ignore for a second the incredible dialog and the meticulous planning, how about suspense and emotions? Not quite as impressive. I was not prepared for the slow pace and plot. It's a character driven drama. High-action in this book is someone being drugged against their will or getting arrested. And for delivering emotional impact and gotcha moments, I'll look elsewhere.
Do I recommend this book? It's not for everyone, for sure. It's thought provoking, however. No one else is writing anything like this. If you get hooked, it's a huge universe with dozens of books. You'll be happy for a long, long time.
May 26, 2020
The first paperback printing of C. J. Cherryh's large Hugo-winning novel Cyteen was in three parts, each one a separate book, and described as a trilogy.
Part 1: The Betrayal
Part 2: The Rebirth
Part 3: The Vindication
Since then, Cherryh has repudiated that format, and will no longer allow it to be published other than in a single volume. I couldn't find anywhere what the reason for that might have been. But after reading the entire novel, I feel that it could be because part 1 was so incredibly slow that no one would buy parts 2 and 3. While parts 2 and 3 do pick up a little, the writing is generally high on intrigue and low on action. It could be just me, as a non-student of 1970s jargon, but I had trouble understanding the innuendo and perceived threats that were motivating the characters in their decision making throughout the novel.
Fortunately, almost by random chance, I had recently read the precursor books in the correct order before this one. Downbelow Station and Forty Thousand in Gehenna provide important context for the setting of this book. It is set entirely on the Union homeworld of Cyteen, about which much is implied in those earlier books but never directly told. The plot begins (after 200 pages) with the assassination of the rich, powerful, sex-abusing scientist/politician Ariane Emory, of a founding family of Cyteen. A clone of her is grown, and as the girl grows she gradually learns to assume her destiny as a replacement for her predecessor. A somewhat more sympathetic character exists in Justin Warrick and his Azi (bio-engineered servant) partner Grant. Justin himself is a clone of another famous scientist now living in exile. While cloning and psychological programming are givens in this setting, the real science of the novel is political science, which unfortunately is not so interesting to me.
Part 1: The Betrayal
Part 2: The Rebirth
Part 3: The Vindication
Since then, Cherryh has repudiated that format, and will no longer allow it to be published other than in a single volume. I couldn't find anywhere what the reason for that might have been. But after reading the entire novel, I feel that it could be because part 1 was so incredibly slow that no one would buy parts 2 and 3. While parts 2 and 3 do pick up a little, the writing is generally high on intrigue and low on action. It could be just me, as a non-student of 1970s jargon, but I had trouble understanding the innuendo and perceived threats that were motivating the characters in their decision making throughout the novel.
Fortunately, almost by random chance, I had recently read the precursor books in the correct order before this one. Downbelow Station and Forty Thousand in Gehenna provide important context for the setting of this book. It is set entirely on the Union homeworld of Cyteen, about which much is implied in those earlier books but never directly told. The plot begins (after 200 pages) with the assassination of the rich, powerful, sex-abusing scientist/politician Ariane Emory, of a founding family of Cyteen. A clone of her is grown, and as the girl grows she gradually learns to assume her destiny as a replacement for her predecessor. A somewhat more sympathetic character exists in Justin Warrick and his Azi (bio-engineered servant) partner Grant. Justin himself is a clone of another famous scientist now living in exile. While cloning and psychological programming are givens in this setting, the real science of the novel is political science, which unfortunately is not so interesting to me.
April 3, 2024
Sur Cyteen, les ressources sont limitées, et une grande partie sont allouées à Reseune, une industrie produisant des clones. La scientifique et figure politique Dr Ariane Emory est assassinée, et un clone est produit, la petite Ari, dont la vie artificielle est faite pour recréer la docteur décédée exactement.
Pas de surprise avec Cherryh, c’est un livre passionnant, au background impressionnant. Si je regrette que les personnages soient un peu étrangement mis de côté, ou peut être pas assez développés pour être vraiment intéressants, c’est au final peu de choses avec tout ce qui nous est donné à côté. Très hâte de découvrir la suite !
Pas de surprise avec Cherryh, c’est un livre passionnant, au background impressionnant. Si je regrette que les personnages soient un peu étrangement mis de côté, ou peut être pas assez développés pour être vraiment intéressants, c’est au final peu de choses avec tout ce qui nous est donné à côté. Très hâte de découvrir la suite !
May 28, 2024
Se hace lento y tedioso. Aporta una gran cantidad de detalles y eso ayuda a la creación de un escenario y contexto densos, y a la normalización de éstos. Me resulta una historia interesante y una forma de explorar la ética de algunos experimentos científicos, como la clonación, tanto de la protagonista como de los 'esclavos' azi. Tiene una forma de narrar bastante neutra sin aportar muchas veces una visión moral de lo que sucede, parece que eso se reserva al lector. En resumen, me resulta interesante, pero a veces peca de lento.
August 9, 2019
I'm editing this review because I have now finished the whole thing and have a different perspective. I wrote this in regard to the first book, but the story makes no sense until you have read all three.
I read this whole series years ago, probably not long after it was published. I was looking for something light at the time and was fooled by the "teen" in the "Cyteen" title. It was nothing like what I expected, but I was interested in it enough to finish it.
Recently I returned to it again, but this time listening. Strangely I remembered very little of it, so rereading (listening to it) it felt as if I were reading if for the first time.
The narrator, Gabra Zackman, grew on me as the story progressed, but I prefer male narrators for male characters. I might enjoy the sound of the book more with a different narrator.
I initially gave the book 3 stars because I found the characters are absolutely unlikable. Because one of the main characters, Justin, whined continually, and I found myself feeling very little empathy towards him and his never-ending self-pity. However, part of the whiny problem may be the reader. Justin is neurotic and unstable.
The whole thing makes sense now, and minor weaknesses no longer bother me. As I continued through the story I understood how Ari became the person she was as an old lady, as rejuv began to fail. We don't understand old Ari until young Ari has to learn about her predecessor and starts to hear her story. We find out how old Ari came to appear manipulative, cruel and arrogant well over the age of 100. Her clone is subjected to the same kind of cold, calculated forces that she faced.
It's not an easy story to make it through. There is nothing fun about it, or entertaining, or particularly uplifted. But it is though-provoking on many levels.
I read this whole series years ago, probably not long after it was published. I was looking for something light at the time and was fooled by the "teen" in the "Cyteen" title. It was nothing like what I expected, but I was interested in it enough to finish it.
Recently I returned to it again, but this time listening. Strangely I remembered very little of it, so rereading (listening to it) it felt as if I were reading if for the first time.
The narrator, Gabra Zackman, grew on me as the story progressed, but I prefer male narrators for male characters. I might enjoy the sound of the book more with a different narrator.
I initially gave the book 3 stars because I found the characters are absolutely unlikable. Because one of the main characters, Justin, whined continually, and I found myself feeling very little empathy towards him and his never-ending self-pity. However, part of the whiny problem may be the reader. Justin is neurotic and unstable.
The whole thing makes sense now, and minor weaknesses no longer bother me. As I continued through the story I understood how Ari became the person she was as an old lady, as rejuv began to fail. We don't understand old Ari until young Ari has to learn about her predecessor and starts to hear her story. We find out how old Ari came to appear manipulative, cruel and arrogant well over the age of 100. Her clone is subjected to the same kind of cold, calculated forces that she faced.
It's not an easy story to make it through. There is nothing fun about it, or entertaining, or particularly uplifted. But it is though-provoking on many levels.
August 21, 2009
The Cyteen series of books follows the history of Ari Emory, a brilliant scientist, businesswoman, and politician who has herself cloned after she dies. Her clone is then part of a life-long experiment in which her childhood and development is closely controlled to mirror that of her predecessor, in homes of producing another multifaceted genius. This experiment happens with the backdrop of interstellar political intrigue and competing factions within Emory's enormous corporation.
This book was very hard for me to get into. For the first 200 pages the major character, Ari Emory, does some really repulsive and twisted thing. I wanted to stop reading, but I kept on because I had heard that it got better.
I'm so glad I stuck it out, because it did get better. It got so good that I could scarcely put it down. It really made me think at times, about what makes us human and ideas of social engineering and the ethics of forming a person's mind. Cyteen won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards and after reading it I can say that it is well deserved.
This book was very hard for me to get into. For the first 200 pages the major character, Ari Emory, does some really repulsive and twisted thing. I wanted to stop reading, but I kept on because I had heard that it got better.
I'm so glad I stuck it out, because it did get better. It got so good that I could scarcely put it down. It really made me think at times, about what makes us human and ideas of social engineering and the ethics of forming a person's mind. Cyteen won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards and after reading it I can say that it is well deserved.
July 24, 2013
This book is really poorly written particularly the first 3/4. Most sentences start with half an idea, inject a side thought and then continue on with the other half. There are way too many characters to make sense to what is going on, especially since it drops you in the middle of the book and doesn't really try to explain what is going on. Most of the action is political infighting, back stabbing and brain washing. Not only that, but much of the book happens inside the head of one character or another - very confusing. Unfortunately I've committed myself to read the other 2 parts of this originally one.
May 28, 2013
Didn't finish. Read a hundred pages, was bored and confused by the parade of characters and endlessly complex backstory that dropped you in half way through.
July 8, 2016
Just realized I never rated this. One of my favorite series of all time.
December 17, 2014
I give up
October 28, 2023
I like some of the ideas, and even the writing itself. It's clean, it's controlled, the dialogue is sharp and expressive, and the characters are vividly drawn. The emphasis on politics was probably more appealing to me than it is to most people (I do reporting work), though it leans too heavily into the everyone-knows-everyone-else-knows mindgames that everyone incorrectly assumes is how politics really functions.
The problem is that it's slow. Like, glacially slow. The plot starts after the first two hundred pages, which I'm almost willing to forgive because what happens in those first two hundred pages is more interesting, more tightly-plotted, more affecting, and more tense than what comes after. No, the real problem is that while the way Cherryh writes her conversations is neat, and it is kind of fun watching her characters try to outsmart each other, she keeps writing the same conversations throughout the whole book. It becomes increasingly tiresome as the book goes on, and it doesn't help that the death of a major character and the shift in focus to a new one, done halfway through the book, kills the momentum of her narrative. To be fair to Cherryh, it was not her decision to split a single book into three volumes, but I struggle to see how that would retroactively make this more enjoyable to read. The long walls of exposition don't help, but given that this is a book set in a larger universe alonside other series which chronologically come before this, I can at least respect Cherryh's attempt to get the reader up to speed.
Taken on its own, I think it would have worked much better as a standalone if it had focused on Justin and ended when Justin and Grant's character arcs ended. It was a natural end point for the book, and it would have shaved one hundred and fifty pages off the length. As it is, the story feels disjointed and incoherent, with a very sudden ending. If you are going to read this book, make sure to track down a version that collects all three volumes.
The problem is that it's slow. Like, glacially slow. The plot starts after the first two hundred pages, which I'm almost willing to forgive because what happens in those first two hundred pages is more interesting, more tightly-plotted, more affecting, and more tense than what comes after. No, the real problem is that while the way Cherryh writes her conversations is neat, and it is kind of fun watching her characters try to outsmart each other, she keeps writing the same conversations throughout the whole book. It becomes increasingly tiresome as the book goes on, and it doesn't help that the death of a major character and the shift in focus to a new one, done halfway through the book, kills the momentum of her narrative. To be fair to Cherryh, it was not her decision to split a single book into three volumes, but I struggle to see how that would retroactively make this more enjoyable to read. The long walls of exposition don't help, but given that this is a book set in a larger universe alonside other series which chronologically come before this, I can at least respect Cherryh's attempt to get the reader up to speed.
Taken on its own, I think it would have worked much better as a standalone if it had focused on Justin and ended when Justin and Grant's character arcs ended. It was a natural end point for the book, and it would have shaved one hundred and fifty pages off the length. As it is, the story feels disjointed and incoherent, with a very sudden ending. If you are going to read this book, make sure to track down a version that collects all three volumes.
April 13, 2020
8/10
Like many of Cherryh’s books, this is a little dense and hard to get into at first. The politics of Union, and Cyteen in particular, are not easy to grasp but play an important role in the story. But the author crafts a compelling tale of power and loyalty in a world peopled by “born men” or CITs (citizens) and Azi, genetically-created humans who are classed by their gene-sets and deep-tape subliminal and instructional training.
Cyteen was originally published as a trilogy, and The Betrayal is the first book. Cyteen was later released as one book, and given the ending of The Betrayal, I can see why. The end isn’t an end at all. Time to read on...
Side note: there are references to another of C.J. Cherryh’s books in this universe, Forty Thousand in Gehenna, as well as events chronicled in other books of the Company Wars and more. It’s quite a universe she has created!
Like many of Cherryh’s books, this is a little dense and hard to get into at first. The politics of Union, and Cyteen in particular, are not easy to grasp but play an important role in the story. But the author crafts a compelling tale of power and loyalty in a world peopled by “born men” or CITs (citizens) and Azi, genetically-created humans who are classed by their gene-sets and deep-tape subliminal and instructional training.
Cyteen was originally published as a trilogy, and The Betrayal is the first book. Cyteen was later released as one book, and given the ending of The Betrayal, I can see why. The end isn’t an end at all. Time to read on...
Side note: there are references to another of C.J. Cherryh’s books in this universe, Forty Thousand in Gehenna, as well as events chronicled in other books of the Company Wars and more. It’s quite a universe she has created!
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October 23, 2025The first part of C.J. Cherryh's award-winning triad introduces the planet and complex politics of Cyteen, part of the Alliance/Union universe. Resources are limited and the scientific compound of Reseune, which produces computer-trained clones called azis, is a major power center. Reseune's lead scientist, the fierce and cruel Dr. Ariane Emory, has dominated Cyteen's political scene for decades. When she is assassinated, Reseune officials railroad a suspect and then experiment by creating a personal duplicate of Ariane. The bad news is, a clone isn't good enough. They want to recreate Dr. Emory's mind as well, and devise an artificial life for the little Ariane who'll be raised just like the original.
June 12, 2023
It didn't go how I thought it would.
I've been staring at this book on my dad's bookshelf since I was a kid; the robot baby fascinated me. It was more political than sci-fi than I thought it would be. The first half also made me feel way more gross than I expected.
I feel bitter for the children in the second half. They don't deserve all these expectations on them, and I'm including Grant and Justin in the "children" listing, as they too, do NOT deserve the harshness given to them. And I can't help but hope Ari changes for the better.
I've been staring at this book on my dad's bookshelf since I was a kid; the robot baby fascinated me. It was more political than sci-fi than I thought it would be. The first half also made me feel way more gross than I expected.
I feel bitter for the children in the second half. They don't deserve all these expectations on them, and I'm including Grant and Justin in the "children" listing, as they too, do NOT deserve the harshness given to them. And I can't help but hope Ari changes for the better.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 25, 2018
This is the first in a series, and doesn't stand alone. It sets up the story well enough, but I didn't like the final book. This rating represents only this book.
Also, this book makes most sense if you have read at least Downbelow Station, as a backdrop to the series.
Also, this book makes most sense if you have read at least Downbelow Station, as a backdrop to the series.
February 18, 2021
A lot of scientific biological and physiological text. If you love political intrigue and biophysics then this book is for you.
I wanted to skip the text about the bio research, but found it mostly interesting.
I wanted to skip the text about the bio research, but found it mostly interesting.
December 4, 2024
A competently written political drama with some sci-fi elements.
Fortunately, the author makes very clear that the focus is on the political drama, not on the sci-fi, so I could stop reading after an hour without the feeling of having missed anything.
The entire genre is decidedly not for me.
Fortunately, the author makes very clear that the focus is on the political drama, not on the sci-fi, so I could stop reading after an hour without the feeling of having missed anything.
The entire genre is decidedly not for me.
June 14, 2017
First part of the Cyteen "trilogy". The story is interesting, but the writing is poor and kind of boring.
January 7, 2018
Excellent read.
August 2, 2018
Feels more like half a story, in which I didn't feel attached to any of the characters or their problems.
March 29, 2019
Intrigue. Politics. Secrets. Sex. Murder. This novel has it all. The pacing is good, especially since this was one book, not three in the hardcover version. It's one of my re-reads.
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