Customer Reviews

GREEN & THE GRAY

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Granted, Zahn's books are a bit formulaic - the oncoming conflict that will destroy wherever the book is set or kill many innocents, the inability to stop it until the very end when a surprise twist occurs that fixes it all - but that doesn't mean it's bad. Most mystery stories follow much the same plot, but without the feeling of impending doom. The point is not that you already know how its going to end, the point is how he gets there.

And, in this case just as in all the others, it's one amazing ride. The two cultures and upwards of 30 main characters are all fascinating and vibrant, keeping the reading flowing through all 450-odd pages. The plot twists come with the usual Zahn rapidity, each being totally plausible and usually just as totally unexpected (though, in hindsight, you should have seen it coming). I buy every Zahn book as soon as I realize it's out, and I haven't once been dissappointed. It's not the deepest reading ever, but it's always fun, and it might make you think more than you expect.

Highly reccomended.

The first fifty pages of The Green and the Gray knocked me flat. Zahn created a near-perfect picture of some ordinary folks (specifically an endlessly bickering married couple) tossed into an extraordinary situation (specifically a gang war between rival bands of extraterrestrials).

And then things fell apart a little. Over the next four hundred pages, the characters I felt like I knew so well became cliched, competent-man types. They were doing interesting things, but they weren't very interesting people any more. Add to this the fact that there are so many different members of these "gangs" with so many slightly varying viewpoints, and this carefully constructed character drama devolved into a novel where it was hard to even remember all the parties involved.

Which isn't to disparage The Green and the Gray too much. It's still a fun read, packed with Zahn's typically inventive action sequences... but I can't help feeling that it could have been more. If you're new to Zahn's work, you might want to check out Manta's Gift instead.

In 1928, extraterrestrials that looked human went through Riker's Island to become citizens of their new home. The Greens were chased off their home world by the Grays in a war that started over a simple misunderstanding. The Greens did not know that the Grays, in order to escape the Others, followed the Greens to earth. For decades neither group knew of the other's existence until a boy from one group and a girl from the other became friends.

Their elders found out since both live in New York City; the Grays try to shove the Greens off the island until they agree to a truce if the Greens kill Melantha Green who can destroy the city with her mental powers. Innocent bystanders Roger and Caroline Whittier take Melantha try to hide her when someone from the group hands her to them but she disappears and they don't know which group got her. The Whittiers are determined to save Melantha and their city yet also somehow forge a truce between the opposing camps.

There are many aliens who live among us in science fiction stories such as the Men in Black, but Timothy Zahn has a unique and original way of taking a tribe plot and turning it into a fantastic storyline. This is an action oriented story where it is almost impossible to figure out the characters motives and nobody knows who is a friend or an enemy. This makes for a lot of suspense and the onus is on the reader to figure out who is friend or foe. There's a surprise twist at the end of the story that makes THE GREEN AND THE GRAY a very exciting work of speculative fiction.

Harriet Klausner

I've been a fan of Timothy Zahn's work ever since I picked up Heir to the Empire so many years ago. I really love his characters and their development/progression, it's easy for me to mesh with his characters and feel for them. In what I consider the traditional Zahn style, the book throws all of these pieces of information at you but doesn't connect them until the ending twist, which is always fun. It's almost like solving a puzzle.

I couldn't put this book down until I finished it. If you've read Zahn before and liked his work, definitely read it. If this is a first Zahn for you, I highly recommend it, although if you're not opposed to Star Wars I would start with Heir to the Empire.

My absolute favorite science fiction author is Timothy Zahn. I have never read as personal or character-driven science fiction action novels as I have from this highly talented author. Not only does he create realistic, personal characters, but he weaves in science fiction as if it is nothing exceptional (instead of some who try to wow us with how the future is).

Plot:
Melantha Green is a sacrifice whose death is supposed to provide peace between her people, the Greens, and their mortal enemies, the Grays. However, her death is foiled when someone takes her away and hides her with a bickering couple, Roger and Caroline Whittier. The couple quickly team together to help this young girl and her people in finding a more peaceful solution--and to make a huge discovery about who these people are and where they came from.

Good:
Most of Zahn's novels (at least the ones I've heard of/read) deal with societies in the future. Zahn did a pretty good job with a present day novel. I will say that the idea of having aliens living among us is a really cool idea and well enacted in this book. And who could hate the detective? He was my absolute favorite. Zahn really needs to use this character again in another book.

Bad:
Really the only "bad" parts to this book would be the length of the book (560+ which makes it difficult for someone like me, who likes to tear a book to pieces understanding every facet, to finish), the similarity to Conqueror's Trilogy (some of my favorites from Zahn), and the ending, which, by the time I reached it, I had expected something with a little more pizzazz (instead, the ending seems to just peter out--although in a way that makes sense--and the book ends). Also, the true origins of the alien societies was more than a little...well, odd (won't spoil the surprise).

Dialogue/Sexual Situations/Violence:
No coarse language. No sexual situations. Violence includes the attempt to kill a 12 year old girl, and frequent attacks to the Whittiers and the detective.

Overall:
A good read, but don't expect to finish it in a night! At 560+ and rather slow plot pacing, it took me over a week to get it done.

I consider myself a fan of Zahn's work, and this easily ranks among his worst.

The basic concept is a good one. Two alien races, living among humans in New York City, have finally discovered each other and are preparing for a war that threatens them both, and the humans in the city. An innocent human couple get thrown in the mix to try and prevent a war, all while sorting through their mid-life marriage problems.

Zahn excels at setting up convoluted political situations and resolving them through intrigue and sleuthing, and usually structures his plots around such scenarios fairly well. Unfortunately, this partiuclar plot also relies heavily on deep, believable characters, which is easily Zahn's weakest point as a fiction author. The two human protagonists are supposed to carry the story, but end up just dragging it down. Their problems and dialogue seem ripped straight from "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus," with the husband realizing "Gee, maybe my wife is more emotional and people-oriented, and I'm more bottom-line problem-solving oriented." This shallow characterization, as well as about seven-too-many references to 9/11, really drag the story down and prevent an otherwise sound concept from taking off.

Overall, despite a few memorable moments, the story as a whole falls flat. I mostly found myself wishing I was reading Icarus Hunt again.

Ehhh... Sounds like a good idea -- aliens fighting each other in NYC. I thought it started well, then fell apart about 150 pages from the end. The big reveal that our aliens are actually Earth-grown didn't work at all for me, especially after all the talk of how alien their cell structure is. How are these beings supposed to have evolved among the known terrestrial life forms? In the end, it felt like some silly superhero adventure. Read it for light entertainment only.

After having read and enjoyed several Zahn novels (The quadrail series and Manta's gift) I saw this one in a used bookstore and decided to give it a go.

Very disappointing, plot drags about half way through, and the characterizations are simplistic in the extreme. The ending is also very unbelievable, aside from the "can't we all just get along" theme that is very facile, there is the fact there half of NYC's police are called out and then quietly disappear without a peep just on the say so of a police Lieutenant whom the police spend half of the book thinking was a victim of a kidnapping.

This is what those Star Wars and Star Trek series potboilers must be like, (his among them) and the reason why I avoid them like the plague.

Zahn may not be the greatest writer of Science Fiction, but he can do much better than this.

This is a great book. Clever storyline and interesting characters. I don't see how anyone could have failed to enjoy this book unless they skipped a few pages and got confused. Another great book from Zahn! I would like to see this as a movie..

Roger and Caroline Whittier, an ordinary New York City couple are caught in the middle of a feud between two alien races secretly living in New York. They must prevent a war that could kill millions of unsuspecting bystanders. What makes this story unique is that it is set in modern day New York. Most of Timothy Zahn's stories are set somewhere in the distant future. But as always his story telling ability makes this a wonderful read.