Customer Reviews

Regenesis

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a very good book and a worthy successor to 'Cyteen,' one of the notable books in science fiction. BUT, 20 years is a ridiculous amount of time to wait for a sequel, and from the open ending of this one, I do hope we don't have to wait that long again. As a side note to C J, please hurry if this is part of a series; Cyteen has long been a top 10 favorite of mine, but I am now in my 70's and another 20 year wait is probably not within my grasp.
I will not review the plot of "Regenesis" except to say the overall tone of the book does carry on from its precursor (sorry 'bout that); it must have taken a lot of care from the author to make sure of that. It has enough action is keep us satisfied. It is filled with C J's usual dense politcal maneuvering and characters, major and minor, that we must try to remember, and can't because it's too much and too many. It also has some nice comic touches that, surprisingly enough, come from the well-drawn personality of Jordan Warrick. This murder suspect and mostly off-stage major character of 'Cyteen' seems to have some of the same histrionic touches as Mrs. Bennet from Pride and Prejudice.
Was the book a good read? Well, it got me off the internet for one entire day until 4 a.m. the next morning and most of the next day until I finished.
Do we find out who killed Ari Senior? Well, maybe. Possibly. Probably, about 90% sure. I was in the right church, but the wrong pew.
If a relative stole my book or the cat tore it up, would I buy another copy? In a heartbeat, and since I live on social security, that is quite a budget item.
I hope all of you reading this find out for yourself what a worthy inheritor (not sorry 'bout this one) 'Regenesis' is.

The good news is after 20 years of waiting, I have read Regenesi, the looooong awaited sequel to CJ Cherryh's award winning master-piece Cyteen. And the good news is Regenesis is another master-work and I loved every page of it. The good news is if you are a long time fan of CJC like I am, and have read at least, Down Below Station, 40,000 in Gehena, and Cyteen you will probably love it also. In an interesting departure from usual CJC a lot of the normal introspection is found in computer logs rather than "thought bubbles".

The bad news is this is probably the most demanding read in CJC's illustrious career. Be warned, if you start without at least the foundation of the three books I've listed, you will have to be a lot smarter than I am to understand what is happening. Also be advised the dialogue in the story is almost exclusively between geniuses, you have to pay attention to get the nuance. Finally, be warned, there is a lot of side information that I loved, but I am sure many will find very dull and want to get on with the story.

So what do I think? CJ Cherry is a treasure to this world; she deserves much more of its wealth and adulation. Her entire catalogue of sci-fi work is related to each other and doesn't cheat with the rules. Her writing is so extensive that essays have been written doubting that one writer could have written it all. They obviously haven't like I have read everything multiple times. There is and probably never will be another writer like CJ Cherryh.

Bottom line... Regenesis is as I have stated above a master work.

I have read all of this author's science fiction. My copy of Downbelow Station is bound in leather. With a couple of exceptions I would rate each one five stars. Unfortunately, this long-awaited sequel to the Hugo award-winning masterpiece, Cyteen, severely disappoints on many levels.

The book is slower than usual. Less happens. An author cannot write a sequel to a book that was published 20 years ago without summarizing it to some extent. Usually that's done with a concise and detailed prologue. Okay, it *can* be done that way. Instead, the author uses much of this book to explain what happened in the last one. The author abandons her "intensely first-person" shifting POV's. For example, if a character walks into a room there is no description of the room if the room is already known to the character. That can really move a plot along. On the other hand, some people over analyze things. If the character does that, you hear those thoughts -- over and over. Instead, here there are long sections of description and explanation of what happened instead of writing what is happening now.

In any event, more specifically:

The author has rewritten Cyteen to some extent. Jordan Warrick, completely examined in the last novel, seems to undergo personality change whereby he becomes irrational, a drunk, bitter, and generally unlikable. That wasn't his character in the last novel. Nothing in this novel explains it. No significant time has passed. No event has occurred to explain it -- indeed his circumstances would indicate any change in personality in the opposite direction.

At the end of the last novel, Giraud and Nye would be the last characters, from Arianne's point of view, to undergo regenesis. Why they are started, and who started them, and why -- all interesting questions -- is raised but completely unexplored here. I could go on and on, and some people undoubtedly think I am.

Almost everything that does happen is a dead end. This leads me to believe that this is a "bridge" book to another one in the Cyteen world. Moreover, the author wrote approximately 250,000 words for this novel. I know novels get edited, but I can only surmise that there is an entire book in the publisher's hands as a sequel to this one. For example, the following things dead end: Eversnow, nano tech (nanomistics), the Giraud and Nye "regenesis" or parental replicants (the hazy difference is extremely uncharacteristic for this author), the new Reseune town, and the murders of well, you know, if you read the book.

I could go on, but this is not a bulletin board for detailed analysis of novels that gives away the plot (not a problem here) or otherwise delves into the intricate detail of a sequence of novels such as these two.

One more point -- after 654 pages not a single new character? For readers new to CJ Cherryh, please read Cyteen, the company war books (Downbelow Station, Finity's End, Helllburner, Heavy Time, Tripoint, Rimrunners, Merchanter's Luck and many more) *before* attempting this one. You can find many of these still in print in omnibus editions that include two or three novels in one. if you run out, there are nine novels in the Foreigner series (in a universe that may or may not be related to this one -- an example of earth's problems in exploring the "other" end of space, anyone?) A very rich feast indeed.

Edit: from CJ's daily journal (2-15-09): "I'd be interested (though I can't respond to every e-mail, please understand) in how many of you now have electronic readers and what format; and also in how many of you intend to get one someday soon and what you think you might buy. If you fit into either category, please e-mail me as [...] with the subject line READER and I'll summarize the responses for this blog, in case you're curious." [quote edited to foil spam bots] (Cherrhy's World: [...]) I'm putting my Kindle vote in.

I would say that Regenesis is not so much a sequel to Cyteen as a continuation. Maybe that's splitting hairs. But it takes up within about a month of when Cyteen leaves off, which engenders a slightly odd feeling in its readers, many of whom have been waiting two decades to read the thing. We're twenty years older, but Ari Emory is still eighteen.

What Cherryh seems to be most interested in is relationships. She has developed a fully-realized society - Cyteen, with born-humans and azi - and she takes a detailed look at the lives of a large handful of its inhabitants.

Ari's relationship with Florian and Catlin. Ari with Jordan. Ari with Yanni.

Justin with Grant. Justin with Ari--who admits, in a nice bit of low-key dialogue, that's she's been in love with him, like, forever.

Ari and Justin and Yanni with Giraud and Denys Nye, both now deceased.

Finally-- Justin with Jordan, who are more or less son and father; the evolution of this relationship constitutes a major thrust of the book. Cherryh has written before about a father and son--in Tripoint; and about a mother and a son--both in Tripoint and Finity's End. The author's family relationships are always fraught, and occasionally you want to take one of these characters and whap him upside the head, but it's grown-up stuff and all part of the fun.

I did miss--unavoidably--one of the charms of the first book, which was the description of Florian and Catlin growing up. And in fact, if I was to bemoan anything about the sequel, it's that--although Catlin is always around in the background--we hear very little specifically about her.

On the other hand, the character of Jordan Warrick--newly back from Planys; brilliant, drunk, and fighting mad--provides several great scenes, and a fair amount of humor.

The genius of Regenesis--as with the original novel--is that Cyteen is a real place. That's no small accomplishment. I don't remember any other future society that established itself so firmly in the imagination. Cyteen exists--now let's go see what's happening down in Reseune and Novgorod.

And let's hope that Cherryh has at least one more visit to the planet left in her.

(Note: I've written more about Cyteen and Downbelow Station on my blog: http://flicker-by-ej-lake.blogspot.com)

Let me first say that Cyteen is one of my favorite books of all time. So my hopes were very high, going in.

This isn't a sequel to Cyteen, if one means by sequel something of comparable scope and impact. It deals with a much shorter period of time, and does not introduce anything like the breadth of concepts in the original. What it seems to be is the first book of a series which perhaps will be, collectively, a sequel to Cyteen. I came out of it suspecting that what Cherryh intends might be something closer to what she's done with the Foreigner series - a lot of books, a lot of richness... but a lot of the density coming out of their being essentially political thrillers.

And it is quite good.

There were a few... false notes would be overstating the case. Things that I am reserving judgment about.

* Nanotech was a subject of concern of much of the plot, but was not well explored. As protein engineering is a field close to my heart, I found myself quite curious as to how the dividing line between genetic engineering and nanistics is going to be drawn. Potentially the two areas could overlap almost completely, but clearly there are being dealt with as separate disciplines. Okay, so clearly I'm buying the next book.

* Having the rejuv drug originate in platytheres, and platytheres being responsible for the desertification of Cyteen... I'm willing to be convinced, but this doesn't seem to be consistent with the first book (where there were definitely multiple forms of rejuv drugs, both over time and across different levels of expense) and looks a bit too much like Dune. Not to mention rather reminiscent of current arguments that one must save the rain forest because of all the pharmaceuticals that will come out of it. (I don't even entirely disagree, I just think it puts something simple and obvious in place of a more nuanced discussion of biodiversity, and that's just sloppy thinking.)

* I am also worried about the development of the character of the second Ariane Emory. As a reader, I find her individuality (even when it sometimes merges with her predecessor - that tension is not my complaint at all) interesting. When she drifts into being more of a Powerful Woman archetype, perhaps too similar to others in Cherryh's writing, I am both less interested and deeply disappointed. Justin and Jordan were well handled and interesting. Grant (perhaps the character who is positioned to say the most interesting things about the difference between CITs and AZI) didn't get enough time, but I'm willing to wait.

Overall, the experience is rather like having loved a movie for many years, and then watching the first episode of a TV series. It seems to be pretty well done, but it's early days yet.

In February, I was on a panel at Boskone on Cyteen and Regenesis. I hadn't volunteered for the panel and since I had not yet finished Regenesis, I thought about skipping it, but when I arrived at the convention, I discovered I was the moderator. Oh, well, duty called and I showed up. Another of the panelists was Jo Walton, who has declared Cyteen to be the second best book ever written. I asked her what the best book is and she stated "The Lord of the Rings." I won't argue.

I've finished Regensis and it's terrific. The story picks up where Cyteen left off, with young Ariane Emory gathering up the threads of power that were left to her by her predecessor. There was always a barely stated Hitlerian quality to the elder Ari, a woman with few friends, who avoided human attachments (indeed, she regarded them with deep suspicion, as allowing for weakness and potential vulnerability). Young Ari was brought up to be a psychic clone, but her childhood differed in one major respect--she loved her foster mother and was loved in return. Ari likes people, and people like her. She's ruthless when she has to be, but her friends, far from being a weakness, extend her support immeasurably, and contribute greatly to her success. The political structure of Union is harsh. Ostensibly a democracy, spying and assassination play a great role, and every citizen below the very highest level assumes (correctly) that he is under constant surveillance. The characterizations are finely drawn, the plot is tight and makes perfect sense, and Ari is a heroine we can all care about and relate to.

I'm looking forward the next book in the series. I just hope it doesn't take another 20 years.

Regenesis is the immediate sequel to award-winning Cyteen. I had a copy of Cyteen on my shelf for more than a decade before I finally managed to read it - I couldn't get past the first 50 pages or so. Finally I did, on about the 6th try, last summer; and it was well worth the effort. I had a similar difficulty with the first hundred pages of Regenesis, but I stuck it out on the first try this time. And again, I have to say it was worth it.

Young Ari is the recreation of Ariane Emory, the brilliant woman who headed Reseune Corporation and the Science Bureau, effectively ruling a large portion of humanity, and who secretively programmed the future culture of same by programming the azi (see below) in particular, obscure ways. Ariane's entire life was recorded in excruciating detail. Late in Cyteen, Ariane was murdered, and young Ari was created by growing a clone from Ariane's genome and by systematically subjecting her to stimuli exactly matching the experiences of the original Ariane, over a period of years. At the end of Cyteen young Ari has begun to rebel against this regimentation and has asserted her independence.

In Regenesis this story is taken up directly. Through the book, young Ari builds the base of skills, relationships, physical resources, and political power she will need if she is to succeed (later, not in this book) in keeping Ariane's legacy on track and preventing some vaguely-sensed potential disastrous drift in human culture.

Reading Cyteen first would be helpful, but I think not actually necessary. Rather than the oft-seen awkward cram of "what happened before", the back story emerges in natural fashion, as young Ari herself is exploring (later, investigating) events in her predecessor's life. So I would say, even if you didn't read Cyteen, feel free to jump in here!

This book and its predecessor explore a science that is not commonly addressed in SF, Psychology. In this universe, natural population growth was not enough to create viable economies at a rate that matched humanity's territorial expansion. To compensate, the corporation/nation Reseune has created a large population of "azi", those being humans created in tanks from their genomes and socialized artificially through the use of "tape": there aren't enough "born-men" to serve as surrogate parents to the azi, so they grow up in barracks. That's where we get into the SF version of Psych. The azi come in levels and series. Levels include alpha, beta, gamma, etc. with alpha level being the most flexible in thinking and the closest to conventional human, and other levels being more limited and more task-focused. Series are designations like AR-46, and refer to a designer-specified combination of genome ("gene-sets") and conditioning tapes ("psyche-sets") designed to optimize individuals for some particular purpose or role e.g. nanny, lab tech, soldier. "Tape", whatever that is (and it seems like it might be audible words, but that is never clear) is delivered to each azi in a designed sequence starting shortly after birth, under the influence of trance-inducing drugs. Among the effects of this, we are told that azi thought processes are far more logical than those of born-men, and that they are subject to azi-unique disorders including conflicts between different parts of their conditioning that can only be addressed by having a Supervisor direct them, or in many cases, subject them to remedial "tape".

There's more to this SF-Psych, but that should help a reader get oriented; at least, I sure wish I had that info a lot earlier. There's a whole political dimension here too, relating to the dispersion and division of humanity among a range of star systems, but that is pretty well covered in the book's intro. What pulls the pieces together is that the original Ariane Emory was such a brilliant designer of azi psych-sets that she was actually designing a future society by anticipating the interactions of the different types she created through many generations of subsequent natural reproduction; and that the political system was such that she wielded enormous power; and that after she was murdered young Ari was developed to take her political and scientific role; and there are other powers that would just as soon have her dead.

The difficulty I had in getting into this book is largely one of style. This book is written in an off-hand, omniscient-stream-of-consciousness style that forces shifts in perspective that take some getting used to. But, as I said, worth the effort. The style, some of the politics, and the kinds of characters and their relationship styles (especially between male characters) will be very familiar to readers of the Foreigner series. Indeed, it is not hard for me to imagine that the lost ship in Foreigner originated in this universe.

...for something to happen.

I read 'Cyteen' years ago; it's been one of my favorite novels for quite a long time. It also introduced me to CJ Cherry's Merchanter universe; an introduction that has played a key role in evalaution of science fiction in general and character-based science fiction specifically. I've been a fan of the author ever since. It is a shame, however, that over the past decade or so that Cherryh's books seem to have all begun to suffer the same malady.

'Cyteen' told the story of a society based on scientifically engineered slavery. It dealt with sociological, ethical, interpersonal and psychological themes. It asked big questions and tried to present a few interesting answers. Over the course of the story's 20-odd years, we got a view of people and events that were shaping 3 distinct interstellar cultures, and we got an inside view of a couple of the lives caught in the middle of significant upheaval and revolutionary change. 'Regenenis', at first glance, seems to offer very much the same. This turns out not to be true.

'Regenesis' covers a 9 month span in the continuing adventures of Ari II and Justin Warrick. The language, characters and settings are all the same as in 'Cyteen', but instead of chronicling events of an interplanetary scope, we get a series of minor events and weekly updates. Much like in most of her 'Foreigner' books and many of her most recent Merchanter ones (not to mention her Fortress series), we are following along with characters capable of extraordinary stories as they negotiate picayune annoyances and over-inflated problems. There is nothing epic in 'Regenesis'.

Great conflict is often the basis of great drama - forced and artificial conflict aren't. The story of 'Regenesis' would have, perhaps 20 years ago, made an interesting chapter or 2 of another Cherryh novel. These days, all Cherryh fans seem to be getting are small stories served up as large novels. 'Regenesis' is another well prepared appetizer - unfortunately, I was hoping for a satisfying meal.

Regenesis (2009) is the thirteenth SF novel in the Alliance-Union series, following Finity's End. However, it is a direct sequel to Cyteen. The war between the Earth Company and the colonies has ended with the Treaty of Pell. Earth is independent, but the colonies are divided into the Alliance -- based on Pell -- and the Union -- based on Cyteen -- but only the Alliance ships can carry cargo.

On Cyteen, the main industry is ReseuneLabs, which produces azis -- artificially developed humans -- but also produces clones of humans and animals. Azis are produced from selected genesets and conditioned with psychsets via deepsleep drugs and tapes. In recent years, ReseuneLabs has been developing means of making Parental Replicates -- duplicates -- of Citizens.

In this novel, Ariane Emory is a Parental Replicate of the first Ariane Emory. She was decanted two years after the first Ari was killed. The second Ari has survived for eighteen years, despite attempts to kill her. She is now a Citizen and heir of the first Ari by court order.

Giraud Nye was a Citizen and the first guardian of the second Ari. He was killed in her early teens. Now another Giraud is developing in a birth tank.

Denys Nye was a Citizen and the second guardian of the second Ari. He was killed during an attempt to kill the second Ari. Now another Denys might be produced in a birth tank. The final decision has been deferred.

Yanni Schwartz is a Citizen and now the head of ReseuneLabs. He is also Proxy Councillor for Science. He had been a worker in the labs during the tenure of the first Ari and then director of security under Denys. He is eager for Ari to take over and let him get back to the labs.

Jordan Warrick is a Citizen. He had been the partner of the first Ari, but they had too many personality clashes. He is a person who wants to be the boss and hates taking orders from others. He was accused of killing the first Ari, so Giraud sent him to Planys to get him out of the public eye.

Justin Warrick is a Citizen and the Parental Replicate of Jordan. The first Ari had Worked him to correct some of the problems induced by Jordan. Now he is the de facto godfather of the second Ari.

Florian and Catlin are azis and duplicates of the bodyguards of the first Ari, who had been terminated after she died. These azis are about the same age as the second Ari and have been her companions since her eighth birthday.

Abban and Seely are also azis, duplicates of the bodyguards of Giraud and Denys. They had been terminated while trying to kill Ari. Now they are developing in birth tanks.

In this story, Ari is very busy. She is taking deepsleep tapes and tutoring from Justin. She also has a few projects being developed, including new quarters for herself and her friends.

Another project is establishing her own security forces. Florian and Catlin have been with her from the beginning, but now she acquires more security azis from the director of ReseuneSec. She also expands her household staff.

Yanni is busily brokering a political deal to terraform Eversnow, a frozen planet beyond Fargone. He gets agreement from Corain of Citizens as well as Spurlin and Jacques of Defense. The Councillors for Information and Trade have already agreed on the issue.

Yanni knows that Ari will disagree on this measure, so he doesn't tell her right away. But Ari gets wind of the deals and asks him directly. So Yanni tells her everything. She still doesn't quite agree, but lets him continue his maneuvers.

The main problem is the ongoing election in Defense. Spurlin is Proxy Councillor and running for the job of Councillor, but Khalid is opposing him. Ari and Yanni know that Khalid will not agree to anything that ReseuneLabs wants.

Ari is also concerned about the killing of the first Ari. She has brought Jordan back to Cyteen and he is quite a handful. But she doesn't believe that he had done the deed. Giraud and Denys are also suspects, but she also has trouble believing that they had anything to do with it.

Then the killings start. Later a precipitation tower is bombed. Many believe the assassinations and bombing are the works of the radical fringe on Cyteen. Yet security cannot find any indication of such efforts among the radicals.

This tale drastically changes the plans of Ari. The assassinations and bombing take up much of her time. Yet Jordan is one problem that Ari has to solve, although Justin is doing most of the Workings. She is also deeply involved in solving the first Ari's murder.

Ari goes into overdrive. She increases her deepsleep learning time and spends many hours thinking about the killing of first Ari. Still, she also has to devote some time to political affairs. Read and enjoy!

Highly recommended for Cherryh fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of human genetics and psychology, political intrigue, and deep personal affection.

-Arthur W. Jordin

I read Downbelow Station and Cyteen years ago, so many years ago that all I can remember was that I rather enjoyed them. I picked up Regenesis knowing that it was called a sequel but expecting to enjoy it anyway.

I WANTED to like this book.The basic premise attracted me: In an environment of interstellar political intrigue, a Personal Replicate is aware that her original was murdered and is afraid for her own life because the murderer has never been identified.

After 60 pages of cryptic allusions that are probably intended to fill in the backstory but only succeeded on confusing and frustrating me, I gave up.

The rest of the book may have been very good, but Cherryh did such a poor job of telling me what I needed to know to understand it that I will probably never find out. If you want to make the attempt,I strongly recommend that you read or reread the two predecessors before you take on the challenge of Regenesis.