Customer Reviews

This Alien Shore

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I'm not really a big scifi fan, but a friend recommended C.S. Friedman, and when I saw This Alien Shore at the store I picked it up and took a look. Pretty soon I was sitting on the floor in the middle of the aisle with my nose buried in the book. (Fortunately it's the sort of bookstore where that's perfectly normal behavior)I finished it today, two trips to the bookstore later, and I think it's one of the best books I've read in a long time. The setting and history was intriguing,especially the problems caused by the FTL drive and the tensions between the variants and the humans, and the whole thing was obviously very thoroughly researched. I'm a neuroscience major, and I thought the concept of brainware was very well done, and the neuroanatomy and physiology she touched on in relation to it was quite accurate. I had a lot of fun trying to deconstruct Gueran society and attempting to figure out what disorder each Gueran had. (Masada and the other irdu are obviously autistic, but the others are harder to place) I'm glad that the author wasn't more specific in decribing the Gueran culture; it's more thought provoking to let people fill in the blanks themselves. I hope that this book doesn't take too long to come out in paperback so I can get my own copy and read it to pieces, and I hope Friedman writes a sequel or another book set in the same world(s), preferably sometime soon

As usual, C. S. Friedman delivers an engrossing world with fleshed out characters in "This Alien Shore."

T.A.S. describes a world where humans are again a far-flung culture, due to a mixture of space travel technologies. The first was abandoned after humanity realized the genetic cost, and colonies of humanity that no longer resembled Homo sapiens were left, with differing results, to fend for themselves. Later, a second method was discovered. One guild rigidly controls passage through spatial "nodes," making them virtual masters of a human space. But now, the ancestors of man are aliens to each-other, and sometimes even themselves.

Despite mankind's spread there is enormous connectivity: data speeds forth faster than the speed of light. Nearly everyone is immersed in a cyber-world (called the outernet) of external data and headware processing power. Real time programs filter your sensory input, provide etiquette tips, monitor and adjust your health, and provide even the poorest with access to news and information on demand. Yet this connectivity does not always bring people closer - why talk to your neighbor if the inside of your head is so much more interesting? And even shared data can be differently interpreted by the alien mindsets the genetic changes have wrought.

These elements combine to craft a diverse universe with common threads, leading to some thoughtful questions: Do we really have more in common with each-other than we have our un-resolvable differences? Can you really now what is going on in a person's head? At what point could we draw a line and say, "this is not human." T.A.S does not offer the answers, but the insights of the characters point to several different possibilities for these questions.

I do have some reservations about the book. The first is a minor quibble: in some of her books (such as "In Conquest Born") we get to visit people peripherally involved or not involved at all with the main plot. This gives us more insight into how the featured societies work. I miss that in this book. Perhaps that would have solved a problem with atmosphere: T.A.S. continuously reminds us how thoroughly her world is data-linked and how nigh impossible it is to keep digital privacy, yet almost every character seems able to circumvent this. I would have liked to see how this effected (both positively and negatively) "normal" people.

More importantly, the plot of this book is not as strong as the characterizations or the compelling nature of the universe it narrates. For me, neither of the main plots held surprises. In brief, in plot A someone has released a computer virus into the outernet and the characters are searching for a way to neutralize it. In plot B, a special girl searches for identity and safety in predatory universe. While some energy is attained at the intersections of the two plots, individually neither are strong. The speed of space travel in this universe dictates many of the pacing elements, but it takes a lot of sense of urgency out of the events.

T.A.S's other strengths more than compensated for that, it they kept me engrossed throughout the entire novel. This book is an ambitious undertaking, and I am happy to write that for the most part it is a successful one. C. S. Friedman continues to take new approaches to even well established genres. This book may not be a "must have" but it is more than worth the time to read it.

A very good book. The characters are engaging, the 2 mysteries (one whodunit, one howdunit) are kept going til the end, and the politics are believable. For a 565 page armbuster, it reads fairly quickly. The author keeps away from long digressions, but gives a good feel for the backstory. The ending (on reflection) is a little "and now the jigsaw puzzle pieces all fit together-ish", but not grating or unbelieveable.

The story, in brief, is that of 2 characters, a young girl from Earth with multiple personalities, who may hold the key to breaking a guild's monopoly on interstellar travel, and a computer security expert hired by the Guild to find the cure for and creator of a dangerous computer virus which threatens the Guild's pilots.

Many of the story elements are reminiscent of the work of Cordwainer Smith. After reading this book, I had the strange desire to planoform, kill some rats and dragons, visit some Scanners and Underpeople, and have tea on Alpha-Ralpha Boulevard with Lord of the Instrumentality Jestocoast and the 'Lady Who Sailed the Soul'.

Reading this one should go fairly high on your list of things to do.

my stars: 1, don't bother; 2, maybe from the library; 3, wait for the paperback; 4, read it; 5, a classic.

After her triumphant "Coldfire Trilogy" I was eagerly awaiting 'This Alien Shore.' Having read it now, I can honetly say that I enjoyed it, but there was something missing for me. It has believable characters and a basis for story that is very good. However, there are two main plots running through the book, and at times I despaired of ever seeing them reconciled.

Ms. Friedman's attention to detail and her stunning realism when it comes to creating her characters and their worlds is in full force here, and I was not disappointed wih this aspectof her storytelling. The amount of research she must have done to work with the programming and to be able to detail programming in such a way is mind-boggling. All the high points aside, though, the ending seemed a bit anti-climactic, and felt contrived, as if she couldn't figure out how to bring the threads together and tie them off neatly, so she just hurriedly did it in a slipshod fashion.

I look forward to her work, as I feel she is an excellent storyteller, and I look forward to her next foray into Fantasy, where she has previously excelled.

C.S. Friedman is, without a doubt, my favorite fiction author and I found myself eagerly awaiting this book after reading her Coldfire trilogy and other novels. However, though This Alien Shore is still miles ahead of most of the other sci fi/fantasy on the market today, it didn't quite live up to my expectations of her work.

The characters in This Alien Shore were well developed, complex, and enjoyable. The world building was incredibly believable and sucked me in completely. The first half of this book had me staying up until 2 AM waiting to see what happened. I enjoyed trying to figure out the complexity of the Guerran social codes as well as the underlying cultural assumptions of Ms. Friedman's fascinating and well-crafted society.

Unfortunately, I found the ending to be a trifle anti-climatic. The two plot threads stayed divergent for just a bit too long and never really connected in a way I found meaningful. Yes, some of the same characters served as players in both, but even in the end, I found myself wondering what the two stories were doing in the same book. For me, the end of the book just wraped itself up too quickly and was a bit more pat than I would have expected from Ms. Friedman.

Ending aside, I still enjoyed this book immensely and would recommend it, and all her work, over anything else on the market today. I look forward to seeing what she comes up with in the future.

I picked up a copy of "This Alien Shore" to experiment, to expand the list of authors I read, and it quite simply knocked me out. A fabulous piece of writing that doesnt need to concept of "aliens" to populate a universe - human beings (albeit some mutated) are more than diverse enough in and of themselves. The characters are well developed and the universe is rich with possibilities ... a fertile place for sequels and/or fan fiction perhaps?

David Brin's "SunDiver" shares something in common with this book - a main character suffering with multiple personality disorder. In both cases they do a great job in their treatment of the illness and integrating it into the plot in a vital and gripping way.

This is probably my favourite book ever. I borrowed it just on the premise of computers being interfaced with the brain but what I read far excelled anything I had ever imagined possible so I bought it, and read it several more times.
The book is a story of a girl's coming of age, a cyber-mystery, an ineresting look at future technology's impact on society, and a classic story power/domination struggle. C. S. Friedman also does an excellent job of weaving several sub-plots into an overall great book.
If you enjoy reading at all then you'd probably find something to interest you in "This Alien Shore"

This was my first book by Friedman and I loved it. The author is a fantastic writer and made me feel like I was really there. All characters were wonderfully developed. The plot was great, it kept me guessing to the very end.

I have only one complaint about the book. At the begining of the book it seems to be telling two different stories, one about the main character and one about the Guild, towards the end they begin to fit together. But the problem was there could be fifty pages about whats going on with the Guild before the story would return to the main character. Sometimes it was a bit hard to follow what was going on with the Guild and could get a bit frustating because I wanted to hear what was happening to Jamisia(main charater) So I wouldn't recomend this book to someone who reads slowly.

Even though at the start it felt like two different stories, it really kept me wondering how the two were connected. I must say that this is one of my top 10 favorite books. I finished this book in two days. I am twelve now but I think if I read this book again when I am older I'll get more out of it. I will definitly look for more of Friedman's books to read.

It really surprises me how the positive reviews are so strong and yet the negative reviews all point to the same thing "This book is not like her Coldfire books."
Well HELLO!!! This is a sci-fi book (pure hard sci-fi) and thus should NOT be compared to a fantasy book.

This was one of the few books that had a VERY good plot(s). Once I started reading it, it was almost impossible to stop (except a few sections). Another good part of the book is the believable technology. There are no `super intelligent people with physic powers' and there is no instant travel but a reasonable means of interstellar travel. The genetic mutations are probably the weakest part of the book because they really don't match the future of science. My favorite technological enhancement was the brain enhancements.

The most disappointing part about this book was (a) lack of a sequel and (b) it is EXTREMELY open-ended.

This Alien Shore is a story about humanity. Who are we and what makes us human? The theme has been explored by a host of S.F. writers. Friedman's novel has some elements that very closely parallel themes in "Dune", for instance. The book is, however, no simple retreading of roads well-worn. Friedman creates an exciting plot and a gripping backdrop for her work. She engages the reader as well as anyone in this or any other genre. The motives and actions of the characters are realistic. In some ways, the main character, who is immensely interesting, is the most disappointing. The potential was so great that I would have like to have seen the character take a bit more control of the action. This is a relatively minor point in book that ranks in the excellent range.