About This Blog


This blog was started as a place to post book reviews. The books reviewed here will be mixed. Science Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, General Fiction, NonFiction and more. Both positve and negative reviews will be posted, as well as reviews for books written for all ages and all reading levels.

Many of the books reviewed here are ones that I have purchased for my own reading pleasure. Some, I receive free in exchange for reviews. Beginning in December, 2009 you will know which are the free ones if you read the final paragraph of my reviews.

Also of note: I choose what I will read, attempting to avoid the books on which I would end up writing a negative review... but I have been known to make mistakes. Thus you see some one and two star reviews here. Since I don't enjoy writing negative reviews, I only write them if the review was promised, or if the book was so exceedingly bad, I just had to say so. Regardless of the percentage of positive to negative reviews on this blog, I give my honest opinion each and every time, and have never received financial compensation for posting my reviews.

Note that, except for fair use portions quoted from some of the books reviewed, all copyright in the content of the reviews belongs to Lady Dragoness.


Sunday, April 5, 2009

Questions and Answers

Regenesis
by C.J. Cherryh
Hardcover: 585 pages
Publisher: DAW Hardcover (January 6, 2009)
Rated 4 stars of 5 possible

Regenesis is a mixture of hard science fiction and thriller/murder mystery all rolled into one long, fantastic novel. The young protagonist, Ariane Emory, works hard to discover who killed her illustrious predecessor and to ensure that she does not meet the same fate. The many details to this intricate and long-awaited sequel to Cyteen make the novel a slow starter; however, those with enough patience to continue reading will be rewarded. 

Regenesis supplies some of the answers to questions originating in the previous novels, yet the answers lead to more questions, hinting at deeper motivations that are not entirely explained. Was the first Ariane Emory killed because she knew too much about things going on in the Defense department? Regenesis hints that this may be the case, but does not fully answer that question. And there are more unanswered questions of a similar nature... some for which incomplete answers are provided, and a few questions for which no obvious answers are provided at all. Of course, these unexplained motivations leave me ready and even eager for the next novel, which is not entirely a bad thing.

Ms. Cherryh is an accomplished writer, drawing the reader into her world, and more, making that world so real that the reader is reluctant to depart, even when the story has concluded. The characters are very realistic and multi-faceted. Getting to know them was my pleasure; my hope is that there will soon be a next novel in this very interesting series.  Recommended to readers age 16 and up. Even if you don't usually read science fiction, you might want to try this novel, which does very well on its own as well as being a compelling entry in the Cyteen series.
 

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