On the Wess’Har

Just random thoughts so far. I’d had (and ignored) City of Pearl by Karen Traviss for years when I was asked to read it and the following two books in the series, for work. I was pretty dissapointed with SF in general at the time, after a couple of much-praised books I didn’t like, so I was expecting to trudge through these. I was blown away.

It is classic SF in some aspects: we’ve got humans and aliens, FTL travel, high-tech guns and communications and everything… but it’s not Star Trek. First off, it’s got an environmental theme, which would’ve been enough to get me interested. But it’s also got ethical dilemmas that make you (well, me) really think. It’s got relationships (and alien sex! :D). It’s got drama. It’s got more moral dilemmas. It’s got a bunch of different characters, but I like them so much it’s impossible to decide on a favorite. It’s got a writer who, judging by her background (journalism, military-type stuff), knows what she’s writing about. And she does it in the most awesome British English!

I’m halfway through book 5 (Ally) at the moment and loving it. The only unfortunate thing is that I read the rest of the books almost a year ago and I’m realizing how many details I forgot…

It’s also a bit weird that a book about aliens and their thoughts can remind me so much of some of my friends.

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5 Responses to “On the Wess’Har”

  1. alexei Says:

    Spambot says: nice blog!

  2. thrinidir Says:

    great blog…I’m staying for the ride.

    thrinidir (Realms of Speculative Fiction)

  3. Jen Says:

    Thank you both :)

    thrinidir, i didn’t know about your blog, but it looks very interesting (I didn’t read much because the review for I Am Legend warned about spoilers, and I haven’t read the book yet). It’s in my rss reader now, expect comments soon :)

  4. Dark Wolf Says:

    Hi Jen,
    Congrats on your new blog and I’m looking forward in reading it. And thank for the link, I’ll put your blog on my blogroll too. Once again, congrats.

  5. mostly harmless books » Blog Archive » Get your Karen Traviss e-book for free! Says:

    [...] I read it a year before starting this blog, but some rambling about the series and Ally (book 5) here and here. In short: bloody good SF. AliensOn the [...]

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