Surprisingly good SF
Hats off to Karin Traviss. ?City of Pearl? pulls you along until the finish, making it difficult for to put down until reaching the end.
I have not been captured by a book like this in a long time. As a matter of fact, I have been so disappointed with what passes for science fiction these days that have been scouring the used book stores for long-lost Heilein, Clarke and Niven to find good hard sci-fi that I haven't read yet. Imagine my excitement at finding a science fiction story, written this century, that touches on the society of a future earth, examines alien and human cultures and adaptations, and puts the reader into these worlds through a very strong main character. She is Shan Frankland, an environmental hazard enforcement officer who is persuaded to accept a 150-year mission to a planet searching Cavanagh's Star. The persuasion comes through a Suppressed Briefing, which means the purpose of the mission is buried in her subconscious. A previous expedition to this planet was made and the fate of the potential colonists is unknown. The sixteen-member team sent to the planet includes Shan, a journalist, a marine detachment, and select scientists. They land in a territory shared with humans and the native species, coveted by a different species and protected by another species.
Through the main characters, human and alien strengths and shortcomings including friendship, greed, honesty, good-intentions, responsibility, integrity, courage, selfishness and selflessness are explored. Although the other characters in the book are important to the main characters, they are kind of two dimensional and rather inconsequential to the reader which is too bad.
The author tells a good story and does a fine job of covering many themes including politics, warfare, religion, consequences of actions and environmentalism all without being too preachy. I read the last page today, and am already searching for ?Crossing the Line?, the next in the series.
