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City of Pearl (The Wess'har Wars #1)

3.88 of 5 stars 3.88 · rating details · 795 ratings · 74 reviews

Three separate alien societies have claims on Cavanagh's Star. But the new arrivals -- the gethes from Earth -- now threaten the tenuous balance of a coveted world.

Environmental Hazard Enforcement officer Shan Frankland agreed to lead a mission to Cavanagh's Star, knowing that 150 years would elapse before she could finally return home. But her landing, with a small group

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Paperback, 392 pages

Published February 24th 2004 by Harper Voyager (first published February 2004)

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Feb 17, 2010 Stephen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: award-nominee-campbell, multiple-award-nominee, award-nominee-philip-k-dick, easton-press, signed-first-or-limited-edition, award-nominee-locus, science-fiction, galactic-civilizations, first-contact

4.5 stars. One of the best debut novels I have read in years. Excellent world-building, fascinating aliens and a terrific main character. Looking forwrard to book 2 of the series.

The novel takes place in the years between 2198-2374 and involves an earth mission to a planet called (by Earth) Cavanagh's Star. The planet is already claimed by three alien races: (1) The Bezeri (squid-like water dwellers) who are the planet's natural inhabitants, (2) the Isenj (invaders there to take advantage of un...more

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Mar 28, 2011 Ron rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

In keeping with my practice of cutting slack to debut novels.

Fun read. Well created worlds, though she didn't reveal why the "moon" has a higher gravity than it's "planet." Lots of conflict and confrontations. Nice to see the earthlings at the bottom of the technology pyramid.

I like novels which explore issues. Traviss looks at the effects licensing and patenting genetic-engineered food stuffs. It's sort of the back story, but critical to some people's motives.

Cover Art: don't you hate it when t...more

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Oct 05, 2009 Shannon (Giraffe Days) rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi, 2007, favourite

In the year 2198 Superintendant Shan Frankland is looking forward to calling it quits in the Environmental Hazards unit, retiring and finally growing those contraband, non-genetically-modified tomato seeds her father cultivated.

One government minister has other plans for her, though. She is sent to the far reaches of space, a trip that takes 75 years, on a mission that she knows nothing about because it is submerged in her brain, waiting to be released gradually once triggered. She joins a grou...more

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Dec 22, 2008 Angela rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sf

I really enjoyed reading City of Pearl. Most of the authors I read in SF/F are the F side of the genre, so whenever I come across a female SF writer it gives me an extra level of enjoyment. Julie Czerneda remains my SF powerhouse favorite, but I think Karen Traviss is now putting in a good strong bid for second place.

There were some small things I didn't quite like about the book, I'll admit--but they were fairly minor nitpicks. I'll get those out of the way first. The flow of time in the story...more

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Jul 21, 2008 Brownbetty rated it 4 of 5 stars

If you're reading this on Goodreads, you'll see I gave it four stars, and honestly, I almost gave it five, but decided not to only because of some uncertainty about the sequel. Not that I've read it, yet, because my public library, for reasons best known to certain city officials, lacks the funding to catalogue paperbacks, so every library expedition is a bit like a dungeon crawl. Does the library own the sequel? Who knows! Certainly not the Public Library! (Mr Katz, I hope to make you the numbe...more

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Jul 02, 2012 Paradoxical rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-reading-list, books-otherwise

I both enjoyed and didn't enjoy this at the same time. For one, it's very extreme in its views. There are little or no greys in the picture, it's basically black and white, this is good and this is terrible. So yes, very preachy. On the other hand, the story was somewhat compelling, and I did enjoy the book as I read more of it. It brings up several interesting points of discussion (even if Shan is very firm on her opinions of said points of discussion).

That said, I disliked the fact that all of...more

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Jun 03, 2011 Sharon Essex added it · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi

Having thoroughly enjoyed Karen Traviss' Republic Commando novels, I thought I'd give this book a try.

The first hundred or so pages were slow going—not because the book is poorly written, but because this isn't the kind of science fiction I usually go for.

I had expected the story to be pretty straight military sci-fi and was at first mildly annoyed that it wasn't. Also, I tend to avoid books that feature weird alien beings with hard-to-pronounce names, and this book has several different alien...more

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Aug 17, 2010 Rob McMinn rated it 5 of 5 stars

One of the most boring aspects of Science Fiction as it is filmed – for movies or TV – is the knee-jerk assumption that humanity is in the right. I'm so bored of the "threat to Earth" theme that it spoils my enjoyment. The greatest weakness of any SF film or TV programme is the production assumption that the audience will not be engaged unless somehow Earth and/or humanity is under threat. As such, there are never any of the real joys of SF – the creation of wonder, or the evocation of the compl...more

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Nov 11, 2012 Chani rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: aliens, sci-fi, strong-woman, futuristic

This was exactly what I've been craving. A great read, with interesting characters, a humanitarian angle, eco-friendly, and ALIENS! Everything was so well thought out and the environments pulled me. The three different alien species were captivating and varied. It's refreshing to read new ideas on other life forms, not just evil alien who want to take over. This was a much more realistic view and I absolutely loved the relationship between Aras and Shan. 'City of Pearl' was a great mix of milita...more

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May 23, 2011 Colleen rated it 3 of 5 stars

City of Pearl should have been an ordinary book. It was part Huff and part Webber. It was Starbridge and Uplift. It was a reaonably well-written book, with a typical plot and expected characters. But there was more to it than the usual trope that comes with an alien exploitation novel. The talent that Kareen Traviss has in telling the story is what makes me so pleased with having spent time with her. There were lectures about individual responsibility that were inextricable to the lectures about...more

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Jan 09, 2013 Chip Matthews rated it 4 of 5 stars

This series is fascinating and frustrating at the same time. Its biggest strength is an interesting contrast between human moral views which center around motive and intent and the very different views of the Wess'har which are all about actions and their consequences. The alien races and cultures are well conceived and fascinating. The series as a whole is let down by a main character who is very difficult to like and an environmental theme that's a bit heavy handed and cynical. I read this who...more

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Apr 12, 2012 Chad rated it 4 of 5 stars

For a book with little action and a focus on moral dilemmas, ethics and environmentalism, I liked this more than I expected to.

Traviss excels at subtle worldbuilding, especially in the hints of a falling apart Earth that we never actually see in the book. She often threw in random bits like the fact that opium poppies were driven to extinction by a genetically engineered virus. That's an idea that could probably carry a novel by itself, but here it's background info that lets readers fill in th...more

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Feb 28, 2013 Bon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: aliens, colonization, culture, different-world, environmental-matters, future, humanity, immortality, mystery, sci-fi, stigma, war-resistance-battles-fighting, e-book

A very good book. I especially liked the main character, both because she was a woman and because that was no big deal. She wasn't swooning over every man who showed her his super manly inner-strength and romance was nil. Maybe I'm just really bad at picking good books with female leads though, but this book was just a revelation in that department. I made the mistake of reading the summary for the third book in this series and spent some time debating whether I'd read the rest of (or at least t...more

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Mar 30, 2012 Robert rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: gave-up-on, science-fiction

This book is filled with ideological messages. On top of that it is a slow read. Nothing much happens. There is some walking around some talking and that's it!

But the worst is the ideological messages that are forced on you. No doubt the author is a fan of veganism. In the book the character Aras (the alien) say that he can't smell the meat on Shan (the female lead character) to which she replies something like "no of course not, we don't really need to eat meat some people just like it" What a...more

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Feb 27, 2010 Nuno Almeida rated it 4 of 5 stars

Muito bom, mesmo. Ao contrário dos últimos livros que li, este puxou mesmo por mim e deixava-me sempre com vontade de saber o que ia acontecer a seguir. A história até evolui algo lentamente (excepto nos capítulos finais, em que acontece muita coisa, muito depressa, e acho que não lhe deram a importância devida), mas existem tantas personagens e tantas questões pendentes que há sempre qualquer coisa nova a descobrir.

O mundo criado é muito interessante, diferente e complexo sem no entanto sermos...more

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Dec 26, 2008 Natalie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Having started to read a fourth book of the series I conclude that it is yet another piece written to chop some additional cash.

Not without it's peculiarities, of course. And I still like it.

For one thing - it's new. The first book in this series was written in 2004. Second - the book is written by a British author - a novelty for me in the SciFi. The language is very good - not too simplistic and not too crammed with complex constructions. The author uses a sensible amount of synonyms and keeps...more Having started to read a fourth book of the series I conclude that it is yet another piece written to chop some additional cash.

Not without it's peculiarities, of course. And I still like it.

For one thing - it's new. The first book in this series was written in 2004. Second - the book is written by a British author - a novelty for me in the SciFi. The language is very good - not too simplistic and not too crammed with complex constructions. The author uses a sensible amount of synonyms and keeps up the logical alignment of paragraphs rather well.

The author clearly studied well on that Clarion scifi and fantasy workshop she attended - she used almost all of the good elements of the genre. Which makes the book look good, even if being obvious.

Epigraphs at the beginning of each chapter are well placed and well picked. They help to create the general atmosphere and a glimpse of the world beyond the narration.

Some of the problems that EU folk are thinking about surface here and there... The main character is an Environmental Protection officer. Funny. To be exact, her (and the protagonist is a female, hurray)position is called Environmental Hazard Enforcement officer, Enhaz for short. She serves the Federal European Union. I wonder, how did the EU become Federal? Is that the way that they are supposed to be going?

The author describes a race so green-peace style that it is often a laugh. This utopian society is utterly peaceful and is ruled over by matriarchs. Each matriarch has a male harem and although females conceive, it is the males who give birth and bring up the offspring. Funny again. When will the feminism die out? they have already done a great deal of damage to our well balanced world and now they are attempting to deprive the males of their masculinity for good. Enough is as good as a feast, I think. Sad.

Is the main character Russian??? Is that the reason that justifies her hard-as nails character with an unusual for peace-loving Europeans morale? Is that why she can switch sides relatively easy? that she can easily accept alien culture and alien species as her own kind? Has the Russian Federation joined EU to form that Federal European Union? To think of it! %)

I might as well overestimate the hints...(less)

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Dec 21, 2011 David King rated it 4 of 5 stars

The story is set at a time when various governments have merged together in an attempt to combat the growing powers of corporations. The main protagonist, Shan Frankland is a police officer for one of these governments who is preparing to retire from her duties in Environmental Hazards unit. However, when a government minister then offers her the chance to visit another world she decides to take on one more job. Her team of scientists and marines are heading out to the only habitable planet know...more The story is set at a time when various governments have merged together in an attempt to combat the growing powers of corporations. The main protagonist, Shan Frankland is a police officer for one of these governments who is preparing to retire from her duties in Environmental Hazards unit. However, when a government minister then offers her the chance to visit another world she decides to take on one more job. Her team of scientists and marines are heading out to the only habitable planet known to Earth in an attempt to find out what happened to the colonist who headed there many years earlier. When they arrive, to their surprise they find that the colony has survived, however they also discover that the planet is hot spot between three other sentient alien species that all have their own agendas and ideas of what could be defined as right and wrong.

The first comment I will make about the story is that it doesn't paint a pretty picture of humanity. The author seems to take as many negative aspects about our species as she can and crams them all in to such an extent that I wonder if she even actually likes being human. Whilst, I am more than happy for novels to portray people in a more realistic way, it did all seem a little bit too negative for me. In particular I couldn't believe the way that the scientists involved in the novel have been portrayed, I don't think I have ever seen such an obnoxious, selfish, unethical group of thoroughly un-likeable people as them and I just don't believe that they would really all act in this rather self-obsessed manner.

I suspect that Traviss is trying to make a point in the novel about how we as a species act and treat our environment but I just found it all a little bit too preachy. The worst aspect of this was in regards to the way that one of the alien species seemed to be so horrified at humans eating meat or other animal products. Honestly, if there was one thing that got my back up in this book it was some of these almost blatant attempts at promoting a Vegan diet.

However, if I ignore the almost over the top negativity about humanity and some of the preachy tendencies then I am more than willing to state that this is actually a well written and interesting, character driven science fiction novel. The plot is well-paced and whilst it is quite light on the action front, there was enough there to keep the story entertaining. It really explores ecology and the way in which humanity and others can interact and affect each other without truly understanding the differing consequences for each group.

One element I really think Traviss has excelled at is in her portrayal of the different alien species. She has developed them to a level that the reader can visualise and understand some of their actions without getting bogged down in excessive descriptions. Each species has their own foibles and cultural elements that really highlight the differences between both humanity and each of them.

The characters in the story both impressed me and yet also depressed me for differing reasons. When I considered the two main characters, Shan and her alien friend Aras, I found them to have been wonderfully developed. I felt that I could really understand the various reasons for their thoughts, ideas and actions as the story progressed. In particular, I found Aras to be superb, his loneliness was palpable and the manner in which his association with humanity was affecting his personality and choices was engrossing to read. However, the supporting characters are a different thing entirely; most of them seemed nothing more than cardboard cut-outs put in place as something for Shan and Aras to complain about in some way. As I said earlier in the review, the scientists were nothing more than obnoxious nasty people, but the Marines were also on the whole nothing more than names that just followed orders. It was a shame really as the few characters that Traviss did at least provide a little development on such as a marine called Ade and a journalist called Eddie seemed like they could be thoroughly interesting to understand further. I just hope that in the future novels we get a little bit more development into them in particular.

In summary, this was an interesting and enjoyable novel that was probably slightly let down by what I saw as an over the top attempt at preaching to the reader about how bad we all are. I think this book will appeal to anyone who enjoys character driven and thought provoking Science Fiction. The way the plot has been written in my opinion also offers a lot of growth for the future and I look forward with anticipation to the prospect of future books incorporating some action and adventure to go alongside the character driven elements showcased in this novel.

This review and others are available on my blog Books & Things (less)

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Dec 31, 2011 Karen Ireland-Phillips rated it 4 of 5 stars

Well written, fast paced, with fascinating main characters and excellently drawn cultures, the first novel in Traviss' Wess'har series is well worth your time. Eco-cop Shan Frankland, on her way to retirement, is shanghai'd into a twenty-five year voyage to a (formerly lost) earth colony of religious fanatics. Her ostensible goal is to retrieve a gene database maintained by the colonists. But other cultures share the planetary system with the colonists - and one, the Wess'har, see their job as t...more

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Feb 01, 2012 Coucher de soleil rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction-read

Just as a note (and here's hoping I don't sound pompous): this is the very first time I give a book 5 stars. However, I thought that in this case it was warranted.

I've read many reviews of this book on different sites and I noticed that many readers seemed uncomfortable with the ideas at the core of it, which is not surprising. The first thing I would say about this book is to acknowledge that the ideas within are extreme.

I don't agree with every principle suggested in this book and I doubt mos...more

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Oct 31, 2011 Banner rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi, alien

One of the best science fiction books I've read. The book flows so smoothly with action, character development and universe building. While this book is the beginning of a series, it is a very satisfying and self contained story. You will want to read the next book (I've already ordered mine).

Just a note about the alien culture, I think Karen Traviss has developed a truly alien culture yet was able to make it accessible. The alien protagonist is one of the most interesting characters in science...more

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Aug 18, 2010 Celia Powell rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi, re-read, futuristic

I love this series - five books, beginning with City of Pearl. We follow Shan Frankland, an environmental police officer, from an Earth controlled by corporations to a distant planet, where religious Earth settlers co-exist with several alien species. Shan is in charge of a group of scientists, who quickly get on the wrong side of the Wess'Har (the peacekeeping species who tend to ruthlessly move to eliminate any threat to the planet), and she becomes involved in increasingly complex negotiation...more

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Jan 25, 2012 Delilah rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, 50-2012, language-english

This book has everything I like in a good story. Spaceships, aliens, corrupt establishments, and just the tiniest bit of moral sentimentality.

Some people might say that the characters do not show enough emotions, but to me it was really refreshing to read a story where the female protagonist does not have any kind of romantic sub-plot going on. It had a kind of Ellen Ripley felling going.

On the other hand, I can already see that there could be some romance evolving between Shan and Aras in the n...more

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Mar 06, 2012 Michelle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi-or-futuristic, favorites, books-i-own

(Review originally posted on my livejournal account: http://intoyourlungs.livejournal.com/...)

Why I Read It: This was calico_reaction's Dare for the month of December as well as the selection for The Women of Science Fiction book club.

When I first cracked open this book, I think it's worth mentioning that I had little to no idea what it was actually about. I had even avoided reading the summary for the book. I had reasonably high expectations for it because of calico_reaction's original review f...more (Review originally posted on my livejournal account: http://intoyourlungs.livejournal.com/...)

Why I Read It: This was calico_reaction's Dare for the month of December as well as the selection for The Women of Science Fiction book club.

When I first cracked open this book, I think it's worth mentioning that I had little to no idea what it was actually about. I had even avoided reading the summary for the book. I had reasonably high expectations for it because of calico_reaction's original review for it (which you can read here) but not SUPER high. So it was with glee that I found myself midly surprised at just how much I enjoyed reading this novel.

This might sound kind of calloused of me, but I get kind of annoyed when I read stories that have colonization themes. Of course I hate it when underrepresented people get the short end of the stick, and I do get infuriated by the unfairness (to understate it a bit) of colonization in general, but reading these kinds of stories has also become incredibly predictable. You have the repressed people who are usually attuned to the earth somehow, then the evil Usually Rich and Privileged come along and totally take their land and start killing the earth and stuff!! But there's always one person from the evil side who is sound of mind and joins the victims and saves the day!! Not only is this trend problematic to underreprestented people, but it's become repetitive and boring. So I was mildly concerned at first when it started becoming clear what the storyline of this book would be. Shan was going to be the person from the "evil" side of things who was going to be on the side of the Wess'har and the colonists on Cavanagh's Star. The Earth people were obviously going to be evil and were going to want to take over the planet because they're greed capitalist bastards.

And well, that IS how things play out. BUT, and I can't exactly put my finger on why, I still liked this story. I liked it a lot. In fact, I kind of fell in love with it.

I think the best part of the novel was Aras. He is seriously one of the most awesome characters I have come across recently and I absolutely loved him to pieces. He's an incredibly tragic hero, and yes, he bemoans his fate, but never in an annoying and overbearing way. He's also incredibly charismatic (without even realizing it probably) and intelligent, and capable, but his sad situation makes him vulnerable and thus I was able to connect with him. In a lot of ways he's cold and detached (you would have to be, to kill as many beings as Aras has), which you would THINK would make it difficult to like him, so it was awesome what Traviss did with him.

Shan herself is also an admirable character. She's the typical Bad Ass Female in many ways, but there was a lot of little things that set her apart. For one, Shan is fairly old. She's not OLD OLD, but she's no youngin' either. There's also very little focus on any kind of romance. She has a crush on one of the soldiers but for various reasons they can't hook up (and reading about Shan's frustrations over this was actually quite amusing) but other than that, no romance. She also has a somewhat stable (though not so much by the end of the book) friendship with another woman, Lindsay.

Together though? Shan and Aras are an amazing pair. What I loved most about them was that Aras found Shan childlike in many ways, as well as a comforting presence, and Shan felt the same way about Aras, but for different reasons. There was true comraderie between them and their scenes together were some of my favorite.

I've talked a lot about characters here and very little about the other aspects of the novel, such as the writing or the plot. To be honest, I don't have a whole lot to say other than it was good and I really enjoyed it. The reason I enjoyed it so much though was because I was so invested in the characters. Shan and Aras were obviously my favourites, but the secondary characters were equally awesome and developed (for the most part). Events happened in the story that either made me really happy or really mad, and they did because I cared. So yes, it did have a lot of tropes that I mentioned above that I usually find predictable and thus boring, but because I was so invested in the characters, I didn't care.

Final Judgment: I usually find stories of James Cameron's Avatar variety to be kind of boring; they're predictable and preachy (despite my caring for the subject matter). So you can imagine my surprise when I ended up loving this story that adopts many similar tropes. Where this novel truly shines is its characters because the main and secondary ones are well-rounded and developed and makes you care. Shan and Aras in particular were a wonderful duo. This is the first in a six book series and I can't wait to read more.(less)

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Nov 24, 2010 Margaret Mcgaffey rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science, fiction, sociological

My older sister is adamant about reading books in order, something I've never paid much attention to, but suddenly, I'm faced with exactly why she feels this way and it is very frustrating. I have just finished City of Pearl by Karen Traviss, a debut novel of exceptional quality that has the complexity of characters and themes that first drew me to sociological science fiction and keeps pulling me back. Now I swear only coincidence led the first two books I mention to include ecological themes,...more My older sister is adamant about reading books in order, something I've never paid much attention to, but suddenly, I'm faced with exactly why she feels this way and it is very frustrating. I have just finished City of Pearl by Karen Traviss, a debut novel of exceptional quality that has the complexity of characters and themes that first drew me to sociological science fiction and keeps pulling me back. Now I swear only coincidence led the first two books I mention to include ecological themes, but while Gods Old and Dark touched on the theme, City of Pearl is steeped in it.

The story starts out with an EnHaz (Environmental Hazard Enforcement) officer ready to retire who is given an offer that she can't refuse--or remember thanks to a technology called Suppressed Briefing which is a chemical "need to know" memory suppressant. She agrees to travel 75 years in cold storage with a team of marines and scientists to find out what happened to a religious group that attempted to colonize a distant planet, taking with them a genetic storage of all the unique plants and animals on Earth with the intention of recolonizing Earth after Armageddon.

You learn most if not all of that in the first few chapters, a set up rife with enough conflict to keep anyone happy. Does Karen Traviss leave it there? Of course not. Not only are there multiple types of aliens on the planet each with very specific agendas and unique philosophies, but the humans are living happily in the equivalent of a zoo. And that's not telling it all, but I'm stopping here with the plot and story hints because I think I've said enough to pique your interest.

What I will say is that the characters are real, their backgrounds affect who they are and why they behave the way they do, and they're not always right. They have both fallibilities and a strength of purpose that drew me in. The planet is complex, the people are more so and the conflicts are all plausible. The enemy isn't always obvious either because of conflicts between perspectives and moments of weakness that have consequences I could both see and hope would not come about. In case my description didn't make it clear, this is not a pure entertainment, adrenalin-rush, 2-hour read. Her language is approachable and comprehension was never an issue, but I read this book slower even than my normal crawl because there was so much to absorb and I didn't want to miss a bit. This is my method of reading, but another equivalent would be to say this is the type of book that has enough depth to be read again and again. Each time you would find another telling phrase or something that you missed the first time through.

Oh, and in case you're curious, I read the second book first, Crossing the Line, because I was selected as an advanced reader. I've been signing up for the book lottery every month at several publishers. It's a good way to be exposed to new authors or genres you wouldn't normally read and though I haven't been chosen in a while, the effort led to Karen Traviss, making it definitely worth while. I read the second book, recognized the skill and how I enjoyed the way she writes. Took me a while, but then I picked up City of Pearl and, though her first novel-length published work, it has not disappointed me at all. The only disappointment I felt was that in coming to the end, I'd already read the next one. However, I just went to her website, http://www.karentraviss.com/ , and discovered she has a third coming soon :).

For those who are curious, here's my reader review:

Crossing the Line is an intensely complex novel told in a direct, approachable manner that drew me right in. It twines the lives of five different species, each with both unique and familiar traits, showing where common interests and desires can lead to conflict and disaster both within and between species. I've never read Karen Traviss before but I plan to find her first novel, City of Pearl, just to experience the history of these characters in her own words. That said, this novel stands alone, not requiring anything more than you'll find between the covers. It sparks a desire to know the past and future of those characters introduced in this book merely because they become real, each with their own desires, failings and needs. I will certainly put her on my list of authors I seek out and keep track of. It's a pleasure to find another author along the lines of C.J. Cherryh, who explores aliens neither as carbon copies of humans nor cardboard cutouts and who takes the time to generate a full philosophy and approach to life that is coherent, cohesive, and distinctive. (less)

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Dec 15, 2010 Amanda rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi, favorites, strong-women

Sci-fi with an evironmental twist? Hmm…It’s not exactly space opera, since most of the story takes place on another planet. It’s not exactly military sci-fi, because the military presence makes up a small part of the cast of characters. It’s a mixture of a little bit of everything. The book touches on everything from religion, environmental policy, the scary possible future of the corporation, family values, ethics in journalism, and human/alien relations. It sounds like a lot, but all of these...more

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Nov 01, 2008 April rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone who likes thoughtful sci-fi

Recommended to April by: Anastasia on wotmania

City of Pearl has been on my wish list for awhile now. Since I've been finding it difficult to get into books lately, I decided to pick it up and give it a try. I was not disappointed.
This year I seem to be reading a lot of alien contact books, and I think Traviss has done the best in that particular sub-genre so far. It's difficult to imagine what other species in the universe might be
like, and even harder to make them real to us as readers. I mean, think about it. You have to be able to relate...more City of Pearl has been on my wish list for awhile now. Since I've been finding it difficult to get into books lately, I decided to pick it up and give it a try. I was not disappointed.
This year I seem to be reading a lot of alien contact books, and I think Traviss has done the best in that particular sub-genre so far. It's difficult to imagine what other species in the universe might be
like, and even harder to make them real to us as readers. I mean, think about it. You have to be able to relate to the characters you're reading about in some way, but with alien contact novels you also have to be able to make them fundamentally different from us, at least
enough that it seems they've evolved somewhere other than Earth.
Which brings me to Aras, one of the main characters of the novel. Aras is the guardian of Bezer'ej, a world inhabited by underwater creatures who are extremely sensitive to biological changes in their environment. Aras is the destroyer of a colony of isenj, another alien
race that polluted the planet, killing the bezeri. Aras is host to a bug that renders him immortal, a dangerous boon to any population of enterprising individuals.
And you guessed it... here come the humans to complicate things.
Luckily, the first group to show up believe as the wess'har- Aras' race, sans immortality- do. They don't believe in harming the landscape, and they try to use everything to its maximum capacity. One thing I found interesting with this group was that they are a Christian group, very fundamentalist, but in many ways they uphold the
teachings of Christ. I seem to rarely find positive views on religion in science fiction. I think perhaps that by getting back to nature, away from technology and corruption, they are able to live peacefully
in their small colony. Perhaps their synergy as a group is also related to their fight to survive and the need to work together.
But another spaceship lands, this time with Marines and scientists, inevitably on a mission to make a buck. True human form, no? Desperate to avoid the need to
wipe out the humans as he did the isenj, Aras has to find a way to protect the planet while keeping the peace, not to mention the land, intact. He also has to keep his secret from the humans. And war is about to strike, alliances made and perhaps lost along with lives.
The story unfolds with Aras and the leader of the scientific mission, Shan, developing a believable alien-human relationship, one they may all come to unknowingly rely upon. Aras has a plausible reason for feeling so close to humankind- one that also keeps him away from his own kind as an anomaly. His own journey, though, leads him to heartache the humankind cannot even touch, for all that they are human emotions as well. And Shan has her
own hands full trying to maintain scientists whose intellectual curiosity might lead the to the mission's ultimate destruction.
City of Pearl is both a philosophical novel full of hope and an exploration of character. It's one of the first times I have discovered that one of the main characters- a strong female lead- is mostly unlikeable and yet oddly sympathetic. Those are always the best
characters, the ones who are flawed but who draw you in nonetheless.
Although I find it a bit preachy in places- veganism and earth preservation being main themes of the book- it is overall a story about issues near and dear to me: loneliness, empathy, and the strength of the human heart. A strong 9/10.
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Jun 25, 2008 Shinynickel rated it 3 of 5 stars

Karen Traviss is a professional journalist (or was?), and some years ago I found her blog, thought it was interesting, and decided to pick up one of her books. Now I have - the first chapter or so is a little thick to get through, a little Baen-style hard SF, but there are several elements that imply this is not all that's going on.

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This ended up being an excellent space opera book, with some interesting things going on in some of the choices the author made. Three things stood out for me, re...more Karen Traviss is a professional journalist (or was?), and some years ago I found her blog, thought it was interesting, and decided to pick up one of her books. Now I have - the first chapter or so is a little thick to get through, a little Baen-style hard SF, but there are several elements that imply this is not all that's going on.

---

This ended up being an excellent space opera book, with some interesting things going on in some of the choices the author made. Three things stood out for me, reading this book. First, there was a really good gender balance in the cast - Shan Frankland was only one of a number of strong women in the cast. Not everyone was white, either, which made me happy. Second, the three alien races (while still 'space opera' aliens whose motives were comprehensible, though strange) were involved in a complex political situation that the humans simply stumble into. Humanity is outgunned by two of the three races in the book, and while they have the potential to tip the fragile political balance one way or the other, there's also a good chance they'll get their asses annihilated. Third, there's a really interesting discussion going on around environmental responsibility. The protagonist is from a future government environmental protection force with powers similar to the police (though they're still getting mowed down by the corporations) and is a vegetarian. One of the major alien races is vegan, and very aggressive about making sure no one abuses any species under their care. They're also one of the species with enough firepower to blast most of the characters to smithereens. And all this in a book that 'feels' like a space opera/military scifi book!

The only thing that bugged me happened at a character/internal level, and it's hard to slight a book with this focus when it doesn't get enough into the character's heads - I think this is a personal bias. Sometimes people would make a decision (for example (not spoilering, this is made up), "I will not kill this animal") and it was hard to tell whether they were doing it because they thought it didn't matter much either way, but just wanted to, or whether they knew their choice would get them in a hell of a lot of trouble but wanted to do it anyway. This meant that sometimes the actions they took were jarring, though they were in line with their characters in retrospect. (less)

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Mar 31, 2008 Ryan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: all-time-favourites

I first discovered Karen Traviss while reading a Star Wars novel that she'd written, and at the time I remembered thinking that she was far too good of a writer to be stuck writing movie tie-in novels. If I thought that before, it's definitely been reinforced after reading City Of Pearl, the first novel in her "Wess'har" series.

This novel stars Shan Frankland, a police officer in the European Union's environmental hazards division, who is sent along with some scientists and marines to track down...more

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Jan 11, 2008 Liz rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everyone

I found this book through a random search on Amazon looking for new sci-fi/fantasy authors. It came up as a recommended book based on books that I'd bought in the past, I had some mad money on hand and figured if I didn't like the book I wasn't out anything.

Oh wow. I can't rightly give a review without giving much away - but I now very highly recommend this book to pretty much everyone I meet regardless of whether or not they are fans of science fiction/fantasy. The themes throughout this book a...more

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Jul 10, 2010 Laura rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: speculative-fiction, 2010

I like speculative fiction that explores cultures and holds up examples of other ways of being. I also like speculative fiction that gives the reader things to think about. The Wess'Har series is a great example of both of these.

Issues of environmental ethics, what does it mean to be "people," the ways different cultures handle conflict, space exploration, several different sentient alien races, and great, compelling characters, it's all here. Some of the best SF I've read lately.

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About Karen Traviss

Karen Traviss is a science fiction author and full-time novelist from Wiltshire, England. Originally from the Portsmouth area, Traviss worked as both a journalist and defence correspondent before turning her attention to writing fiction. She also served in both the Territorial Army and the Royal Naval Auxiliary Service. Traviss is a graduate of the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy workshop.

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Books by Karen Traviss

Sacrifice (Star Wars: Legacy of the Force, #5)

Bloodlines (Star Wars: Legacy of the Force, #2)

Revelation (Star Wars: Legacy of the Force, #8)

Hard Contact (Star Wars: Republic Commando, #1)

Triple Zero (Star Wars: Republic Commando, #2)

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Quotes from City of Pearl

“Every miracle's got a mundane explanation. [...] and you can choose - you can look at the wonderous surface or you can look at the crud beneath. I want to see the wondrous, believe me. I just know it isn't going to be there when I've finished looking.” — 5 people liked it

“Humans have too many rights and not enough responsibilities.
-Aras” — 1 person liked it

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City of Pearl (The Wess'har Wars #1)

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