Regeneration

Species Imperative #3

by Julie E. Czerneda

With the alien Dhryn cutting a pathway through the inhabited spaceways-bringing about the annihilation of many of the races who have the misfortune to lie along the star trail they are following-time is running out for all sentient life-forms. Can biologists Mackenzie Connor and Emily Mamami solve the riddle of the Dhryn before their part of the galaxy becomes as dead as the mysterious region known as the Chasm?

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Space Opera, Aliens, Speculative Fiction, Fantasy

570 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 6, 2006

About the author

Having written 25 novels (and counting) published by DAW Books, as well as numerous short stories, and editing several anthologies, in 2022, Julie E. Czerneda was inducted in the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. Her science fiction and fantasy combines her training and love of biology with a boundless curiosity and optimism, winning multiple awards. Julie's recent releases include the standalone novel To Each This World, her first collection Imaginings, and A Shift of Time, part of her Night's Edge fantasy series. For more visit czerneda.com Julie is represented by Sara Megibow of Megibow Literary Agency LLC.

Reviews

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Regeneration is the concluding book of the Species Imperative trilogy by Julie Czerneda, finishing up where Survival and Migration had left off. We finally get to learn the story behind the evident rampage of the Dhryn across the galaxy--and what the ultimate goals of the Ro are. The nitpicks I had with the first two books still apply here, and I have to admit that towards the ending of the story I started skimming rather than reading in depth... which suggests to me that the book could have used maybe one more edit pass.

By and large though I did quite enjoy reading it. I approve of carrying out a romance with a love interest who actually gets very little screen time--which makes the time he is on screen more effective. Though, the swoonability of Nik aside (or should I be saying yumminess? Har), I also have to admit that I found the final resolutions between the characters just a tad too romance-novel-tidy.

I was almost disappointed that Mudge didn't get to be the love interest after all. I mean, he got way more screen time getting his character developed and having his relationship with Mac progress, and I kinda feel like the poor man deserved to get the girl after all that. ;) Having him do the Hero Thing and clonk Nik out and then stay behind was a pretty good substitute, but then, I think that I'd have liked that plot path a little better if he had indeed heroically died. As it happens, having him get to be alive at the end (and presumably free to pursue amorous intentions towards the second-in-command of the Annapolis Joy) seemed a little too predictable and pat.

I really did like the lamnas rings, though. Those were a very cool little way of keeping Nik's activities on the reader's mind even if he wasn't actually on camera--and I also liked that what Mac got out of them was very jagged and erratic, which I felt very neatly reflected that Nik wasn't an expert at using the things and had no idea what they would actually do. And I was vaguely bummed that Mac didn't check what was in the last one!

Anyway, a decent book overall. Taken as a whole, the Species Imperative Trilogy isn't as solid as the Web Shifters one, nor A Thousand Words for Stranger. I'd say three stars for this book, maybe three and a half for the series as a whole.

[Strix · Rating 5 out of 5]

RTC, LOVE THIS TRILOGY SO MUCH

[Janice · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third and final book in the "Species Imperative" series, and I recommend all three of the books. The main character is a salmon researcher, and heads a facility off the NW coast of either Canada or the U.S., not sure which, several hundred years in the future. There are several species of aliens who play major roles in these stories, and they are creatively drawn. The earth is under threat from one of the alien species, and solving who the threat is and them eliminating that threat is the theme through all three books. There are also other issues going on in the lives of the characters, and the character development is excellent.

[Nyssa · Rating 4 out of 5]

That ending was almost cruel... almost.

This final installment is filled with tension, and at times, the characters' learning experiences seem disproportionate to the challenges they encounter. There are moments where you wonder, "How did they not notice that before?" and other times you think, "How did they jump to that conclusion?" Despite these fluctuations, the book and the series as a whole are enjoyable reads.

[Jessica Snell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Regeneration is the end of a trilogy, and I think I liked it even better than the trilogy that ended with To Trade the Stars. The science part of the sci-fi was heavily weighted towards the biological, and Czerneda’s alien species were fascinating. I also loved the main character, and found her interaction with her students and friends so charming that my children learned the teasing chant, “No ribs for Mac! No ribs for Mac! Mac gets salad and BEER!” (Um, guess you had to be there.) Anyways, though the start of each book is a little slow, I highly recommend this series. (And it also gets the coveted “appeals to both sexes award”, as my husband gobbled up this series too.)

[Dwagon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful conclusion to an outstanding series! What we've got here is a cranky scientist, Mac, who just wants to spend more time with her data -- but who isn't gonna get it. The series gets off to a slow start, but after a while, you can't help loving her character.

Overall, Julie Czerneda has outdone herself this time. The trilogy is full of what she does best: fun and fascinating aliens. It's also got several lovable characters who it is just plain fun to spend time with. This book is a strong conclusion to a great series. Worth a read, if you can be patient with the setup in the first book of the trilogy.

[Erika]

Love this series - very attached to the characters, there's a bit of historical sci-fi mystery thrown in, along with suspense and ... Just go read it. And Czerneda is a Canadian biologist. Love. (Also read Jack McDevitt if you like this sort of book).



No ribs for Mac! Mac gets SALAD and BEER!!

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good trilogy all around, really good trilogy if you are a biology nerd (like me.)

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was looking forward to finishing this book, a) so I would be done with it, and b) so I could write this scathing review. First and foremost, let me say that the writing was overall good, but the editing for the third book was clearly incomplete (typos, repeating language, etc.). The story was convoluted, and the end of the conflict with the Ro was unnecessarily drawn out. But my real issue with the series, and especially this last book, was the characters. I hated every single one of them. Here’s why.

Mac, the protagonist, was written to be a snarky, intelligent, scientist. However, somehow she ends up being the object of everyone’s admiration and love/lust, the focus of a whole species (why did the Ro care about her anyway?), and the only person in the room ever able to figure anything out, ever. In some ways, it felt as if the author (also a biologist) was living her own fantasy in the form of Mac’s character. Aside from the unrealistic importance given to her, Mac herself was just a crappy person. She treated grad students like children (sorry, they’re not, and I’ve had my doctorate for a while now so I can say that). She objectified her significant other – the “yummy” thing was so incredibly off-putting, I almost stopped reading the first time Mac said it. Also, “get your own spy” as if her boyfriend belonged to her? Barf. Finally, her lack of interest in aliens or alien species was, to me, completely off-putting as a fellow scientist. You don’t have to be a biologist to find other species fascinating.

As a Latina, Emily’s depiction in the series was a very sore spot for me as well. She was the stereotypical not-serious, sex-crazed Latin woman, whose technical accomplishments were only mentioned in passing, with the focus always on her looks and her blind pursuit of men. And her huge contribution at the end – finding the Ro portal which saved everyone’s lives – was mentioned almost as a footnote! I literally said out loud, “What the Hell?” because Emily saved everyone, and it is never mentioned after the fact.

Other characters were laughable in their flatness. Nik had no endearing qualities (no, “yummy” definitely does not count) nor any unique personality traits. While Mudge and Fourteen were better fleshed out, saying “Harrumph” or “Idiot” over and over again is not character development! Nor is their being obsessed with Mac (Ew…just ew.). The Sinzi were all the same, and the other species added unnecessary complexity to their stories. The mention of the species of pregnant females being the cause of conflict due to pregnancy hormones was incredibly sexist, unnecessary to the story, and just plain lazy writing.

All in all, the second and third books get one star from me, but I liked the first book, so that brings my rating up a little bit. The story was dragged out in the last two books, and the fact that Mac never actually made it to her destination was incredibly frustrating as a reader.

I was really excited to read this series as an author and a scientist, and because it had a high score here on Goodreads. But, sadly, I was very disappointed by the end.

[Synful · Rating 3 out of 5]

The conclusion of a trilogy, I always feel the need to give both a review of the book and the trilogy overall. Overall the trilogy is imaginative, especially with its inventions of aliens and alien culture. One of the most entertaining parts for me was the cultural interactions and often misunderstandings that came about from differences. Too often sci-fi just goes with everyone being bipedal and have the same frame of reference for thinking and these books didn't stick to that. The differences were amusings, maddening, and occasionally dangerous. However, it took me much longer to finish this book compared to the previous two because I felt it got too wrapped up and in love with meandering through all that to get to the wrapping up of the saga. The amount of pages spent on Mac just making final rounds to leave Earth were in the long run tedious. I felt like the author spent so much time on all these detours and extensions that she suddenly realized she was 2/3 of the novel in and really needed to build a way out. I was left feeling the ending was muddled and not well explained or covered. I would've wanted to know more about the Myrokynay besides the pieced together conjectures of Mac and the IU. Getting the hell off Earth immediately and actually learning about the Survivor Legend would've made this more interesting as well than just dangling it at the end like a possible link to another trilogy. It's not a bad book, I just wish it had been better and definitely nailed the ending much better than it did.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A rip-roaring good tale from start to finish

This is a cohesive story starting with book 1 all the way though to its very end in book 3. Great development of characters each with plenty of personality and humor. A story line that kept me coming back for more and left me wondering if there's more to come. (Yes, please!)

[Katie Foth · Rating 5 out of 5]

A friend recommended this author and series, and I had trouble finding the titles on Hoopla and Libby. I finally purchased the series on Kindle and thoroughly enjoyed them. I found the characters well-rounded, interesting, and thoroughly believable. The author's imagination and world-building are top-notch. I read the whole series within two weeks--really enjoyed this author's work.

[Dominick · Rating 3 out of 5]

About on a par with the first two books. Great and varied alien species, mediocre writing, and a protagonist that by now one just wants to give a good shaking. The plot is fine, but the ending seems anti-climactic in how it depicts the final defeat of the bad aliens, and then gives us a twist, oops, there are remnants of them still out there evolving into something else ending. Meh.

[Judi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I believe I rated the first two books 3 of 5 stars, a lower rating because I found the story difficult to follow at times. However, I'm giving this last book 4 stars because I liked the way that everything came together for the climax and ending.

[Guido]

Why you might like it: Biology-led contact with rigorous cultural logic. Rubric match: not yet scored. Uses your engineering/rigor/first-contact/world-building rubric. Tags: biology, first-contact, culture

[Deena Abutaha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great ending to a great series!

[PhilomathicJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not in a reviewin' mood, but I enjoyed this.

[Conrad Naugle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good author

[Tom Getzinger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Done! Again a slow start, not sure why. But a great ending. Or is it?

[Natasha Hurley-Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a bizarre series. Such a ... logistical style. Everything is about organising meetings, people oversleeping and missing meetings, meetings getting interrupted by new information, people unable to make meetings because of Random Alien Behaviour, people misinterpreting each other in meetings... Mac spends 99% of this book trying to get to Planet Myriam. Spoilernotaspoiler: she doesn't actually get there in the end, but saves the galaxy while having meetings on the ship that's going there.

One section stood out from the rest: the escapade to the derelict Dryhn ship. That had the scariest, most touching, and most a-ha moments out of the entire book. In fact, pretty much every page leading up to that feels like build-up filler in comparison. And the last few paragraphs of that section end with... you guessed it... the logistics of re-docking with the main fleet.

So I'm not sure what to make of the whole thing. I liked it, perhaps because I like meetings, and science, and the characters. But I really wouldn't know who to recommend it to.

[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the strongest of the 3 in this trilogy. Basically front to back all good. The relationship is so much less cringe than in the first 2. I love this author and her books. This was the first series I had read by her and now that I have read some others of hers and done this reread (via audio book) I can say that it is still good, worth finishing the series, full of good nuggets of alien biology and scifi goodies, and still a series I love. That being said, so far this is her weakest work. I say this for the slow starts in book one and to a lesser extent in book two, the cringe romance (that does level out in the 3rd book significantly), and some of the human to human dialogue. However, I don't read Julie Czerneda for romance or the human dialogue, it's for the aliens and their worlds. It's for the world building and the fascinating interwoven wonderfulness. The societies of aliens and their perspectives/ways of thinking. This may be why the second half of the series comes out so strong compared to the first half, because more aliens and fun stuff. I don't think I can express enough how good the last book is.
This series will always be special to me. It introduced me to an amazing author (even if it seems like I'm picking her work apart, that just means I was really into it). I love how alien the aliens feel, they don't just seem like cookie cutter humanoids. Each feels unique and well developed.
Another note, every person I had loaned this series to read, every one of them ended up really liking it, even one who usually doesn't like science fiction ended up loving it. If you like this one, everything else by her I have read so far has been even better. If you didn't like it, try another of her series (web shifters is my fav so far).

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot was becoming a little convoluted by this part in the series, and there was a little too much going on. There were loops that kind of went off in various directions, like they were going to be very important, but they never really circled back. I can't tell if these were leftovers from early ideas that didn't get used later and weren't taken out in editing, or perhaps these side trails will be used in a spinoff series later, focusing on a different set of characters. It felt like there was a lot of effort put into some of the characters that weren't used all that much, so perhaps they will get their won series later. That's something that Elizabeth Moon does more than Julie Czerneda, that I've seen so far, but that's the best explanation I've heard so far that doesn't reflect poorly on her and her editors.

Although the plot kind of got too big for itself a few places, the greatest strength was the characters themselves, particularly Mac. Czerneda does an exceptional job with characters that you can relate to; they seem like real people caught up in extraordinary circumstances, not like superheroes who treat the end of the world like another day at the office. There is a "heroic" character here, to balance Mac, who is the Every(wo)man here. I'd read these again, because even though the plot lost me a couple of times, the characters will keep me coming back for more.

[Trisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ohhhh, I just bloody love this book and this series! Great way to end, even if at times it felt a little rushed - no wonder with how long the book was getting! Still, I was kind of sad that it did come to an end, even though I'm looking forward to moving onto my next book. ;)

I love the humour in this series - the Myg are so funny with their "Irrelevant!" and their "Idiot!" And the baby myg were just so adorable, even if I didn't envy anyone who got climbed on and clung to by them. hehe. Reminded me of those annoying slobbery dogs that try to lick you all over. Still, they were cute.

The Ro were a very scary enemy, for sure!

I liked how it ended, but I got the vague sense that everything fell into place a little too easily in the end. But then I remember there was plenty of death and destruction leading up to that final point. It is quite convenient that all of the main characters survived by the end. I did wonder about Mudge, but nope, he survived!

I love the world Czerneda created with this series, and I think she left this story on a note from which it could be picked up again, probably with different main characters. Though it would be sad to have no more of "NO RIBS FOR MAC / NO RIBS FOR MAC / MAC GETS PIZZA AND BEER!" I'm sure there'd be plenty of opportunity for people to be called "Idiot!" and to be told their comments were "Irrelevant!" though. hehe

In short, love it...and can envision a re-read someday in the not hugely near future (too much else to read!).

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

First comment about this book is, make sure you have read the first two books in the series, I think you will struggle to follow things if you haven't.

Regeneration was okay and it was probably my least favourite book in the trilogy. The book starts slow, I found most of the first 25% boring, it just didn't go anywhere fast. This was very similar to Survival and like Survival it picked up and became quite a page turner. However when it reached the end I had difficulty following it and found it a disappointment.

As for the trilogy overall I liked it, but you must read the books in order because despite their thickness there is not a lot of recaps. Also don't leave too long between each book, there are many characters you need to follow. With the first and third books I found them slow going to start, but they picked up. I thought the second book was the best of the three. Would I read any more of Czernada's work? May be, but not for a while, they are just too thick for me and require and lot of patience.

[Raja99 · Rating 3 out of 5]

So in the end it all comes down to this. It's unfair to say "I really liked it," but I did like it a little more than average. Probably 6/10.

I liked it because it was fun spending some more time with these characters. I liked it because there was a short section about a party that blew me away: It wasn't critical to the plot, but it was deftly written and planted some seeds ... in a very small number of pages. If Czerneda's work was always at that level, I'd count her as one of the best. Unfortunately, as with the previous books, there's a lot of irrelevant setup and slogging. In particular (minor spoiler) we spend a lot of time setting up the expedition to Myriam ... and the author seems to have completely forgotten that expedition by the end. (Either that, or I did.)

Would I read more by Czerneda? Perhaps, but probably not. There are other authors whom I like better, other authors who can tell a solid story in a lot fewer pages.

[Eugene · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was pretty slow going, and the plot by the end got quite convoluted. Mac, the main character, spends most of her time saying she needs to get to a certain planet and ends up never going there. In the rambly plot there are some really good scenes, particularly the going-away party and the descriptions of the alien messaging system. The book eventually gets to a quick and dramatic ending like the other books in the series, but I didn't like it as much as the others.

Like all the books in the series, there are some wonderful characters, particularly the aliens. What I liked most in these books was Mac's interactions with the most interesting of these aliens: Brymn in the first book and Anchen and Thirteen in the second. In this book, I found the alien interaction not nearly as in-depth nor as interesting.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Page 6 of the first volume: "...the western coast of the Pacific, from the Bering Strait to Tierra del Fuego" – I learnt right from left at an early age, but I still occasionally have trouble with east and west, and yet here is one of my favourite authors apparently telling me Tierrra del Fuego on the west coast of the Pacific! I confess this rankled with me and possibly put me off Book 1 (Survival), but it did get better.

As a whole, I still think "Species Imperative" is not as good as her other trilogies, but the same believable aliens, each with their individual characters, are there, and Julie's writing would probably hold my interest even if it were about landfill. Oh, and don't forget the many and sometimes shocking twists that seem to be a feature of her stories.

[Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Regeneration" is probably the most exciting and action-packed book in the Species Imperative Trilogy. All the characters have been drawn, all the stages have been set, and now it's time to let the story be told. Mac and her friends, both alien and human must face the treats to the Interspecies Union, defeat the enemies of all life forms, and try to prevent the various species involved from going at each other in the process. This all plays out in page-turning action that sometimes was missing from the earlier two books. Loaded with nifty aliens, and interesting human characters as well, this is a very satisfying conclusion to the series.

[victoria.p · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun and exciting finish to this trilogy, though either I wasn't reading carefully enough (always a possibility) or the characters made some leaps of logic that didn't seem supported by the evidence they had at the time, because I was confused a couple of times by how they figured something out.

I guess the thing I really liked about these books - the characters who seem to start out primarily as antagonists or just sketchy mostly end up having more depth. Oversight, Fourteen, even Norris reveal themselves to Mac as people instead of just annoyances or obstacles, and end up being integral to helping her save the day.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

A satisfying finish, but it wandered a bit. There were things that happened that *seemed* important to the plot, but really didn't have any impact. Took longer to get going than I thought it would.

I find that happens more than I'd like -- author seems to write themselves into a corner and then wanders a bit trying to write themselves out (if you can excuse the mixed metaphors). Unfortunately, after 700 published pages, you've got a commitment to finish the story and probably a publisher wanting to know exactly, ummm, when it's going to be ready to go. Still, I'll read her again.