Nautilus

I was sucked into this story by the fascinating relationships between its characters -- main characters AND secondary characters. You've got the family dynamics among one main character's family (she and two men in a three-way marriage); a slow-growing, threatened-but-hopeful lesbian relationship; a romantic relationship between a human and a used-to-be-human; a father-son/competitors relationship between an old aeronaut and a young spy; an I-can't-even-describe it relationship between a baby alien squidmoth and the human woman who has protected it; and so on. The ways in which all of these relationships become built throughout the series into a network of interconnected people trying to work through the usual issues (jealousy, fears still around from childhood, parental responsibilities, age differences, etc.) as well as some less-usual issues (We're in space! We're encountering alien civilizations! We're all stuck in this ship, and I'm going to SMACK someone if I don't get some privacy! We're all connected through an AI computer network! etc.) kept me reading eagerly all the way through to the end. If you're looking for a SF version of a "wild wild west" flick (shoot 'em up, action-packed, lots of explosions), I suggest you move along. This book has its share of action and suspense, but is mostly character-driven. If that's just the way you like it, then I definitely recommend this story!

This is not the kind of science fiction where people run around with lasers shooting at each other. It is about character and politics. The characters actually have conversations with each other. It's not a boring stream-of-consciousness thing either. There is enough plot to keep the story moving along, and it's great being able to explore this new way of living with these characters.

This book is great, the series is the best I've ever read anywhwere. The plot is totally unique and I couldn't put any of the books down easily. The other person who review this book didn't read the first 3 books...so they can't even judge this book accurately. Read it!