This Alien Shore (The Outworlds series)

This is probably my favourite book ever. I borrowed it just on the premise of computers being interfaced with the brain but what I read far excelled anything I had ever imagined possible so I bought it, and read it several more times. The book is a story of a girl's coming of age, a cyber-mystery, an ineresting look at future technology's impact on society, and a classic story power/domination struggle. C. S. Friedman also does an excellent job of weaving several sub-plots into an overall great book. If you enjoy reading at all then you'd probably find something to interest you in "This Alien Shore"

This was my first book by Friedman and I loved it. The author is a fantastic writer and made me feel like I was really there. All characters were wonderfully developed. The plot was great, it kept me guessing to the very end. I have only one complaint about the book. At the begining of the book it seems to be telling two different stories, one about the main character and one about the Guild, towards the end they begin to fit together. But the problem was there could be fifty pages about whats going on with the Guild before the story would return to the main character. Sometimes it was a bit hard to follow what was going on with the Guild and could get a bit frustating because I wanted to hear what was happening to Jamisia(main charater) So I wouldn't recomend this book to someone who reads slowly. Even though at the start it felt like two different stories, it really kept me wondering how the two were connected. I must say that this is one of my top 10 favorite books. I finished this book in two days. I am twelve now but I think if I read this book again when I am older I'll get more out of it. I will definitly look for more of Friedman's books to read.

I picked up a copy of "This Alien Shore" to experiment, to expand the list of authors I read, and it quite simply knocked me out. A fabulous piece of writing that doesnt need to concept of "aliens" to populate a universe - human beings (albeit some mutated) are more than diverse enough in and of themselves. The characters are well developed and the universe is rich with possibilities ... a fertile place for sequels and/or fan fiction perhaps?David Brin's "SunDiver" shares something in common with this book - a main character suffering with multiple personality disorder. In both cases they do a great job in their treatment of the illness and integrating it into the plot in a vital and gripping way.

This Alien Shore is a story about humanity. Who are we and what makes us human? The theme has been explored by a host of S.F. writers. Friedman's novel has some elements that very closely parallel themes in "Dune", for instance. The book is, however, no simple retreading of roads well-worn. Friedman creates an exciting plot and a gripping backdrop for her work. She engages the reader as well as anyone in this or any other genre. The motives and actions of the characters are realistic. In some ways, the main character, who is immensely interesting, is the most disappointing. The potential was so great that I would have like to have seen the character take a bit more control of the action. This is a relatively minor point in book that ranks in the excellent range.

I'm not really a big scifi fan, but a friend recommended C.S. Friedman, and when I saw This Alien Shore at the store I picked it up and took a look. Pretty soon I was sitting on the floor in the middle of the aisle with my nose buried in the book. (Fortunately it's the sort of bookstore where that's perfectly normal behavior)I finished it today, two trips to the bookstore later, and I think it's one of the best books I've read in a long time. The setting and history was intriguing,especially the problems caused by the FTL drive and the tensions between the variants and the humans, and the whole thing was obviously very thoroughly researched. I'm a neuroscience major, and I thought the concept of brainware was very well done, and the neuroanatomy and physiology she touched on in relation to it was quite accurate. I had a lot of fun trying to deconstruct Gueran society and attempting to figure out what disorder each Gueran had. (Masada and the other irdu are obviously autistic, but the others are harder to place) I'm glad that the author wasn't more specific in decribing the Gueran culture; it's more thought provoking to let people fill in the blanks themselves. I hope that this book doesn't take too long to come out in paperback so I can get my own copy and read it to pieces, and I hope Friedman writes a sequel or another book set in the same world(s), preferably sometime soon