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. ( )

The third installment did lag a bit in the middle and occasionally the humor was forced, but when the story was exciting, it ripped along. I often couldn't wait to get back to the story to see what Mac and all her alien friends were up to. I'm definitely going to pick up some more Czerneda. ( )

This book needed to be a lot shorter. The first 200 pages are mostly just a boring re-shuffling of the pieces to get them in the proper places for the next part of the story, and a lot of it could and should have been done more briefly or off the page entirely. And throughout, it just takes a very long time for things to happen. There is way too much waiting and preparing and arguing, relative to the amount of time spent on things actually happening. Overall, a bit of a letdown. ( )

The conclusion to the story.

Mac's team of human and alien Origin researchers start to investigate the prehistory of the Dryhm, seeking an answer why they exist as they are. And as more evidence rolls in Mac's doubts about the Ro spread - but even the Sinzi are not totally convinced and many others still see the Ro as saviors. Emily can at least be safe at Base counting to 11. But Nic is soon off on another mission of importance - after all where does one relationship, or even an individual's survival stand on the scale of the fight against genocide?

Much the same as previous two, the aliens are detailed and fun, the characters interact well. I don't think sufficient was made of the opportunities for romantic tension within the human communities, but the interatcions with various alienes do come across well - even if they are simplified to chain of command and pecking order rights. The issue of the previous book where only 1 alien of a species was encountered, has been resolved - and Julie does well to give aliens of the same species different personalities.

The plot just about hangs together - I'm not quite sure I fully understood the Ro's actions, but at least all the ends are tidied away. Most of it seems to make enough sense at the time as well which is all that is required. Despite getting a lot of biology to be belivable, Julie does less well witht he technology: The Sinzi gain a sudden ability to manipulte Ro tech, and then there's the whole time delay/ issue that was never fully explained, and seemed like a convenient ploy, rather than something more sensible.

I enjoyed it, the characters were all quite good, but overall it felt a bit trite for the depth of topic it was trying to cover. Maybe worth re-reading. ( )

Every species try to find it's way to survival. Sometimes that survival comes at the cost of other species' survival. Will Dr. Mackenzie Connor and her team succeed in their valiant try to save not only Humanity but all other species that are part of the Interspecies Union from the threat of total annihilation? And which are the greater threat - the Dhryn or the Ro?

A good ending, in perfect harmony with the tone of the story leading up to it. Well conceived and executed the ending part of the trilogy is as much about finding a way to handle the threat to interplanetary survival as about how the species imperative works on humans, namely Dr. Connor and Agent Trojanowski, and this is part of what makes this trilogy worth reading - grand theme, grand setting and repercussions on a personal level makes the reader care for the characters.

I highly recommend the Species Imperative trilogy, starting with Survival.
Well worth the time it takes reading the approximately 1500 pages. ( )