Survival (2005)

Dr. Mackenzie Connor, Mac to those who know her, is a prime example of the mono-focused human; interested only in what can be related to her research, not having what other people chose to call 'a normal life'; something which seems to be a conscious choice made so long ago it has become part of herself. The only person to come close to her is Emily, another scientist, and together they study salmon. Then one day a scientist from not only another world but another field altogether, chaperoned by what seemingly is a harmless papershuffler, a bureaucrat, intrudes on her in her field work, claiming she could have a clue to the survival of several species.

The characters are nicely done and the story is mostly well paced and despite a vague feeling of being a brew consisting of lots of well known elements Czerneda manages to make this dish have it's own personal flavour.
If I had a problem with anything it was the frequent infodumps, especially at the beginning of the story. The style is supposed to be tight third person, which means we can only know what the protagonist know. An example: To her the tech called 'imps' should be ubiquitous, no need to explain - their use should be made clear to us by showing her using them. Instead we get a paragraph (or was it two?) describing the etymology of the acronym, and what it was used for.
These dumps were not frequent enough to do more than annoy me slightly, though.

The book is first in a series of three but the essential parts of the story gets their resolution before the last page. Despite this I am ready to devour the next one, had I had it in my hand. Not because of any loose threads but because I want to know what will happen next - I'm not ready to abandon the scientifically minded Mac just yet.

Recommended. ( )

Extremely enjoyable.

In some period of the future Earth's population have migrated and the risen sea levels been allowed to take their natural course. A lot of Earth is now abandoned and designated Wilderness Trust areas, untouched by human hand for centuries. Researchers still have leave to study though. Dr Mackenzie Winifred Elizabeth Wright Connor (Mac) and her best friend (and potential partner?) Emily study the salmon spawning runs at the foot of the Rockies. Remote Trackers sample DNA and hypothesis are constructed over the minimal requirements a species needs to survive. Dr Mac is known, even among her focused and idiosyncratic colleagues at The Base, as someone who only studies salmon, that's all she's interested in. Hence it comes as more than just a shock when she is hailed from the depths of her salmon studies by a Dhryn - one of the rarer aliens of the Interstellar Union.

Apparently her obscure research in to species survival limits is just the area it needs to understand. Out in the dark of galactic space is the Chasm. A swathe of stars that once bore life, now desolate and barren. Pretty much all of them dated to about 3000 years ago. And then the swathe peters out, close to the nearest spacelane to towards the human colonies. It has been the subject of intense alien speculation, what happened? what caused it? and where did they go? and even did any survive. The Dhryn, Named Brymn has a controversial theory, but rather than cause an interstellar incident Mac is requested by the Ministry to aid it's research. Her salmon will have to wait for another year.

It's really well written, with intriguing characters, researched biology (improbable maybe - but not impossible) and a great bold operatic background. The characters are perhaps best. A tight third person focusing on Mac, we only see and feel what she experiences. The interaction between her and Emily is charged with exactly the fraught pitch of true friendship (maybe I'm only imaging anything more), the irritation at the intrusion of Nic, again pitched to perfection. The alien cultures are also well depicted more than just stereotyped humans in odd clothing - with the genuine misunderstandings that only being somewhere totally other can bring.

It is of course a trilogy and the hook well set for the next instalment - but at least most of the plot is wrapped up before the close. Maybe it's all slightly obvious, I at least wasn't surprised by anything but the description of the Progenators, but it was all very well done.

Go buy, read and enjoy, lab lit at it's finest.
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Julie Czerneda’s Survival was pretty good. It even passes the Bechdel test early in the book. As space opera goes, it’s not the most inventive of stories, but neither did it feel like a complete retread. And for the all revealing question, "Will I read the second book in the series?" the answer is that I probably will. (Though I am going to look for it in a used book store.)

(Full review at my blog) ( )

Good plot and characters you get involved with. A bit slow to start, but gets moving. I'll be looking for the second book. ( )

After an alien comes to Dr. Mackenzi Connor at a Salmon Research center, she is kidnapped and taken to space where she may help save civilization.