Regenesis is a mixture of hard science fiction and thriller/murder mystery all rolled into one long, fantastic novel. The young protagonist, Ariane Emory, works hard to discover who killed her illustrious predecessor and to ensure that she does not meet the same fate. The many details to this intricate and long-awaited sequel to Cyteen make the novel a slow starter; however, those with enough patience to continue reading will be rewarded.

Regenesis supplies some of the answers to questions originating in the previous novels, yet the answers lead to more questions, hinting at deeper motivations that are not entirely explained. Was the first Ariane Emoory killed because she knew too much about things going on in the Defense department? Regenesis hints that this may be the case, but does not fully answer that question. And there are more unanswered questions of a similar nature... some for which incomplete answers are provided, and a few questions for which no obvious answers are provided at all. Of course, these unexplained motivations leave me ready and even eager for the next novel, which is not entirely a bad thing.

Ms. Cherryh is an accomplished writer, drawing the reader into her world, and more, making that world so real that the reader is reluctant to depart, even when the story has concluded. The characters are very realistic and multi-faceted. Getting to know them was my pleasure; my hope is that there will be a next novel in this very interesting series.

Recommended to readers age 16 and up. Even if you don't usually read science fiction, you might want to try this novel, which does very well on its own as well as being a compelling entry in the Cyteen series.

This review was previously published on Dragonviews. ( )

There's an excellent novel in here, but it's not an excellent novel.

This is part of the Downbelow Station sequence, and the direct sequel to Cyteen; instead of covering decades, though, this story chronicles just a few months. The main story is young Ari coming into her own during the ongoing Union political crisis, with an apparent resolution of the "Who Killed Ari 1?" mystery as a bonus. There's some delightful character development, particularly of Justin Warrick (and, very differently, of his clonefather Jordan, who remains intolerable but perhaps we understand him better).

But: A fair summary of the plot could read "Ari Emory and her merry band of eighteen-year-olds take on Union's established government and conquer it." As talented as Ari is, I just don't buy it. There's no reason, really, that she needs to be a teenager in this story, but there it is.

And there's way too much background material. And the story spends too much time inside Ari's head.

Definitely worth reading, despite these complaints. Like Cyteen, this is not the place to begin reading Cherryh, as it depends too much on the earlier works for a novice encounter. But CJ's so rewarding, even at her weakest, that it's worth trying.

Finally: I so much wanted to love this novel. I can't. And I'm sad about that. But clearly there's room for more tales in this thread; lets hope they're under construction. ( )

Sequel to Cyteen and also to Downbelow Station, covering a few months directly following the end of Cyteen, this does won't make much sense to someone who isn't familiar with at least the former. Dense and complex, like all of Cherryh's books, it doesn't quite have the emotional resonance of Cyteen, but that's a hard act to follow. ( )

A very long and slow read, unfortunately. ( )

I've waited 21 years for this sequel to Cyteen and I have to say I was a bit disappointed. My reactions were mixed, but I felt that Cherryh didn't do her best work on this one and her editor certainly didn't do his...

I'll start with the negatives. The book is about 250 to 300 pages too long. The plot doesn't really get cracking in true Cherryh "everything breaking loose at once" fashion until about page 400. Of course there should be a build-up to that point but this build-up probably didn't have much more than 100 pages of real content to it.

Instead, we got some curious filler—it's like we were seeing Ari through a glamour lens...all soft focus and back-lit. Ari of the first book was sharp, decisive, a bit edgy; she may have been inexperienced and a bit naïve at first, but the reader had no doubt she was the smartest one around and she was going to "Get" her enemies, not vice-versa. The 18-year-old Ari of this book tries to invite kids who moved off-world in pre-school years back to live with her so she can hang out with childhood playmates, spends pages oohing rapturously about the decoration of her new apartment. Huh?

I really missed the characters from the first book. Ari went vapid for 400 pages; Ari Senior's recorded messages no longer figure into the story line; Catlin and Florian (two of my favorites) become two-dimensional backdrop scenery...there because bodyguards never leave Ari's side, but we no longer see important things from their perspectives nor gain any more insight into their thoughts.

So what saves this book from 1½ to 2 stars? Well, on the character front, we got a lot more of Justin and Grant, plus their interactions with Jordan. Though not the main characters of this story, they become much more real to us, though I have to say it seems like Jordan took a double dose of the Stupidly Nasty Pill since the first book. Their little subplot keeps the first part of the story from being a skimmer. The "real" Ari comes back for the final 185 pages.

Secondly, her world-building skills are as good as ever. Cyteen, Reseune Labs and all the other places in the book are intensely real; you feel like, "yeah, yeah, I know this place!" There are so many new things introduced in this book, that I actually wonder if it's a vamp toward a third volume that heads in new directions.

Thirdly, once the action kicks in, it's Cherryh: fast-paced, twisty, exciting. The questions left hanging from Cyteen get answered in a way that I found satisfying—they made sense not only in terms of the first book, but in terms of the larger Alliance-Union body of work. Just closing the book on the "who killed Ari 1?" question made this worth the read for me.

In the final analysis, it's not one of her best works, but it's not her worst. An editor ruthless enough to cut 250 pages out of the beginning of the book would have made this a top-notch Cherryh work.

If you're someone who will read the entire Cherryh canon, by all means pick it up. If you're just dabbling, choose others of her works. You have to have read Cyteen or none of it will make sense. ( )