Reap the Wild Wind

What a delightful find! Truth be told, I found it in the library clearance bin for next to nothing and grabbed it on a whim. Now I'm tempted to go tell them to put it back on the shelf!

I hadn't heard of this authour previously, but this first book of a trilogy has hooked me for at least two more.

Wonderful world building, alien races who are aliens not the girl next door, and an action filled plot that kept me up late reading just a bit more.

It really doesn't end, of course - it seems I'm a dinosaur preferring books that are self contained - but that's almost the only nit I have. Recommend!

This was another one of my series-sampling audio listens, to see if I might want to pursue it in print someday.

Audio Narration
The narrator is Allyson Johnson. I liked her narration pretty well. There were several characters and she distinguished them well, and there wasn’t anything about her narration that bugged me. She didn’t do anything that particularly stood out to me, but that’s usually a good thing in my book!

Story
The story is set on an alien planet inhabited by three very different races. These races don’t understand each other very well and maintain an uneasy peace by avoiding change. The story focuses on the race that is similar to humans, but with telepathic abilities. Some members of this race have started developing show more new abilities, and this threatens to upset the balance by bringing change. Meanwhile, the unexpected appearance of an alien flying ship causes a more immediate change.

I thought this was an interesting setting, but more challenging to grasp in audio than it would have been in print. There are a lot of different races and clans and character names and unfamiliar terms. It’s far, far easier for me to understand and retain that type of thing in print. I was several hours into the audio before I really felt like I understood the setting and had solid mental images to go with the different terms.

Despite my audio difficulties, I was interested in the setting and the story and I was never bored while listening. The story focuses on two main characters, and I liked both of them. This is the first book in a prequel trilogy. It told a complete story, but with a definite “what will happen next?” question mark at the end. I’m rating this at 3.5 stars, but rounding down to 3 on Goodreads. If I’d read it in print, I’m pretty sure I would have enjoyed it enough to round up to 4, or possibly I would have given it all 4 stars to begin with.

I hope to revisit this in print someday. When I do, I’ll go in publication order which is my preferred tactic in a situation like this. I listened to this book because it was selected as the January science fiction pick in Goodreads’ SFFBC group, and I wanted to join in. I chose audio instead of print because I didn’t want to “waste” a print read on a book that in my opinion I was not reading in its proper order! This gave me a chance to see if I would like the series well enough to justify taking the time to do it properly in print. And I think I did. show less

Populated with strong characters this well paced story is the starting point of a tale longer and larger than this single volume.
Julie E. Czerneda's joyful prose is my reason to search out her new books.
Her characters and communities tend to stretch your imagination in novel and humorous ways. And yet there is a consistensy to her stories that makes them very enjoyable.
I hope you will join me and fall for this kind of yarn.

This is the beginning of a prequel to "A Thousand Words for Stranger" and despite the fact that that was my least favourite of Julie Czerneda's stories, I loved this new one. As before, her amazing characters and beautifully constructed worlds and societies are matched with a compelling story. I'm looking forwards to the next book!

The Oud, the Tikitik and the Om'ray share the planet Cersi between them, three sentient species that share little beyond a common language and an Agreement stipulating the rules of co-existence.

The Yena Om'ray lead a marginalised and secluded life, deep in the Lay Swamp, when one Harvest is disturbed by a foreign thing exploding in the air, taking both Harvest and harvesters with it. When they fail to meet the expectations of the Tikitik, coming to take their share of the harvest that's not there the world as Aryl Sarc knows it changes. Forever.

The journey thus begins...

Populated with strong characters this well paced story is the starting point of a tale longer and larger than this single volume. Without having read parts two and three show more of the trilogy I none the less recommend this book to anyone who has a thing for this kind of yarn. show less

for SFFBC group Jan. 2022

I've got to page 50 and going to have to dnf. I keep drifting off into a dream loosely inspired by what's on the page, so there's a lot of world-building from my synapses confusing what the author already put on the page.

I mean, I felt wide awake when I started, but I think the writing is doing things to my mind, and I don't particularly like that.

It also reads both prequel and YA to me, and I'm not in the mood for either

The first in the Stratification series by [Julie Czernada]. Reap the wild wind is the story of Aryl Sarc (Om'ray of the Yena Clan), the struggles of her isolated clan, and the precarious balance between the Om'ray, Oud, and TikTik that is tipping toward change on the planet Cersi.

This author is a biologist by training, and I enjoy the species she creates.