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"What am I, then?" asked Sergeant Bennett. Read the first page
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This is the dilemma Traviss' characters circle in this latest installment of Wess'har series, begun in 2004 with City of Pearl and followed in 2005 with Crossing the Line.
Journalist Eddie Michallat worries that by helping the Wess'har he has lost his objectivity. The Wess'ej on F'nar fear their way of life will be ruined by the arrival of their brethren from Eqbas Vhor, the titular World Before, from whom they have been separated for over ten millennia. The Isenj prime minister commits an act of political betrayal in hopes of convincing his countrymen to seek the help of the Wess'ej in rebalancing the ecology of their overpopulated world. Shan Frankland weighs the risk of an imminent restructuring of Earth's ecosystem by the Wess'ej from Eqbas Vhor.
This is not the future of Star Trek's Federation, where humans act benevolently in their exploration of the cosmos. In Traviss' universe, humans are as we know them today - greedy, grasping, intolerant, and ready to kill for advantage. No longer the preeminent power in the universe, humans must now learn to accept limits to their expansion imposed from afar by a more powerful species.
Besides a refreshingly candid portrait of homo sapiens, what distinguishes this series of novels is Traviss' development of character. The players grow and learn as a result of their experience and Traviss is not afraid to explore faults in her heroes, or redeeming qualities in her villains. Naval commander Lindsay, for example, once in charge of the Thetis mission and now responsible for setting off a nuclear device that results in the near extinction of the aquatic Bezer'ej, learns to deny her selfish desires for revenge and for her own death by choosing to spend the rest of her life helping the Bezer'ej to rebuild their society.
Aside from a few contemporary references that don't seem to fit in the world of the 24th century (such as white boards at managerial meetings), there is little with which to find fault in Traviss' writing. This series is well conceived and expertly drawn. I don't read many books a second time, especially fiction, but these novels were worth it. I look forward to the story's conclusion and hope that Traviss has the ability to finish with as much skill and aplomb as she began.
The sequence is: Book One, City of Pearl
Book Two, Crossing the Line
Book Three, The World Before
Book Four, Matriarch
Book Five, Ally
Due in April 2008: book 6, Judge
These books works best when read in the above sequence. Very rare to find an SF series where the aliens are both plausible and genuinely different from humans. Also a good take on the ecological aspects of relations between different species.
This is where the book begins, with Ade Bennett trying to get his mind around the horrible yet fantastic thing that has happened to him. Now he too will become an outcast and will forever have to keep himself from his fellow humans (inasmuch as he is human any longer). At the same time he and Aras are trying to deal with their grief over the loss of Shan.
The Wess'har are not having an easy time of it either. For one thing, their leader on F'nar, Nevyan was Shan's good friend. Along with that Nevyan chose to contact the wess'har home planet (towards the end of the previous book) in order to get help in dealing with the selfish and thoughtless humans. The Eqbas turn up, but threaten a major change in wess'har life on F'nar. In many ways they are different from the wess'har - they call themselves Eqbas and consider themselves the galaxy's environmental police, employing any and all means to protect threatened species - especially if they are asked to help.
The isenj foreign ambassador Ual chooses to defy his government and hands over Lindsay Nevill and Mohan Royat to the wess'har, knowing that this might destroy any chance of survival on his home world. Rather than face species extinction he chooses this path.
Eddie, the reporter is in the thick this time as well and discovers that being a journalist does not absolve him of responsibility when reactions to his pieces escalate into more and more violence on Earth.
Then Shan is found drifting in space and brought back to F'nar.
I loved the previous two books in this series, and this book was no exception to the rule. There were certainly parts where the story flowed less freely than in others, but all in all the writing and prose was excellent. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I have.
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