Reviews for The Deep Beyond: Cuckoo's Egg / Serpent's Reach

The average rating for The Deep Beyond: Cuckoo's Egg / Serpent's Reach based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-11-04 00:00:00 Carrie Bruder Since this book contains two seperate and unconnected stories, it makes sense to review them seperately. The first is "Cuckoo's Egg", a hugo award nominee from 1985, and my first ever story by this author. I'm impressed. A new and interesting twist on a common SF theme with a continued sense of unfolding mystery from start to finish. The story stands on it's own but leaves itself wide open for a sequel or even an ensuing series but, apparently, this opportuity has not been exploited. (4 stars). The second story is "Serpent's Reach" is the longer of the two although it need not have been. It takes far longer to get going, spending a large number of pages establishing the protagonist's background, the complex social and political systems, and the human relationship with the hive mind alien beings native to the system in which the story takes place. Eventually though the story does pick up and it draws you into the curious scenario. Unfortunately, the resolution is somewhat chaotic and unsatisfactory. (3 stars). In both stories, the extensive world building and attention to detail stand out as being among the author's strong points. In the first, shorter story it seems almost wasted, like more should have been done with it. But in the latter, it seems that it was at the expense of the story itself and made if far longer than it need be. I can see why much of her works are series and I imagine they would work quite well; giving the author plenty of room to develop worlds and societies but not requiring her to drag out the story lines excessively in doing so. I look forward to trying some more of her work at some point, recommendations welcome!

Review # 2 was written on 2017-12-23 00:00:00 Jason Winton C. J. Cherryh is the master of developing truly alien-seeming races and these two books, Serpent's Reach and Cuckoo's Egg, showcase her gifts beautifully. In both cases, she uses a human child to help her readers peel back the layers of mystery obscuring the alien cultures. I was fourteen or fifteen years old when I first read Serpent's Reach. It was my first C.J. Cherryh novel and certain images stuck with me quite strongly for the next several decades'Raen hiding in the hive, the majat fighting. When I reread it more than 35 years later I discovered that I had forgotten all the parts that made the book truly interesting. The alien majat are important, but not nearly as interesting as the fascinating human population which has split into the ageless elites, the normal humans, and the short-lived cloned, azi'not to mention the humans from beyond the Reach that are seeking to expand trade with Raen's people. This is a great mystery which can't be understood without first coming to understand the players. It's well worth the journey. Cuckoo's Egg is even more intriguing. It's the story of a wolf-like alien, Duun, raising a human boy, Thorn. The novel is about Thorn's education and as he learns, the reader learns about Duun's people. It slowly becomes apparent that Thorn is of critical importance to the politics of this alien world, but just why is the mystery that forms the core of the book. This is Cherryh at her best slowly uncovering the driving motivations of an alien race.