Cyteen by C.J. Cherryh

Cyteen is a long book with a lot of depth, which makes for a slower read but a thorough look at the world. It’s a story about the Union during twenty five years or so of turmoil in her Alliance/Union universe. The focus is on Ari Emory and Justin Warrick, with several other characters.

Resune, where most of the book is set, is a fascinating place, filled with hard working scientists. Cyteen is a rough world, less terraformed and bland than many science fiction worlds– still a work in progress. Science gets a lot of attention, given Resune’s control of the science seat, and the two POV character’s training in science. The science that’s most prevalent in the series is genetics and cloning, with psychology making a strong appearance.

I enjoyed it quite a bit; as mentioned at the beginning it’s long and feels long, but that fits the story pretty well. One difficult part is that Ari is a child for a good chunk of the book, and it’s not an annoying POV. Which was unexpectedly nice to see.