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In Conquest Born #1
In Conquest Born
In Conquest Born is the monumental science fiction epic that received unprecedented acclaim-and launched C.S. Friedman's phenomenal career. A sweeping story of two interstellar civilizations-locked in endless war, it was nominated for the John W. Campbell Award.
From the back cover:
Braxi and Azea - two interstellar civilizations fighting an endless war over a long-forgotten cause; two peoples descended from the human species and bred over countless generations to embody opposing ideals, seeking opposite paths to power.
The Braxana - dominant tribe of the fierce Braxin Holding - are brilliant, powerful, and aloof from the society they rule. They were bred by their primitive forebearers to be aggressive, competitive, and secretive beyond all prior human norms. The mysteries of their internal society are legendary even among the people they rule.
The Azeans - masters of genetic science - have redesigned their own race to reflect ancient ideals. Now they seek to unlock the powers of the human mind, using telepathy to penetrate where mere weapons cannot.
But Zatar and Anzha - master Braxana and Azean generals - have exceeded all genetic expectations of their opposed cultures, and have made this endless war a personal vendetta. Who can say what will happen when these ultimate warriors use every power of mind and body to claim the vengeance of total conquest?
From the back cover:
Braxi and Azea - two interstellar civilizations fighting an endless war over a long-forgotten cause; two peoples descended from the human species and bred over countless generations to embody opposing ideals, seeking opposite paths to power.
The Braxana - dominant tribe of the fierce Braxin Holding - are brilliant, powerful, and aloof from the society they rule. They were bred by their primitive forebearers to be aggressive, competitive, and secretive beyond all prior human norms. The mysteries of their internal society are legendary even among the people they rule.
The Azeans - masters of genetic science - have redesigned their own race to reflect ancient ideals. Now they seek to unlock the powers of the human mind, using telepathy to penetrate where mere weapons cannot.
But Zatar and Anzha - master Braxana and Azean generals - have exceeded all genetic expectations of their opposed cultures, and have made this endless war a personal vendetta. Who can say what will happen when these ultimate warriors use every power of mind and body to claim the vengeance of total conquest?
530 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published May 1, 1987
About the author
C.S. Friedman
45 books1,218 followersCelia S. Friedman is a science fiction and fantasy author. She has also been credited Celia S. Friedman and Celia Friedman.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 164 reviews
November 26, 2023
Tricky little review this.
The world building and future history that the author created resounded more with me than the actual story itself. My favourite part of In Conquest Born was, in fact, the 30-page glossary at the end of the book, which may sound harsh, but that isn’t really my intention (what I actually mean to say, is that if it weren’t for the inclusion of the glossary, the whole experience may have felt somewhat incomplete).
So let’s get the snarky bits out of the way first: I wasn’t particularly enamored with any of the characters, some of them just annoyed the crap out of me. Bit of a bummer, given the fact that this is character driven science fiction (despite what any of the blurbs might say there isn’t a lot of action here, and it is on the soapy side of opera as far as Space Opera is concerned).
I also found the way the story was told a bit disjointed (the literary device, or approach, not the actual prose) (a lot of the plot is drawn in broad strokes and the story jumps forward in fits and starts). I don’t have the greatest attention span to start with, which is no fault of any author, but it does mean that if I get bogged down in a book it tends to confound my expectations.
Now on to the better things: I have enormous respect for the author’s writing chops (based, in no small part, on how much I enjoyed The Madness Season), and In Conquest Born does not disappoint as far as the prose is concerned. Published in the 1980s, the novel does have that colourful retro-vibe going that is impossible for me to qualify, but that I seem to associate with Science Fiction from that era. It’s a fairly clever story and clearly a goodly amount of thought has gone into it.
The anthropological aspects are for the most part what makes this novel work (in my opinion), although there are some parts of it that I thought was hit and miss. All in all, pretty conflicted, yes?
In summary, I can hardly rate it more than 3 stars, although it is an easy 3.
I definitely intend to read This Alien Shore fairly soon.
The world building and future history that the author created resounded more with me than the actual story itself. My favourite part of In Conquest Born was, in fact, the 30-page glossary at the end of the book, which may sound harsh, but that isn’t really my intention (what I actually mean to say, is that if it weren’t for the inclusion of the glossary, the whole experience may have felt somewhat incomplete).
So let’s get the snarky bits out of the way first: I wasn’t particularly enamored with any of the characters, some of them just annoyed the crap out of me. Bit of a bummer, given the fact that this is character driven science fiction (despite what any of the blurbs might say there isn’t a lot of action here, and it is on the soapy side of opera as far as Space Opera is concerned).
I also found the way the story was told a bit disjointed (the literary device, or approach, not the actual prose) (a lot of the plot is drawn in broad strokes and the story jumps forward in fits and starts). I don’t have the greatest attention span to start with, which is no fault of any author, but it does mean that if I get bogged down in a book it tends to confound my expectations.
Now on to the better things: I have enormous respect for the author’s writing chops (based, in no small part, on how much I enjoyed The Madness Season), and In Conquest Born does not disappoint as far as the prose is concerned. Published in the 1980s, the novel does have that colourful retro-vibe going that is impossible for me to qualify, but that I seem to associate with Science Fiction from that era. It’s a fairly clever story and clearly a goodly amount of thought has gone into it.
The anthropological aspects are for the most part what makes this novel work (in my opinion), although there are some parts of it that I thought was hit and miss. All in all, pretty conflicted, yes?
In summary, I can hardly rate it more than 3 stars, although it is an easy 3.
I definitely intend to read This Alien Shore fairly soon.
October 3, 2012
Okay, so I've been staring at this book for a couple of months. Maybe three. I bought it at a library book sale on a whim, partly for the synopsis and partly for the awesome cover.
Seriously, take a good look at this thing. I adore it to bits and pieces. You can have all your new-wave abstract photomanip covers; I'll take the old-school sci-fi art like this. Just looking at it tells you so much - the characters' personalities are there in their faces and the way they stand. Anzha, the woman, is strong and confident, aggressive; she looks directly at the reader and almost challenges you with her gaze: you can't handle her, and she knows it. And then there's Zatar, the man: armed and dangerous, solemn and calculating. Anzha challenges, but Zatar scorns: you are lesser, and he will make you admit it.
The French covers are even better in some respects:
[image error]
For one thing, they got Zatar's sword on the right side - he's left-handed, Michael Whelan; why did you put it in his right on the original American cover? - and Anzha's hair is the proper blood red color. (Zatar's hair, on the other hand, is more accurate on the American cover. Oh well.)
The point of all this: I had high expectations going into this book. I wanted it to be good - better than good; I wanted it to be great. My pre-reading review, which is down at the bottom of this spoilertagged so as not to take up space, should tell you how I felt about starting this. 'Apprehensive' is an understatement. It could have been so stupid and cliche, particularly since it was Friedman's first novel. Sure, most of the reviews here on Goodreads are glowing, but that doesn't ensure a good book - a lot of people rate things sentimentally, particularly old sci-fi that they read in their formative years, and lots of other people rate without giving what they've read a lot of critical thought. There was a chance that all those ratings were lying and that this would be an absolutely terrible experience.
It so, so, so was not. 'Why' is a harder thing to define, though - in part because the experience of reading it is so intense; in part because a lot of the stunning moments come at the very end, so describing them would be extremely spoiler-heavy and I don't want to ruin the shock for anyone else.
The synopsis doesn't tell you much. It's really simplified, for one thing. To anyone who winced when they read 'endless war', I feel your pain, but don't skip the book for that reason. I know it's frustrating when authors use 'They've always been at war!' as an excuse for conflict, but I promise it works out well here - better than I had dared hope, really.
The war is really just backdrop, too. That may seem somewhat contradictory - after all, how can you have a story about two opposing generals without a war front and center? - but it's simply explained: the story isn't about Zatar and Anzha's victories and defeats in battle. It is about them as people. It is a genuinely character-driven novel.
Yes.
You read that right.
Instead of all the ineffective, boring laser-and-spaceship back-and-forth that you expected...
...where they just keep going and going and eventually one of them dies pointlessly because it's the only way to end things, here we have a book which is about realistic human beings (well, as much as can be expected given the setting) and the choices they make.
And what incredible human beings they are, too! Oh, this pair: they are extraordinary, a balance of sympathetic and unsympathetic traits in such ratios that they wind up being sympathetic if only because they feel vital and real.
First, there's Zatar, who we are introduced to shortly after his birth - a birth which is a rare thing among his people, the Braxana, rare enough that to celebrate its occurance this martial race breaks the current peace treaty so that he may be named in wartime.
The Braxana are not the most pleasant of peoples. Indeed, the relationships between men and women in their society very nearly put me off the book entirely in the early chapters. Basically, the Braxana are a sub-group of the rest of their race, the Braxin, and they've bred themselves to physical perfection. There's an unfortunate amount of mooning over Zatar (who as a pureblooded Braxana is even more gorgeous than most; insert eyeroll here) from some of the one-shot female characters. It's like Edward Cullen... in space! Except not, because Zatar could kick that sparklepire's ass no problem.
But anyhow. The most disturbing part of the Braxin society is that, because they have trouble producing healthy children and are periodically ravaged by a plague... all common women are considered sexually available at any time to any man unless they have 'Just Cause', most often a task given to them by a more important man, to refuse.
...yeah.
And it's really, really, really gross.
This might even be a deal-breaker in the ethics department if not for two things: it's not even remotely portrayed as a positive, and the most important male-female relationship in the book is one of respect between equals.
Side note, not actually a spoiler:
I'm not going to lie: Zatar does use this custom. What he doesn't do is abuse it, or kill the women in question as others of his class do. Does it make him less likeable? Sort of. Minor spoilers:
He is without a doubt a product of his society. I don't say this to absolve him of his flaws, but to explain why they make sense and why he can be a sympathetic character even through them. In a culture that values cunning, trickery, and betrayal from any quarter he schemes and manipulates his way into power; to lead a people who revere war, he puts himself on the front lines as no one of his class has ever done before and thus wins their respect. My one major objection is that a lot of his motives are unclear in the beginning - for a long time he seems to be more of a good person than the other Braxana just because, which is frustrating. Later, though, a lot of factors are revealend and while some of his actions still seem without cause, others make good sense.
And then there's Anzha.
Guess who my favorite character was, I DARE YOU.
Damn... where to begin with Anzha?
Well, talk about a rough childhood. She was literally rejected by her entire race before she was even born, just because her genetic code didn't match the Azean ideal. (WTF, Azea? And here you seemed like such a world of peace and lurve - but there's all this hatred.) Thankfully, her parents fought for her and so the government, which had advised them to abort her, gave in: it allowed her to be born, but under heavy restrictions which basically cut her off from what could have been her people.
Of course then when she's about six years old, Zatar poisons her parents with pretty much the most horrific poison that's ever been imagined. (This happens in Chapter 3; it's not a spoiler.) The poison - the Black Death - uuuuuuurgh. Hidden because it might turn your stomach:
After that experience - which, by the way, Anzha both witnessed and felt because she's a powerful telepath - she goes temporarily blind. And once she recovers from that, she goes on to become a stone-cold badass. There is doubtless not a single warrior race in the galaxy that she couldn't gain the respect of. Fighters who battle to the death for the entertainment of the masses and then drink the blood of their defeated enemy? She'll win them over before she's twelve. Hardy people on a frigid planet whose rite of passage is spending half a year crossing a massive icefield? She'll earn their respect before she even sets out. Empire says that she's not a citizen, can't go to the military school? Yeah, right.
All of this, though, is fueled by something potent: pure hatred. She knows who killed her parents and so drastically reshaped her life, and she is coming for him.
God, this woman is so fantastically awesome.
But put them both in a room-
I can't begin to describe the sheer intensity of it.
Their first face-to-face meeting is one of the most incredible scenes I think I've ever read.
This is why the synopsis of this book appealead to me: I love the idea of nemeses. I love the idea of a rivalry which is, by definition, filled with hatred - but at the same time tempered by respect, because anyone who doesn't respect their nemesis gets defeated. I love the strength of the emotions involved. You can't purely hate someone if you also respect them, after all, because respect means that you begin to see their good points. The relationship between nemeses becomes something so tangled and passionate that it is the furthest thing from simple opposition. They relish the challenge, the tension of each confrontation whether it be in person or separated by light-years of space. There is always, it seems to me, an undercurrent of something that in a different set of circumstances could have been the most intense sort love, because here are two perfectly matched minds. They can get away with being obsessed with each other, too, because their opposition is so single-minded.
Anzha and Zatar are a flawless example of everything I love in that kind of dynamic. This part of their first meeting encapsulates it perfectly:
(Paragraph removed because it doesn't make sense out of context.)
Maybe I'm revealing too much of myself in writing this, because surely the only kind of person who would find this so compelling would be someone totally savage. I don't think I'm that kind of person, but anything is possible, I suppose.
But look at that quote just for the words. It's a vow - a call-and-response almost, almost, like a wedding vow. And change one word in Zatar's last thought - he could be a lover contemplating his beloved, not a warrior contemplating his enemy.
That is the fine line between emotions, when they become this intense.
One of the best parts of their dynamic, though, is the respect. They plan around each other, not around the movements of the whole fleet, because each knows that the other is the true enemy, the true threat. Zatar thinks of Anzha as "some demonic creature midway between woman and the essence of War; she embodied all the variables that he could not predict, all the tricks of fate that were wont to bring a warrior to his knees. She and she alone could reduce his offensive to chaos."
Urgh. I just adore them both. The final scene - in Chapter 28 - it was just - just -
And the ending... well. 'Ambiguous' barely begins to cover it. So much is revealed in the epilogue that makes everything click, including some really fascinating worldbuilding. It doesn't feel out of place, though; indeed, it feels like the perfect ending to the story.
Apparently there is a sequel. I'm not interested. This book is so complete in and of itself, such a beautiful alchemy of unlikely parts, that I have zero desire to return to the universe it presented at another point.
THIS IS BY NO MEANS A BOOK I RECOMMEND TO EVERYONE, OR EVEN MOST PEOPLE.
I found it to be extraordinary, but not everyone will. If I could characterize the kind of reader likely to get the most out of it, I would, but I'm really not sure what that is. Approach with caution.
If you decide to read it, there are two things you need to be aware of:
1. It's written like a lengthy series of interconnected short stories at points. Viewpoint and time shifts dramatically between chapters, so be prepared - just because a character is a first-person narrator for ten or twenty pages doesn't mean you'll read more than mentions of them in the rest of the book. Some of the formats are odd and take some work to make sense of. It works - the book doesn't feel disjointed - but it's rather odd.
2. This was Friedman's first novel, and as a result it does have some early-novel flaws. In particular, the segments told in letters have a lot of 'as you know, Bob' to them, and some of the description can be ham-handed. There's more telling than showing in the early chapters. It's pretty much the best demonstration of what 'raw talent' means that I've seen: all the writing and plotting and characterization ability is present, but it's only barely been refined and so is still a little rough at the edges.
Those reasons - plus my strong objections to the Braxin culture - are why this is a four-star rating and not a five, despite how much I loved it and how giddy it made me afterwards.
Pre-review:
Seriously, take a good look at this thing. I adore it to bits and pieces. You can have all your new-wave abstract photomanip covers; I'll take the old-school sci-fi art like this. Just looking at it tells you so much - the characters' personalities are there in their faces and the way they stand. Anzha, the woman, is strong and confident, aggressive; she looks directly at the reader and almost challenges you with her gaze: you can't handle her, and she knows it. And then there's Zatar, the man: armed and dangerous, solemn and calculating. Anzha challenges, but Zatar scorns: you are lesser, and he will make you admit it.
The French covers are even better in some respects:
[image error]
For one thing, they got Zatar's sword on the right side - he's left-handed, Michael Whelan; why did you put it in his right on the original American cover? - and Anzha's hair is the proper blood red color. (Zatar's hair, on the other hand, is more accurate on the American cover. Oh well.)
The point of all this: I had high expectations going into this book. I wanted it to be good - better than good; I wanted it to be great. My pre-reading review, which is down at the bottom of this spoilertagged so as not to take up space, should tell you how I felt about starting this. 'Apprehensive' is an understatement. It could have been so stupid and cliche, particularly since it was Friedman's first novel. Sure, most of the reviews here on Goodreads are glowing, but that doesn't ensure a good book - a lot of people rate things sentimentally, particularly old sci-fi that they read in their formative years, and lots of other people rate without giving what they've read a lot of critical thought. There was a chance that all those ratings were lying and that this would be an absolutely terrible experience.
It so, so, so was not. 'Why' is a harder thing to define, though - in part because the experience of reading it is so intense; in part because a lot of the stunning moments come at the very end, so describing them would be extremely spoiler-heavy and I don't want to ruin the shock for anyone else.
The synopsis doesn't tell you much. It's really simplified, for one thing. To anyone who winced when they read 'endless war', I feel your pain, but don't skip the book for that reason. I know it's frustrating when authors use 'They've always been at war!' as an excuse for conflict, but I promise it works out well here - better than I had dared hope, really.
The war is really just backdrop, too. That may seem somewhat contradictory - after all, how can you have a story about two opposing generals without a war front and center? - but it's simply explained: the story isn't about Zatar and Anzha's victories and defeats in battle. It is about them as people. It is a genuinely character-driven novel.
Yes.
You read that right.
Instead of all the ineffective, boring laser-and-spaceship back-and-forth that you expected...
...where they just keep going and going and eventually one of them dies pointlessly because it's the only way to end things, here we have a book which is about realistic human beings (well, as much as can be expected given the setting) and the choices they make.
And what incredible human beings they are, too! Oh, this pair: they are extraordinary, a balance of sympathetic and unsympathetic traits in such ratios that they wind up being sympathetic if only because they feel vital and real.
First, there's Zatar, who we are introduced to shortly after his birth - a birth which is a rare thing among his people, the Braxana, rare enough that to celebrate its occurance this martial race breaks the current peace treaty so that he may be named in wartime.
The Braxana are not the most pleasant of peoples. Indeed, the relationships between men and women in their society very nearly put me off the book entirely in the early chapters. Basically, the Braxana are a sub-group of the rest of their race, the Braxin, and they've bred themselves to physical perfection. There's an unfortunate amount of mooning over Zatar (who as a pureblooded Braxana is even more gorgeous than most; insert eyeroll here) from some of the one-shot female characters. It's like Edward Cullen... in space! Except not, because Zatar could kick that sparklepire's ass no problem.
But anyhow. The most disturbing part of the Braxin society is that, because they have trouble producing healthy children and are periodically ravaged by a plague... all common women are considered sexually available at any time to any man unless they have 'Just Cause', most often a task given to them by a more important man, to refuse.
...yeah.
And it's really, really, really gross.
This might even be a deal-breaker in the ethics department if not for two things: it's not even remotely portrayed as a positive, and the most important male-female relationship in the book is one of respect between equals.
Side note, not actually a spoiler:
I'm not going to lie: Zatar does use this custom. What he doesn't do is abuse it, or kill the women in question as others of his class do. Does it make him less likeable? Sort of. Minor spoilers:
He is without a doubt a product of his society. I don't say this to absolve him of his flaws, but to explain why they make sense and why he can be a sympathetic character even through them. In a culture that values cunning, trickery, and betrayal from any quarter he schemes and manipulates his way into power; to lead a people who revere war, he puts himself on the front lines as no one of his class has ever done before and thus wins their respect. My one major objection is that a lot of his motives are unclear in the beginning - for a long time he seems to be more of a good person than the other Braxana just because, which is frustrating. Later, though, a lot of factors are revealend and while some of his actions still seem without cause, others make good sense.
And then there's Anzha.
Guess who my favorite character was, I DARE YOU.
Damn... where to begin with Anzha?
Well, talk about a rough childhood. She was literally rejected by her entire race before she was even born, just because her genetic code didn't match the Azean ideal. (WTF, Azea? And here you seemed like such a world of peace and lurve - but there's all this hatred.) Thankfully, her parents fought for her and so the government, which had advised them to abort her, gave in: it allowed her to be born, but under heavy restrictions which basically cut her off from what could have been her people.
Of course then when she's about six years old, Zatar poisons her parents with pretty much the most horrific poison that's ever been imagined. (This happens in Chapter 3; it's not a spoiler.) The poison - the Black Death - uuuuuuurgh. Hidden because it might turn your stomach:
After that experience - which, by the way, Anzha both witnessed and felt because she's a powerful telepath - she goes temporarily blind. And once she recovers from that, she goes on to become a stone-cold badass. There is doubtless not a single warrior race in the galaxy that she couldn't gain the respect of. Fighters who battle to the death for the entertainment of the masses and then drink the blood of their defeated enemy? She'll win them over before she's twelve. Hardy people on a frigid planet whose rite of passage is spending half a year crossing a massive icefield? She'll earn their respect before she even sets out. Empire says that she's not a citizen, can't go to the military school? Yeah, right.
All of this, though, is fueled by something potent: pure hatred. She knows who killed her parents and so drastically reshaped her life, and she is coming for him.
God, this woman is so fantastically awesome.
But put them both in a room-
I can't begin to describe the sheer intensity of it.
Their first face-to-face meeting is one of the most incredible scenes I think I've ever read.
This is why the synopsis of this book appealead to me: I love the idea of nemeses. I love the idea of a rivalry which is, by definition, filled with hatred - but at the same time tempered by respect, because anyone who doesn't respect their nemesis gets defeated. I love the strength of the emotions involved. You can't purely hate someone if you also respect them, after all, because respect means that you begin to see their good points. The relationship between nemeses becomes something so tangled and passionate that it is the furthest thing from simple opposition. They relish the challenge, the tension of each confrontation whether it be in person or separated by light-years of space. There is always, it seems to me, an undercurrent of something that in a different set of circumstances could have been the most intense sort love, because here are two perfectly matched minds. They can get away with being obsessed with each other, too, because their opposition is so single-minded.
Anzha and Zatar are a flawless example of everything I love in that kind of dynamic. This part of their first meeting encapsulates it perfectly:
"I will kill you," he said softly, "by my own hands, in my own time." The words welled up from his subconscious, from that part of his soul which ungered for the sword and chafed at civilization's imposed restrictions. He hadn't even realized that he knew them. "In my own way." How would she take this? Would she even understand? He hardly did himself.
But she seemed to. Her eyes gleamed, and her body tensed. This is what she wants, he realized.
"I will kill you," she answered, "by my own hands. In my own time. In my own way. No other will have you," she added, smiling her pleasure at the anticipated triumph.
...
He looked into her eyes - gleaming, triumphant - and sensed the rare extasy there would be in orchestrating her death. I could lose myself for a while in the killing of you, he thought.
(Paragraph removed because it doesn't make sense out of context.)
Maybe I'm revealing too much of myself in writing this, because surely the only kind of person who would find this so compelling would be someone totally savage. I don't think I'm that kind of person, but anything is possible, I suppose.
But look at that quote just for the words. It's a vow - a call-and-response almost, almost, like a wedding vow. And change one word in Zatar's last thought - he could be a lover contemplating his beloved, not a warrior contemplating his enemy.
That is the fine line between emotions, when they become this intense.
One of the best parts of their dynamic, though, is the respect. They plan around each other, not around the movements of the whole fleet, because each knows that the other is the true enemy, the true threat. Zatar thinks of Anzha as "some demonic creature midway between woman and the essence of War; she embodied all the variables that he could not predict, all the tricks of fate that were wont to bring a warrior to his knees. She and she alone could reduce his offensive to chaos."
Urgh. I just adore them both. The final scene - in Chapter 28 - it was just - just -
And the ending... well. 'Ambiguous' barely begins to cover it. So much is revealed in the epilogue that makes everything click, including some really fascinating worldbuilding. It doesn't feel out of place, though; indeed, it feels like the perfect ending to the story.
Apparently there is a sequel. I'm not interested. This book is so complete in and of itself, such a beautiful alchemy of unlikely parts, that I have zero desire to return to the universe it presented at another point.
THIS IS BY NO MEANS A BOOK I RECOMMEND TO EVERYONE, OR EVEN MOST PEOPLE.
I found it to be extraordinary, but not everyone will. If I could characterize the kind of reader likely to get the most out of it, I would, but I'm really not sure what that is. Approach with caution.
If you decide to read it, there are two things you need to be aware of:
1. It's written like a lengthy series of interconnected short stories at points. Viewpoint and time shifts dramatically between chapters, so be prepared - just because a character is a first-person narrator for ten or twenty pages doesn't mean you'll read more than mentions of them in the rest of the book. Some of the formats are odd and take some work to make sense of. It works - the book doesn't feel disjointed - but it's rather odd.
2. This was Friedman's first novel, and as a result it does have some early-novel flaws. In particular, the segments told in letters have a lot of 'as you know, Bob' to them, and some of the description can be ham-handed. There's more telling than showing in the early chapters. It's pretty much the best demonstration of what 'raw talent' means that I've seen: all the writing and plotting and characterization ability is present, but it's only barely been refined and so is still a little rough at the edges.
Those reasons - plus my strong objections to the Braxin culture - are why this is a four-star rating and not a five, despite how much I loved it and how giddy it made me afterwards.
Pre-review:
August 12, 2010
4.5 stars. This was my first C.S. Friedman book and I just got done re-reading it to see if it was still as good as I remembered it. Short answer: yes it was. In general, I would describe this as smart, plot-orientated, "psychological" space opera. The story revolves around two generals (generals isn't exactly correct but close enough) from two very different cultures that have been a war for a very long time engaged in a very "personal" vendetta. Anzha, an Azean, is an exceptional telepath from a very reserved society that manipulates genetics in order to breed for mental superiority (reminding me a little bit of the Union government in C. J. Cherryh's Cyteen). Zatar, a Braxana, has been bread with superior mental and physical attributes as a member of a "class-ruled" warrior society that beleives in racial purity and looks down upon all of races.
Early on in the book, these two individuals become "personal" enemies and the book follows them as they rise through the ranks of their society, acquire more power, and seek to use that power to destroy the other.
So much for plot synopsis. What really sets this book apart from lesser works of space opera, in addition to the excellent writing, is the way the different plot threads come together at the end to create a "much bigger story" than the surface plot of two "super generals" fighting an interstellar war. An excellent read and one that I HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!
Early on in the book, these two individuals become "personal" enemies and the book follows them as they rise through the ranks of their society, acquire more power, and seek to use that power to destroy the other.
So much for plot synopsis. What really sets this book apart from lesser works of space opera, in addition to the excellent writing, is the way the different plot threads come together at the end to create a "much bigger story" than the surface plot of two "super generals" fighting an interstellar war. An excellent read and one that I HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!
January 25, 2008
My favorite CS Friedman book, by a mile. Centuries of interstellar war between two genetically engineered super-races of humans comes to a crux in a personal vendetta between two warriors. It's engrossing, richly drawn... and compelling because it's asking us to question our own motivations and how they can be intertwined and hidden to us. Appeals immensely to those who favors strong heroines. A strong book about strong people with some excellently thrilling twists.
December 11, 2016
A racist rape-y culture is in endless conflict with an even more racist culture...so why would I want to read this? Turns out, I don't.
September 19, 2012
Originally posted at Fantasy Literature.
If you like epic space opera with imaginatively detailed world-building and a focus on characters rather than gadgets, try In Conquest Born, C.S. Friedman’s extremely impressive first novel. This complex, sprawling story begins with the births of two enemies-to-be from two different worlds that have been fighting each other for generations:
Zatar, a Braxin, is bred for beauty and aggression because those are the qualities his brutal, elitist, and misogynist culture admires. Ruthless, clever, and perfectly poised, he is preparing himself and his world for his ascendancy to a throne that does not yet exist in his oligarchic government. Part of making himself most qualified for this potential position involves manipulating, discrediting, or simply getting rid of any man who might stand in his way. (Women are no threat in Braxa… or are they?)
Anzha is an outsider in her Azean society because of her red hair — it’s an indication of foreign blood somewhere in her lineage. Nonetheless, her psychic powers, which are revered in Azea, are strong and that, along with her unrelenting drive to prepare herself for revenge against the Braxin man who killed her parents, causes her to rise up in the Azean military ranks. When Zatar and Anzha finally meet, they each know they have met their match, and they immediately set out to destroy each other.
C.S. Friedman began building her worlds while she was in high school and continued developing them for years before submitting In Conquest Born to DAW. It shows. The world-building is excellent — both the Braxin and Azean societies (and others) are deeply explored from multiple perspectives. Among other things, each has its own art forms, attitudes toward women, sexual preferences, inherited strengths and weaknesses, and ideas about genetic manipulation and psychic abilities.
Friedman explains on her website that In Conquest Born originally began as “a collection of interconnected stories” which she developed into a novel which was partly re-written when her editor encouraged her to make the tale less “fragmented.” Still, the story feels somewhat disjointed because it covers a huge span of time (it’s a long time before Zatar and Anzha actually meet) and each chapter is a vignette told from one of several perspectives. This technique is advantageous in that it allows us to thoroughly explore Friedman’s worlds, but has the disadvantage of causing us to spend a lot of time with minor, and often expendable, characters. (But then, Zatar and Anzha are repulsive enough that it’s nice to have a break from them.)
Friedman’s plot is exciting — there’s political intrigue, treason, space battles, torture, planet explosions, and horrible deaths. The compelling plot is made even more readable by Friedman’s pleasantly sophisticated writing style which contains just a touch of black humor. She gives us lots to think about, too — nature vs. nurture, free will, parallel evolution, genetic modification. If I had liked her characters better and had been effortlessly carried along by a more cohesive plot, I’d have surely given In Conquest Born my highest recommendation. I have no doubt that C.S. Friedman has the skill to write a perfect novel and I look forward to reading more of her work in the future.
I listened to Audible Frontier’s version of In Conquest Born which was read by Joe Barrett. He gives a very nice reading which is not overly dramatic. His female voices sound much like his male voices, so a couple of times I assumed a newly-introduced female character was male until I was corrected by the text. Once I knew not to expect Mr. Barrett to use a feminine-sounding voice, I had no problem with his reading.
In Conquest Born, first published in 1986, was nominated for the John W. Campbell Award. A sequel, The Wilding, takes place generations later.
If you like epic space opera with imaginatively detailed world-building and a focus on characters rather than gadgets, try In Conquest Born, C.S. Friedman’s extremely impressive first novel. This complex, sprawling story begins with the births of two enemies-to-be from two different worlds that have been fighting each other for generations:
Zatar, a Braxin, is bred for beauty and aggression because those are the qualities his brutal, elitist, and misogynist culture admires. Ruthless, clever, and perfectly poised, he is preparing himself and his world for his ascendancy to a throne that does not yet exist in his oligarchic government. Part of making himself most qualified for this potential position involves manipulating, discrediting, or simply getting rid of any man who might stand in his way. (Women are no threat in Braxa… or are they?)
Anzha is an outsider in her Azean society because of her red hair — it’s an indication of foreign blood somewhere in her lineage. Nonetheless, her psychic powers, which are revered in Azea, are strong and that, along with her unrelenting drive to prepare herself for revenge against the Braxin man who killed her parents, causes her to rise up in the Azean military ranks. When Zatar and Anzha finally meet, they each know they have met their match, and they immediately set out to destroy each other.
C.S. Friedman began building her worlds while she was in high school and continued developing them for years before submitting In Conquest Born to DAW. It shows. The world-building is excellent — both the Braxin and Azean societies (and others) are deeply explored from multiple perspectives. Among other things, each has its own art forms, attitudes toward women, sexual preferences, inherited strengths and weaknesses, and ideas about genetic manipulation and psychic abilities.
Friedman explains on her website that In Conquest Born originally began as “a collection of interconnected stories” which she developed into a novel which was partly re-written when her editor encouraged her to make the tale less “fragmented.” Still, the story feels somewhat disjointed because it covers a huge span of time (it’s a long time before Zatar and Anzha actually meet) and each chapter is a vignette told from one of several perspectives. This technique is advantageous in that it allows us to thoroughly explore Friedman’s worlds, but has the disadvantage of causing us to spend a lot of time with minor, and often expendable, characters. (But then, Zatar and Anzha are repulsive enough that it’s nice to have a break from them.)
Friedman’s plot is exciting — there’s political intrigue, treason, space battles, torture, planet explosions, and horrible deaths. The compelling plot is made even more readable by Friedman’s pleasantly sophisticated writing style which contains just a touch of black humor. She gives us lots to think about, too — nature vs. nurture, free will, parallel evolution, genetic modification. If I had liked her characters better and had been effortlessly carried along by a more cohesive plot, I’d have surely given In Conquest Born my highest recommendation. I have no doubt that C.S. Friedman has the skill to write a perfect novel and I look forward to reading more of her work in the future.
I listened to Audible Frontier’s version of In Conquest Born which was read by Joe Barrett. He gives a very nice reading which is not overly dramatic. His female voices sound much like his male voices, so a couple of times I assumed a newly-introduced female character was male until I was corrected by the text. Once I knew not to expect Mr. Barrett to use a feminine-sounding voice, I had no problem with his reading.
In Conquest Born, first published in 1986, was nominated for the John W. Campbell Award. A sequel, The Wilding, takes place generations later.
May 21, 2011
Certainly impressive for a first novel, In Conquest Born details the struggle between Anzha and Zatar, prime representatives of their endlessly warring nations. The structure of the novel is unusual, as every chapter is somewhat like a short story in itself, often with different narrators, viewpoints and styles. The advantage is that exposition can be made from several angles. The disadvantage is a certain feeling of disjointedness as the device weakens the motivation to find out what happens next.
The narrative is epic with regards to time, space, and character development. The characterization is masterful indeed. Friedman goes on a deep dive into the conflicting cultures of the novel, especially the secretive Braxaná. This is, in fact, more a story of people than of technology. Few scenes have more than two or three characters, and we are treated to a well written exposé of the workings of the mind. It is very far from hard SF. While it could be called Space Opera, I would define it a psychological SF story.
Friedman proves that she can write a very complex novel without leaving the reader hopelessly confused. For that she definitely deserves credit. I enjoyed this odd semi-classic, despite the fact that it was a slog at times. At the end was the reward. The surprise ending made everything clear, tying up the many many tangents.
http://www.books.rosboch.net/?p=759
The narrative is epic with regards to time, space, and character development. The characterization is masterful indeed. Friedman goes on a deep dive into the conflicting cultures of the novel, especially the secretive Braxaná. This is, in fact, more a story of people than of technology. Few scenes have more than two or three characters, and we are treated to a well written exposé of the workings of the mind. It is very far from hard SF. While it could be called Space Opera, I would define it a psychological SF story.
Friedman proves that she can write a very complex novel without leaving the reader hopelessly confused. For that she definitely deserves credit. I enjoyed this odd semi-classic, despite the fact that it was a slog at times. At the end was the reward. The surprise ending made everything clear, tying up the many many tangents.
http://www.books.rosboch.net/?p=759
July 20, 2008
Friedman builds a portrait of two cultures in perpetual war and two extraordinary nemeses born of them. Characters are introduced and discarded by the dozens to fill in aspects of the culture; all building to two face-to-face meetings.
The cultures were interesting as thought experiments and analogies to our world but not much else. The characters were … there. I never engaged with either Zatar or Anzha (the nemeses) and really thought they should get over themselves. Actually I thought the whole Braxin/Braxaná culture should have gotten over itself.
Really, the world building is the only thing In Conquest Born has going for it. So if you'd like to see extreme extrapolations of bad ideas (free love [of a sort], the denigration of gentler emotions, etc.), give it a read.
The cultures were interesting as thought experiments and analogies to our world but not much else. The characters were … there. I never engaged with either Zatar or Anzha (the nemeses) and really thought they should get over themselves. Actually I thought the whole Braxin/Braxaná culture should have gotten over itself.
Really, the world building is the only thing In Conquest Born has going for it. So if you'd like to see extreme extrapolations of bad ideas (free love [of a sort], the denigration of gentler emotions, etc.), give it a read.
February 6, 2017
Four and half stars
August 31, 2009
IN CONQUEST BORN is the greatest space-opera I have ever read, and I will even go so far as to say that it is the greatest space-opera penned by a human hand. This novel is the first foray I have into the multi-faceted, three-dimensional world of C.S. Friedman and I have to say that it was a pleasant experience and I've come away enriched in a way I never thought possible when it comes to the science-fiction genre.
The novel takes place far, far in the future in a galaxy that I can only assume is not our own. There is a war, raging for countless years with both sides never coming to an agreement. These sides are both human, one being the peaceful-honor bound Azea whose love for human genetics have solved several issues including aging, and brought rise to the unique ability of psychic awareness. Combating them is a human race called Braxana, a self-proclaimed master race whose ways are a bit more militant and chauvinistic when compared to their enemies. Within each of these races, there are a thousand planets each teaming with their own culture and values.
Of the two races, we receive the two main characters (the novel is riddled with major characters and minor ones) Ahzra, an uber-psychic hell-bent on destroying Braxi, and Zatar, apart of the ruling class of Braxa. What starts out as just a usual exchange between rivals instantly becomes a personal vendetta against the two for two very different reasons.
The book is told through episodes, with each chapter in a different unique voice and character view (sometimes Zatar, sometimes a memory bank from a computer, sometimes even just a no-named citizen of some planet that has come under attack.) The novel is told in such an epic fashion that, upon its close, you don't even register the fact that there is no space combat involved.
The novels driving point, and why I think it's the greatest space opera ever written, is that it takes the science-fiction norms (epic war, races who hate, cybernetics, etc.) and puts them out of focus so your immediately immersed in a world that is plausible. Instead, real, intelligent characters are brought to the center stage over the canopy of heritage, and how each generation inherits the evils of their fathers and how, because of this, no war will ever really be ended. Not altogether a unique topic for a novel, but one I find refreshed in a space-opera (a genre so populated with bizarre aliens, bad writing, and light sabers.)
This is a book I recommend to everyone. At 500 pages, it's a brief read I think. A new addition just came out to print, so most bookstores should have it.
If this is what I can expect from C.S. Friedman, then by all means bring on her other novels.
The novel takes place far, far in the future in a galaxy that I can only assume is not our own. There is a war, raging for countless years with both sides never coming to an agreement. These sides are both human, one being the peaceful-honor bound Azea whose love for human genetics have solved several issues including aging, and brought rise to the unique ability of psychic awareness. Combating them is a human race called Braxana, a self-proclaimed master race whose ways are a bit more militant and chauvinistic when compared to their enemies. Within each of these races, there are a thousand planets each teaming with their own culture and values.
Of the two races, we receive the two main characters (the novel is riddled with major characters and minor ones) Ahzra, an uber-psychic hell-bent on destroying Braxi, and Zatar, apart of the ruling class of Braxa. What starts out as just a usual exchange between rivals instantly becomes a personal vendetta against the two for two very different reasons.
The book is told through episodes, with each chapter in a different unique voice and character view (sometimes Zatar, sometimes a memory bank from a computer, sometimes even just a no-named citizen of some planet that has come under attack.) The novel is told in such an epic fashion that, upon its close, you don't even register the fact that there is no space combat involved.
The novels driving point, and why I think it's the greatest space opera ever written, is that it takes the science-fiction norms (epic war, races who hate, cybernetics, etc.) and puts them out of focus so your immediately immersed in a world that is plausible. Instead, real, intelligent characters are brought to the center stage over the canopy of heritage, and how each generation inherits the evils of their fathers and how, because of this, no war will ever really be ended. Not altogether a unique topic for a novel, but one I find refreshed in a space-opera (a genre so populated with bizarre aliens, bad writing, and light sabers.)
This is a book I recommend to everyone. At 500 pages, it's a brief read I think. A new addition just came out to print, so most bookstores should have it.
If this is what I can expect from C.S. Friedman, then by all means bring on her other novels.
September 8, 2013
This is one of those books I've passed over on bookstore shelves for years. Finally downloaded a sample and was hooked. In a purely literary sense, it's pretty rough. But that didn't matter. It was clever, it was interesting, it was epic in every sense of the word, and it had me turning pages all the way to the end. Which is all that really matters. I'm a sucker for alien culture stories of any kind.
My one criticism is that the end is rather abrupt and, honestly, did not feel emotionally satisfying to me. I think because most of the book spent so much time playing up extremes - everything was the MOST sensual or frightening or [whatever] that [whoever] had ever experienced, so there was nowhere further for the climax to go, if that makes any sense. I didn't feel like the emotional resolution really worked for the characters, either. A "bad" ending will usually sour a book for me, but in this case I'm going to call it a minor quibble. Because so many of the chapters are almost self-contained stories, I was satisfied on many counts on many occasions, and the ending was more of a minor disappointment.
Also, I do have to comment on the edition I was reading - I downloaded the 15th anniversary edition on my Kindle. And the thing is ridiculously riddled with typos. "To" instead of "too," actually incorrect words like "fly" instead of "try," and a ton of misplaced commas and other miscellaneous punctuation. There was even one paragraph that had been split by a break right in the middle. It felt like someone had manually re-typed the entire thing and not gone back to proofread. Yeesh.
My one criticism is that the end is rather abrupt and, honestly, did not feel emotionally satisfying to me. I think because most of the book spent so much time playing up extremes - everything was the MOST sensual or frightening or [whatever] that [whoever] had ever experienced, so there was nowhere further for the climax to go, if that makes any sense. I didn't feel like the emotional resolution really worked for the characters, either. A "bad" ending will usually sour a book for me, but in this case I'm going to call it a minor quibble. Because so many of the chapters are almost self-contained stories, I was satisfied on many counts on many occasions, and the ending was more of a minor disappointment.
Also, I do have to comment on the edition I was reading - I downloaded the 15th anniversary edition on my Kindle. And the thing is ridiculously riddled with typos. "To" instead of "too," actually incorrect words like "fly" instead of "try," and a ton of misplaced commas and other miscellaneous punctuation. There was even one paragraph that had been split by a break right in the middle. It felt like someone had manually re-typed the entire thing and not gone back to proofread. Yeesh.
January 9, 2011
No doubt about it, Friedman is a good author. Here she writes an intricately detailed, sprawling story, with lots of ideas. I really liked the previous book of hers that I read - The Madness Season. So I went into this one with high expectations.
Ultimately, I was a bit disappointed with it. It is a big epic story, focusing on two main characters, one on each side of rival human civilizations. My main problem with it was that it was so sprawling, I never felt that invested either of the characters. Just when I was starting to care about a character and interested in what was going on, the book would jump perspective AND many years. By the time it got back around to the other character, the events of an earlier chapter had already been resolved, and something different was happening. I guess that's why it's called a "Space Opera", and I can appreciate that for what it is, but in the end I wanted to see the story at a bit lower altitude than the 30,000ft view I was presented with.
I'm giving it three stars because it is a solid book, the characters were complex, and the story was grand, but I'm only giving it three stars because I just didn't enjoy it more than that.
Ultimately, I was a bit disappointed with it. It is a big epic story, focusing on two main characters, one on each side of rival human civilizations. My main problem with it was that it was so sprawling, I never felt that invested either of the characters. Just when I was starting to care about a character and interested in what was going on, the book would jump perspective AND many years. By the time it got back around to the other character, the events of an earlier chapter had already been resolved, and something different was happening. I guess that's why it's called a "Space Opera", and I can appreciate that for what it is, but in the end I wanted to see the story at a bit lower altitude than the 30,000ft view I was presented with.
I'm giving it three stars because it is a solid book, the characters were complex, and the story was grand, but I'm only giving it three stars because I just didn't enjoy it more than that.
October 12, 2009
I actually wanted to like this but somehow it didn't work all that well for me.
The Braxana and the Azean have been at war for generations. Braxana have a complicated society that's obscure to all but the initiated. Azeans are masters of genetic science and have their own rules that are also complicated and strange. Neither like each other and both consider that they know best. Zatar and Anzha are two generals on each side and they have made this war their own.
Somehow it just didn't work for me, it was interesting but I just didn't care all that much about any of the characters and when there were leaps in time I often didn't follow what was happening quick enough. I can see why some people would love it, but I could also see why some would dislike it. Maybe if I had read it earlier in my life I would have preferred it. I'm going to read the sequel to see if I want to keep them both.
The Braxana and the Azean have been at war for generations. Braxana have a complicated society that's obscure to all but the initiated. Azeans are masters of genetic science and have their own rules that are also complicated and strange. Neither like each other and both consider that they know best. Zatar and Anzha are two generals on each side and they have made this war their own.
Somehow it just didn't work for me, it was interesting but I just didn't care all that much about any of the characters and when there were leaps in time I often didn't follow what was happening quick enough. I can see why some people would love it, but I could also see why some would dislike it. Maybe if I had read it earlier in my life I would have preferred it. I'm going to read the sequel to see if I want to keep them both.
September 2, 2014
Plot too long and poorly timed
Contrary to other "low-score" reviewers, I actually did like the main characters. And the writing style is picturesque and enjoyable. My problem is with the too-long and poorly-timed plot. That and...
I must say, the first several chapters are WONDERFULLY written. I LOVED the Kindle sample, but the whole book? No, I didn't like it at all.
Contrary to other "low-score" reviewers, I actually did like the main characters. And the writing style is picturesque and enjoyable. My problem is with the too-long and poorly-timed plot. That and...
I must say, the first several chapters are WONDERFULLY written. I LOVED the Kindle sample, but the whole book? No, I didn't like it at all.
August 21, 2011
This was far from being on a level with the first trilogy of hers that I read. I would not recommend this book to anyone, ever. It took me a half a dozen tries to start and finally finish this book over a period of about two years. Once I really got into it, it wasn't the worst thing that I have ever read. But the first hundred pages, man they were painful.
October 16, 2018
A space opera that was better than expected, due to intriguing characters and manueverings (political and personal). I wished there had been more true ACTION, which makes we waffle between a 3.5 and 4 star rating.
VERDICT: 3.67 stars, rounded to 4. Especially considering this is Friedman's first novel, it is darn impressive in many ways.
PROS: Two powerful and determined opposing characters/civilizations, interesting developments, much trickery.
DOWNERS (minor): A bit difficult for me to keep track of all the characters. Not quite enough action.
VERDICT: 3.67 stars, rounded to 4. Especially considering this is Friedman's first novel, it is darn impressive in many ways.
PROS: Two powerful and determined opposing characters/civilizations, interesting developments, much trickery.
DOWNERS (minor): A bit difficult for me to keep track of all the characters. Not quite enough action.
October 13, 2018
I read some C.S. Friedman years ago, so I tried this. It was well written, of course, but I felt like there was no GOOD in the story, nothing to be happy about. The ending was satisfying, but unfortunately, it didn't make up for the rest of the experience.
May 22, 2020
Boy, they don’t write them like this anymore, do they? Very deep stuff...partially marred by casual rape and a toxic and violent patriarchal society. More rtc.
Perhaps I haven't read enough "classic" sci-fi, but I was a bit stunned when I first started reading the dogeared used copy of In Conquest Born I bought. Did authors used to be so unafraid to take on issues of race and violence as directly as it's done here? Or is this a Friedman special? I've read her before so I know she likes it complex, but damn. From the first page on, this kept my attention and my eyebrows raised.
The setup is no less than the "endless war" that spans galaxies between two distinct peoples: the Braxin and the Azea. That oppositional setup is common enough, but Friedman takes pains (as the respective cultures do) to make sharp distinctions between the two: the Braxin are warlike, value physical prowess and disdain showing emotion. They have a deeply patriarchal culture that centers on sex and sensation. The Azea are sensitive, intellectual and emotional, and a significant portion of them are highly developed psychics. The Azeans pair-bond for life. There are also important and unarguable physical distinctions between the two: Braxin are pale with dark hair. The Azeans have golden-toned skin and are very tall and thin. Each culture has its upper class, for the Braxin it's a subgroup called the Braxana, in Azea, effectively anyone who's psychic is privileged. In the book, hundreds of years of reproduction and cultural mores have ensured a uniformity of look and practice in each society. The two peoples see themselves as different races.
The word "race" is used quite freely throughout, and it will definitely trigger some readers. The hostilities between these two groups have uncomfortably familiar echoes of the "we hate them because they're different" narrative that underpins reductive conflict between two groups of people, and so does the essentialist thinking and behavior displayed by damn near every character who is representative of these groups.
But then of course we have our two protagonists - Anzha and Zatar. Zatar is Braxana, and his birth is fated to change the course of the Braxin people. He starts doing this by leading successful mercenary campaigns against Azea, including one very personal attack that drastically impacts Anzha's life. Anzha herself grows to be an incredibly powerful psychic, but also is obsessed with taking down the Braxin, and ultimately, Zatar.
Listen. Despite its huge scope in terms of the ongoing war across millions of miles of space and decades of time, this book centers on Zatar and Anzha. And in 500+ pages they meet literally only two times.
And those are by far the two most powerful scenes in the whole book.
The one about midway through the book might as well have slapped me across the face with its power. I'm only warning potential future readers so you can enjoy it when it comes along. For those who listen to DJ sets, you know when someone really good is playing live they play the truly killer tracks at exactly at the midpoint of the set, not at the end. At the end the DJ is transitioning off to someone else. I feel that's a good metaphor for this book...the moment it's at it's most pointed is during the scene between Anzha and Zatar halfway through.
Which isn't to say the rest isn't compelling, because it is. Keep paying attention because there are more than a couple mind-blowing reveals towards the end, feeling almost casually added in. They may make you want to immediately start rereading the beginning parts of the book with the ending in mind, it's that kind of thing.
But oh lord, you really have to wade through some tough stuff to enjoy these highly intense character interactions and the reveals about the waste and folly of race-based war. Zatar will probably be annoying / angering to modern readers, especially women. He's like the extremely dark version of the "bad boy who's actually good." Friedman places him in a society that devalues women, including making the lower class women always available to men for sex whether the women want it or not, and tries to show how he's "not as bad" as most of the men. Fodder for debate, I suppose, but I wasn't buying it. Zatar's the best of the worst, but to this reader, he's still a villain - despite how often Friedman tries to show how clever he is.
This book offers a lot to think about. It's bold in a way that I'm not sure many books being written today are. If I'm wrong about that, someone point me to other books that are as willing to tell a complex tale about deeply uncomfortable topics like race, violence, and the thin line between hate and love - but that ultimately aren't tragedies. I'll read them.
Perhaps I haven't read enough "classic" sci-fi, but I was a bit stunned when I first started reading the dogeared used copy of In Conquest Born I bought. Did authors used to be so unafraid to take on issues of race and violence as directly as it's done here? Or is this a Friedman special? I've read her before so I know she likes it complex, but damn. From the first page on, this kept my attention and my eyebrows raised.
The setup is no less than the "endless war" that spans galaxies between two distinct peoples: the Braxin and the Azea. That oppositional setup is common enough, but Friedman takes pains (as the respective cultures do) to make sharp distinctions between the two: the Braxin are warlike, value physical prowess and disdain showing emotion. They have a deeply patriarchal culture that centers on sex and sensation. The Azea are sensitive, intellectual and emotional, and a significant portion of them are highly developed psychics. The Azeans pair-bond for life. There are also important and unarguable physical distinctions between the two: Braxin are pale with dark hair. The Azeans have golden-toned skin and are very tall and thin. Each culture has its upper class, for the Braxin it's a subgroup called the Braxana, in Azea, effectively anyone who's psychic is privileged. In the book, hundreds of years of reproduction and cultural mores have ensured a uniformity of look and practice in each society. The two peoples see themselves as different races.
The word "race" is used quite freely throughout, and it will definitely trigger some readers. The hostilities between these two groups have uncomfortably familiar echoes of the "we hate them because they're different" narrative that underpins reductive conflict between two groups of people, and so does the essentialist thinking and behavior displayed by damn near every character who is representative of these groups.
But then of course we have our two protagonists - Anzha and Zatar. Zatar is Braxana, and his birth is fated to change the course of the Braxin people. He starts doing this by leading successful mercenary campaigns against Azea, including one very personal attack that drastically impacts Anzha's life. Anzha herself grows to be an incredibly powerful psychic, but also is obsessed with taking down the Braxin, and ultimately, Zatar.
Listen. Despite its huge scope in terms of the ongoing war across millions of miles of space and decades of time, this book centers on Zatar and Anzha. And in 500+ pages they meet literally only two times.
And those are by far the two most powerful scenes in the whole book.
The one about midway through the book might as well have slapped me across the face with its power. I'm only warning potential future readers so you can enjoy it when it comes along. For those who listen to DJ sets, you know when someone really good is playing live they play the truly killer tracks at exactly at the midpoint of the set, not at the end. At the end the DJ is transitioning off to someone else. I feel that's a good metaphor for this book...the moment it's at it's most pointed is during the scene between Anzha and Zatar halfway through.
Which isn't to say the rest isn't compelling, because it is. Keep paying attention because there are more than a couple mind-blowing reveals towards the end, feeling almost casually added in. They may make you want to immediately start rereading the beginning parts of the book with the ending in mind, it's that kind of thing.
But oh lord, you really have to wade through some tough stuff to enjoy these highly intense character interactions and the reveals about the waste and folly of race-based war. Zatar will probably be annoying / angering to modern readers, especially women. He's like the extremely dark version of the "bad boy who's actually good." Friedman places him in a society that devalues women, including making the lower class women always available to men for sex whether the women want it or not, and tries to show how he's "not as bad" as most of the men. Fodder for debate, I suppose, but I wasn't buying it. Zatar's the best of the worst, but to this reader, he's still a villain - despite how often Friedman tries to show how clever he is.
This book offers a lot to think about. It's bold in a way that I'm not sure many books being written today are. If I'm wrong about that, someone point me to other books that are as willing to tell a complex tale about deeply uncomfortable topics like race, violence, and the thin line between hate and love - but that ultimately aren't tragedies. I'll read them.
May 6, 2011
In Conquest Born by C. S. Friedman is what I’d call a hardcore space opera. It’s not a quick read. It’s not a simple read. Complex names, concepts and characters fly fast and furious. It also feels like a plot on two levels.
First is the background, which is well enough developed to be a major part of the story. This is the Azean-Braxian war that almost seems to have alway been in progress, and has no end in sight. Azea and Braxi are both spacefaring civilizations of basically human form. They have drastically different views on how to handle conquest, genetics, mating and leadership. War is almost a defining characteristic for both civilizations, but often on the fringes of society… the border zone is far enough in the galaxy that it rarely touches the lives of most.
The other plot is of two people… not surprisingly an Azean and a Braxian. Anzha, born a genetic in Azea struggles to find her place. Zatar, born to the ruling class of Braxia, quickly makes a name for himself, striking a deadly blow to the Azean war machine and getting elevated into the leadership council.
As a far-reaching space opera, this is not your typical sci-fi novel, detailing a single journey or discovery. The scope encompasses nearly a century of current events, and frequently segues off into historical background. The unexpected (for me) ending still has me pondering, two weeks later… always something I love in a book. I was fascinated with the explorations of eugenics, phsycic ability, government and space combat.
If you’re ready for a sci-fi adventure that’s not your average space romp, give this one a try.
First is the background, which is well enough developed to be a major part of the story. This is the Azean-Braxian war that almost seems to have alway been in progress, and has no end in sight. Azea and Braxi are both spacefaring civilizations of basically human form. They have drastically different views on how to handle conquest, genetics, mating and leadership. War is almost a defining characteristic for both civilizations, but often on the fringes of society… the border zone is far enough in the galaxy that it rarely touches the lives of most.
The other plot is of two people… not surprisingly an Azean and a Braxian. Anzha, born a genetic in Azea struggles to find her place. Zatar, born to the ruling class of Braxia, quickly makes a name for himself, striking a deadly blow to the Azean war machine and getting elevated into the leadership council.
As a far-reaching space opera, this is not your typical sci-fi novel, detailing a single journey or discovery. The scope encompasses nearly a century of current events, and frequently segues off into historical background. The unexpected (for me) ending still has me pondering, two weeks later… always something I love in a book. I was fascinated with the explorations of eugenics, phsycic ability, government and space combat.
If you’re ready for a sci-fi adventure that’s not your average space romp, give this one a try.
February 19, 2010
I was excited to read this as I had loved this author's first book in the Magister series, one of the few fantasy novels that managed to engage me. The premise of In Conquest Born is intriguing: two far-future civilizations--both genetically engineered to evolve as two separate species so that they are hardly recognizable as human, are fighting an endless war far from earth in some distant part of the galaxy. The author builds complex, multilayered civilizations, each with their own mores and societal hierarchies that probe interesting facets of human behavior and question our ideas about the reality of morality in an objective, godless universe. However, with an intensive focus on at least 27 different characters with unpronounceable names, I found it difficult to identify the protagonists. You live with some characters for many chapters only to have them disappear and never show up again, while other minor characters pop up at the end to play a major role. Additionally, while I don't like one-dimensional heroes, all of the characters were so deeply flawed and vicious, ego mananiacs it was hard to feel even remotely connected. She also had this weird, Ayn Rand-like philosophy running through the characters words and emotions where only violence and hatred could fuel their ability to wield power and make huge changes to the course of events. I'd say this was a good first draft of a book that should have been great. Oh well.
October 19, 2015
There's a certain flavor, I'm finding, with science fiction written by women during a particular time. C.S. Friedman reads much like Cherryh J. Carolyn or Melissa Scott. If you've enjoyed their works, you'll enjoy this one.
And goodness, did I enjoy this one. The worldbuilding reads a lot like Foreigner in a way that I can't really articulate. It unfolds piece by piece in a delicate tapestry of politics and intrigue. I'm definitely finding that "politics and intrigue" seems to be a vital component of good SF for me.
Halfway through this book, you'll wonder how the central conflict between Braxin and Azea can ever be resolved. Three-quarters through the book, you'll realize it can't, but the emotional resolution to the book is so glorious, so perfect for everyone involved, that you really won't care.
At it's heart, this is a novel about a war that can't be won; about two civilizations that can't even approach each other; about two people who are wholly vested in the faith of their cultures - and lose everything they believe in.
Really, highly recommended. I'm not interested in reading the sequel, because the ending of this one was just that good.
And goodness, did I enjoy this one. The worldbuilding reads a lot like Foreigner in a way that I can't really articulate. It unfolds piece by piece in a delicate tapestry of politics and intrigue. I'm definitely finding that "politics and intrigue" seems to be a vital component of good SF for me.
Halfway through this book, you'll wonder how the central conflict between Braxin and Azea can ever be resolved. Three-quarters through the book, you'll realize it can't, but the emotional resolution to the book is so glorious, so perfect for everyone involved, that you really won't care.
At it's heart, this is a novel about a war that can't be won; about two civilizations that can't even approach each other; about two people who are wholly vested in the faith of their cultures - and lose everything they believe in.
Really, highly recommended. I'm not interested in reading the sequel, because the ending of this one was just that good.
September 28, 2012
I've been a fan of Friedman for something like 15 years at this point, but I had never read her debut novel. I will say that for a first effort it is incredibly ambitious in scope, and overall I'm impressed.
However, the book falls short in several areas, not the least of which is the ending, which I will say (without giving anything away) left me totally unsatisfied. You could probably argue this point, but I would contend that there wasn't actually a resolution, which bothered me immensely.
The story also has huge time lapses in order to achieve the breadth it requires. And while it mostly works, at times it feels disjointed and not-cohesive as a result.
The best part for me was by far the world-building and back story of this universe. So much so that I find the most interesting questions (Which planet is the Source World? Does Earth still exist/is it the Source World? Is Earth Zeymour and Mars Azea?) did not get answered at all, let alone asked. I think it would have been even more epic to approach those questions, but I suppose the point of this story was to be intimate and explore the intricacies of the human mind, simply set against this incredible back drop.
So overall, a solid book worth reading once. And I'd like to know more about the universe it's set in. But Friedman has better stuff out there. Space opera has better stuff out there.
However, the book falls short in several areas, not the least of which is the ending, which I will say (without giving anything away) left me totally unsatisfied. You could probably argue this point, but I would contend that there wasn't actually a resolution, which bothered me immensely.
The story also has huge time lapses in order to achieve the breadth it requires. And while it mostly works, at times it feels disjointed and not-cohesive as a result.
The best part for me was by far the world-building and back story of this universe. So much so that I find the most interesting questions (Which planet is the Source World? Does Earth still exist/is it the Source World? Is Earth Zeymour and Mars Azea?) did not get answered at all, let alone asked. I think it would have been even more epic to approach those questions, but I suppose the point of this story was to be intimate and explore the intricacies of the human mind, simply set against this incredible back drop.
So overall, a solid book worth reading once. And I'd like to know more about the universe it's set in. But Friedman has better stuff out there. Space opera has better stuff out there.
June 23, 2022
4/10 This gets points for being memorable because I read it decades ago, remembered it, and read it again. I still have the same criticisms and some new ones, but it was interesting to revisit it.
I like the large scale soap opera of clashing galactic empires. The complicated web of entangling political machinations is sometimes fun to unravel. It has a lot of ideas in it, and some sections almost feel like standalone short stories.
The biggest negative in a word: rape. Yikes, there's a lot of rape. There's also a lot of many men "taking" swooning women and swooning women being "taken" by manly men. I would have doubled the science fiction and halved the attempts to titillate the reader. I almost forgot this criticism by the end of the book, but then at the end it serves up some more rape.
My more mundane criticism is lack of focus on the main characters. Sometimes it jumps to the point of view of someone for a short chapter, and that person is never heard of again. Other times the adventures of the main characters are told in the past tense after they're done doing it. It's mainly about two characters with a big male vs. female or ying vs. yang theme. The point of view should have stayed on those two like glue.
I like the large scale soap opera of clashing galactic empires. The complicated web of entangling political machinations is sometimes fun to unravel. It has a lot of ideas in it, and some sections almost feel like standalone short stories.
The biggest negative in a word: rape. Yikes, there's a lot of rape. There's also a lot of many men "taking" swooning women and swooning women being "taken" by manly men. I would have doubled the science fiction and halved the attempts to titillate the reader. I almost forgot this criticism by the end of the book, but then at the end it serves up some more rape.
My more mundane criticism is lack of focus on the main characters. Sometimes it jumps to the point of view of someone for a short chapter, and that person is never heard of again. Other times the adventures of the main characters are told in the past tense after they're done doing it. It's mainly about two characters with a big male vs. female or ying vs. yang theme. The point of view should have stayed on those two like glue.
August 9, 2013
I did not realize till much later that C.S. Friedman was a female author. I hate to admit this but I avoided female SF writers as a rule because I was fearful of the story becoming a romance novel. Sad, I know. Anne McCaffrey, Marion Zimmer Bradley were among the great female SF writes that really changed my mindset. Enter C. S. Friedman who's book I had enjoyed so much in the 90s. I hate to even say this but... Friedman writes like a man. Looking back now, it makes more sense now. His ... uh, her female characters are not the 2 dimensional female cutouts that we see too often from that awful SF writers. Characterization is done very well and their fears become your fears. Speaking of fear, C.S. Friendman is the queen of tension, so much so that I'd almost classify this novel as "SciFi horror" , though scifi "thriller" may be more appropriate. Anyway, I enjoyed this and thanks to Goodreads I now know a sequel was made. Sweet!
November 21, 2012
I believe that my paperback copy of this book is the original printing. I've had it for decades, and have always enjoyed it. When I downloaded it to my Kindle last week I was nervous that it would not stand the test of time. It did.
This is a complex, intense, original story of two warriors whose lives seldom touch directly but whose personal vendetta re-shapes their empires. Their relationship is one of hatred more passionate than most loves, and both are driven to greater and greater achievements in the pursuit of victory.
But the book is much more than that. Anzha and Zatar's stories are interwoven with those of their associates, whose subjective perspectives on their worlds and the antagonists provide insights that a limited pov could not.
This is a book to sink into and not emerge from until you've finished.
This is a complex, intense, original story of two warriors whose lives seldom touch directly but whose personal vendetta re-shapes their empires. Their relationship is one of hatred more passionate than most loves, and both are driven to greater and greater achievements in the pursuit of victory.
But the book is much more than that. Anzha and Zatar's stories are interwoven with those of their associates, whose subjective perspectives on their worlds and the antagonists provide insights that a limited pov could not.
This is a book to sink into and not emerge from until you've finished.
May 5, 2012
In Conquest Born is the excellent first novel from C.S. Freidman, an epic story involving two cultures and rivals. The culture and world building is realized through the very strong characterization of the two main characters. Friedman gives you a detailed battle of equals that intelligently moves towards its conclusion; minor characters punctuate the story adding layers and depth. Initially I had heard about positive reports about this book, and picked it up, the cover blurb really does an injustice, as it seems so light in contrast to the richness of the story. I have read two C.S. Freidman novels and she is turning into a must read author for me.
Highly recommended.
Highly recommended.
April 22, 2012
This was Friedman's first novel, and it shows in the sense that it lacks the adroitness and polish of her later works. In particular, the world building is not as assured as in her later works (particularly the Coldfire trilogy).
However, there are moments of brilliance: the Braxana culture is exquisitely drawn, and the character of Zatar is a "magnificent bastard" that one either loves or hates.
However, there are moments of brilliance: the Braxana culture is exquisitely drawn, and the character of Zatar is a "magnificent bastard" that one either loves or hates.
October 15, 2016
An elaborate, well-paced, exquisitely worldbuilt canvas for CS Friedman's towering m/f enemyfucking boner. I read it in, like, one and a half sittings. I can't criticize this any more than I could criticize a thunderstorm. (No, that's not true, I have a bone to pick here and there, but this was REALLY well-plotted, so I'm just going to sit back and enjoy it.)
November 19, 2018
I'm not usually a huge fan of military sci-fi but this book pulled me in. I enjoyed the political fights and maneuvering, the world-building, and the characters.
May 24, 2022
'In Conquest Born' by C. S. Friedman is an excellent piece of science-fiction. I am a big fan of space opera, and I honestly can't think of another example that set the bar for the genre so well since before this novel came out in 1987 (okay, yes, Star Wars, I'll give you that one), and not many since. Two vast interstellar polities, the Azean Star Empire and the Braxin Holding, have been at war for thousands of years. One is a multi-species, progressive federation of planets, the other composed entirely of humans, in a warlike, feudal society. The two have been fighting for so long that the conflict has grown to define their respective cultures, until Anzha of the Azeans and Zatar the Magnificent finally meet face-to-face, an event which helps illuminate this story as one dealing with epic, galactic-sized events, while at the same time as being a character study of two brilliant, flawed, obsessive individuals. If one is defined more by the quality of one's enemies than one's friends, then Anzha Iyu Mitethe and Zatar of the Braxana, the co-protagonists, are defined pretty well indeed in my opinion. The tip of the sword for their respective interstellar empires, Zatar and Anzha engage in a rivalry that ultimately changes the structure of a conflict that's lasted for generations; yet at the same time, both are misfits among their own people, ultimately discovering that their respective arch-nemesis is the one who understands him or her best, or even at all.
Make no mistake, 'In Conquest Born' is a masterpiece, by a young and hungry author eager to share the novel's dark but fascinating universe with the reader. Lacking the maturity of some of her later works but exploding with audacity and ambition, this novel is the kind of read that just yanked me out of my own self and into the story. In a literary climate so saturated with irony that most of us don't even notice it, the raw sincerity and commitment to her material that Friedman conveys was like a bucket of ice water over my head. Many of the ideas in this novel were so far ahead of their time that most science fiction still hasn't caught up yet (for the one or two people who may actually read this review, I'd be happy to discuss finer points in the comments section).
Okay, so, obviously I liked it. Why 3 stars? The 2001 fifteenth anniversary collector's special collector's super plus limited edition is so riddled with typographical errors it actually interrupted my experience of reading it as, say, I tried to parse whether or not a comma was supposed to be there. It was like the movie that was playing in my head had skipped a reel or someone bumped the projector. To give this novel a higher score, to me, would be like rewarding the shoddy proofreaders that allowed this printing to hit the bookshelves. At the risk of sounding more carried away than I already do, it feels like kind of a crime what they did to this book I liked.
Sorry if I sound like back cover copy, I swear I'm a real person and not a spam-bot or paid bulk reviewer. Honest!
Make no mistake, 'In Conquest Born' is a masterpiece, by a young and hungry author eager to share the novel's dark but fascinating universe with the reader. Lacking the maturity of some of her later works but exploding with audacity and ambition, this novel is the kind of read that just yanked me out of my own self and into the story. In a literary climate so saturated with irony that most of us don't even notice it, the raw sincerity and commitment to her material that Friedman conveys was like a bucket of ice water over my head. Many of the ideas in this novel were so far ahead of their time that most science fiction still hasn't caught up yet (for the one or two people who may actually read this review, I'd be happy to discuss finer points in the comments section).
Okay, so, obviously I liked it. Why 3 stars? The 2001 fifteenth anniversary collector's special collector's super plus limited edition is so riddled with typographical errors it actually interrupted my experience of reading it as, say, I tried to parse whether or not a comma was supposed to be there. It was like the movie that was playing in my head had skipped a reel or someone bumped the projector. To give this novel a higher score, to me, would be like rewarding the shoddy proofreaders that allowed this printing to hit the bookshelves. At the risk of sounding more carried away than I already do, it feels like kind of a crime what they did to this book I liked.
Sorry if I sound like back cover copy, I swear I'm a real person and not a spam-bot or paid bulk reviewer. Honest!
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