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 ha...

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...

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.

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...

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...

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 ne...

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.

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 trac...

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 satisfy...

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.

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 character...

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.

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...

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

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 i...

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 componen...

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 so...

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 s...

Plot too long and poorly timedContrary 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... (view spoiler)[ I didn't like the way the author abandoned the first main character soon after the book gets going. (hide spoiler)]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...

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,