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    Crossing the Line
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    Crossing the Line
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    Crossing the Line
    Ebook465 pages7 hours

    Crossing the Line

    By Karen Traviss

    4.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Shan Frankland forever abandoned the world she knew to come to the rescue of a lost colony on a distant and dangerous planet -- a hostile world coveted by two alien races and fiercely protected by a third. But in the course of her mission, she overstepped a boundary and stumbled into forbidden lands. And she can never go back -- to being neutral, to being safe. To being human.

    War is coming again to Cavanagh's Star -- and this time, the instigators will be the troublesome gethes from the faraway planet Earth. Former Environmental Enforcement Officer Shan Frankland has already crossed a line, and now she is a prize to be captured ... or a threat to be eliminated. But saving a coveted world and its fragile native population may require of her one unthinkable sacrifice: the destruction of her own ruthless, invading species.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 13, 2009
    ISBN9780061740985
    Unavailable
    Crossing the Line
    Author

    Karen Traviss

    #1 New York Times bestselling novelist, screenwriter, and comic book author Karen Traviss has received critical acclaim for her award-nominated Wess’har series and Ringer series, as well as regularly hitting the bestseller lists with her Star Wars, Gears of War, and Halo work. She was also the lead writer on the blockbuster Gears of War 3 video game from Epic Games. A former defense correspondent and television and newspaper journalist, she lives in Wiltshire, England.

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    Reviews for Crossing the Line

    4.5/5

    29 ratings12 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Well. Not a romance, then.Crossing the Line is a YA suspense novel heavy on the romance elements--though probably heavy on over-the-top insta-lust is more accurate. Almost everything here was more heavy-handed than I remember her books being--the drama, the suspense, the clashes with parents/stepparents/step-siblings, the betrayals...and did I mention the insta-lust already? Dalila and Ryan went from fairly antagonistic to all-in-love way too fast to be believed--which is probably why Ms. Elkeles felt like she needed to end it the way she did. It probably did add somewhat to the realism of the book (which I suppose it needed, that factor being very much in question throughout) but very firmly put it in the "not a romance" category.Sigh.I've missed two of her most recent series (Wild Cards and How to Ruin)--if they're more like this book and less like Perfect Chemistry and Leaving Paradise, maybe I'll have to remove them from my TBR? Fingers crossed that that's not the case.Rating: 3 stars / CI voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.
    • 4/5
      The second volume in The Wess'har Wars series. This continues the exploration of human nature begun in City of Pearl. The book is more plot driven than the original, but does not suffer for it. Power, greed, fear are all well explored in here... science fiction giving the ability to explore human values in a simple and direct way. Worth reading in my view.
    • 5/5
      A well imagined and wonderfully described alien civilizations that feel alien. loved this series. Can’t wait for the next one!
    • 5/5
      Maybe not quite as good as City of Pearl, but still a darn good read. The brief sections discussing Wess'har anatomy were, well, rather laughably ridiculous. But the characterization (of all four species, now) keeps getting stronger. And with a number of "Holy crap, they actually did that!" moments, Traviss can sure crank out a plot to keep you constantly guessing what's going to happen next.
    • 4/5
      The second novel in Traviss' Wess'har series is as well written, and fast paced, as the first novel. It continues the story Eco-cop Shan Frankland, and her interaction with the Wess'har.
    • 5/5
      Karen Traviss's previous title, City of Pearl, was but a prelude to Crossing the Line in many ways. That's not to say that the book doesn't stand alone?it can, I believe?but Crossing the Line takes some of the plots and themes established in the first volume and explores them further.The line in the title is both physical and metaphorical: how far will you go to acquire for king and country? How far will you go to defend yourself and your people? These questions are what the book's plot revolves around, inspired by the loose thread left dangling at the end of City of Pearl.Traviss manages to stay fairly agnostic in her presentation; each side in the various conflicts is given a fair shake, and for the most part no side is presented as inherently more rational or moral than another. This lends a degree of credibility even to those parties I didn't agree with, and helps to make the conflicts more believable.As before, we are given aliens who are more than reshaped humans. This is one of Traviss's strong suits: creating understandable-yet-alien cultures and behaviors. A key part of both of her books, it is these aliens that are at the heart of the books, as they?not the reactionary humans?are really the ones driving the plots. It is they who make this book shine, and make the book stand out from the rest of the pack.Though the ending of Crossing the Line will leave the reader waiting for the next installment, it's simply another iteration of how nothing ever ends neatly?the basic premise of the book, in a way, as Crossing the Line's plot started as cleanup on City of Pearl's hanging plot thread. I have no qualms in saying that Crossing the Line is an excellent read from an author whose work is worth seeking out.
    • 4/5
      Crossing the Line picks up where City of Pearl left of; Shan Frankland in voluntary exile amongst the Wess'har due to her infection with c'naatat, a parasite that grants near immortality and ongoing remodeling of the hosts dna.Amongst the humans on the warship Actaeon there are factions which wants to secure the parasite for themselves, factions which wants to hide its existence, and factions which wants to obliterate it. The pursuit of c'naatat is in direct conflict with the Wess'har agenda - to protect the habitat of the native Bezeri, and keep the parasite from spreading. The novel follows Shans adaption to Wess'har society, Eddie the journalists grappling with hes ethics and personal responsibility when reporting from the Usenj and Wess'har, and Commander Lindsays work to destroy Shan and the c'naatat.The setting seems realistic and convincing, and the ethical questions the novel poses are important and well presented without making the novel a vehicle for its messages. The aliens are portrayed as aliens, yet similar enough to identify with
    • 4/5
      The second novel of a series can be a tricky thing, especially when the author involved is fairly new to the book industry. Often unsure of later releases, they write the first novel in a series so that it can be enjoyed as a whole, and has a conclusion that is satisfying in its own right. The problem with this, howeve,r can be that when the later volumes in the series do come out, there has to be a re-establishment of the status quo before the author can continue with the series in a satisfying way. This is very much the case with the first half of Crossing The Line, the second novel in Karen Traviss' Wess'Har series.Luckily, Traviss gets as much of that out of the way as quickly as she can. Shan Frankland, star of the last novel, adjusts to her new life as a warrior living with the c'naatat symbiont, and begins her somewhat inevitable romantic relationship with Aras, the only other c'naatat infectee on the planet that is her new home. As part of this, howwever, we learn more about the wess'har, including insights into their biology, their culture, and how the two intersect. At the same time, however, the governments of Earth cntinue their uneaasy alliance with the isenj, and the two species together try to break the quarantine placed on the planet Bezer'ej, resulting in the unthinkable happening. Well, to be more accurate, several 'unthinkable' things that all happen in quick succession.That remains the greatest strength of Traviss' writing, I think: she does an excellent job of creating characters that are well-developed, and that it's easy to care about, and she then proceeds to torture them in ways that are both inventive and long-lasting. YOu go through the wringer with these characters, but you end up feeling stronger for it at the end.One of the other strengths of Traviss' work is in her characterization of her alien species - each of the three nonhuman species in the book are well-developed, with a unique cultural outlook and philosophy, and yet each also has room for variation betwteen thee individual members of the society. NOt many authors take the effort to add that individuality to their aliens, and it's greatly appreciated that Traviss has made an effort to.
    • 4/5
      What everyone else has said.Less flippantly, what I had wondered about with the first book in the series is why there wasn't a bigger boom at the climax. With the second book it becomes clear that Traviss is hunting for much bigger game. Much of the novel in question is about Shan Frankland coming to terms with her new state of being, and the pace is almost languid here, as Traviss paints something of an idyll, before detonating disaster in the last hundred pages or so. I will not be taking a year or so to read the third book in this series as I did with getting to the second.
    • 5/5
      Tensions mount between humans and the aliens they encountered there, as various factions vie to get Aras's parasite, which renders its host unkillable and immortal. As before, Shan is wonderfully realized, a pragmatic law enforcer who finds herself increasingly estranged from the human world as she becomes closer to Aras's culture.One of Traviss's strong suits: creating understandable-yet-alien cultures and behaviors. A key part of both of her books, it is these aliens that are at the heart of the books, as they--not the reactionary humans--are really the ones driving the plots. It is they who make this book shine, and make the book stand out from the rest of the pack. Again, I can't say enough about this series - except that I am going to be really depressed when book 6 finally gets here.
    • 5/5
      Excellent. Really enjoyed the complex world building, the interesting characters and the edge of the seat tension. Second of a series, it builds upon Shan Frankland's interactions with newly discovered alien races. Shan has been infected with the symbiot, c'naatat, which combines her DNA with that of the wess'har and of the isenj, making her almost impossible to kill, but that doesn't stop people from trying...
    • 5/5
      I had assumed that City of Pearl was a stand alone and part of me is sort of sad. Stand alone novels are after all more ?literary? but no it seem I was mistaken. In this episode various other alien races get drawn in. Thematically our cast start to wonder where is black and white are in a universe of greys. Plotwise oh just read the damned thing I promise that its got one.