Tropic of Creation by Kay Kenyon

The characterization of humans in this novel is stereotyped and slapdash but the aliens are superbly done - deeply alien but also relatable. The plotting is tight, with good surprises. The skills that Kenyon deploys more fully and on a much wider canvas in her "Entire and Rose" tetralogy are shown here. Everything is wrapped up a little too neatly at the end. But this is a fast and fun read, and I recommend it.

Here you will meet the precursors who seeded the galaxy with human-like beings, and THEIR ancestors, who may be monsters or gods. You will trek through a deserted wasteland that becomes a treacherous jungle overnight. You will encounter the creatures that planned to end the human race and nearly succeeded - right under you feet.

Kay sucks you into another of her worlds where the rules are different, the characters alien, the heroes often die, but you can live there until she writes the last sentence. Not as good a Bright of Sky, but, then, what is?

Anything that bears the name of scifi writer Kay Kenyon has got my vote. Excellent story lines that keep you turning you the page. I've read all her work with the exception of "leap point" which I have on order. She is a master at creating new sentient species and customs that are very believable. Give her a try you won't be disappointed.

Every book Kay has written has been very enjoyable to read. Wonderful characters, captivating stories, and fully imagined "worlds"!

I continue to be amazed at how Kenyon is able to create new worlds that are cohesive and fascinating. I have enjoyed all her books available on Kindle and this is another one.

This is a pretty good book. The science is very thorough. The prose itself is a little long and involved. The ending is a lot bland.

I am obliged to give one of my very rare 5-star reviews to Kay Kenyon for a deep, complex, exciting and most satisfying novel.
In this tale, failing starship Captain Eli Dammond finds himself on the desert planet Null where his responsibility is to investigate to wreck of another ship and to transport its crew to safety. Although everybody is anxious to get the job done and to leave the inhospitable world, Eli feels that it is imperative for him to spend his last moments there making a quick exploration below the surface of Null in one of the many alien hexadron boring machines found on the surface.
Thus begins a wonderfully told and realized adventure of Eli's meeting with the ancient subterranean race of Ahtra. The story is so masterfully told that we can clearly visualize and comprehend the complex alien culture, and understand their motivations in dealing with the problematic stranger in their midst.
While the story underground is evolving, life on the surface of Null is changing rapidly and catastrophically for the remaining humans. The planet has its own bioligical imperitives at work, and human life is not a high priority.
In spite of the dark events that drive this story or, perhaps, because of them, the resolution of this gripping tale is uplifting and hopeful. A fitting conclusion to a wonderful adventure.
I highly recommend Tropic Of Creation, and I anxiously await the next fine work by Kay Kenyon.

This is a review for those who've read the book:
I found my copy in a used book store and wanted to laugh. What a bad book this must be I thought looking at the Harlequin Romance cover of the squating damsel with windswept hair and the rugged man towering over her. To top it off it had NO plot paragraph on the back. That's like a movie that doesn't get rated. Granted there was a blurb from Robert J. Sawyer that caught my attention. Then I saw a reviewer at the SFSite give _Bright of the Sky_ his nod for best novel of the year. So I thought... hmmmm.
So I started to read it, and boy, I wasn't surprised. This was a great read, and a good book for summer reading. It's highest value as a work of fiction was Kenyon's grasp of the tenants of sci-fi page turning: New Information in Every Chapter. Either she or her editors decided that exposition and explanation wrap-ups are for puss*es. This gave the book a certain emotional and intellectual shallowness, but clearly Kenyon did not stray want to stray from her pace to answer those lingering questions. Why am I supposed to not care when our heroine's parents are bloodily murdered right in front of her? How did the ahtra develop backminds? Why didn't they breed vones for themselves? How did such a tradition based society even get remotely interested in space travel? What did they do with Sasha's discovery that the vone bred ahtra? And what happened to Tirrin? I felt most connected to Maret's character. Many of the human characters were as marked for death as characters in a horror movie, or strictly fulfilling a role. Eli the hero. Sasha the damsel in distress. Vod the working class hero. I know these aren't the complaints that you should levee at a sci fi book, but still I wondered while I read.
That all said I have no love for a paperback author who doesn't know how to hook you every chapter ( ahem...Larry Niven)so I'll reiterate I was all in from the first chapter and its big reveal "My god man this is a burrowing machine!". Second sooooo shocked to discover this book immediately broke up into two plot threads, and then broke those threads into four. The ahtra culture described here was way more multilayered, and complex than any seemingly cheesey sci fi romp had a right to be. It was morally complex view of a highly stratified society, down to their sexual outcasts. Three cheers for Kay Kenyon for finding a pleasant way to present an analogous gay community in her alien world, complete with their own ghetto, and hate crimes to defend themselves against. The rugs, the internet, the wagering, thoughtful, thoughtfully constructed alien world.
Too bad future humanity didn't get quite the same treatment. Slightly disappointed to hear that American racism will still be around in the distant future, but at least women will finally have acheived a certain equality. And enjoyed the whole an entire battalion gets eaten alive by various monsters.
Of course as a plot driven work I found some parts less interesting than others, and as a result it took me a little while to slog through the last hundred pages that just tied up the plot. I'd already gotten extreme pleasure from the book prior so I didn't care when **EXTREME SPOILER**it's discovered that our little teenage heroine was raped and impregnated by an alien monster.This would SOOO only be acceptable from a female author. lol Would have laughed out loud if I hadn't been reading it at midnight. But I was because I wanted to see how it ended. Because it was that entertaining.
So Kay Kenyon welcome to my pantheon of author's I will read multiple books of. You'll sit beside Sherri S. Tepper's "Grass" for great space planet epics resolved through bestiality.