Speaking of Cherryh, has anyone read =ECFortress in the Eye of
>> Time=EE? What did you think? I thoroughly enjoyed it and it=EDs
>> the only thing I=EDve read by her.
>
Cherryh is my absolute favorite sf writer (I don't, actually, like her
fantasy much) and you are a lucky person, because you have all those great
books to read, and you can actually find them on the shelves of most
bookstores. I remember when you were lucky if you could find one or two,
and had to scrounge and borrow to read them all.
I suggest three of her series. The Chanur books are probably the easiest
going, and get you into her way of doing things. Pride of Chanur stands
alone, and then she wrote three more that need to be read together. The
=46aded Sun trilogy, Kesrith, Shonjir, Kutath, are probably my all-time
favorites of hers. (And not to be confused with Gene Wolfe's Book of the
New Sun.) In fact, just thinking about them has decided me to go back and
re read them. I need something to cheer me up for the start of semester,
and a good, angsty Faded Sun book is just the ticket.
Of course, Cherryh's Station Universe is her most famous, and I think if
you look at her whole timeline, the Chanur and Faded Sun books fit into the
Station Universe somewhere. Anyway, the best way to read the station
universe is to start with DOWNBELOW STATION, then MERCHANTER'S LUCK, then
any others. Don't spend a lot of time trying to get all of Downbelow
STation, because it will all come clear when you read it the second time,
after you've read half a dozen or so of her other station books. Then,
DOWNBELOW STATION will unfold for you as one of the most brilliantly dense
and intricate political dances you've ever read. CYTEEN, now available in
a trade paper version with all three books together is part of the station
universe, and would probably fit in well around third or fourth in reading
the universe. And FORTY THOUSAND IN GEHENNA also becomes very important in
the universe.
Of her newer series, I liked FOREIGNER better than the other two in the
series. Some people don't like her because she gives intensely detailed
depictions of the everyday life of political intrigue and also puts under
the microscope the psychology of accomodating, fitting in, and getting
along in envirnments like merchanter space ships and stations where space
is precious and privacy difficult.
Camille Bacon-Smith
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