CJ Cherryh - Need Input

I have a number of CJ Cherryh books, and would like to read more.

However, the local public library is extremely limited and only has a few of her works that I have already read.

I don't like to buy a book unread unless I'm very sure I will enjoy it.

So, I need input from those who have read and enjoyed Ms. Cherryh's stories:

What would you recommend?

What would you not recommend?

FWIW, I have read and own all the "Chanur" books.

I really like the Alliance/Union books, but only own a few.

I've read Foreigner and the next two in the series, liked them but not as much as the Alliance/Union books.

I have not been able to "get into" the Cyteen books.

Suggestions?

Thank you.

Cyteen is one of my all-time favorite books. It takes a good 125 pages to see what it is really about, and then it is SO worth it. One of the top ten books of my life, probably. Don't stop until there is a major event that completely shifts and reveals what the author is really after.

Her other books, usually considered her "best": Downbelow Station, which then leads into other books in that universe; Foreigner (first of a series, well-liked but not among my personal favorites; Cuckoo's Egg; personally, I think The Paladin is a gem, but it is not SF.

If you are serious about the not buying books unless you like them, you could consider going to your library and requesting individual titles through interlibrary-loan (ILL). Most public libraries offer this service for free, with usually a set limit of the number of requests allowed at one time. Sometimes there is a small charge (between $1 and $5 per request) or sometimes there is a charge if the item is requested and delivered, but you never come in and get it.

Books can be gotten from just about anywhere - I'm in the southeast in the USA, and I've gotten books from Alaska, Russia, France, and Spain to name a few exotic locations - all free!

Recommendations are always nice, but I prefer to read a book myself before I decide to buy it, and libraries are seriously helpful with this.

(If your library charges for ILLs, or has a set lifetime limit, you could also do what I do in a pinch - go to a bookstore and sit and read for a while. Takes me a few visits, but I have read several books that way. My local bookstore knows me well enough to not hassle me about reading there - I spend enough money on them that I really don't think they mind any more.)

Oh, BTW, Cyteen is not really "The Cyteen Books". It was torn into three by a publisher, but it is a novel with three sections, and reading them as separate books doesn't make any sense except to a publisher's bottom line.

Also on Cherryh, the Faded Sun trilogy is essential. That's Kesrith, Shonjir, and Kutath.

If you didn't get into Cyteen, I suppose Regenesis is out, as IMO it relies on the first book for the reader to have a decent mental picture of a number of things like the social structure, ongoing (sometime-not-so-)secondary characters that don't get much introduction in the second part, etc... Loved the both of them a lot.

Seconding the Faded Sun suggestion.

Thanks for the recommendations.

I have to return a book to the library on Wednesday, so I'll ask about the ILL options.

The local used bookstore and Barnes and Noble have very little selection for CJ Cherryh books: I have noticed this for years, in every place I've lived since I discovered Ms. Cherryh's works, and figured it was because most of us keep her books!

I have not yet tried the Faded Sun series, but if it's anything like the Morgaine Saga, I will definitely enjoy it!

I also have read and enjoyed (with a shiver) the Rider at the Gate books.

Any other Alliance/Union recommendations?

Heavy Time, Rimrunners - both Alliance/Union, both excellent.

Janny, I love both of those, thank you!

I've also read Tripoint, Merchanter's Luck, Downbelow Station and Finity's End.

Have you read Hellburner? That's one I do not think I have read yet.

Jarandel, I have read 40,000 in Gehenna, so maybe I should try Regenesis?

Stellarexplorer, CJ often takes her time getting you into the story, so I'll keep Cyteen on my 'try it again' list. :)

yup. liked it too!

>9 fuzzi: The events in "40,000 in Gehenna" are tied to the older Ariane Emory of "Cyteen", and get some mentions/explanations/consequences/etc... in "Cyteen"/"Regenesis", but they're a relatively minor element in those other two novels. So if you've liked it, it's very nice to have those tidbits tying things together rather neatly, but you'll have to see why you were lukewarm at first.

If it's a because of a "slow start", then yeah, in many of her novels the "action" picks up late and occupies relatively little space, with much more attention to characters' psychology and interplay, Regenesis is more of the same in that regard.

If it's because of Ari Emory being a genius, know-and-planned-(almost)-it-all, and very invasive character, even more of the same too, since she's now of an age to be mostly in charge.

I think you can ask Barnes and Noble to order you a certain title and you are not obligated to buy it. When it comes in you could sit down and spend some time really reading a bit, and weighing if you think it will work, and if it doesn't seem your cup of tea, they'll happily sell it to someone else.

I hit the jackpot today!

At a used bookstore which never has any books by CJ Cherryh, I found The Faded Sun Trilogy which was recommended here, AND I found At the Edge of Space, which includes two novels, Hunter of Worlds and Brothers of Earth.

The local library has Hammerfall, so I'll probably pick that up later this week.

Thanks so much!

Oh, how could I miss this! :)
She's one of my all time favourites!

I'm sure you'll enjoy The Faded Sun, and I second Janny's recommendation for Hellburner - it's one of my frequent rereads. I enjoy the politics, though. I know others think it a bit dense. It's available as an ebook, through http://www.closed-circle.net/
Buying there is cheap and easy, plus ALL the money goes to CJ - it's a self-publication venture.

Then I also think Cyteen is very good, and I also do think it's hard to get a thorough understanding of the A/U universe without having read it. Regenesis... I did enjoy but it's a far cry from the complexity and finesse of Cyteen.

And let's not underestimate the Foreigner books. There's more in them than it looks like at first sight. But like with the A/U books you can only see that if you read enough of them, ie many more than one or three ;-)

(If you're a fan of CJ you might consider becoming a member over at http://z11.invisionfree.com/Shejidan/index.php? I'm not the only one who's both here and there!)

Thanks, Busifer, I'll check it out.

I've also found some other books of CJ's on the web, like Visible Light and other older works from the 1980s.

Hellburner, Finity's End and Heavy Time are available through abebooks.com for less than $4.00 each, free shipping, so I might just gamble on them. I think I've read the last of those three, but am not sure.

Woo!

:)

I've only read her Chanur and Faded Sun books, but loved them both. The Faded Sun was particularly memorable; for some reason it reminded me very much of Dune, but that may just have been the (initial) desert planet setting? Dunno, but it's definitely a book I've been itching to reread for a few years now.

>16 saltmanz: Most likely not only the desert planets, but also the m'ri, some of their general feel, and their ages-old wandering, though in their case it doesn't quite end in a worlds-spanning empire.

#15 - Heavy Time & Hellburner is a duo, with HT as the first, even though they can stand alone as well.
And Finity's End is very good, too, even though I think it's eerily similar to Tripoint.

When I checked your catalogue it seemed like you only had The Chanur Saga, which lacks the essential fourth and concluding book of the books featuring Pyanfar. Getting the last one - Chanur's Homecoming - is kind of a must, I'd say!

Serpents Reach is also a lovely Cherryh book. It's Alliance-Union, but no where near anything else. Unusually Straightforward for her.

I would steer clear of Wave Without a Shore.

Heavy Time and Hellburner are Definitely worth it. Not quite as good as the Merchanter books, but close.

*whispers - I actually think Wave Without a Shore was interesting, and a fast read at that...*

I like WAVE too. Not my favorite Cherryh, but worth a read. She has said it was her "answer to the existentialists", fwiw.

It's an experiment, perhaps even an interesting one. Even though it's a short book I found it a real drag to read.

If we're talking drag I never ever finished the short story collection Sunfall. She's master of the complex, the many-faceted - and those short stories weren't long enough to develop into something interesting at all. Not that I read all of it, mind you. It was too bad for that.
And given that I normally like or enjoy almost everything that she has written that is exceptional.

(18) Ah, Busifer, you missed the other two in the series: Chanur's Homecoming and Chanur's Legacy, which I have read and own!

I've reread both of those this year, too.

I recall borrowing Sunfall but after a couple of stories, not finishing it. I don't recall why, maybe it just didn't grab me.

And I wish that she'd write another 'Nighthorse' book, to follow Rider at the Gate and Cloud's Rider. Waah!

Oh, missed that you had them. I must have gone semi-blind ;-)
Love those books. Well, not Legacy so much, but the others gets reread once a year, just because...!

I must admit to never having read the Nighthorse books. For some reason they don't seem that interesting to me, even though I've heard a lot of people say good things about them. I'm more of a SF person :)

Nighthorse books - are SF - it's a totally alien world and a completely alien life form. I loved them both and also wish there were more.

And they're just a tad scary, too. =0

Oh, I always thought them more of fantasy, which I in general have a bit of a problem with so often stay away from.
I wish I had time to read all the books that I want to read!

The first Cherryh I ever read (and the one that just blew me away) was Hunter of Worlds. Fabulous aliens. I don't know where it fits in with her other works.

A/U, but remotely, I believe.

I think it's near the end of the Alliance/Union series, jillmwo, but I'm not sure. I just got a copy of it, and have not yet read any... :)

I think the first Cherryh I read was The Pride of Chanur. After that, I was hooked on most things Cherryh!

Cherryh's sci fi/fantasy is so far removed from the 'pink unicorn/wizard' sort of tripe that exists out there. She has to be just about my most favorite author, or in the top three anyway.

In my mind she's extremely good at using allegory in an inventive way. I'm sure her fantasy is in the same way. But - in my experience fantasy relies pretty heavily on magic and magical systems and I have a very hard time handling that. I just can't seem to suspend my disbelief. Some books in the fantasy realm don't rely too hard on the elements of magic, or the story contains something else, like good political intrigue combined with interesting characters. Those are, in general, books that I can enjoy.

As an example I'll use one of my other favourite authors - Guy G Kay. I like his books because I enjoy his plot-making and his voice, the intricate patterns and the politics. When this works well, and when the characters develop in an interesting way - then I can take a bit of magic, a bit of divine machinations. But the more central the mysterious magic is, the less I care for the story.

Because of this I tend to steer clear of fantasy, as a genre. It is full of well-written tales, well worth reading. If you can suspend disbelief. And often I can't. So I do the genre and its readers a favour by not reading too much of it - the books often are better than my reviews would show. Think of it like this - lover of prog rock is sent to review a dance hall act. Odds are the review will be bad, even if the act is a hallmark hero by those who know the genre. And that's just not fair. To anyone. Remember, many here think the Dresden books good fun reads. To me it's among the worst dreck ever published. I just can't understand why anyone born with a brain would ever spend time on those books. Is it fair of me to keep reading them, keep giving them scathing reviews? No. Just because urban fantasy is one of my top disliked genres doesn't mean it's bad. We're not from the same mould, we're different people, and that's good.
Homogenisation is a bad thing, except for dairy products.

Perhaps I, by using this rule, miss something good every now and then. But there's millions of books published every year and simple mathematics tells me I'm going to miss most of them, good or bad, even if I give up my job. Until then some rule is called for. And this is mine :)

Edited to fix spelling!

>32 Busifer: I share your view of the Dresden books, Bus. I too wouldn't keep reading and giving bad reviews; hard to understand why, when there is so much one will never get to, one would pick something expected to displease?

Busifer, do you consider The Merovingen Nights (Angel with the Sword, etc.) to be fantasy or SciFi? I'm not sure where I'd put them but I really like them. I agree with you about GG Kay and the Dresden books. There's also The Sword of Knowledge series which I guess would be fantasy by I still think of it as SciFi because they are learning science and engineering as they go.

And Jillmwo, I too loved Hunter of Worlds.

Somehow I have missed the Nighthorse books - I'll have to look them up.

I have not read Angel with a Sword - been looking for it but I came to Cherryh's writing late and that one (and others...) are hard to find for those of us who missed it on publication - so can't have an opinion on that. But for example Ursula K LeGuin often balances between the two genres with honours.
BTW, I do like some works of fantasy ;-)