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internetnomads's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars. This book suffers from a lack of clarity, both in the prose and the point of view. There are a lot of pronouns in the text and their presence can cloud the flow of the story. Sometimes there are several people standing around talking that can be identified as "he", so the author needs to identify who "he" is. Especially when "he" is talking to "him". About that action with the thing at the place, etc.
As many others have said, the story is slow to build. There is a lot of construction necessary in the first hundred pages. It's also a tough book to love - there is no right and wrong here, everything is muddied as in real life. I also didn't really invest in the non-human side of the story.
Bitching aside, the backdrop is incredible and the characters are complex.
As many others have said, the story is slow to build. There is a lot of construction necessary in the first hundred pages. It's also a tough book to love - there is no right and wrong here, everything is muddied as in real life. I also didn't really invest in the non-human side of the story.
Bitching aside, the backdrop is incredible and the characters are complex.
sankeym's review
5.0
Recommended to me as part of my effort to read diverse and excellent science fiction, this really is a masterpiece. There's a three sided political space opera, internal conflict, dynastic animosity, economic realities, sociological implications of life in space stations, relations with indigenous primates on the planet below and very human flawed characters who react out of their developed personalities.
gbweeks's review
1.0
I kept trying to get through this book, but just couldn’t. I found it dull and unengaging.
juushika's review
4.0
Pell Stations stands, neutral and vulnerable, in the center of a war brewing between what's left of Earth's forces and what's become of colonist's expansion onto further worlds. Downbelow Station is a slow burn, a space opera setting up an entire fictional universe. But once it warms up, it's unexpectedly compelling--not just for the politics, but for the human element. Cherryh's style is dense, emotionally- and philosophically-laden, and her cast has powerful motivations and flaws. And the plot here is brutal--I wish, without spoiling too much, that the main cast were less exempt from worst-case outcomes, but on the whole this balances its large, awful scale with intense local investment. Though by no means perfect, I found myself enthralled and I recommend it.
ljcarey011's review
4.0
I both read this book and listened to the audiobook, alternating between the two methods. I don't always love audiobooks, but this one was great and I highly recommend it.
iridescence93's review
4.0
4*
Timeless political themes and great world building as I'm coming to expect from her books. It's like the cynical more sophisticated version of Star Trek.
electricoutcast's review against another edition
5.0
How I read/listened to Downbelow Station:
Let's start from 10 years ago, both me and my dad were at a truck stop in Arkansas and I saw a group of audio books that were made by a company called GraphicAudio: A Movie in Your Mind. The first ever audiobook I bought from them was a Batman title called The Stone King the entire audiobook felt like a radio drama being told and long form. On average their audiobooks are abridged and run about 6 hours and sometimes they usually release audio books in like one or two parts sometimes maybe even six. Fast forward to now and I find out that GraphicAudio was planning to release Downbelow Station, and prior to them releasing their version of the audiobook, I had never heard of this 1980s novel, but the plot line interested me enough to give it a try and they did not disappoint. The story felt like Star Trek Deep Space 9, before there was a deep space nine series on Star Trek that and it felt darker than any Star Trek related thing I've ever seen, it may even be potentially darker than Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back. One warning I will give to anyone who wants to try the dramatized audiobook version of this story: there will be times where they'll cut some parts out of the novel for time allocation because I tried to read along with the story like how I did in my childhood with the Disney read along tapes, not a bad experience but you better keep your attention on the book if you read along. But I will finish by saying that if you listen to this audiobook on GraphicAudio, you will never want to listen to a single voice version of an audiobook ever again.
Let's start from 10 years ago, both me and my dad were at a truck stop in Arkansas and I saw a group of audio books that were made by a company called GraphicAudio: A Movie in Your Mind. The first ever audiobook I bought from them was a Batman title called The Stone King the entire audiobook felt like a radio drama being told and long form. On average their audiobooks are abridged and run about 6 hours and sometimes they usually release audio books in like one or two parts sometimes maybe even six. Fast forward to now and I find out that GraphicAudio was planning to release Downbelow Station, and prior to them releasing their version of the audiobook, I had never heard of this 1980s novel, but the plot line interested me enough to give it a try and they did not disappoint. The story felt like Star Trek Deep Space 9, before there was a deep space nine series on Star Trek that and it felt darker than any Star Trek related thing I've ever seen, it may even be potentially darker than Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back. One warning I will give to anyone who wants to try the dramatized audiobook version of this story: there will be times where they'll cut some parts out of the novel for time allocation because I tried to read along with the story like how I did in my childhood with the Disney read along tapes, not a bad experience but you better keep your attention on the book if you read along. But I will finish by saying that if you listen to this audiobook on GraphicAudio, you will never want to listen to a single voice version of an audiobook ever again.
skylar_kant's review against another edition
4.0
The story was very interesting, something I could definitely see myself revisiting. But I seriously struggled with Cherryh's writing style. I can't put my finger on exactly why, but it's not the first time I've had that feeling about sci-fi from the 80s/90s
yarrowkat's review
3.0
This book has a great premise, a near-archeological scope, a tendency to skip battles in favor of their aftermath, and the worst case of ellipsis-itis i've ever seen in a space opera. It works really hard to be good, and it's kind of not. But it is important. And it sets the stage, eventually, for the other 6 truly excellent books in the Alliance-Union series.
onetrooluff's review against another edition
3.0
I'm a big C.J. Cherryh fan. She writes what I consider to be fairly hardcore sci-fi. Her plots are interesting, and so is the way she presents her universes, and the technologies contained therein.