Reviews

Brothers of Earth by C.J. Cherryh

stephenmeansme's review against another edition

3.0

3.5 stars rounded down - the pace is slow for about the first half, but when things get going, they really get going. Also the slow build to start is necessary to bake in the alien culture of the nemet. It reminded me a bit of Edo-period Japan (tea, meditation, Shinto-Buddhist-alike religion) mixed with Mycenaean Greece (the implied architecture, the triremes and maritime culture), and becomes very interesting when the chips finally come down. The tricky part is where our POV human character, Kurt Morgan, and his nemet friend Kta t'Elas, randomly misunderstand each other and make each other angry and/or sad. On the one hand it's probably an accurate idea of how a human would act if stranded alone among an alien (but near-human) race, but the prose is just a bit too spare to get into their heads, so it comes off as forced at times.

This is one of C. J. Cherryh's first books, so it bodes well for the future - she has a reputation for really interesting aliens, and it shows here.

quoththegirl's review against another edition

4.0

I have to admit, my expectations were low for this book, based somewhat on the cover and somewhat off the spate of mediocre 70s scifi I've been reading lately. I had also never heard of Cherryh, which I'm now ashamed to admit, because she's won about a zillion Hugos and is fascinating in general. This novel is the first she wrote and is almost shockingly good for a debut (technically her Gate of Ivrel was published first, but she finished Brothers of Earth first). While it does suffer a little bit from the curse of Too Much Going On and some subsequent sensation of hurtling along through the first through chapters at unsafe speeds, overall the novel is skillfully and subtly handled. (Maybe a little too subtly on the politics, as I got pretty lost in the motivations of the different factions pretty early on.) The novel's greatest strength is the well-drawn and developing friendship between Kurt and Kta, with the culture-building a close second. Definitely worth a read, and I'm eager to read more by this author now that my ignorance has been remedied.

assur191's review

adventurous dark hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

tilmar's review against another edition

hero marooned on alien planet

hissingpotatoes's review against another edition

NOPE. I couldn't get into the dry, distanced writing style, but I pushed through hoping things would start making more sense. At least, until the main character fell into insta-love with a women and then proceeded to show it by breaking all her boundaries (there was one sentence that literally says he did something against her wishes). I skipped ahead to see if there was anything to look forward to, and happened to flip to

Spoiler

her suicide from shame at being kidnapped

. NOPE.