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A review by mrswythe89
The Pride of Chanur by C.J. Cherryh
3.0
Book includes 'The Pride of Chanur', 'Chanur's Venture' and 'The Kif Strike Back'. Was a bit indignant to discover that 'The Kif Strike Back' wasn't the last book of the series and that I'd have to read two more if I wanted to find out the ending.
Wah lah, this was a super hard slog at times! I really like Cherryh's ideas, but her style is SF-dry -- not that all SF books are written in a dry style, but there is a certain dryness that is very common in SF books. And all the spaceship jargon. I really cannot take hard SF -- reverse the polarity of the neutron flow for me every time.
But there were things I really liked. For me Cherryh did not really achieve the feeling of a world with a mix of wildly different cultures -- the different alien species were interesting, but they definitely felt made up. I dunno, they just lacked something -- complexity, I think. I know they had a lot of different rules and characteristics and so on, but it still felt very neat, like a story. There wasn't any sense that there was more to know than Cherryh was telling you.
But I did like reading about all the alien species -- the Appendix was one of my favourite parts of the book -- and I really like the whole idea of hani culture and social structure. I was a bit puzzled until I figured out they were like lions, which I did pretty late on (I know, I know, slow!). And I really liked Pyanfar, who is tough, pragmatic and honourable. She reminded me a lot of Vimes in how she's always got a million and one things on her plate and how she powers through impossible situations with pure will and cunning. Though she is sort of less self-indulgent than Vimes, I think. Also I like that Tully is such a minor character.
Ah, I do not know if I want to read the next two books. I really want to know what happens to Pyanfar and Chanur and everything, but the thought of having to plow through all those docking maneuvers and grapplers and I don't know what ... not to mention the politics! I have no head for politics. It is interesting, but half the time I do not even know what anyone is talking about or what they want or what they are going to do. But I guess Pyanfar is in much the same position!
Wah lah, this was a super hard slog at times! I really like Cherryh's ideas, but her style is SF-dry -- not that all SF books are written in a dry style, but there is a certain dryness that is very common in SF books. And all the spaceship jargon. I really cannot take hard SF -- reverse the polarity of the neutron flow for me every time.
But there were things I really liked. For me Cherryh did not really achieve the feeling of a world with a mix of wildly different cultures -- the different alien species were interesting, but they definitely felt made up. I dunno, they just lacked something -- complexity, I think. I know they had a lot of different rules and characteristics and so on, but it still felt very neat, like a story. There wasn't any sense that there was more to know than Cherryh was telling you.
But I did like reading about all the alien species -- the Appendix was one of my favourite parts of the book -- and I really like the whole idea of hani culture and social structure. I was a bit puzzled until I figured out they were like lions, which I did pretty late on (I know, I know, slow!). And I really liked Pyanfar, who is tough, pragmatic and honourable. She reminded me a lot of Vimes in how she's always got a million and one things on her plate and how she powers through impossible situations with pure will and cunning. Though she is sort of less self-indulgent than Vimes, I think. Also I like that Tully is such a minor character.
Ah, I do not know if I want to read the next two books. I really want to know what happens to Pyanfar and Chanur and everything, but the thought of having to plow through all those docking maneuvers and grapplers and I don't know what ... not to mention the politics! I have no head for politics. It is interesting, but half the time I do not even know what anyone is talking about or what they want or what they are going to do. But I guess Pyanfar is in much the same position!