A review by matthewbrand
Downbelow Station by C.J. Cherryh

4.0

(really would like to do 4.5 stars here). I was a bit hesitant going into this book because I Cyteen was a bit of a slog to get through for me. This one was a bit of a slog for the first ~40%. For a 600 page book, that's a lot. But that first 40% was just really deep and subtle world building. I can't quite articulate how Cherryh just nailed the world-building. The best example I can come up with is the name of the ships. You have "Europe", "Australia", "Norway", etc. Without coming out and saying it, you have a sense for the size and importance of the ships just based on their names. I loved the downers and now just want to refer to all acquaintances as "Lastname-Man" and start/end every conversation with "love you".