What I liked in the latter:
multi-species space stations with sections for oxygen-breathers and methane-breathers;
sudden contact between intelligent species using FTL in two widely separated spatial volumes;
a human being seen as alien by the viewpoint character.
As in Larry Niven's later works, Cherryh's written style made it difficult for me to grasp what was happening both in terms of space travel technicalities and when it came to the nuances of inter- and intra-species conflicts. Although I understood that the characters were undergoing harrowing experiences, I neither empathized with them nor felt any inclination to reread for a better understanding. I have two further Chanur novels in a single omnibus volume and might, for the sake of completeness, read them a chapter at a time but not with any urgency.
I thought that the characters should have spoken in terms of their own time units rather than using phrases like, e.g., half an hour. The story began with the advent of the human fugitive but he then became peripheral until his comrades arrived in a sort of deus ex machina near the end. Or so I thought.
An important question: can one intelligent being own another? New laws will have to be passed when extraterrestrials are encountered.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
You have summarized very well why I, alas, failed to be gripped by Cherryh's stories. Her writing style, at least to me, simply did not make her characters either interesting or merely ALIVE to me. And I reacted similarly to Larry Niven's later works.
That was not the case with Robert Heinlein's later works. He remained able to create character that seemed "alive" to me. The problem I had with his later works was his boring sexual obsessions. I gave up on Heinlein after I WILL FEAR NO EVIL.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Boring indeed but I think that there was more wrong than that: characters endlessly talking and expounding Heinlein's ideas. I have heard it suggested that, with some later books, he simply dictated the conversations until his wife told him that he had reached a certain word number and then he dictated a conclusion. The books certainly read as if that was how they had been written.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I certainly noticed how talky Heinlein was in THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS and I WILL FEAR NO EVIL. So, I'm not surprised if some of his later books were merely thinly disguised monologues by RAH. Iow, tiresome!
Btw, Dominic Flandry was Cerdic's slave in "Tiger By The Tail." So, yes, we can see intelligent beings having slaves from other races. And the Empire used slavery as one means of penalizing crime (with corporal punishment also sometimes being used).
Ad astra! Sean
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