C.J. Cherryh

[pyan]

In that case, CJC should be right up your street.

[clovis-man]

Originally Posted by Connavar of Rigante

Which series would you guys recommend The_Chanur_novels or Alliance-Union or Cyteen? Just to narrow down.

I would go for the Chanur or the Alliance/Union tales (Merchanter's Luck or Downbelow Station would be good beginnings). If I extrapolate from your avatar, I might recommend the Morgaine series of tales: Swords and mysterious happenings as well as gateways to other worlds.

Regards,

Jim

[Connavar]

Nah i dont wanna start with swords and stuff. Despite Gemmell and my avatar im a much bigger fan of SF than fantasy. Fantasy i cant stand 90% of them.....

Chanur or Alliance/Union it is!

[Razorback]

I can’t recommend one ahead of the other since I haven’t read any of the Chanur books. If you choose Alliance/Union, however, I recommend starting with Downbelow Station.

[murphy]

For the Chanur books,

Pride of Chanur
Chanur's Venture
The Kif Strike Back
Chanur's Homecoming
Chanur's Legacy.

[pyan]

Note that The Pride of Chanur is a stand-alone, but the next three are really one long novel split into three books.
Chanur's Legacy is a sort of Chanur - the Next Generation.

[The Wanderer]

Originally Posted by clovis-man

I she is so damned prolific.

Yes, I have just taken a look at her Amazon listing

[murphy]

Originally Posted by The Wanderer

Yes, I have just taken a look at her Amazon listing

Fantastic Fiction organizes her books much better than Amazon. See here. C J Cherryh

[blueyedmule]

I used to be a big fan of C.J. Cherryh. I read all the Chanur novels and I'm sure many others. Somewhere along the way I also read the Morgaine trilogy, which I believe had a fourth book available only seperately. I even went so far as to buy a print of Michael Whelan's painting of that last book. Those are the Cherryh books that have lasted twenty+ years with me.

[Connavar]

Company Wars
1. Downbelow Station (1981)
2. Merchanter's Luck (1982)
3. Rimrunners (1989)
4. Heavy Time (1991)
5. Hellburner (1992)


The Company Wars
Heavy Time
Hellburner (these first two have fairly close connections)
Downbelow Station: Hugo Winner, Best Novel
Merchanter's Luck
Rimrunners
Tripoint
Finity's End
The Merchanter Novels:
Trading ships and commerce after the Company Wars
Merchanter's Luck
Tripoint
Finity's End



Which of these lists is the correct order for Alliance/Union series?

I know where to start but in the case of i like the series where do i go from Downblow Station. I mean chrono wise or does even matter if you read the books chrono wise?

Im getting the first book so i wonder.

[iansales]

It doesn't particularly matter if you read them out of sequence - each novel stands well enough alone. As you can see they were not written in internal chronological order, so any references to earlier events in the books' universe is usually explained.

I'd also recommend Cherryh's The Faded Sun trilogy, Serpent's Reach, and Angel with a Sword. They're among my favourite of her novels.

[Connavar]

Good to know.


Faded Sun series sounded intresting to me. Maybe cause the cover of the first book and short synopsis looked good in fantasticfiction.

[Ian Whates]

The Faded Sun books are very good -- quite intense and full of pathos.

I went through a phase of devouring Cherryh books, which lasted for several years and I read forty-odd along the way. The Chanur/Hani books are definitely my favourites, although by no means the only excellent stuff she's written.

The Paladin, Cuckoo's Egg, Cloud's Rider, Downbelow Station, Rimrunners, Foreigner and many others are all fabulous.

A word of caution, though. First Cherryh I ever read was Merchanter's Luck, which I took out the library on the basis if the cover blurb stating that it was 'set in the same world as the Hugo-winning Downbelow Station'. I hated it. A really minor, inconsequential tale, with a central character I didn't warm to at all. Feeling cheated by the blurb, I resolved never to read Cherryh again -- a resolution that lasted eighteen months, until I reluctantly read the first of the Hani books and realised what I'd been missing.

So choose the first one with care.

[clovis-man]

Originally Posted by Connavar of Rigante

Company Wars
1. Downbelow Station (1981)
2. Merchanter's Luck (1982)
3. Rimrunners (1989)
4. Heavy Time (1991)
5. Hellburner (1992)

(snip)

Which of these lists is the correct order for Alliance/Union series?

I know where to start but in the case of i like the series where do i go from Downblow Station. I mean chrono wise or does even matter if you read the books chrono wise?

Im getting the first book so i wonder.

I would go with your first list (above), which is ordered by copyright date. Actually, after you have read the first three, you could go to just about any book on any of your lists and not suffer as a result. You'll have the ideas well in hand and the subsequent tales are not all that dependent on knowing much else.

Plus you'll have a good idea if it's your cup of tea or not.

Jim

[Teresa Edgerton]

Originally Posted by iansales

I'd also recommend Cherryh's The Faded Sun trilogy, Serpent's Reach, and Angel with a Sword. They're among my favourite of her novels.

Most readers seem to think that Serpent's Reach is one of her lesser efforts, but it's one of my favorites, too. It's nice to know that I have company.