Downbelow Station (1981)

Painfully made it about 100 pages into this, dull as hell... ( )

Some particularly grim reading from Cherryh (and that's saying something!). A crumbling empire on one side, a burgeoning one on the other, and a space station crammed full of refugees, stuck in the middle. Throw in a fleet slowly going rogue, merchanters banding together, enemy agent infiltration, and a seemingly childlike alien race with hidden complexities… well, let's just say that no-one is as good at putting her characters into a pressure-cooker situation and then upping the pressure even more. She offers us multiple perspectives from all sides of the issue, giving us a full overview of the situation and enabling us to feel sympathy for most of the characters (and at the same time upping the tension even more). On the other hand, it's extremely slow-moving and feels more like set-up for the broader Company Wars story than a book complete in its own right, and while her prose is always intelligent and precise, in this book it feels particularly dense, and I had to wade through it at times. ( )

I selected this piece of science fiction by virtue of its having won the Hugo Award in 1982. The first of a series of books by C. J. Cherryh, much of the time is spent setting the stage and laying out the landscape for future works.

I’ve read hundreds of science fiction novels throughout the years, in virtually every genre imaginable. I’ve read the classic authors and many of the newer writers, with varying degrees of satisfaction. To be honest, I wasn’t terribly impressed in this instance, either with the quality of the “science” contained therein, or with the underlying story and writing quality itself.

The stage is a universe that has been colonized by Earth through a commercial enterprise referred to as the Company. Ultimately, the colonies grow disenchanted with the Company and form opposition which coalesces around an entity referred to as the Union. Through human engineering, the Union gains the upper hand in the far reaches of space and begins to encroach upon the Company’s holdings. To complicate matters, the Earth Fleet has essentially gone bandit and operates under little or no political control. Conflict, as the story begins, centers around the Company held space station and planetary colony at Pell. The indigenous inhabitants of the planet also play a central role.

There is very little “science” involved with the story and what there is can only be deemed lacking. For example, the early narrative refers to a period of 200 years, prior to faster than light travel, in which many space stations are founded in surrounding star systems. Really? Then, faster than light travel arrives onto the scene, and frequent references are made to “jumps” and “scans”. In other words, the author can’t be bothered by such details as the amount of time and the logistics required to travel to surrounding star systems at less than light speed, or the constraints involved with the “jumps”, other than the fact that it is potentially dangerous and makes the travelers nauseous and sluggish.

Bottom line, the book is sorely lacking when compared to many of its contemporaries with respect to the “science” aspect of science fiction. What we’re left with is the underlying story itself and frankly, it is not very good. Many times, I was left scratching my head after reading a paragraph, not comprehending what I’d read, especially when the author attempts to take the reader through the battles that erupt between Union and Fleet forces. The author has a problem using confusing and ambiguous pronouns, leaving the reader wondering who he/she is referring to. At other times, the writing presumes a knowledge or understanding of the subject matter which the reader has no reason to possess. For example, there are apparently, in the author’s mind, complicated issues involved with interstellar ships “jumping” into areas and the scans used to detect them, involving space/time. Of course, no explanation is attempted; instead the author uses terms and references with the assumption that the reader understands her concept of physics (which, if it matches her space travel conception, has no basis in reality).

In summary, it is simply not very good. I can only surmise that 1982 was a slow year for science fiction. ( )

The most lovable aliens I've ever met---horribly mistreated by humans... ( )

Why does it feel like a lot of books I'm reading these days are mostly backstory that someone felt made a good book?

At least the fiest two thirds of this book felt more like backstory that didn't need to be within teh book. Then the shift of POV between the humans and the Hisa felt like it was filler. Add to that, what does the title have to do with the book? It mostly dealt with the space station and the space war.

So not what I expected. And difficult to pull myself through with such disappointments. And very slow going, because the action and intrigue doesn't really kick into gear until the last third of the book. The build was slow, the ending was lacking.

Yeah, no. ( )