The Chanur Saga

[Review and rating for 'The Kif Strike Back']
It's been YEARS since I read the first two books in this omnibus, and I was a bit worried about how well I'd slide back in to this universe. Well, I needn't have worried - I picked it back up as if I'd barely left it, and it was a real pleasure to read. If any word comes to mind for Cherryh's work, it's 'intelligent'; no-one else constructs alien cultures and handles culture clash like she does (we spend no time in the head of the one human in the book, instead only perceiving him through the eyes of the alien characters - so much so that he is the one who feels alien). What I'd also forgotten was how damned exciting her work can be as well - I was on the edge of my seat through some parts of show more this book, which basically ends on a cliffhanger. Now I absolutely have to lay hands on the next volume, and soon. (And last but not least, it's cat people! With guns and piratical swagger and complex internal politics! How could I not love it?) show less

I read a tremendous amount of science fiction back in the late 60s, 70s, and 80s, then walked away from it thinking I had read all the good books there were to be read. One night, after the usual bedtime reading, and just before falling asleep, it came to me; where is that book, I always wanted to read but could never find; the one with a picture of a spacefaring race of bipedal lions. A quick Google search found “The Chanur Saga’ and it was available via interlibrary loan at my local library. I wasn’t disappointed: it was everything a book of science fiction could offer someone who has read the best; a universe populated by species so varied and interesting, interacting in situations straight out of any spy novel which made it show more impossible to put down. I had to put a page limit on the number of pages I could read befor bed or I would have been up all night. An excellent read. show less

The Hani - minor race in the Compact of aliens, quick clawed feudal government, of course they hold a grudge. But give up a "cargo" to the Kif, not likely, especially when the cargo proves to be new, sentient and human! Told exclusively from the Hani view, in Cherryh's typical tight third person it is another gripping read about first contact, loyalty and the weirdness of "others"

After re-read: Each book in turn so later parts may have spoilers for the early books.

Pride of Chanur
The Pride of Chanur is the name of the Pyanfar's spaceship, but of course Pyanfar and her cousin Hilfy are also the pride in the eye of the family Chanur, and equally they hold and maintain the pride in Chanur. And their alien social grouping is loosely show more similar to a pride of lions.

Really gripping, supurb tale of first contact, told exclusively from an alien point of view it is an amazing novel.

Pyanfar Chanur is a hani space space captain, minding her own trading business in the Compact of races, when an alien escapes the clutches of the kif, and makes it's way on board her ship. Refusing to turn a sentient being over, Py and her crew mates do the best they can to evade the kif, and keep their deals whilst maintaining the honour of their house.

A really well detailed society and world, intricately plotted wonderful characters, and species, and an amazing grasp of the problems of first contact with aliens. This is one of my all time favourite Cherryh stories. I really can't stress too much how detailed the societies are, and yet there is no lacking in pace, pertinent facts are placed where appropriate and as the novel progresses you slowly get a feel for the motivations and power of the characters. The climatic finish is as perfectly crafted as the rest of the book.

Chanur's venture

This is the start of the three book series, and it's odd to find it as the second book in a trilogy. The work that ends the series and is not included in "the Saga" is Chanur's Homecoming. You will want to have this book available when you've finished the The Kif strike back.

Venture continues the adventures of Pyanfur Chanur, approximately 1 year after the conclusion of Pride. The hoped for trade with Humans has not arrived, she and the han have been doublecrossed by the Stsho and the mahe, and Py's only just received clearance back to Meetpoint.

An early meeting with Goldtooth, leads to Tully re-apearing and a hasty exit, but that's only the start of the troubles, as a new hakkit is on the rise - bourne out of Py's defeat of Akkimet. However Py, her crew and Goldtooth, think they have it sorted until mechanical problems strand Py a long way from home without aid to call upon. Oh and the han are investigating her, not just because she's bought the first hani male into space, but also on corruption charges ... the book ends very much on a cliffhanger leading straight in the Kif Strike back.

The same lovable characters, detailed descriptions and wonderful world. From the Pride as a reader we now have a grasp on the alien mindsets so Cherryh is free to explore some of the darker ways of biogtry and alien thought and doublecross. Who can you trust when you don't know how they think?

Superb. Read them all.

The Kif Strike Back
Titled apparently after a joke to the editor. Cheryh's advice - don't joke with editors, they may take you seriously!

A hectic close to this trilogy leaves with a massive cliffhanger waiting the final novel in the series Chanur's homecoming.

Py and crew arrive at Mkks in pursuit of Hilfy and Tully held by Sikkukkut. Mkks is a disputed station, not normally visited by hani - but the kiffish hakkit has offered than an invitation, and with her crew captive Py can do little but accept. However she does have allies and Jik calls in the Immune Ehrran in to assist. This is both helpful and likely to lead to more charges against them in the han - however such distant worries are far from Py's mind as she has to outwit the hakkit on his own deck, but leave him enough face that his opponent Akkhtimakt doesn't triumph.

A fast and frenetic book, hard sometimes to keep pace with who is betraying whom it well reflects the urgency and importance of the decision Py has to take. More action and less politicking over inter-species differences than the previous books. The cliff-hanger ending leave you waiting for the next volume which is bizarrely not included in this trilogy.

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It does need careful attention at times, many of the characters speak pigeon dialect to each other, and the meaning isn't always easy to elucidate, what exactly did they mean? How much do they know, can you really trust someone you can't communicate that well with? Let alone words like 'friend' when it's not clear they even have such a word in their vocabulary. It becomes clear in the latter books that his is set in Alliance/Union space although there is as yet no crossover, but watch out for all the subtle similarities in technology etc.

Remain a firm favourite and readily stands up to re-reading. CJC's ability to tell a tight third person story with no excerpts from other characters (and as an alien POV too) is utterly unparalleled by any other author I know. Superb. show less

It's often said that Cherryh do incredibly good aliens. I think not. I have yet to encounter someone who is ENTIRELY alien. The aliens in this suite of books are surely alien to each other, though, and each species is internally consistent, something which is usually a problem - we humans want to anthropomorphise, and most humans do. Even with our pets.

Over all the individual characters are very well done, even the supporting cast - some of which grown from shadows in book 1 to almost full fledged primaries in book 3 - grounded in their cultures and, a-hem, biologies. We get to see them from the eyes of the hani, especially from the pov of Pyanfar Chanur, and yet most of them manage to be something more than a one-dimensional set of show more prejudices.

Pride of Chanur
We get introduced to the hani, and Pyanfar Chanur and her crew and kin in particular, as they experience first contact with a species truly alien to them - humans, from Earth. As a result of this encounter she gets entangled in an interspecies conspiracy and conflict of truly galactic proportions, trying to weave a honourable path through a sticky thicket.

This story is only the background, the setting of the stage for the next three book story, yet it would stand well on it's own.

Chanur's venture
One year later. We learns that the happenings in book 1 had repercussions for the protagonists, and against their will and intentions the Chanur team gets snagged deeper into the conflict.

We get a closer look on the kif, a look that will get even closer in book 3, but we also get more of the mahendo'sat - the species that brought the medieval level hani out in space.

I do not know what I'd made of this slim book if I had had only this. Now it's a fast read-through before continuing on with book 3.

The Kif strikes back
Hands over fist interspecies politicking, Chanur trying to save what shards there are while at the same time sinking deeper into the well.

More of the hani backstory, of their culture and what they came from; more of the mahendo'sat too - primate to hani's catlike appearance - pitching cultural and societal differences against each other, sowing distrust from misunderstandings.

Ending in a monumental cliffhanger. I had to go pick up Chanur's Homecoming, book 4 in the trio (which wasn't availabe on short notice, so I had to satisfy myself with yet another omnibus - Chanur's Endgame), even with over 200 pages to go. I wouldn't want to risk not being able to continue reading this story when this omnibus ran out of pages!

My personal favourite character is not one of the main protagonists, but Jik of the huntership Aja Jin. To me he's definitely more 'human' than the human on-show, Tully. show less

I just finished re-reading this and Chanur's Endgame.. This is space op told from the viewpoint of a cat-like alien species. No romance, no conquering new worlds, just the tale of a merchant ship captain who is forced into protecting a runaway alien and touches off an interspecies incident. The books are not a straight series: the first is a stand-alone, the next three are a trilogy, and then the last is another near-stand-alone. When the publishers re-released this series they did it in an odd way - the first 3 books in one volume and then the last 2 in another volume. This means at the end of the first volume, the story stops without any kind of resolution or cliffhanger or anything. It just ... stops. In the middle of the story..

I can't add much to these reviews, except to say these remain my favorite Sci-Fi/fantasy books, and the best of CJ Cherryh (which, considering her wealth of works, is saying a lot!).

I think I like the first and the 4th (Homecoming) the best, but they're all good. CJ Cherryh is superb!

Wish fulfilment cat fantasy - with politics.