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Cherryh on Top

© Karen James

C.J. Cherryh has a gift which she imbues into each of her many novels. The gift is an unbelievable ability to imagine a believable alien culture and populate it with characters abounding with life. Her bibliography is brimming with successes. It's full of outstanding creations. Within her Alliance-Union Universe, she has the Chanur Novels and The Mri Wars among many others. And then there is her Foreigner Universe, which is beyond successful. Within the pages of Foreigner, Invader, and Inheritor she has built a universe, a culture, and characters which overflow with her thoughtful examination of motives and incentives while still gripping the reader with the intrigue and excitement of assassinations and gun battles.

Humans, stranded on an alien planet, have fought and lost to the native inhabitants, the Atevi. As part of the surrender agreement it is decided that there shall be a slow and controlled sharing of the technological marvels of the humans to the atevi people. This sharing shall be supervised by the atevi's human representative, the paidhi, Bren Cameron. A translator as well as a diplomat, supposedly in the service of the human State Department and the Foreign Office, but whose loyalties lie strongly with the atevi and with maintaining the peace.

The Foreigner Universe is built on political maneuverings, species struggles, and the motivations of humans and aliens and the awkwardness that engenders. It is a well constructed universe of richly developed societies with a creatively considered alien culture, and a plot which has lasted through three novels and could easily span as many more. If you're a Cherryh fan, don't miss this series, and if you've never had the pleasure of reading the incomparable C.J. Cherryh then this is an excellent way to begin.

Partial Bibliography

THE ALLIANCE UNION UNIVERSE

The Company Wars
Heavy Time
Hellburner
Downbelow Station
Rimrunners
Tripoint
Finity's End

The Era of Rapprochment
Cyteen
Forty Thousand in Gehenna
Merchanter's Luck
Serpent's Reach

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

The Mri Wars
The Faded Sun: Kesrith
The Faded Sun: Shon'Jir
The Faded Sun: Kutath

Merovingen Nights (Mri Wars period)
Angel with the Sword

The Age of Exploration
Cuckoo's Egg
Voyager in Night
Port Eternity

The Hanan Rebellion
Brothers of Earth
Hunter of Worlds

RIDER - Finisterre
Rider at the Gate
Cloud's Rider

THE FOREIGNER UNIVERSE

Foreigner
Invader
Inheritor

THE MORGAINE CYCLE

Gate of Ivrel #1
Well of Shiuan #2
Fires of Azeroth #3
Exile's Gate #4

THE EALDWOOD FANTASY NOVELS

The Dreamstone
The Tree of Swords and Jewels

THE RUSSIAN STORIES

Rusalka
Chernevog
Yvgenie

FORTRESS IN THE EYE OF TIME

Fortress in the Eye of Time
Fortress of Eagles
Fortress of Owls
Fortress of Dragons

OTHER CHERRYH NOVELS

Hestia
The Paladin
Sunfall
Wave Without a Shore