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XLII-XLIV: C.J. Cherryh, The Faded Sun Trilogy (1978-9)
I enjoyed this much more than Brothers of Earth, if only because I had a greater sense of who was which species. There's a war ending between the humans and the Regals, and the side issue is that their pulling out of the planet Kesrith, where once they protected the mri. The mri feel a bit portrayed, and are down to a handful of individuals. As the planet is asset-stripped by the Regal, the human Sten Duncan protects two mri and then helps them to start searching for the planet Kutath, where rumour says the species originated. But to help them, he must become like them.
Again we start in the middle, and a background has to be inferred. There's no comfortable position to empathise from - the mri have their faults, the humans are treacherous, the Regals are nasty - and sometimes you wonder if people would be happier not achieving their desires. The mri Niun and Duncan share centre stage, whereas the priestess-queen, who has the real power, remains a bit shadowy. I have to say I fall off sentences like, "I am kel'anth Niun s'Intel Zain-Abrin, daithenon, of she'pan Melein of the ja'anom", which feels too much like a series of bad Scrabble hands.
I was thinking more about the paradigm of the privileged human who joins a (supposedly) technologically less advanced society and risks going native, which was also there in Brackett and I suspect the John Carter/Barsoom books. I had a moment of thinking Lawrence of Arabia, but that's about the same time. Kurtz, too, but a bit earlier. And when Mr Privilege turns out to be able to teach the simple folk his ways, you get Avatar.
I am about to order the collection of essays on Cherryh, and I ridiculously amused by it taking four weeks on Amazon but five days secondhand because it's POD. But, surely, a used POD should take longer to get to me? I'll pay the extra 50p.
Whilst it might be sensible to read another Cherryh trilogy next - the Vanye/Morgaine books - I think I'll lighten the load by reading a Dick or two. If only because a minor character in Faded Sun is George Stavros. And Dick wrote a novel called A Time for George Stavros. Odd.
I enjoyed this much more than Brothers of Earth, if only because I had a greater sense of who was which species. There's a war ending between the humans and the Regals, and the side issue is that their pulling out of the planet Kesrith, where once they protected the mri. The mri feel a bit portrayed, and are down to a handful of individuals. As the planet is asset-stripped by the Regal, the human Sten Duncan protects two mri and then helps them to start searching for the planet Kutath, where rumour says the species originated. But to help them, he must become like them.
Again we start in the middle, and a background has to be inferred. There's no comfortable position to empathise from - the mri have their faults, the humans are treacherous, the Regals are nasty - and sometimes you wonder if people would be happier not achieving their desires. The mri Niun and Duncan share centre stage, whereas the priestess-queen, who has the real power, remains a bit shadowy. I have to say I fall off sentences like, "I am kel'anth Niun s'Intel Zain-Abrin, daithenon, of she'pan Melein of the ja'anom", which feels too much like a series of bad Scrabble hands.
I was thinking more about the paradigm of the privileged human who joins a (supposedly) technologically less advanced society and risks going native, which was also there in Brackett and I suspect the John Carter/Barsoom books. I had a moment of thinking Lawrence of Arabia, but that's about the same time. Kurtz, too, but a bit earlier. And when Mr Privilege turns out to be able to teach the simple folk his ways, you get Avatar.
I am about to order the collection of essays on Cherryh, and I ridiculously amused by it taking four weeks on Amazon but five days secondhand because it's POD. But, surely, a used POD should take longer to get to me? I'll pay the extra 50p.
Whilst it might be sensible to read another Cherryh trilogy next - the Vanye/Morgaine books - I think I'll lighten the load by reading a Dick or two. If only because a minor character in Faded Sun is George Stavros. And Dick wrote a novel called A Time for George Stavros. Odd.
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