Why I'm a fan of C J Cherryh, Pt 2
I recently picked up yet another sci-fi novel in C J Cherryh's Alliance/Union universe, which started the "Cyteen" series.
I love her complex psychological thrillers that take place in star-faring universes. It's not so much the action and adventure aspect (though she can write such scenes convincingly) as the very carefully thought-through cultures, based on an understanding of history, biology and physics of the human animal and extrapolated to alien intelligences.
My most recent acquisition is Cherryh's "Regenesis."
Here's a paragraph I read this morning: The main character, 18-year old Ari is musing on the nature of new and novel experience. (Base 1 is their computer system)
(Her friend Sam tells her,) "That's too many surprises, Ari."
"No such thing," she said suddenly, and remembered the first Ari saying, out of Base 1, 'There are people who aren't surprised because they don't notice what's surprising in the world and they just never wonder. And there are, much rarer, people who aren't surprised because they always see what's coming. When you're a child, you're surprised by most things. It gets rarer as the years pass. Surprises keep us sane. They set us into new territory. They give us something to think about, when the same old things have been the rule. You can go to sleep for years with the same old things. Sleep can eat away at your life. And sleep can be dangerous.'
And not always good things, but maybe--maybe it was good for her to meet some things she hadn't planned.
And paint was cheap...until it made a thousand-year-old painting."
Some may think this is a difficult and slow-paced read. I see the woman taking care to construct a world in great depth and detail.
I am enjoying this.
I love her complex psychological thrillers that take place in star-faring universes. It's not so much the action and adventure aspect (though she can write such scenes convincingly) as the very carefully thought-through cultures, based on an understanding of history, biology and physics of the human animal and extrapolated to alien intelligences.
My most recent acquisition is Cherryh's "Regenesis."
Here's a paragraph I read this morning: The main character, 18-year old Ari is musing on the nature of new and novel experience. (Base 1 is their computer system)
(Her friend Sam tells her,) "That's too many surprises, Ari."
"No such thing," she said suddenly, and remembered the first Ari saying, out of Base 1, 'There are people who aren't surprised because they don't notice what's surprising in the world and they just never wonder. And there are, much rarer, people who aren't surprised because they always see what's coming. When you're a child, you're surprised by most things. It gets rarer as the years pass. Surprises keep us sane. They set us into new territory. They give us something to think about, when the same old things have been the rule. You can go to sleep for years with the same old things. Sleep can eat away at your life. And sleep can be dangerous.'
And not always good things, but maybe--maybe it was good for her to meet some things she hadn't planned.
And paint was cheap...until it made a thousand-year-old painting."
Some may think this is a difficult and slow-paced read. I see the woman taking care to construct a world in great depth and detail.
I am enjoying this.