Since it's been such a long time since my last blog, I'll finish off
the thoughts of that one at this beginning.
Concerning The Hobbit, an Unexpected Journey. I liked it.
I can't say that I had any serious, set-in-stone, expectations about
what Peter Jackson would do with the story but the movie was fun. Some of the scenes were wonderfully enacted,
scripted and played, for fans of the books, and others were silly to create fans
for the movie. I suppose it was a
juggling act. As I mentioned, regarding the
Lord of the Rings Trilogy, there had to be certain elements added and enhanced
to entertain a movie going audience, rather than a literary audience.
Considering that statement, I believe the books, the first four of that world of Middle Earth, were presented to a more literate world, and therefore a more interested public. I know that they were first printed in Great Britain and the language is the English of that nation, but we in the United States could read and appreciate it as well. Those books had a profound impact on the future of literature and gaming. They still impact our sub-cultures, although I wonder how many have read the books these days rather than watch the movies.
Anyway, leaving movies behind, this blog is supposed to be about books…
the books that fascinated me and continued to grip me. Oh, here's a kind of side thought. I've found that most of the readers I know
only read a book once. They may read a
book twice if they really liked it. It
struck me as odd. Maybe I'm the odd one. I know I used to read The Lord of the Rings
set once a year from when I first found it.
I read Glory Road by Robert Heinlein once a year as well. There were many books I read repeatedly. They were good and fun stories and reading
them again and again was like visiting worlds I loved. Yes, I suppose I'm the odd one. Like I've said previously, I read The Host,
by Stephanie Meyer several times in a row.
Waiting for the movie.
Do we read a book just to say we did?
I read for pleasure, or because several friends in the YOTB group I'm in
at the library insist I do. (I'm glad I
did) That book was Rising Up by
Pamela Bender, a fictionalized family saga.
(One of those stories to cry over and through).
So, back on track…
C. J. Cherryh… author. I can't even
list the number of books she's written.
If you want to know, go to her website cherryh.com, it's very well kept…
she's webmaster. She's one of those
authors who I would seek out at the bookstore with the familiar yellow spine
from DAW. (Yes, back to when they had
bookstores in the malls) I know I did
not keep up with her prolific writing over the years… don't know why. (Well, my life took some of my time and money
is always tight) I still have
bookshelves. (I'm selling my house, so
I'm starting to minimize my holdings.)
So when I was thinking of which book to mention here, I looked at one of
the authors taking up a large amount of space… in the one paperback section. I have many of her books in hardback, too.
The Faded Sun Trilogy: Kesrith (1978), Shon'jir (1978), Kutath (1979).
I've read these books several times over the years and again this last
weekend. I'm not a speed reader, I don't
skim. This is a science fiction story. It's a story of conflict, peace and genocide,
fears and policies… it's a futuristic story and an ancient story. It's a story that stands in any time. The characters and the various species are
fascinating, even the humans.
We meet the mri. In their tongue
it means 'the people.'
C.J. Cherryh creates an intricate culture and reveals the elaborate
details in bits and pieces as the story goes on. From the kel,
veiled and robed warriors, the sen,
scholars, to the kath, mothers and
caregivers… we learn of a culture that has existed for hundreds of thousands of
years. Humans have only known the kel,
through a forty year war. They've
learned that they were mercenaries hired by the regul to war.
The regul are an extremely long-lived trader species with eidetic
memories and elaborate, intricate, self-serving politics.
Okay, here's the back cover of the first book… I don't usually do this
but in this case it's worth it.
"This is the story of three people:
Sten Duncan, a soldier of humanity; Niun, last warrior of the mri, humanity's
enemies; Melein, priestess-queen of the final fallen mri stronghold.
"This is the story of two mighty
species fighting for a galaxy: humanity driving out from Earth, and the
enigmatic regul struggling to hold their stars with mri mercenaries.
"This is a story of diplomacy and
warfare, of conspiracy and betrayal, and of three flesh-and-blood people who
found themselves thrown together in a life-and-death alliance."
That last statement is the most important for anything I've ever read
of C.J. Cherryh's. Her characters are
flesh and blood. They live in our
imaginations for the manner of her writing.
A book can only hold so many words, and when a page or two draws you
into a story and compels you to continue, you know a master is directing those
words. From the first you're frustrated
for the mri Niun, trained by weapon masters but untried, a young warrior held
back from war, while all his peers leave for glory. And now the war is over.
Melein, Niun's true-sister, raised kel but then pulled into sen by
Intel, She'pan, Mother, Priestess, Queen of these mri, to a separate life and
training. She is concerned for her brother
but Intel keeps her close.
Sten Duncan, human, a Surface Tactical Force officer, an expert at
surviving in hostile environments and behind enemy lines. Now he is aide to the human envoy, governor-to-be,
George Stavros, heading to the planet Kesrith, aboard a regul ship. We learn of his frustrations, anger,
bitterness of war… all in recognizable human terms in alien environs.
The people, the worlds… the creatures called dusei… all of it woven
into a brilliant tapestry of story. Once
again it was a story that held me, keeping me up late into the night and
turning from one book to the next until I was finished. I recommend it for the samurai-like nature of
the kel, the comradeship and characters, the intrigue and stars. There's nothing about it that I wouldn't
recommend. The, perhaps, unfortunate
thing, is that having read these familiar books I might be digging into the
next of her books on my shelves. I'll
wait and see.
If you want a copy of her early books, I recommend going to her website
first - Cherryh.com. C.J. Cherryh is an
author to investigate from her first books through whatever she has
currently. She inspired me to read a
little more often than she inspired me to write, but when writing I've often
considered her worlds and style.
