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machine_dove at 09:15am on 05/01/2004
machine_dove at 09:15am on 05/01/2004One of the problems I have, and have always had, with science-fiction books that feature aliens is that those aliens, without fail, are humans with funny ears, ridged forheads, or exaggerated personality traits. Or some combination of the above. They are never, ever, truly alien. It always just so happens that if we're nice enough, if we're understanding enough, we can break through Cultural Barrier X and be friends. Or not, in some cases, but at least we can understand the enemy alien's motivations.
Maybe it has something to do with how we, especially the "we" among us who are American, are raised. Nothing is impossible, if you work hard enough. Nothing, nothing is out of our reach. But life isn't really like that. There are things out there that we can't do, that we don't understand, and we never will cross many of those barriers.
The first time I picked up CJ Cherryh's Foreigner, I was amazed, thrilled, shocked, and above all else - entranced. After finishing the last book in the second trilogy in a little over an hour on Saturday, my opinion of this series has only improved.
Here, you have aliens who are alien. Truly alien, in every way that really matters. They don't think like us, they don't act like us, we don't understand them, and they don't understand us. These fundamental, unsurpassable differences have consequences, which are dealt with quite nicely in the books - I won't go into detail in case anyone actually wants to read them (other than Nate - he's required to drop whatever he's reading now and pick these books up).
The other remarkable thing, truly remarkable to anyone who reads conventional science fiction or fantasy, about Cherryh's writing is how tightly the narrative is written. Before reading her books I had heard the term, and understood to a degree what it meant, but it was a concept that never fully took hold. There is no extraneous information in this book, no space wasted with page after page of fluttery, flowering adjectives and descriptive metaphor. The books are almost entirely dialog or internal narrative. The direct result of this is that tension, stress, emotion, are all very clearly conveyed. You aren't told, ever, what the characters are feeling; you feel it yourself, in twists of phrases and unspoken thought.
The results of both the writing style and the theme of the work is one of the most powerful series I've ever read. The political intrigue, the character motivations - all are both intense and real, and above all else - believable.
Maybe it has something to do with how we, especially the "we" among us who are American, are raised. Nothing is impossible, if you work hard enough. Nothing, nothing is out of our reach. But life isn't really like that. There are things out there that we can't do, that we don't understand, and we never will cross many of those barriers.
The first time I picked up CJ Cherryh's Foreigner, I was amazed, thrilled, shocked, and above all else - entranced. After finishing the last book in the second trilogy in a little over an hour on Saturday, my opinion of this series has only improved.
Here, you have aliens who are alien. Truly alien, in every way that really matters. They don't think like us, they don't act like us, we don't understand them, and they don't understand us. These fundamental, unsurpassable differences have consequences, which are dealt with quite nicely in the books - I won't go into detail in case anyone actually wants to read them (other than Nate - he's required to drop whatever he's reading now and pick these books up).
The other remarkable thing, truly remarkable to anyone who reads conventional science fiction or fantasy, about Cherryh's writing is how tightly the narrative is written. Before reading her books I had heard the term, and understood to a degree what it meant, but it was a concept that never fully took hold. There is no extraneous information in this book, no space wasted with page after page of fluttery, flowering adjectives and descriptive metaphor. The books are almost entirely dialog or internal narrative. The direct result of this is that tension, stress, emotion, are all very clearly conveyed. You aren't told, ever, what the characters are feeling; you feel it yourself, in twists of phrases and unspoken thought.
The results of both the writing style and the theme of the work is one of the most powerful series I've ever read. The political intrigue, the character motivations - all are both intense and real, and above all else - believable.
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