The next book review

[philmophlegm]

'The Pride of Chanur', C.J.Cherryh



This was a result of a double recommendation from skordh and pellegrina following this post:
http://philmophlegm.livejournal.com/127237.html

I mentioned that I often like my SF to be somehow Traveller-esque, and this was the recommendation that followed.

And skordh and pellegrina were right - 'The Pride of Chanur' is _very_ Traveller-esque. The setup is a family-owned merchant ship (the 'Pride' of the title) and that of course is the basic setup for many a Traveller campaign. Even more Traveller-esque is the alien race who own the Pride. The hani are lion-oids, and pretty damn close to being direct copies of Traveller's Aslan.

Or vice versa.

The Aslan first appeared (as far as I'm aware) in issue 7 of the Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society in 1981 and 'The Pride of Chanur' was apparently first published in an issue of 'Science Fiction Digest', also in 1981. And the Aslan and the Hani really are very similar in appearance and very similar in culture. It could be a coincidence - both creators essentially thinking along the same lines when imagining a lion-oid spacefaring race perhaps.

It's a pretty good setting. The twist is that it's a setting where humans are the weird aliens, and this twist is presented well. The hani are also fleshed out well. However, the other alien races don't come into this first (of seven, although there are other books set in a different part of the same universe) book enough to make much of an impact.

Ultimately I was somewhat disappointed by The Pride of Chanur. I really wanted to like it because it is so Traveller-esque. At 200+ pages, it's not a long novel, but neither is it a very short one and I just didn't feel that much happened. It was originally published in a shorter format and subsequently lengthened to novel length. I don't know if this is the reason, but the book feels 'padded', like an old Doctor Who serial where the writer was asked at a late stage to make it a six-parter not a four-parter.

So, conclusion: Interesting setting, well-developed main race let down by poor pacing. I will read the next one, just not imminently.

Comments

[pellegrina.livejournal.com]

Kkkkkt! Interesting that the book felt padded to you. You may like the next three better, as they were written to be a trilogy, I think. And you meet more kif and mahendo'sat.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

I liked the setting enough to persevere. First books are often unrepresentative, after all.

[skordh.livejournal.com]

I think you have a point about pace, but for me the book's other qualities made up for it. I'm not sure the pace improves in the sequels - though there is some good stuff there.

[king-pellinor.livejournal.com]

Star Fleet Battles has Kzinti in, which are lionoid aliens. I think that dates from before 1980, but of course they might have been a later addition.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

A bit of wikipeding reveals that SFB took the Kzinti from a Star Trek: The Animated Series episode which happened to be written by none other than Larry Niven, who took them from his own Known Space series!

There are some similarities, but Hani and Aslan are very much alike, but different to Kzinti. Female Kzinti for example, are "barely sentient".

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I suspect the original lion-oids of being Bast and Sekhmet. Though they may not be related...

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

Wikipedia also through up this list, which might be of interest:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fictional_cat-like_aliens