The Pride of Chanur (Alliance-Union Universe)

I can remember reading this when it was first published and really enjoying it. It is such a good book that I would fondly remember many of its characters for years to come. This series and the Faded Sun trilogy (also by Ms. Cherry) are two of my all-time favorites and I highly recommend both. I just finished reading The Pride of Chanur again and it was just as good, if not better, as the first time I read it. One of the things I thought was especially appealing about the book is that it dealt with First Contact for humanity, but from the alien point of view. Also, one of the author’s specialties is political confrontations between races, factions, etc. and this book does not disappoint in that regard. This book is well worth taking the time to read - time very well spent if you ask me.

The concept of a human being the strange and unknown alien among ‘aliens’ is very unique and I really enjoyed it. The descriptions of the main species meeting a human for the first time was well done. Humans being the ‘aliens’ was a very unique concept and I wish this was a more common theme in science fiction! The writer’s style took a bit of getting used to though because many things are simply inferred which I’m not used to. For example, how the ships travel through ‘jump’ is a bit confusing as when they exit jump (hyperspace/starburst/etc.) they have to slow down or the ship is destroyed and everyone gets sick from it because of pressures on the body. Things like that, and the way politics worked among the various alien species could have been explained better. My only other issue was that it was a bit hard keeping all the species straight. I think they would have jumped out and been more clear had they been capitalized. Overall, very unique and interesting perspective on what it means to be an ‘alien’.

Being a talented sci-fi writer with a great imagination, C.J. Cherryh introduces you to a very alien, faroff reign of the whole universe where humans barely touch, let alone survive. So here the great space epic unfolds when Tully, a lone survivor was fleeing the bloodthirsty long-snouted Kifs and thus ran into the captain of a very noble lion-like race, the red-golden Hani. Pyanfar, an arrogant but proud leader decides to spare the human's life - and as a result, she and her loyal crew began to run into even more trouble, worst than the last as they desperately fly from star to star in a determined search for help. But despite the constant betrayal, the poor treatment, and the cold brush-off from the other aliens, the ever-gallant creatures grimly dug into their claws and held on fast until they could at least see to the lone human's safety. This is a whole new galaxy far more complex than you can ever imagine, with so many languages, behavior, norms, etc. interacting with each other - a very realistic vision of what would it be like to live in the very hub of an intergalactic enterprise. One would wonder how Ms. Cherryh came up with such alien-sounding names and all. And what is more, the whole world is quite different from what we are already familiar with. For instance, the Chanur crew are very muscular, sport mustaches and breads, and wear only trousers below their bare-chested torsos, but they are actually FEMALES! And what's more, humans are very scarce in this part of the boundless outer space. So prepare yourself for the great oydessy into the unkown!

I'm on what must be my 7th or 8th re- read of this series, which I've now re- purchased to have on my Kindle. Such a well written book... well developed characters, well developed worlds. I'm just as enthralled this time around as I was the very first time I read Book One at least 30 years ago

"The Pride of Chanur" is a story about an interstellar merchant ship whose captain chooses to rescue a human. The ship and its crew are from the planet Anuurn which is inhabited by a race of bipedal lions who call themselves "hani." Towards the end of the book we actually see Anuurn and more family members of the crew (who are all from the Chanur family). I really love the way the author of this book, CJ Cherryh, plays with gender. The hani have all the characteristics of Earth lions which means males can't be in an enclosed space with other males for very long. As a result the whole crew of the ship, indeed of ALL hani starships, are female. The most disconcerting thing about the human as far as the hani crew are concerned is that he is male and males aren't usually allowed on starships. The second most disconcerting thing about the human is that the enemies of the hani, the kif, are pursuing him. They want a recorded dictionary of English so that they and only they can trade with humans. There were originally four humans, but the kif eliminated two when they refused to cooperate with this project. I will leave the fate of the fourth to those who choose to read the book. It's revealed fairly early on that the humans were plucked off an interstellar ship of their own, so the kif did not abduct the human (whose name is Tully) from Earth (which would have been too much of a cliche for the author, I suspect). There are in fact at least 8 spacefaring races in what the hani call the Compact, an agreement to trade peacefully, which is threatened by any one race's exclusive access to humans. The climax of the book, a space battle following a planetside battle, leads to an unexpected but satisfying ending as the methane-breathing knnn intervene at a critical moment. All in all I found "The Pride of Chanur" highly entertaining and a quick read at only 215 pages. Pick it up if you have time to read sci-fi.