The Chanur Saga / C.J. Cherryh

The Chanur Saga

(Chanur's Venture & The Kif Strike Back)

category: science fiction, author:

C.J. Cherryh

books 2 & 3 of The Chanur Saga
original copyright 1985 & 1986,
read in December 2010

Agamedes' opinion: 7 out of 10

Warning: This is not a novel!

What? Not a novel?! Why not?!

Chanur's Venture is one volume of a longer novel. Venture is not complete in itself; it has no real conclusion. The Pride of Chanur was a novel; it stood alone -- beginning, middle, climax, end. Yes, Venture follows closely on Pride -- and depends on Pride for its logic -- but Pride can be read, by itself, as a satisfactory novel.

Venture ends with a desperate cliffhanger. There is no conclusion.

No worries, I thought. I am, after all, reading a book of three volumes: Pride, Venture and Kif.

But blow me down! Even The Kif Strike Back does not end!

So if you want to know how the heroines get out of their ever-increasing difficulties... make sure that you have Chanur's Homecoming ready to hand. And perhaps, even Chanur's Legacy. Who knows how long Cherryh can stretch out this money-spinning franchise...

It really annoys me that writers and/or publishers can print what is really an incomplete story -- with no warning on the cover.

I have no trouble with The Pride of Chanur, a standalone book which leaves us wanting more. I have no trouble with Harry Potter where we knew -- right from the start -- that there would be seven books. And in any case, each of the seven is a complete adventure on its own.

I strongly object to an author and/or publisher who lies -- through omission -- to the reader. Here is a published novel, they say. And fail to tell us that the so-called "novel" is just the first instalment of a much longer story. If we -- the readers -- want to know how the heroines get out of the cliffhanging chaos -- we have to pay more. And... possibly... more again and again.

That said, the two books make for good reading. It's still hard to follow what's happening. Though the captain regularly takes several pages to explain the plot to the crew and to us. So it's not quite as confusing as Pride.

Good books. Good characters and character development. Lots of action. And even more, lots of complex fuge and subterfuge. Which the poor reader struggles with. Just as much as do most of the characters.

..o0o..

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