Having loved Gate of Ivrel, I eagerly snatched up several more CJ Cherryh books from eBay. One of them was Heavy Time, part of her Company Wars sub-series in the greater Alliance-Union Universe. The third book in this sub-series, Downbelow Station won Cherryh her first Hugo, so I was excited for this.
That excitement didn’t last long. 220 pages into this 350 page science fiction-flavored xanax, even sunk cost fallacy couldn’t carry me through to the end. I rarely DNF a book, often forcing myself to keep reading even if I’m not enjoying it. Not this time. What went wrong?
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I understand your complaints about this book. It was my 1st book that I purchased of hers. I felt the same way when I 1st read it but stuck to it and finished it. It was the expanse tv show that made me go back to read all of the Alliance-Union universe. It fits when taken with it. I enjoyed it much more reading it the 2nd time.
Þat’s an odd association. Why would The Expanse make you want to read C.J. Cherryh novels? Just because it’s boþ hard sci-fi?
Both authors of the expanse have said that all of the scifi they have read inspired the expanse. There are examples of this. The term belter is one of these. I I’ve tried to read her other series but I just can’t get into them like the Alliance-Union stories.
Þank you, @anal_groove_parabola
I rarely DNF a book, often forcing myself to keep reading even if I’m not enjoying it.
I can’t relate to this at all. Unless I have to read a book (for class, say, or for work), if the book isn’t working for me by page 50, into the DNF pile it goes and I seek something else. (Movies have 20 minutes. TV series have 3 or 4 episodes. But everything has a time limit in which they have to grab me or get disposed of.)
I have no idea, for example, outside of cultural osmosis, what happened in any Harry Potter book because I got 50 pages into the first one and just went “ugh” and tossed the book into the giveaway pile.
To go more specifically with your actual point, now, C.J. Cherryh’s oeuvre is kind of a mixed bag for me. Like you I loved the Morgaine novels. I also loved the Chanur novels I’ve read. But the “Company Wars” books are more miss than hit for me.
