Making Contact under the Faded Sun

[bibliogramma]

C.J. Cherryh, the Faded Sun trilogy:
Kesrith
Shon'jir
Kutath

I read this trilogy when it was first published, and now that I reread it, I find that it has improved with age (whether its age or mine, I'm not certain). The Faded Sun books were among Cherryh's early writings, but remain my favourites among her books.

Part of the fascination I have for this series lies in the politics of inter-species contact and the difficulties of inter-species communication, which underlie much of the plot of these novels. Three alien species have collided: humans, the regul, and the mri. The mri, known as a warrior culture, have been, as they put it, "in service" to the regul for 2000 years. As the regul's mercenaries, they have waged - and lost - a war between humans and regul, and come to the edge of extermination in the process.

As the trilogy proceeds, mistrust, misunderstanding, and lack of comprehension of each other's cultures, worldviews, thought processes and values on the part of all three species lead to circumstances that threaten to destroy the long-lost homeworld of the mri, and eradicate them forever.

Each species makes its own plans, working toward different, often incompatible goals, no species is particularly disposed to be altruistic (especially given the recently concluded long and bloody war), and the difficulties of figuring out how to plan, communicate and act when you can't understand how the other party thinks, plans or communicates are clearly illustrated in the ways that the regul and the humans interact and react to each other and to the mri. The mri, focused on survival, take the unprecedented decision to try to show a tsi'mri - one not of the People - how the mri speak, think and act, teaching an alien how to be mri.

The alien cultures are well-developed, the tangled webs that all parties weave are, unfortunately, very realistic even in circumstances where the cultural gaps are not as vast, and the mystery of the mri holds a universal truth that is worth the uncovering - that in the end, fear is the root of evil.

Comments

[wolfinthewood.livejournal.com]

I remember enjoying this, years ago.

Cherryh is good at aliens.

[sausconys-books.livejournal.com]

I've been enjoying your posts, although I haven't read any of the books. I have the Faded Sun Trilogy, but I've never read it- in fact, I've never read anything by Cherryh.

[bibliogramma.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you're finding my meanderings of interest.

Personally, I think the Faded Sun trilogy is a good place to start with Cherryh - the characters are compelling, and the alien cultures are fascinating. A lot of the focus in terms of communication issues is on the different ways that the three species deal with time, due to both cultural and phsiological differences, and what that means to their perceptions of truth and untruth. Very interesting stuff, plus a solid plotline.