[Review and rating for 'The Kif Strike Back']
It's been YEARS since I read the first two books in this omnibus, and I was a bit worried about how well I'd slide back in to this universe. Well, I needn't have worried - I picked it back up as if I'd barely left it, and it was a real pleasure to read. If any word comes to mind for Cherryh's work, it's 'intelligent'; no-one else constructs alien cultures and handles culture clash like she does (we spend no time in the head of the one human in the book, instead only perceiving him through the eyes of the alien characters - so much so that he is the one who feels alien). What I'd also forgotten was how damned exciting her work can be as well - I was on the edge of my seat through some parts of this book, which basically ends on a cliffhanger. Now I absolutely have to lay hands on the next volume, and soon. (And last but not least, it's cat people! With guns and piratical swagger and complex internal politics! How could I not love it?) ( )

Wish fulfilment cat fantasy - with politics. ( )

I can't add much to these reviews, except to say these remain my favorite Sci-Fi/fantasy books, and the best of CJ Cherryh (which, considering her wealth of works, is saying a lot!).

I think I like the first and the 4th (Homecoming) the best, but they're all good. CJ Cherryh is superb! ( )

For my full review of the Chanur series, see http://bit.ly/bZvj6T ( )

It's often said that Cherryh do incredibly good aliens. I think not. I have yet to encounter someone who is ENTIRELY alien. The aliens in this suite of books are surely alien to each other, though, and each species is internally consistent, something which is usually a problem - we humans want to anthropomorphise, and most humans do. Even with our pets.

Over all the individual characters are very well done, even the supporting cast - some of which grown from shadows in book 1 to almost full fledged primaries in book 3 - grounded in their cultures and, a-hem, biologies. We get to see them from the eyes of the hani, especially from the pov of Pyanfar Chanur, and yet most of them manage to be something more than a one-dimensional set of prejudices.

Pride of Chanur
We get introduced to the hani, and Pyanfar Chanur and her crew and kin in particular, as they experience first contact with a species truly alien to them - humans, from Earth. As a result of this encounter she gets entangled in an interspecies conspiracy and conflict of truly galactic proportions, trying to weave a honourable path through a sticky thicket.

This story is only the background, the setting of the stage for the next three book story, yet it would stand well on it's own.

Chanur's venture
One year later. We learns that the happenings in book 1 had repercussions for the protagonists, and against their will and intentions the Chanur team gets snagged deeper into the conflict.

We get a closer look on the kif, a look that will get even closer in book 3, but we also get more of the mahendo'sat - the species that brought the medieval level hani out in space.

I do not know what I'd made of this slim book if I had had only this. Now it's a fast read-through before continuing on with book 3.

The Kif strikes back
Hands over fist interspecies politicking, Chanur trying to save what shards there are while at the same time sinking deeper into the well.

More of the hani backstory, of their culture and what they came from; more of the mahendo'sat too - primate to hani's catlike appearance - pitching cultural and societal differences against each other, sowing distrust from misunderstandings.

Ending in a monumental cliffhanger. I had to go pick up Chanur's Homecoming, book 4 in the trio (which wasn't availabe on short notice, so I had to satisfy myself with yet another omnibus - Chanur's Endgame), even with over 200 pages to go. I wouldn't want to risk not being able to continue reading this story when this omnibus ran out of pages!

My personal favourite character is not one of the main protagonists, but Jik of the huntership Aja Jin. To me he's definitely more 'human' than the human on-show, Tully. ( )