Customer Reviews

Downbelow Station.

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I first met Carolyn Cherry(h) at AggieCon in the late '70s, when she was still teaching school in Oklahoma and had just completed her first novel, _Brothers of Earth_. She had written that book in a sort of social vacuum, with no notion of the existence of the fannish world and was amazed at the warm reception she received from a bunch of enthusiastic strangers. That book and its sequels, plus the "Morgaine" trilogy, made me a fan and I enjoyed her work for years, including this first installment in the "Merchanter" series when it first appeared. Unfortunately, success seems to have made her lazy in recent years and she has recently been churning out interminable formulaic series, often sharing the credit with younger writers, and I find most of those efforts to be unreadable. Anyway. Downbelow Station showcases Cherry's inarguable talent for complex but understandable geopolitical plots, many-layered characterization, and truly alien cultures that humans are never really going to fully understand. There are several sides to the conflict here: The Company, now in charge of an isolationist Earth; the Fleet, once the enforcement arm of the Company but now pretty much independent; Union, formed out of the farther worlds of the Beyond and possessed of a new psychological style completely foreign to Earth; Pell, a station circling a planet which circles Tau Ceti, and which only wants to left alone; and the free Merchanters, making a living hauling goods between the worlds and the stations. Pell is a civilized republic in the best tradition, but they're about to lose all that. Mazian's Fleet has been on its own devices for far too long to have a regard for any other culture and is quite willing to destroy a station and all its thousands of inhabitants in order to keep it out of Union's hands. And Union is a chilling example of nascent fascism based on state-controlled cloning. The Merchanters, who are the focus of most of the later books in this universe, must find a way to work together if they are to survive at all. Peopling this tumultuous plot are the Konstantin family, the sort-of Medicis of Pell, willing to believe the best of others and appalled at what power-seekers are doing to their station, especially the Lukas family. And there's Capt. Mallory of Fleet carrier NORWAY, a bloody-minded commander who nevertheless hews to her own kind of morality. And the hisa, the indigines of Downbelow, whose nonviolent assistance to Pell becomes crucial as the story progresses. And Jessad, the Union agent who has his own agenda on Pell. And Josh Talley, ex-Union agent who wants to find a new home there -- or maybe he's not so "ex." And there's a large supporting cast, all of them also exceptionally well developed. This is a fat book, more than 500 pages, but it never slows down and you'll never lose interest. Definitely one of Cherryh's best.

I had read about C.J. Cherryh's massive Alliance-Union series in a science-fiction encyclopedia and wanted to find a good place to start. The encyclopedia suggested what it considered her two best books, Downbelow Station and Cyteen. As it turned out I could find neither of them immediately, but I kept the two in the back of my mind over the months as I shopped. And, one day, while searching through a bookstore, I found to my pleasant surprise that the publisher had released a new edition of the novel, which I quickly snapped up and read.

Now, to the actual novel. Since I had no prior knowledge of any other Cherryh book, I just held my breath and dove right in. Fortunately, Cherryh does not bog you down in continuity, giving you all the pertinent information right in the first chapter, thus absolving the reader of any feeling that they are missing something that happened previously. The story is an excellent thriller, highlighting a wondrous cast of characters, and giving them a genuine disaster to overcome, allowing the reader to see exactly what makes each character tick as things fall further and further apart. Throw in an interstellar war and numerous subplots and you have probably the finest science-fiction novel on the subject, though its length may daunt less dedicated readers. Still, it remains one of Cherryh's finest works, even today, almost twenty years later

It's been quite a few years since I first read "Downbelow Station", having found a dog-eared copy in a used-book store in Silver Spring, Maryland, and since then just about every book Cherryh ever wrote has come to grace my bookshelf. But still, I come back to this novel, which won the Hugo award in the early 80s (1981, I believe).

It's evident from the style that this is one of Cherryh's earlier books; it's not as smooth or sophisticated as "Tripoint" or "Cyteen", both of which are set in the same universe. It does, however, represent a sweeping vision of humanity's possible future, showing not only how we may colonize the stars, but how living among the stars may change us as humans.

For it is one of the most impressive things about this book that the characters are human. Over a year after my last re-reading, I still recall Angelo Konstantin, Elene Quen, Jon Lukas, Signy Mallory, Vassily Kressich, Satin and the rest as if they were old friends. "Downbelow Station" is not only a splendid introduction to Cherryh's thoroughly explored and well-populated Alliance-Union universe, it's an excellent introduction to science fiction in general, as a novel that addresses the tough questions of humanity's future

It's easy to see why Cherryh's work is so lauded by the prize-givers of the science fiction community. Downbelow Station is like a complex spy thriller set in an otherworldly locale. There are dozens of forces in play, most of them at odds with each other: the space station Pell, Mazian's Fleet, the planet Cyteen, the forces of the Union, the Konstantin family, the curious alien creatures called 'the hisa', fleets of Merchanters, the ambitious captain Signy Mallory, and hosts of others. Balancing all these forces (or even keeping track of them) is a momentous task, and Cherryh should be applauded for her technical achievement in piecing it all together.

But all that aside, this reviewer finds the book far more technically admirable than pleasurable. Trying to remember who's who, and what they're trying to accomplish, and who they're squaring off against, can be extremely frustrating, especially for a casual reader. Perhaps those who've read the previous books in this series would be better prepared for the vast array of political and social forces whose intertwinings provide the real plot for this novel. In any case the bigger problem with this 400 plus page book is that it is positively bone dry. There is no hint of humor anywhere in this volume, nor is there much sentiment or real emotional impact, largely because the reader's attention is scattered among so many different characters that this reviewer found it difficult to identify with any of them. Indeed, one could well be halfway through the book and still not know which characters are the heroes and which are the villains. Surely this is one of the book's strong points from a historical-political perspective, but as an entertainment it's a near-disaster. If you think science fiction should be fun, or if you like rooting for the good guys to stick it to the bad guys, this book will be a severe disappointment. On the other hand, if you're a big fan of political intrigue, you might well enjoy a long journey to Cherryh's complex, multi-layered, fully realized worlds.

This book sets the stage of Cherryh's Alliance/Union universe, which is one of the more interesting and realistic science fiction universes out there. Cherryh has taken pains to imagine how a human exploration of the stars might realistically progress and what she comes up with is intriguing. This book focuses on the station in the Pell system, a place that sits between past and future, Earth and Beyond; Pell finds itself the focal point of the culmination of the long conflict between Earth and her rebellious Beyond colonies.

While the setting and story are interesting and engrossing there are a few flaws that mar what would have otherwise been a near perfect book. The first is the near absence of characterization. This is especially a shame because in several of her other books Cherryh does an exemplary job of characterization. In Downbelow Station, however, we are hard pressed to tell the difference between Emilio and Damon Konstantin. We never completely understand the motivations or goal of Union, Earth, or Fleet. We never understand why the inhabitants of Q are treated (and act like) sub-human criminals. Honors for worst characterization, however, go to Signy Mallory, the most pivotal character in the book.

This problem comes to full head in the climax of the book when suddenly we fail to understand the reasons for the actions these characters take. And without that understanding it, unfortunately, feels like nothing more than a deus ex machina used to resolve an otherwise unresolvable situation.

...many authors write themselves into corners. Few can write their way out. C.J. Cherryh starts herself out in a corner: Imagine Beirut in space, a space station caught in the effects of nearby wars, suddenly dealing with an influx of refugees (some of whom are surely terrorist agents of governments who may be looking here for their next target).

But Cherryh is not content with the difficulty of writing her way out of this. She makes it even harder by weaving a layered tapestry of conflicts, overlapping in ways that make them hard to resolve. In one storyline the protagonist (heck, call them "good guys," they usually are) may be the bad guy at another level in the tapestry. And yet she gets the reader rooting for and against them simultaneously. This is hard enough to achieve, yet almost impossible to resolve.

Still, somehow Cherryh manages to attack this Gordian Knot with a climax which slices through to enormous complexities she's raised with a thoroughly satisfying conclusion.

Perhaps we should send her as our next ambassador to Lebanon.

There is no doubt that this book portrays a dark, frightening universe in which various forces fight for their very survival. Not too different from our world, eh?

What is refreshing about this book is that, unlike most other science fiction writers (and today's newspapers, radio, and government spokesmen!), Cherry does NOT gives us a simplistic view of right/wrong, good/bad, but makes the clear the economic and ideological forces that put whole peoples into opposition. The opening scenes of this book are unforgettable, with panicked civilians driven to riot, violence, and murder. And yet even the most villainous characters are not irrational and clearly have reasons for what they are doing.

I found this a fascinating book, with an intelligently thought out political and economic system. I only wish Cherryh could so clearly explain why WE continue to have violence and riots in OUR world.

Downbelow Station starts with a fairly long future history describing humanity's exploration of space, beginning with the establishment of space stations around nearby stars and leading to the farthest space colonies forming their own government called the "Union". After this tedious start, the rest of the book describes conflicts between various entities: political factions on Pell (a space station orbiting a habitable planet); the Union; Earth's military fleet (which has gone rogue and is no longer under Earth's control); "The Corporation" which is the governing body of Earth; the primitive aliens on Pell's planet; and the space merchants.

This is at best a moderately entertaining story and it's puzzling why it won the Hugo for best novel. The book has very little action, no particularly sweeping vision of the future, no fascinating technologies, and even the primitive aliens are neither all that alien or very interesting. The entire book consists of politics, mostly involving who's in charge of Pell; first it's one political faction, then the other, then it's the Fleet, then Union... In the meantime many of the main characters just run around hiding and getting caught.

The book is full of dead ends: we have a Union spy who is abruptly killed off without really ever doing anything; the aliens help the humans on the planet escape the invading Fleet to a place of refuge, only to be rounded up again as soon as they get there; we have this mysterious bedridden matron whose viewpanels give her all-seeing access everywhere on Pell, but she ends up not doing anything at all; we have equally mysterious wise alien "Elders" on the planet below who end up being useless.

In fact frankly nothing much happens at all, and after slogging through to the end, the story is wrapped up with the formation of an alliance between several of the factions (in other words, more politics).

On top of this the writing style is not very elegant, to put it mildly; in fact I often found myself re-reading sentences to try and figure them out.

I happen to have NOT read any of the other novels nominated in 1982 for the Hugo. If this is the best of them, I'm not sure I want to.

A good story that holds your attention. That is the point as to why we read fiction isn't it? Cherryh gives a bleak interpretation on the future migration of spacefaring humankind, however it is a perfectly plausible one and that makes this read all the more interesting. There were irritating typographical errors and omissions in this paperback edition. Granted, not the fault of the author, nor a reason not to enjoy her work...but in this day and age, what is the excuse for typos except as laziness on the part of the publisher? A personal pet peeve.

First read this shortly after publication when I was 20. Since then have re-read it every two or three years and still find a different story from the one I recollected, and each better than the last. This is a dense and complex book but that is probably why it pays re-reading, and it operates on several levels. The plot is detailed in the many other reviews here (and the number of these tell you something) but it the first of her Union/Alliance Universe and is as good a place to start as any. Don't expect constant action a la Star Wars (though action there certainly is), or technophilia. What you get is a claustrophobic steel world where the characters are sufficiently delineated to allow you to fill in the missing parts according to your prejudices and expectations without affecting the read. The science is woven into the day-to-day activity of the characters and never put on a pedestal for us to forcibly admire. You absorb the ideas as you go along.

Most of all, it has that believability that the best sf/fantasy possesses. You can just feel that this is what the future is going to be like... warts and all.

Sadly, there is no sign that C J is going to revist Signy Mallory and her crew - this is a great shame as she needs a further novel to allow us to better appreciate her, just as her "Exiles' Gate" did for Morgaine (A similar style of heroine in another related universe).