Rimrunners [Hardcover]

C. J. Cherryh (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Bet Yeager's shady past remains a carefully guarded secret aboard the Union spaceship Loki until an encounter with Mazian pirates forces her to reveal her intimate knowledge of their methods. Set in the same universe as Cyteen ( LJ 5/15/88), Cherryh's latest novel captures the acute sense of claustrophobia of men and women under pressure. Recommended.-- JC
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 327 pages
• Publisher: Warner Books (June 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446515140
• ISBN-13: 978-0446515146
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,094,577 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I've written sf and fantasy for publication since 1975...but I've written a lot longer than that. I have a background in Mediterranean archaeology, Latin, Greek, that sort of thing; my hobbies are travel, photography, planetary geology, physics, pond-building for koi...I run a marine tank, can plumb most anything, and I figure-skate.

I believe in the future: I'm an optimist for good reason---I've studied a lot of history, in which, yes, there is climate change, and our species has been through it. We've never faced it fully armed with what we now know, and if we play our cards right, we'll use it as a technological springboard and carry on in very interesting ways.

I also believe a writer owes a reader a book that has more than general despair to spread about: I write about clever, determined people who don't put up with situations, not for long, anyway: people who find solutions inspire me.

My personal websites and blog: http://www.cherryh.com
http://www.cherryh.com/WaveWithoutAShore
http://www.closed-circle.net

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read it!, August 25, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (Pietermaritzburg, South Africa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rimrunners (Paperback)

Real. Life at the gritty end, on space stations, on the lower decks of military spacecraft, on the rim of known space. This book is set in C. J. Cherryh's 'Merchanters' universe. A (female) crew tech who has been marooned on a station on the Rim signs up in desperation with a cargo ship with shady military connections. Her misgivings are not without foundation! The vocabulary, the ships, the technology, the people and the story are all so convincing that it comes as rather a shock to find oneself back in the 20th century at the end of the book! Yes I'm biased. C. J. Cherryh is my favourite author in any genre. Read her - she'll soon be yours too.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Living with the Enemy, November 26, 2002

By 

Patrick Shepherd "hyperpat" (San Jose, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rimrunners (Paperback)

This is yet another of Cherryh's books set in her Alliance-Union universe, but told from a rather different perspective than most of the others in this series.

Very little of this book is actually about the war, instead choosing to focus on a middle-aged female warrior, Bet Yeager, who has been effectively marooned on one of the Rim stations, and living from hand to mouth while avoiding detection by any cognizant authority. Finally left with no more options on the station, she takes a new berth on a 'shadow' spy ship belonging to what to her is the 'enemy'. Once on board, she has to earn the respect of her shipmates, put up with sadistic officers, and keep a clamp on her history from 'the other side'. With this as a basic outline, the story really revolves around her continuing growth as a person, stretching herself to perform actions she didn't believe she was capable of, and the (sometimes strange) friendships she makes as she learns the ins and outs of her new shipboard comrades.

Told in Cherryh's typical breathless style, often with incomplete sentences, a frequent recourse to alphabet-soup acronyms, and backgrounds that are often only sketched in, the story ripples rapidly towards its climax, making for quick reading. Perhaps a little too quick, as there is a little bit of a rushed feeling to the climax. And as always with Cherryh, this style takes some getting used to, and readers unfamiliar with some of other books in the series may feel a little lost.

There is some real action here, of the type that Cherryh is known for, but filtered through Yeager's perceptions. Beyond the action, the item that makes this stand out from the run-of-mill works is the strong character development of Yeager in the face of multiple difficult situations, some of which would have a direct correspondence to the problems of women in the American workplace. Some of Yeager's solutions to certain of her situations will put a new face on casual sexual relations on a mixed gender ship, an item of relevance now for the Navy. But this is not a strident call to the feminist movement, but rather a statement in story form of the real power and necessity of independent women, of women living up to (and being allowed to do so) their full potential.

A different viewpoint, a strong female role model, perhaps a little too short and rushed, but still a strong work.

--- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The strongest woman hero ever to appear in science fiction!, August 11, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Rimrunners (Paperback)

If you have ever wished for a "classic" science fiction action adventure novel with a female lead... this is it. Bet Yeager (our hero) is a combat soldier who has been separated from her unit and must find her own way in enemy space. From the very first pages, Yeager is relentlessly focused, unshakeably stubborn, and merciless in the face of attack. She finds allies, but needs no one to rescue her. She can be friendly, but she has never simpered or batted her eyelashes in her life. Yeager is the strongest woman character I have ever met & the book is worth a read for that alone. As always, Cherryh's writing gives you a world (and a character) to fall into. This is my favorite of all of Cherryh's science fiction novels.