Customer Reviews

Tripoint

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

As far as freebooting space opera goes, C.J. Cherryh's many Alliance-Union novels (many of which are not part of a specific series and can stand alone) are one of the high refinements of the art today. _Tripoint_ is in the top tier of that elite grouping.

Cherryh's character development abilities are really showcased here: a young man stuck on a ship captained by hostile step-family, a fascinating navigator present under tantalizingly suspicious circumstances, a diverse and interesting crew. Beyond it all is the sense of the void--the feeling of an impersonal universe that will kill you if the airlock seals give way, and not experience regret for you--that helps you imagine the experience of being in space. As ever with Cherryh, predicting the ending is difficult to impossible.

Really high-quality SF, and will appeal to fans of same.

This was the last Cherryh novel I read, after I discovered her a few years ago. I resisted it until I had nothing of hers left to read, because I resisted the idea that I would ever feel any liking or sympathy for a rapist/father character. Not only would I detest the character myself, I decided I would probably dislike our hero, Tom, if he ever started to like the guy. However, I forgot about the Cherryh magic, and before long, I, like Tom himself, found I couldn't hang onto my preconceived ideas of what certain people would be like. My only regret on this one is that there hasn't been a sequel--I feel it wants one.

Tripoint was my first C.J.Cherryh novel, and sci-fi book for many years. I came across it totallly by accident on special display at the library. The cover was the usual OK graphics associated with the genre, but the fly-leaf suggested something more interesting. So I borrowed it; and my first thoughts when slogging through the first few pages, were: 'what is this dog....?' I'd never read anything quite like it, and if it weren't for the fact that nothing was due till the next week, I woudln't have. Anyway, for no particularly good reason other than embarrassment at giving up so easily, I continnued; twenty pages per night. Page one hundred, and I was hooked, well into the groove of intense viewpoint, and the finely detailed character interaction. This like all the other Cherryh books I have read, is a very fine piece of work, and yet, needs to be tackled with a clear head, especially at the start, due to the highly energetic, and dense writing style which she employs. A style which can be so very easily off-putting to someone used to a more straightforward approach. But I have found it one, which is extremely satisfying, encouraging me to read whatever she writes, with a sense of... what's next?, and while I'm glad that I've finished yet another big-one, sorry that it's finished. Tripoint along with its stablemates is, sci-fi beyond the average - which unfortunately is the rule, and why I stopped reading it - great stuff! Next!

TRIPOINT is an excellent novel loaded with conflict. The characters are all fully realized three-dimensional people and they are all in turmoil. Cherryh plays them off each other with skill and cranks up the stakes along the way. Thomas Bowe-Hawkins is the product of a rape. His mother, Marie, has dedicated her life to tracking down Thomas's father to kill him. Of course, things come to a head and Thomas finds himself a prisoner on his father's ship. Add in a half-brother he never knew he had and shake it up until it explodes! As usual, the action rages and the setting is great. If you like science fiction, you'll love TRIPOINT. If you like character driven fiction, you'll love TRIPOINT. Hey, if you just like to read, you'll love TRIPOINT. So you see, you can't go wrong. Click the buy button already! You can thank me later.

This is not only one of the best novels I've ever read by
this author, but one of the best science fiction novels I've
ever read, period. Cherryh's style has an immediacy that
I have rarely seen equalled, and her characters are superb:
natural, realistic, interesting people. The personal scale
of this particular novel, set against the wider backdrop of
her previous Merchanter novels, is especially satisfying
(although it helps if you've read Downbelow Station, Cyteen,
etc.).

This is one of the few true sci-fi novels I have read that I enjoyed enough to read more than five times. Ms. Cherryh tells a tale that has strong characters, a lush backdrop and a gripping storyline. I can't wait to grab all of her other books, now.

C.J. Cherryh just keeps getting better and better. In this story, set in her gritty, well-realized Merchanter universe, she explores the concept of family in a far-flung future where what family you belong to depends on what starship you're born on, and the concept of crime in an age where every ship is its own nation.

It's from the point of view (mostly) of Thomas Bowe-Hawkins, born on the Merchanter ship Sprite, the son of a woman who was raped by a crew member, now captain, of a rival ship. The story sounds like something out of a medieval adventure, but Cherryh updates it with high-speed pursuits across light-years and economic warfare where the stock exchange moves at the speed of a microprocessor.

The cast of characters she's assembled for this book are great; you have Tom, who's only trying to figure out where he belongs, his mother Marie who's carried a grudge for the past 20 years ago (with, most will agree, some justification), his father Austin (now, there's a bastard), and his sulky, sullen half-brother Christian. And a whole host of well-drawn minor characters -- but I'll leave you to discover Capella for yourself.

Like Cherryh's Chanur books, as well as some of her earlier Merchanter novels (such as "Rimrunners"), I suppose one could consider this book space opera. However, Cherryh manages to infuse what's generally considered an action-oriented, shallow genre with genuine meaning, and the result is well worth reading

Cherryh has developed a number of fictional universes over the years -- and done it exceptionally well -- but the favorite of many of her readers, and the one where she has spent the most time, is the Union/Alliance future, where the major players are the scattered space stations built around far stars, first by Earth and then by Earth's rebellious colonies, plus the mostly independent merchanters, the long-haul freight-carrying ships that hold everything together. This universe includes both broad-scope epics (like _Cyteen_) and more narrowly focused "small" stories like this one, which is set a couple of decades after the war that changed everything (but didn't solve much). Marie Hawkins, now Cargo Chief of "Sprite," had a traumatic sleepover experience at Mariner Station twenty years ago at the hands of Austin Bowe of "Corinthian"; she calls it rape and she's been planning her revenge ever since. The outcome of that encounter, however, was a son, Tom Bowe-Hawkins, whose life has been warped by his mother's obsession. He swings between almost hating her and trying desperately to win her approval. But Marie isn't a maternal sort of woman and it's a long road to travel. "Sprite" and "Corinthian" bump into each other accidentally (but not really) at Mariner and Tom, trying (against his better judgment) to help Marie, goes poking into warehouses where he ought not to be. One thing inevitably leads to another and tom finds himself semi-kidnapped and incarcerated in the brig "Corinthian," outbound and likely never to see his own ship again. And he discovers a younger half-brother he didn't know he had. But, of course, not everything is as it seems on the surface. Cherryh spend a lot of time on the minutiae of ship-handling, freighter economics, cargo-stowing, and similar topics that add greatly to the verisimilitude but might not be to the taste of her more action-demanding readers. I enjoy that sort of thing, though -- it makes her fictional universe a real place -- and so I enjoyed this installment in her opus. I don't think I'd start out with this book, though, if I weren't already familiar with events in this future; the casual references to earlier people, places, and events will go right over your head.

CJ Cherryh's novels set in space are always worth the read (the Chanur novels and Kesirith ones being my favorites). Most of them fit in a timeline, she told me, following human expansion into space. This one is set just after the merchanters wars, and it focus's on some interfamily issues between two separate merchanter ships. As usual, the characters have depth, and you really enter into their lives (which is another reason she does aliens so well). You identify with the characters and want things to work out, and join in their fears, which are real and legitimate. I recommend any CJ Cherryh novel, with the aforementioned series at the top and the Morgayne series at the lower end, but this particular one falls in the upper mid range. As with all her novels, unless an editor gets ahold of them and splits it willy nilly into 2, (a pet peeve of hers) each novel stands fully on its own feet, alone, though part of a ongoing saga line. You can jump into the middle and get a satisfactory read without wondering what the heck happened before. Caroline is one of my favorite authors bar none.

With Ms. Cherryh coming out with a new book (Betrayer) I decided it was time to return to some of her earlier books to set my mood right. Because her Alliance/Union series has been a favorite of mine and I haven't read Tripoint in awhile it became the book to set me in the mood.

Tripoint follows a theme that's common for many of Ms. Cherryh's books, looking at people who aren't accepted within their environment and finding acceptance in another. In Tripoint Thomas Bowe-Hawkins is the child of rape; now 20 years later and a crewmember on his mother's ship he has a hard time being accepted by the crew. He's a reminder of their failure to help Marie in the standoff between Marie's ship (Pixie) and Thomas's father's ship (Corinthian) (Marie had gone willingly with Austin but it had turned ugly [there's an implied rape], both ships parties became involved, ultimately causing both ships to be banned from the port). Complicating issues for Tom Bowe-Hawkins is his mother's desire for revenge on Austin, to the point of being unstable at times.

Rating wise this one is difficult. While there's unique aspects and I love the background (I've missed Ms. Cherryh's Merchanter series), Ms. Cherryh has written similar books that do the job better presenting the "misfit" in society who finds a place (Merchanters Luck :company Wars 2 and Rimrunners are two examples). While I enjoyed seeing Tom grow to understand his background and the drivers in his life, he's rather obtuse about the things around him. Some of this is possibly because Ms. Cherryh poured herself into the isolated world of a ship and understands how people in a closed society have a tough time understanding things that aren't native to them. While this may be true and explain some of the writing, there are too many obtuse points. Yes they could be Ms. Cherryh trying to show the confused nature of early tweens coming to grips with their world but it's still not her best work. I'm calling this one 3.5 stars with a rounding to 3 stars (it can fall to 4 depending on the reader and their view point though).