Hee, that's okay, I'm just glad you made it through the whole thing! See, I knew you could. :)
why the book didn't work for me, if you want to know
I do! I'm always curious about what other readers do/seek/dislike/need in a (sci-fi or fantasy) novel. :D
something would happen [...] Bren would think about what happened. What could have happened. What should have happened.
This is... partly something of a trend with Cherryh, I think. I do remember that the first novel I read by her was the first in the Chanur series, and I had trouble following it -- until everything was laid out and explained in the last twenty-five pages or so. And that that seemed to be how the next two worked, too. Useful to clueless!teenage!me, who was a bit in over my head regarding things like jump-point mass and how to follow implications/nuances in inter-alien communication; but also sort of grating/annoying, because I had to wait for The Explanation instead of following the story. Now that I'm older and love the Chanur series, I suspect it's just something Cherryh does habitually; wonder if she was an English major, who never dropped the habit of "repeat your thesis in the conclusion"? :D
The other thing is, well, I think it's partly Bren's own nature -- I remember someone commented that he seemed to do best when he just reacted instead of thinking too much, and I replied that that was rare because Bren is always thinking! In six directions at once. Including doubting himself, which is mentioned a couple times in the book -- that a decent paidhi has to continually double-check his own thinking because the languages don't overlap neatly and it's very hard to strain the instinctive human responses out of your, well, responses.
Which brings up why Cherryh would decide to write so cerebral and questioning a character... maybe because it's already her own natural impulse to dissect and explain? *grins*
I think I must have adapted to her unusual pacing somewhere between Chanur and Foreigner; at least, on my last reread of Chanur I didn't really notice the things that had bugged me before, re: her habit of summarising (and, now you bring it up, Pyanfar's habit of thinking out every possible doublecross and consequence).
Erm, don't let me put you off the possibility of reading Chanur, though? :D Nonhuman-POV first contact! Whyyyyyyy are there not more of them?!
no subject
why the book didn't work for me, if you want to know
I do! I'm always curious about what other readers do/seek/dislike/need in a (sci-fi or fantasy) novel. :D
something would happen [...] Bren would think about what happened. What could have happened. What should have happened.
This is... partly something of a trend with Cherryh, I think. I do remember that the first novel I read by her was the first in the Chanur series, and I had trouble following it -- until everything was laid out and explained in the last twenty-five pages or so. And that that seemed to be how the next two worked, too. Useful to clueless!teenage!me, who was a bit in over my head regarding things like jump-point mass and how to follow implications/nuances in inter-alien communication; but also sort of grating/annoying, because I had to wait for The Explanation instead of following the story. Now that I'm older and love the Chanur series, I suspect it's just something Cherryh does habitually; wonder if she was an English major, who never dropped the habit of "repeat your thesis in the conclusion"? :D
The other thing is, well, I think it's partly Bren's own nature -- I remember someone commented that he seemed to do best when he just reacted instead of thinking too much, and I replied that that was rare because Bren is always thinking! In six directions at once. Including doubting himself, which is mentioned a couple times in the book -- that a decent paidhi has to continually double-check his own thinking because the languages don't overlap neatly and it's very hard to strain the instinctive human responses out of your, well, responses.
Which brings up why Cherryh would decide to write so cerebral and questioning a character... maybe because it's already her own natural impulse to dissect and explain? *grins*
I think I must have adapted to her unusual pacing somewhere between Chanur and Foreigner; at least, on my last reread of Chanur I didn't really notice the things that had bugged me before, re: her habit of summarising (and, now you bring it up, Pyanfar's habit of thinking out every possible doublecross and consequence).
Erm, don't let me put you off the possibility of reading Chanur, though? :D Nonhuman-POV first contact! Whyyyyyyy are there not more of them?!