RUTH F. (ruthy) reviewed on 3/19/2008 + 56 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 3

I loved this whole series. It jump started my love of the C.J. Cherryh books. This particular book has the first 3 books about the Chanur dynasty in alien (to humans) space. The Chanur beings are leonine in body and very intelligent. Their race is called the Hani. Humans come into the picture mainly as a "new" race that is vaguely threatening to the other space-faring races known to their part of the cosmos. All of them are scary and very alien. One human male seeks sanctuary with the Chanur clan from another who got him from a very threatening (to all) race. The Chanur's race is one in which females are the dominant figures because the males (as a result of their sexual natures) aren't trusted to be able to do business without "macho" feuds breaking out. They are considered very unstable and are left out of any space business. The one human is of course male. He is both a thorn in their side and a blessing in disguise for them. There is a lot of action and many times I wasn't sure what had happened, but knew it had happened - so I had to reread it to get some idea of what was going on. I didn't mind this at all because I found this book of books to be delightful. (This series is one of the very few I consider enjoyable reading a second and third time.) This volume opens up the series for lots of changes down the road - and opens their space for lots of action down the line. There is non-stop action in the first 2 books and the story line calms down in the third only to open up later for the final 2 novels. Highly recommend if you like space science fiction.

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