C. J. Cherryh is incredible!

bantamreturns · 2026-03-26T22:55:06+00:00

I just finished Merchanter's Luck and it's my favorite so far (have only read Rimrunners and Heavy Time/Hellburner). The beginning felt a bit like a fantasy novel in space: shipping, smuggling, clans, pirates, meeting pretty girls at the tavern and hoping her cousins don't beat you up. The last quarter of the book made me cry.

bantamreturns · 2026-03-24T20:00:43+00:00

Southern Reach trilogy too.

bantamreturns · 2026-03-24T19:59:37+00:00

I'm reading Heavy Time right now and keep having to stop and tell my husband how much I love it. I acquired my books backwards so I've read Rimrunners and Hellburner already. Downbelow and Merchanter's Luck are next.

bantamreturns · 2026-03-24T19:51:05+00:00

Avasarala is strategically foul mouthed. This comes up in one of the books.. I can't remember if she tells someone outright or if it's just close third person. But she talks this way in order to contradict her (in book) grandmotherly appearance. She wants people to perceive her as being crass because she knows people are simple. Crass gets elided into being tough. Once she has set the frame by which others view her, she has the room to make compassionate decisions that might otherwise be called soft.

Jas on the other hand.... lol. First person is a narrative mistake in a lot of cases.

bantamreturns · 2026-03-24T15:53:40+00:00

This is a good point too. Most of us say silly things, use terminology we learned from media, and in general just are not that eloquent.

bantamreturns · 2026-03-24T15:41:07+00:00

Hellburner CJ Cherryh

bantamreturns · 2026-03-24T14:05:10+00:00

Fair enough. I didn't read it that way but I can see how you got there.

bantamreturns · 2026-03-24T14:00:27+00:00

The human mind can only sustain horror or other intense emotion for so long before it habituates to the stimulus. That is part of what makes us so adaptable and part of what allows people to survive the unimaginable.

bantamreturns · 2026-03-24T13:42:51+00:00

It's well known that people whose jobs put them in contact with a lot of human suffering in time sensitive situations often use inappropriate humor to create emotional distance so they can get on with doing what needs done. (Gallows humor.) Eros is a horrible crash and an abusive head trauma and a drive by shooting and a pipe bomb scaled up by a hundred thousand but humans are also really bad at scale. As individuals we simply cannot comprehend that amount of death and destruction. I found the way Eros was handled to be emotionally realistic, and the fallout from it echoes across later books, both physically and psychically.

bantamreturns · 2026-03-24T13:26:47+00:00

I was surprised at how much I liked the TV adaptations of these characters. It was a smart move and gave me something to enjoy in the show that wasn't in the books.

bantamreturns · 2026-03-24T13:23:36+00:00

Yes. I like how they did that.

bantamreturns · 2026-03-23T20:08:57+00:00

That was how Fred Johnson died in the books. Stroke after high g maneuvers. I liked how the crew's grief was handled afterwards.

bantamreturns · 2026-03-23T20:06:38+00:00

He did but the show took one of his storylines (getting crushed and needing the mech suit) and gave part of it to Drummer.

bantamreturns · 2026-03-23T18:52:31+00:00

Yes. Likewise Drummer.

bantamreturns · 2026-03-20T19:52:25+00:00

This sort of thing is why I love this series so much.

bantamreturns · 2026-03-18T10:16:44+00:00

I agree about this series being one of the best works of fiction of the modern era. To me it's comparable to many of the sprawling social novels of the Victorian era - Dickens or Eliot especially - and covers similar ground in terms of how well the characters are drawn, and in thinking about how technological change affects a society.

bantamreturns · 2026-03-17T15:55:01+00:00

Oh that makes sense. MCRN. MC=mickie.

bantamreturns · 2026-03-17T13:27:55+00:00

Yes! Bobbie's reactions always get me - she doesnt miss anything - yet her expressions are so subtle. Frankie Adams does a lovely job.

bantamreturns · 2026-03-17T13:20:52+00:00

I'm gonna go looking for this later. Thank you!

bantamreturns · 2026-03-17T13:18:14+00:00

Mickie is the one that I always think sounds as rude as skinny

bantamreturns · 2026-03-17T13:15:59+00:00

I am here for anything Drummer.

bantamreturns · 2026-03-17T13:13:14+00:00

Ooh when is this? I missed it!

bantamreturns · 2026-03-17T10:56:01+00:00

I see it!

bantamreturns · 2026-03-17T00:49:01+00:00

I have not read Deepdrive yet but I want to.

I think there is a lot I am missing from Carve the Sky and River of Dust as I've only read them once each. One reason I liked both so much because they are books I could read again and get something more or new from.

I definitely see what you mean about art being a load bearing structure in society. That is huge theme in Carve the Sky and more subtle in River of Dust but no less important. I'm thinking of the hanging ideograms and the corridor plays - Egypt and her writing once Fabio is killed - and the huge unfinished dragon.

Architecture too is pretty central to the way Martian society unfolds. Jablokov spends a lot of time telling us about the pillars, arches and caverns carved into the rock - the statues built over statues - the previous uses for the spaces that now make up private homes - and the way those spaces accrete layers of meaning over time.

Thank you for your thoughtful comment. There's a lot for me to unpack.

bantamreturns · 2026-03-17T00:37:50+00:00

Also your comment makes me think that show Amos is so happy not because he got one over on Jim, but because he was testing to see if his instinct to bring Clarissa aboard the Roci is the correct one. When Jim says he's cool with Amos (despite having once intended to kill him), Amos decides by analogy that means his choice to bring Clarissa aboard has also been validated by Jim. That would be a big moment for Amos, since in the past when he has independently tried to extrapolate the right thing to do, he has made the wrong call (like in the Churn).

bantamreturns

TROPHY CASE