arthurbdd's review
4.0
Imaginative adventure story set in a cosmic backwater - a world that has backslid into an earlier phase of technological development as a result of far-off galactic politics isolating it. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/2022/02/14/girl-with-the-pole/
aramsamsam's review against another edition
2.0
Der Weltenbau war so interessant. Die Story dann aber weniger.
codexmendoza's review
4.0
My favorite combination of fantasy, romance and machiavellian politics. Altair is an interesting and unusual heroine, although her canal speak (or maybe just Cherryh's writing?) gave me a bit of a headache. Might need to give this a re-read later though since I was sleepy when I read it the first time.
crownoflaurel's review
2.0
As the second C.J. Cherryh series I've read, I'm beginning to see that the things that did/did not work in [b:The Pride of Chanur|1197129|The Pride of Chanur (Chanur, #1)|C.J. Cherryh|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1316468938s/1197129.jpg|983695] might be hallmarks of the author's style. This had the same strong world building, overuse of cant/slang/swearing (non-traditional speech patterns), fast paced action scenes.
While I understand that this book is just the start of a multi-book adventure (following up with many short stories), the ending seemed a little anti-climatiic. Altair, however, is a rather refreshing character.
While I understand that this book is just the start of a multi-book adventure (following up with many short stories), the ending seemed a little anti-climatiic. Altair, however, is a rather refreshing character.
murraycampobianco's review
4.0
I've always wanted to run an RPG in the world of this prequel to a series of shared world anthologies which was surprisingly excellent due to Cherryh's strong editing of the varied contributors - even the difficult and annoying Janet Morris.
The main characters are entertaining and likeable and bring their difficulties to an interesting and satisfying conclusion.
Nicely different feel to most sci-fi.
The main characters are entertaining and likeable and bring their difficulties to an interesting and satisfying conclusion.
Nicely different feel to most sci-fi.
terminatee's review
4.0
Sci-fi that takes place on another planet; but very little science actually except in the Appendix.
kellswitch's review
3.0
It was fun to revisit this book, it was one of my favorites back in the 80's, I loved the whole series before moving on to harder Scifi.
It doesn't hold up quite as well as I was hoping it would but I can't tell if it's the writing itself or my tastes have changed.
I do wish, and I remember wishing this back then as well, that the story was told from both the main characters perspectives instead of just Altair Jones's and I find I wish it even more now.
It was fun though and I would like to read the rest of the books, but I don't think I want to enough to buy them and sadly, they aren't in my library's system.
It doesn't hold up quite as well as I was hoping it would but I can't tell if it's the writing itself or my tastes have changed.
I do wish, and I remember wishing this back then as well, that the story was told from both the main characters perspectives instead of just Altair Jones's and I find I wish it even more now.
It was fun though and I would like to read the rest of the books, but I don't think I want to enough to buy them and sadly, they aren't in my library's system.
aimee70807's review
5.0
This must have been the first book I read by C.J Cherryh. I distinctly remember reading it and the gut-deep feeling it evoked, but didn't recall anything about the characters or plot. I also didn't realize that it was by one of my favorite authors, so I can only guess I read it before any of her other books and didn't put two and two together.
I stumbled across the book again this week and remembered the cover but nothing inside, so decided to reread it. Despite pretending to be science fiction, this book is just a really good fantasy tale of a spunky heroine in a medieval Venice-like environment. It's "science fiction" the same way the Pern books are, but is vastly superior in writing, characters, and plot.
I stumbled across the book again this week and remembered the cover but nothing inside, so decided to reread it. Despite pretending to be science fiction, this book is just a really good fantasy tale of a spunky heroine in a medieval Venice-like environment. It's "science fiction" the same way the Pern books are, but is vastly superior in writing, characters, and plot.
myxomycetes's review
5.0
This novel set down the "rules" for the Merovingen shared world series that appeared around the same time as the first Thieves' World series and as such were on the store shelves when I first started reading SF and Fantasy. (Just looking at a cover by Tim Hildebrandt is enough to make me utterly weak with nostalgia.)
Fans of Ellen Kushner's Riverside should check this out. It's a bit more skullduggery and RPG sourcebooky than Kushner, but Cherryh's prose is pretty phenomenal.
Fans of Ellen Kushner's Riverside should check this out. It's a bit more skullduggery and RPG sourcebooky than Kushner, but Cherryh's prose is pretty phenomenal.
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