It becomes very multidimensional when you have to think cross-culturally in the context of multiple cultures. Conclusion: The second book in the series, while still bursting with action, is primarily a book of political intrigue. Her stellar diction combined with her emotional delivery make this an amazing bit of narration. Some of the names are hard to pronounce or extremely similar sounding, however, she delivers each well. Dina Pearlman does an amazing job with the narration. Gods rot it, one does what they have to for family, even walk to traps, or so they say. He offered them to her if she would but follow him to the station Mkks. She's on a mission to rescue Hilfy, Pyanfar's niece, and the human Tully from the Kif (dangerous double jawed humanoid aliens) Sikkukuk. One does what one must when it comes to clan and crew though. It's bad enough she has to put up with, the gods be damned, Vigilance, but the other unwelcome bedfellow is the Mehendo'sat. You would think being a Hani captain (A humanoid cat like race) would matter for something. With that in mind, if you want to avoid spoilers stop reading now. It's nearly impossible to review a book in series like this without having a few spoilers. This is the second book in the Chanur's Venture trilogy. I recently listened to The Kif Strike Back written by C. comms and mechanical translators - has disappeared. The technical effects that appeared in the first part of the trilogy to enhance the performance - to emulate e.g. The creative choice that makes the kif sound like the Siamese cats in Disney’s Lady and the Tramp is also unfortunate. If I had my choice I would have chosen a less soprano tone for the bevvy of leonine hani women and put them more in the alto range. The performance is decent - but with the increase of tongue-twisting kif names it becomes very problematic when the performer mangles names to make them easier to pronounce - for example the station Kshshti becomes “Keshti”, and the kifish gift Skukkuk becomes “Sikukuk”, which makes the character difficult to distinguish from the story’s main antagonist, the kifish hakkikt Sikkukkut. The book is full of turns of phrase that is very likely to stick with the listener to enrich their vocabulary for years to come. Cherryh is without question the unsurpassed mistress of portraying alienness - aliens who aren’t just visually different from humans, but who think differently, have different instincts, and talk a language full of words that can’t easily be translated because it assumes fundamental concepts born out of a very different psychology. When the human enters the story, his entirely human behaviour is described as alien and seemingly irrational - and the reader accepts it as such. The truly masterful stroke here is how the book flips the meta perspective: Cherryh uses ordinary English to normalise the (to the reader) alien viewpoint of the protagonist and the culture she inhabits, and makes the reader accept them as norm. And while important machinations take place, Pyanfar’s kind heart and sense of honour slowly makes the Pride resemble a zoo… The technology of the Compact is, as in the first part of the trilogy and the preceding standalone story, advanced but certainly not near-magical as it often can be in Science Fiction - the technology is described in a very tangible way that makes it seem utterly realistic. The main character, Pyanfar Chanur, gets to use all the aptitude for wily intrigues that her hani heritage and her position as a favoured daughter of an important house on Anuurn has given her the chance to develop. The plot is thickening fast, and while it does so we get to know the kif in greater depth. The story is part two of a trilogy set in the fascinating world we first encountered in the first Chanur story “The Pride of Chanur” and continues the story of the ship’s hazardous encounter with the alien species humans - and the Byzantine intrigues the changing situation engenders in the trade compact where the tale is set.
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