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The Company Wars #6
Tripoint
Merchanter Cargo Chief Marie Hawkins has never forgiven the crime, nor sought justice. Only vengeance. And, for 23 years, the Hawkins's clan ship, Sprite, has lived with her vendetta - and with her son, Tom, the boy sired in the violent assault.
Marie's attacker, Austin Bowe, is captain of the Corinthian. When both ships dock at Mariner Station, Marie vanishes and Tom searches for his mother...only to find himself trapped on Austin's ship with a half-brother he never knew he had and a crew fanatically loyal to Bowe. Now as the Corinthian flees the pursuing Sprite and a raider guns after both, the lives on board the two Merchanter ships are in the hands of Tom Hawkins. To save them all, Tom must trust his sworn enemy...
His father.
377 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1994
10 people are currently reading
922 people want to read
About the author
C.J. Cherryh
292 books3,559 followersCurrently resident in Spokane, Washington, C.J. Cherryh has won four Hugos and is one of the best-selling and most critically acclaimed authors in the science fiction and fantasy field. She is the author of more than forty novels. Her hobbies include travel, photography, reef culture, Mariners baseball, and, a late passion, figure skating: she intends to compete in the adult USFSA track. She began with the modest ambition to learn to skate backwards and now is working on jumps. She sketches, occasionally, cooks fairly well, and hates house work; she loves the outdoors, animals wild and tame, is a hobbyist geologist, adores dinosaurs, and has academic specialties in Roman constitutional law and bronze age Greek ethnography. She has written science fiction since she was ten, spent ten years of her life teaching Latin and Ancient History on the high school level, before retiring to full time writing, and now does not have enough hours in the day to pursue all her interests. Her studies include planetary geology, weather systems, and natural and man-made catastrophes, civilizations, and cosmology…in fact, there's very little that doesn't interest her. A loom is gathering dust and needs rethreading, a wooden ship model awaits construction, and the cats demand their own time much more urgently. She works constantly, researches mostly on the internet, and has books stacked up and waiting to be written.
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April 7, 2016
C. J. Cherryh is a frustrating writer. I'm admitting it. I'm saying it out loud. She frustrates me. I've read a ton of her books, and I still have more on my to-read shelf, and I will read them. I will read all of them, every one. But she frustrates me. She is receiving the Damon Knight Grandmaster Award for Lifetime Achievement later this year, and when I found out, I was so glad, because she well deserves it. In fact, it's about time. What the hell took them so long? But dammit, there's a reason why it's taken so long - 'cause her books aren't good enough! They're just not. They're great, okay? They're very good. She's a very good writer, a unique writer, a special and distinct and essential writer, one who does things in the science fiction genre that no one else does, and so we need her. We really need her. Because her fiction is important. But her books are not good enough, Christ, they're never good enough. This makes me angry, because she's great, one of my favorites, but she's like a best friend that keeps disappointing, maybe because you know how good she can be. You know she can do better. You know she can be the best. But she never quite gets there.
Her work is always better when considered as a whole, I think, because none of her individual titles are entirely satisfying, and yet the cumulative effect of all these novels is considerable. I keep coming back because there is something about her world, her attitude, and her style that is addictive, that begs for deeper understanding. You always want more after reading a Cherryh book. But after each novel, there is still that nagging feeling of things unsaid, of narratives abandoned, of conclusions unreached, of perfection just out of reach….every novel makes you feel like you’re getting closer to that sweet spot, but you never arrive. Tripoint followed that pattern to a T. It started very strongly, and stayed strong for much of its length. But as the climax approached, Cherryh started to fall into all her bad habits, and I was so upset as it happened, I felt it happening, I said, "No, Cherryh, no, don't do that, you always do that!" and she did it anyway, and in the end, I was left with that same feeling I often get from Cherryh’s writing: so close, so close. What’s stopping you, C. J.? There are certain standard modes of storytelling, certain tropes and tools that all good writers use, that if she just deigned to use them, just a little bit, and welded them to her own personal style, she would create magic. But she doesn't. It's like she deliberately thumbs her nose at the standard, well-worn rules of narrative fiction, even when they would HELP, goddammit.
It starts with a fantastic feat of character creation. Marie is a rape victim from 23 years ago. Her family aboard ship all think she’s unstable and unruly, and they’re right. They treat her like a Problem, because she can’t just get the hell over it. The rapist is a Captain of his own ship, and every time her ship passes by his, she plots vengeance, putting the business and the livelihood of her entire family at risk. Her relationship with her son, the product of that rape, is so realistic and so broken, it’s almost embarrassing. The son begs for love in obvious ways, and Marie responds by hating him for being his father's son. But she won't say outright that she hates him. She pushes and pulls and pushes and pulls, destroying his ability to ever feel happy or comfortable in his own skin for the rest of his life. Every bit of dialogue between mother and son is just slathered with gaping, festering wounds, and I was very impressed, even surprised, by how raw and believable the characterization was. Marie is a wonderfully realized character, a bracingly authentic depiction of a woman with PTSD from which she has never healed, a woman who sees the world in terms of winners and losers, and who absolutely refuses to let the man “get away with it,” even after 23 years. Cherryh is adept at capturing the psychology of broken people, and Marie is one of her finest creations. She twists everyone’s words, sees herself as a victim, acts tough and superior, but falls to pieces instantly. She is irrational, vengeful, unforgiving, cold, and childish. She is also brilliant and persuasive and courageous and, possibly, right. She is as complex as people I know. You want to throttle her. But you feel bad for her. Then you become a recruit, because she’s so damn convincing. She controls every person she interacts with by sheer force of rage and intellect. Marie felt so real that when she's on the rampage, it almost gave me an anxiety attack.
And then both ships are docked at the same station. And Tom, the son, while on some misbegotten mission to impress his mother, sneaks into his father’s cargo hold, looking for evidence to legally incriminate him. The crew catch him and abduct him. He is taken aboard his father’s ship. He’s put in a cell, handcuffed to the wall, and beaten mercilessly. The ship flies off. Marie and her ship take chase, not because Marie loves her son but because she won't let the bastard WIN. Tom is eventually let out of the brig and given some mundane jobs around the ship. Everyone tries to figure out what to do with him. He tries to figure out what to do with himself. And Marie, at this point, gets sidelined for most of the rest of the novel, which is too bad since she’s the highlight. In her place is Tom, young, neurotic, self-hating, without a place on his own ship, let alone this one, and trying to come to terms with his new surroundings, his real father, his newfound half-brother, and himself. Cherryh’s narrative approach is always very internal; she is interested in the vicissitudes of human psychology. She can spend ten pages in the head of a character sitting in a cell on a strange ship, tracing the stream of worries, fears, and thoughts, each leading to the next. She has a sensational grasp of how flows the human mind, and these sections are so detailed, containing such a careful examination of how human thought pursues itself, that they really must be admired.
Also wonderful, as always, is Cherryh’s presentation of a living, breathing outer space culture. More than almost any science fiction author I can think of, Cherryh powerfully imagines the environment and day-to-day lives of people living in space - the dockside, the bars with the dancefloors, the unionized workers, the station offices, the broken equipment lying about, it’s all so real, so filled, so observant. The scene setting in this novel is exquisite. The politics are also very apt - there is constant conflict between station-law and ship-law. And there is a marvelous passage in the middle of the novel where Tom and a woman from his new ship come onto Pell Station (otherwise known as Downbelow Station) for the evening. The whole passage is excellent, a well-observed and touching romance set in the corridors and restaurants and bedrooms of a thriving, bustling space station, one with its own culture, its own rules, its own feeling. In this passage, Cherryh even goes against her own usual instincts of rushing through the plot, as if she herself realized she should slow down and enjoy the masterful setting she herself had created.
But then there's the plot. So many promising plot developments that go nowhere. So many! This is also one of Cherryh’s specialties: suggesting avenues of exploration and then unceremoniously dropping them. It's like she's impatient, like she has no time for them. Here is an example: there is a fascinating mystery about “jumpspace.” No one, not the merchanters, not the scientists, not the engineers, no one, knows what really goes on in hyperspace, when ships jump. Everyone loses consciousness. Scientific instruments do not function in hyperspace. People remember things that couldn’t have happened. Folklore has emerged. And Tom, new on the ship, feeling out of place, wakes up from a jump and vaguely remembers a woman whispering in his ear, a warning that “they” will be found in deep space, a naked body pressed to his, sexual release….and then convinces himself he just dreamed it. He refers to this hallucination as “the nightwalker.” He experiences it again, every time the ship jumps. He fears someone, immune to the coma of hyperspace, is walking the halls of the ship during the jumps, while the rest of the crew is asleep, and assaulting him where he lies. Perhaps he inherited rape fears from his mother. Or perhaps there is a nightwalker, speaking to him, touching him in the impossible void of hyperspace, leaving only dim, barely accessible memories. This is creepy stuff. The answer, though, when it comes, is like a deflating balloon, and the whole thing is dismissed as if unimportant, as if Cherryh desperately needs to get to something else. Tom also befriends a lovely character named Tink, a rough, tattooed biker-type who, as a hobby, makes pastries delicately glazed with icing flowers. Tink also appreciates real flowers, and insists that Tom visit the flower gardens when they arrive at Pell. During Tom’s imprisonment on his father’s ship, Tink befriends Tom, shows him around, makes him feel welcome. Tink is a large part of the reason Tom grows fond of the place. But then, after a while, that relationship is left suspended, and never comes back. It's just forgotten. It’s another promising area of exploration, unfinished. There are class issues here (his family ship was more middle class, while his father’s ship is decidedly working class), but they are mentioned more than explored. The relationship between Marie and Tom isn’t even explored again, after the first third of the book. So many dangling threads, so little cohesion or completion. It’s ironic that so much of this book is about unwanted sexual touching, since, as a reader, all I wanted was for the book to finish what it started.
And then, I really, really began to miss the complexity of Marie. Tom’s internal monologues, his neuroses and trust issues and confidence issues, really started to grate. A woman obviously loves him, and he refuses to believe it, assumes she’s working to betray him. He is a victim, always a victim, scared, confused, insecure, doubtful, and while there are certainly people like that in real life, they do not make terribly effective protagonists in grand space opera adventures. There are no other layers to him. The rest of the crew keep referring to him as honest and strong and good, but I didn’t see any of that. He isn’t super-intelligent, or funny. He never says anything particularly insightful or interesting. By the end, I was tired of his humorlessness and his constant panic. And whenever Cherryh wants to increase tension, to communicate great activity and nervousness as she approaches her novel’s climax, she has this shtick of dropping all the subjects and conjunctions from her sentences: “Got the water shut off, put the anti-vacuum lock back on the drain.” Would it kill her to say "HE"? "HE got the water shut off, AND put the vacuum lock back on the drain"? Did she have no time for that either? Always a rush, always a sense of rushing with C. J. Cherryh. Then, the climax slips into Cherryh’s fallback mode of people yelling incoherent half-sentences at each other on the bridge of a ship while incomprehensible technical gobbledegook breaks all of hell loose and everyone’s afraid they’re going to die, for some reason I can’t figure out. This is how everything is resolved: in a space shoot-out.
What starts as a highly psychological exploration of motherhood, assault, identity, resentment, and revenge, ends in a fast-paced pyrotechnic display of some crazy shit happening when one ship fires on another. And once again, for, like, the hundredth time, I am disappointed with a Cherryh novel. And yet I feel I must keep reading. Again. I must have more of this universe filled in. Because her vision of future humanity is persuasive and powerful, and her insight into human psychology is amazing. And maybe next time, the novel she uses to tell a story in a corner of that universe will work as a complete, self-contained whole, and I will finally feel fulfilled. Or the next time. Or the next time...
Her work is always better when considered as a whole, I think, because none of her individual titles are entirely satisfying, and yet the cumulative effect of all these novels is considerable. I keep coming back because there is something about her world, her attitude, and her style that is addictive, that begs for deeper understanding. You always want more after reading a Cherryh book. But after each novel, there is still that nagging feeling of things unsaid, of narratives abandoned, of conclusions unreached, of perfection just out of reach….every novel makes you feel like you’re getting closer to that sweet spot, but you never arrive. Tripoint followed that pattern to a T. It started very strongly, and stayed strong for much of its length. But as the climax approached, Cherryh started to fall into all her bad habits, and I was so upset as it happened, I felt it happening, I said, "No, Cherryh, no, don't do that, you always do that!" and she did it anyway, and in the end, I was left with that same feeling I often get from Cherryh’s writing: so close, so close. What’s stopping you, C. J.? There are certain standard modes of storytelling, certain tropes and tools that all good writers use, that if she just deigned to use them, just a little bit, and welded them to her own personal style, she would create magic. But she doesn't. It's like she deliberately thumbs her nose at the standard, well-worn rules of narrative fiction, even when they would HELP, goddammit.
It starts with a fantastic feat of character creation. Marie is a rape victim from 23 years ago. Her family aboard ship all think she’s unstable and unruly, and they’re right. They treat her like a Problem, because she can’t just get the hell over it. The rapist is a Captain of his own ship, and every time her ship passes by his, she plots vengeance, putting the business and the livelihood of her entire family at risk. Her relationship with her son, the product of that rape, is so realistic and so broken, it’s almost embarrassing. The son begs for love in obvious ways, and Marie responds by hating him for being his father's son. But she won't say outright that she hates him. She pushes and pulls and pushes and pulls, destroying his ability to ever feel happy or comfortable in his own skin for the rest of his life. Every bit of dialogue between mother and son is just slathered with gaping, festering wounds, and I was very impressed, even surprised, by how raw and believable the characterization was. Marie is a wonderfully realized character, a bracingly authentic depiction of a woman with PTSD from which she has never healed, a woman who sees the world in terms of winners and losers, and who absolutely refuses to let the man “get away with it,” even after 23 years. Cherryh is adept at capturing the psychology of broken people, and Marie is one of her finest creations. She twists everyone’s words, sees herself as a victim, acts tough and superior, but falls to pieces instantly. She is irrational, vengeful, unforgiving, cold, and childish. She is also brilliant and persuasive and courageous and, possibly, right. She is as complex as people I know. You want to throttle her. But you feel bad for her. Then you become a recruit, because she’s so damn convincing. She controls every person she interacts with by sheer force of rage and intellect. Marie felt so real that when she's on the rampage, it almost gave me an anxiety attack.
And then both ships are docked at the same station. And Tom, the son, while on some misbegotten mission to impress his mother, sneaks into his father’s cargo hold, looking for evidence to legally incriminate him. The crew catch him and abduct him. He is taken aboard his father’s ship. He’s put in a cell, handcuffed to the wall, and beaten mercilessly. The ship flies off. Marie and her ship take chase, not because Marie loves her son but because she won't let the bastard WIN. Tom is eventually let out of the brig and given some mundane jobs around the ship. Everyone tries to figure out what to do with him. He tries to figure out what to do with himself. And Marie, at this point, gets sidelined for most of the rest of the novel, which is too bad since she’s the highlight. In her place is Tom, young, neurotic, self-hating, without a place on his own ship, let alone this one, and trying to come to terms with his new surroundings, his real father, his newfound half-brother, and himself. Cherryh’s narrative approach is always very internal; she is interested in the vicissitudes of human psychology. She can spend ten pages in the head of a character sitting in a cell on a strange ship, tracing the stream of worries, fears, and thoughts, each leading to the next. She has a sensational grasp of how flows the human mind, and these sections are so detailed, containing such a careful examination of how human thought pursues itself, that they really must be admired.
Also wonderful, as always, is Cherryh’s presentation of a living, breathing outer space culture. More than almost any science fiction author I can think of, Cherryh powerfully imagines the environment and day-to-day lives of people living in space - the dockside, the bars with the dancefloors, the unionized workers, the station offices, the broken equipment lying about, it’s all so real, so filled, so observant. The scene setting in this novel is exquisite. The politics are also very apt - there is constant conflict between station-law and ship-law. And there is a marvelous passage in the middle of the novel where Tom and a woman from his new ship come onto Pell Station (otherwise known as Downbelow Station) for the evening. The whole passage is excellent, a well-observed and touching romance set in the corridors and restaurants and bedrooms of a thriving, bustling space station, one with its own culture, its own rules, its own feeling. In this passage, Cherryh even goes against her own usual instincts of rushing through the plot, as if she herself realized she should slow down and enjoy the masterful setting she herself had created.
But then there's the plot. So many promising plot developments that go nowhere. So many! This is also one of Cherryh’s specialties: suggesting avenues of exploration and then unceremoniously dropping them. It's like she's impatient, like she has no time for them. Here is an example: there is a fascinating mystery about “jumpspace.” No one, not the merchanters, not the scientists, not the engineers, no one, knows what really goes on in hyperspace, when ships jump. Everyone loses consciousness. Scientific instruments do not function in hyperspace. People remember things that couldn’t have happened. Folklore has emerged. And Tom, new on the ship, feeling out of place, wakes up from a jump and vaguely remembers a woman whispering in his ear, a warning that “they” will be found in deep space, a naked body pressed to his, sexual release….and then convinces himself he just dreamed it. He refers to this hallucination as “the nightwalker.” He experiences it again, every time the ship jumps. He fears someone, immune to the coma of hyperspace, is walking the halls of the ship during the jumps, while the rest of the crew is asleep, and assaulting him where he lies. Perhaps he inherited rape fears from his mother. Or perhaps there is a nightwalker, speaking to him, touching him in the impossible void of hyperspace, leaving only dim, barely accessible memories. This is creepy stuff. The answer, though, when it comes, is like a deflating balloon, and the whole thing is dismissed as if unimportant, as if Cherryh desperately needs to get to something else. Tom also befriends a lovely character named Tink, a rough, tattooed biker-type who, as a hobby, makes pastries delicately glazed with icing flowers. Tink also appreciates real flowers, and insists that Tom visit the flower gardens when they arrive at Pell. During Tom’s imprisonment on his father’s ship, Tink befriends Tom, shows him around, makes him feel welcome. Tink is a large part of the reason Tom grows fond of the place. But then, after a while, that relationship is left suspended, and never comes back. It's just forgotten. It’s another promising area of exploration, unfinished. There are class issues here (his family ship was more middle class, while his father’s ship is decidedly working class), but they are mentioned more than explored. The relationship between Marie and Tom isn’t even explored again, after the first third of the book. So many dangling threads, so little cohesion or completion. It’s ironic that so much of this book is about unwanted sexual touching, since, as a reader, all I wanted was for the book to finish what it started.
And then, I really, really began to miss the complexity of Marie. Tom’s internal monologues, his neuroses and trust issues and confidence issues, really started to grate. A woman obviously loves him, and he refuses to believe it, assumes she’s working to betray him. He is a victim, always a victim, scared, confused, insecure, doubtful, and while there are certainly people like that in real life, they do not make terribly effective protagonists in grand space opera adventures. There are no other layers to him. The rest of the crew keep referring to him as honest and strong and good, but I didn’t see any of that. He isn’t super-intelligent, or funny. He never says anything particularly insightful or interesting. By the end, I was tired of his humorlessness and his constant panic. And whenever Cherryh wants to increase tension, to communicate great activity and nervousness as she approaches her novel’s climax, she has this shtick of dropping all the subjects and conjunctions from her sentences: “Got the water shut off, put the anti-vacuum lock back on the drain.” Would it kill her to say "HE"? "HE got the water shut off, AND put the vacuum lock back on the drain"? Did she have no time for that either? Always a rush, always a sense of rushing with C. J. Cherryh. Then, the climax slips into Cherryh’s fallback mode of people yelling incoherent half-sentences at each other on the bridge of a ship while incomprehensible technical gobbledegook breaks all of hell loose and everyone’s afraid they’re going to die, for some reason I can’t figure out. This is how everything is resolved: in a space shoot-out.
What starts as a highly psychological exploration of motherhood, assault, identity, resentment, and revenge, ends in a fast-paced pyrotechnic display of some crazy shit happening when one ship fires on another. And once again, for, like, the hundredth time, I am disappointed with a Cherryh novel. And yet I feel I must keep reading. Again. I must have more of this universe filled in. Because her vision of future humanity is persuasive and powerful, and her insight into human psychology is amazing. And maybe next time, the novel she uses to tell a story in a corner of that universe will work as a complete, self-contained whole, and I will finally feel fulfilled. Or the next time. Or the next time...
April 7, 2025
20 years ago: Marie Hawkins of the merchanter Sprite finds herself in a dockside sleepover with Austin Bowe of the merchanter Corinthian and, well, things go just about as badly as they possibly could.
Today: Tom Hawkins, son of Marie and Austin, raised on Sprite by Marie (well, to one degree or another) who has never forgotten and most certainly never forgiven Austin for what he did in that sleepover, oh, no, and she's tried to pass as much of that on to her son as possible.
Also, on Corinthian: Tom's slightly younger half-brother Christian (whose mother actually joined Corinthian's crew so that she could be with his father); and Austin Bowe, all other things being equal, would probably have preferred not to have been saddled with a son at all. (To say nothing of that other son he knows about; and whose mother has a habit of sending very matter-of-factly threatening messages).
And (through freak circumstance; or maybe by Marie's machinations? She's a damn' fine cargo officer, almost supernaturally good at playing the markets, buying low and selling high, and, as such, has a fair bit to say about which stations Sprite visits, and when) Sprite finds itself docked on Viking Station at the same time as Corinthian and Tom (through a certain amount of youthful damnfoolery, both by himself and by his heretofore unknown half brother) finds himself locked in the brig on Corinthian when she launches for Pell Station via Tripoint, and, well, this is the sort of thing that's going to have consequences, isn't it?
(Especially given the fact that Corinthian has always been a ship with an ... iffy reputation, and there are still some of those Mazianni carriers out in the deep dark and someone has to be keeping them supplied ...)
Today: Tom Hawkins, son of Marie and Austin, raised on Sprite by Marie (well, to one degree or another) who has never forgotten and most certainly never forgiven Austin for what he did in that sleepover, oh, no, and she's tried to pass as much of that on to her son as possible.
Also, on Corinthian: Tom's slightly younger half-brother Christian (whose mother actually joined Corinthian's crew so that she could be with his father); and Austin Bowe, all other things being equal, would probably have preferred not to have been saddled with a son at all. (To say nothing of that other son he knows about; and whose mother has a habit of sending very matter-of-factly threatening messages).
And (through freak circumstance; or maybe by Marie's machinations? She's a damn' fine cargo officer, almost supernaturally good at playing the markets, buying low and selling high, and, as such, has a fair bit to say about which stations Sprite visits, and when) Sprite finds itself docked on Viking Station at the same time as Corinthian and Tom (through a certain amount of youthful damnfoolery, both by himself and by his heretofore unknown half brother) finds himself locked in the brig on Corinthian when she launches for Pell Station via Tripoint, and, well, this is the sort of thing that's going to have consequences, isn't it?
(Especially given the fact that Corinthian has always been a ship with an ... iffy reputation, and there are still some of those Mazianni carriers out in the deep dark and someone has to be keeping them supplied ...)
July 13, 2018
Normally, I enjoy Cherryh’s work a lot—but this novel I struggled with. It’s that whole “story based entirely on a rape” scenario that I have a hard time with. I’m having exactly the same difficulty with Stephen R. Donaldson’s Gap series, which I still plan to continue on with and it’s the reason that I stopped reading Donaldson’s Thomas Covenant series after two books.
I had hoped that Cherryh would make Marie Hawkins a more understandable character, a woman who had a son as a result of a long-ago rape and dealt with it. Instead, it seemed to me that Marie was pretty unstable and had made her son Tom’s mental state questionable too. Is it a good thing when the son is better off as a prisoner/crew member with his pirate father than with his mother on a family ship? I guess this is Cherryh’s exploration of some of those problems that we can’t seem to get rid of, rape and child abuse. I don’t know about you, but I really want to believe that we can conquer those problems before we make it into space. Perhaps I watched too much Star Trek as a child.
The ending made me happier with the book, so if you find yourself floundering during the first chapters like I did, I would encourage you to read on. I’m not saying the end justifies the means, but I was quite satisfied with the end result.
Book number 290 in my Science Fiction and Fantasy reading project.
I had hoped that Cherryh would make Marie Hawkins a more understandable character, a woman who had a son as a result of a long-ago rape and dealt with it. Instead, it seemed to me that Marie was pretty unstable and had made her son Tom’s mental state questionable too. Is it a good thing when the son is better off as a prisoner/crew member with his pirate father than with his mother on a family ship? I guess this is Cherryh’s exploration of some of those problems that we can’t seem to get rid of, rape and child abuse. I don’t know about you, but I really want to believe that we can conquer those problems before we make it into space. Perhaps I watched too much Star Trek as a child.
The ending made me happier with the book, so if you find yourself floundering during the first chapters like I did, I would encourage you to read on. I’m not saying the end justifies the means, but I was quite satisfied with the end result.
Book number 290 in my Science Fiction and Fantasy reading project.
April 5, 2024
This was another breathless tale from Cherryh, perhaps sci-fi's best blue-collar writer, or writer of blue-collar characters. Here we have a kidnapping chase across the galaxy full of emotion and action. Some readers have objected to the fact that the story's initial catalyst is the rape of the protagonist's mother by the captain of the other ship involved in the chase. I wasn't really put off by it because we clearly see the damage that was caused by the violence on her, its impact on her son, and his complex relationship with his father and half-brother. There is a sense that she certainly did not take enough precautions on the station to protect herself, but at no point in the book is the rapist absolved of his own guilt. On the other hand, the fact that she is forced to let it go is sadly the reality for many rape victims, so I found the plot realistic more than anything else.
July 30, 2018
Still working my way through all of C.J. Cherryh's merchanter novels! Merchanter's Luck remains my favourite, but I liked Tripoint much, much better than Rimrunners. Right out of the gate, I was struck by its gutsy storyline that I've never seen properly explored before: a spacer named Marie Hawkins was sexually assaulted 20 years ago, thus creating a feud between her ship and that of her attacker's, and additionally leaving her with a son that she never wanted.
Tom Bowe-Hawkins has been branded with the name of his mother's rapist, and never quite fit in with the Family of his own ship as a result -- always looked at askance by his cousins, and heartbreakingly reminded at every turn that he supposedly isn't one of them. Through a variety of circumstances, the ship winds up crossing paths with his mother's assaulter again, which stirs up a hornet's nest that kicks up other chain reactions of problems, including the appearance of far worse enemies (the Mazianni are a terrifying pirate presence in all of these novels, in which even smugglers are scared shitless by them).
And it's just great, because Marie herself is a strong female character who isn't a damsel at all and who has pushed herself past her experience, and made herself into the predator chasing down Bowe for revenge. And I was constantly fascinated and emotionally struck by the semi-abusive, complicated relationship with her son as well: a woman who never wanted to be a mother, saddled with the role nonetheless, a son she occasionally hates because his face reminds her of her nightmarish experience, but she does love him nonetheless. And seeing that progression of their relationship was tangledy and compelling, with Tom so convinced that he is unloved, and Marie as a riled-up mama bear, determined to raise hell to rescue her son at any cost.
(I'm fairly convinced that the surname Hawkins must be a tip of the hat to Treasure Island, too, considering how Tom gets whisked off by criminals, thinks quickly on his feet in order to survive, and winds up sort-of under the wing of a canny, villainous captain.)
I also buckled down for inevitable brother feels, as Tom meets his half-brother Christian on the other ship, and they have to navigate their relationship too: mistrustful rivals, but also seeing the points where they align, the surprisingly parallel upbringings they've endured, their similar desperate yearning for parental acceptance. The troubled relationship between Christian and their father Austin and his mother Beatrice was so good, too. Austin is a goddamned terrible father even for the child he was around for.
I say this in every review, but the continual thread in the merchanter sub-series is about misfits finding found family & home. It's about Tom finding a place where he belongs, and grappling with being too much Bowe for one ship but too much Hawkins for another -- and it's also about Marie's burgeoning maternal instinct.
But there were some odd, unsettling choices that docked a star for me (intensive spoilers below!!):
But still, despite those questionable choices/missteps(?), I loved everything else and so it's 4 stars.
P.S.: Tink is a precious cinnamon roll who must be protected at all costs.
Favourite quotes below, sorta-spoilery, mostly mother/son feelings because wahhhh I love Marie:
Tom Bowe-Hawkins has been branded with the name of his mother's rapist, and never quite fit in with the Family of his own ship as a result -- always looked at askance by his cousins, and heartbreakingly reminded at every turn that he supposedly isn't one of them. Through a variety of circumstances, the ship winds up crossing paths with his mother's assaulter again, which stirs up a hornet's nest that kicks up other chain reactions of problems, including the appearance of far worse enemies (the Mazianni are a terrifying pirate presence in all of these novels, in which even smugglers are scared shitless by them).
And it's just great, because Marie herself is a strong female character who isn't a damsel at all and who has pushed herself past her experience, and made herself into the predator chasing down Bowe for revenge. And I was constantly fascinated and emotionally struck by the semi-abusive, complicated relationship with her son as well: a woman who never wanted to be a mother, saddled with the role nonetheless, a son she occasionally hates because his face reminds her of her nightmarish experience, but she does love him nonetheless. And seeing that progression of their relationship was tangledy and compelling, with Tom so convinced that he is unloved, and Marie as a riled-up mama bear, determined to raise hell to rescue her son at any cost.
(I'm fairly convinced that the surname Hawkins must be a tip of the hat to Treasure Island, too, considering how Tom gets whisked off by criminals, thinks quickly on his feet in order to survive, and winds up sort-of under the wing of a canny, villainous captain.)
I also buckled down for inevitable brother feels, as Tom meets his half-brother Christian on the other ship, and they have to navigate their relationship too: mistrustful rivals, but also seeing the points where they align, the surprisingly parallel upbringings they've endured, their similar desperate yearning for parental acceptance. The troubled relationship between Christian and their father Austin and his mother Beatrice was so good, too. Austin is a goddamned terrible father even for the child he was around for.
I say this in every review, but the continual thread in the merchanter sub-series is about misfits finding found family & home. It's about Tom finding a place where he belongs, and grappling with being too much Bowe for one ship but too much Hawkins for another -- and it's also about Marie's burgeoning maternal instinct.
But there were some odd, unsettling choices that docked a star for me (intensive spoilers below!!):
But still, despite those questionable choices/missteps(?), I loved everything else and so it's 4 stars.
P.S.: Tink is a precious cinnamon roll who must be protected at all costs.
Favourite quotes below, sorta-spoilery, mostly mother/son feelings because wahhhh I love Marie:
May 2, 2019
Oh, Cherryh... I don't know what to make of you. There are times when you blow me away, and times when I'm just completely frustrated. Not infrequently, both moods occur in the space of a single book. I do like your writing, for the most part, but sometimes I wonder about the messaging.
*sigh* So anyway. Tripoint.
20-odd years ago (shiptime), 17-year-old Marie Hawkins (of the merchanter Family ship Sprite) was raped by Austin Bowe (of the dubiously-reputable ship Corinthian). Along with serious psychological consequences, the encounter resulted in a son (Tom). When the book opens, Sprite and Corinthian have found themselves in the same dock for the first time since that encounter. Marie, driven by her need for long-planned revenge, promptly cuts loose, and Tom follows. During the ensuing cat-and-mouse chase, Tom finds himself shanghaied aboard Corinthian, and must find a way to survive on his father's ship.
Insofar as complicated family dynamics are concerned, Tripoint's hard to beat. From the circumstances of Tom's conception, to his treatment on Corinthian, this is a story about power and abuse. But it's not gratuitous. Cherryh uses Marie and Tom's experiences to interrogate rape culture. At various points throughout the book, Marie is accused by her family members (directly and indirectly) of "asking for it," being "irrational" about her experiences, and "exaggerating" the events. Her ensuing psychological malformations manifest in emotional and psychological abuse of her son.
On Corinthian, Tom's younger half-brother Christian has lived an eerily parallel existence. His disinterested mother pawned him off to be raised by her niece, and Austin's opinion of him varies from violent irritation to ambivalence. Tom and Christian's early interactions are unpleasant, but mellow as the book goes on. (This was probably some of the best character interaction in the book).
If you've read Cherryh, you know what to expect from here. Long thoughts about situations, internal monologues, etc. Very well done, for the most part, but if it's something that bugs you, you are NOT going to care for this book. Also, if you are sensitive about sexual subjects, this ain't the book for you. (Not a comment on explicitness, but themes. See spoilers for more.)
But here's the thing. The first two-thirds of the book are character studies--and they're wonderful! And then Cherryh does that thing that I'm starting to expect from her. A thin plot appears! Action happens! The book ends. Justice for the characters involved? Not really.
Some spoilery thoughts before the conclusion:
For all that, it's still better than Rimrunners. Giving this a low 3*.
*sigh* So anyway. Tripoint.
20-odd years ago (shiptime), 17-year-old Marie Hawkins (of the merchanter Family ship Sprite) was raped by Austin Bowe (of the dubiously-reputable ship Corinthian). Along with serious psychological consequences, the encounter resulted in a son (Tom). When the book opens, Sprite and Corinthian have found themselves in the same dock for the first time since that encounter. Marie, driven by her need for long-planned revenge, promptly cuts loose, and Tom follows. During the ensuing cat-and-mouse chase, Tom finds himself shanghaied aboard Corinthian, and must find a way to survive on his father's ship.
Insofar as complicated family dynamics are concerned, Tripoint's hard to beat. From the circumstances of Tom's conception, to his treatment on Corinthian, this is a story about power and abuse. But it's not gratuitous. Cherryh uses Marie and Tom's experiences to interrogate rape culture. At various points throughout the book, Marie is accused by her family members (directly and indirectly) of "asking for it," being "irrational" about her experiences, and "exaggerating" the events. Her ensuing psychological malformations manifest in emotional and psychological abuse of her son.
On Corinthian, Tom's younger half-brother Christian has lived an eerily parallel existence. His disinterested mother pawned him off to be raised by her niece, and Austin's opinion of him varies from violent irritation to ambivalence. Tom and Christian's early interactions are unpleasant, but mellow as the book goes on. (This was probably some of the best character interaction in the book).
If you've read Cherryh, you know what to expect from here. Long thoughts about situations, internal monologues, etc. Very well done, for the most part, but if it's something that bugs you, you are NOT going to care for this book. Also, if you are sensitive about sexual subjects, this ain't the book for you. (Not a comment on explicitness, but themes. See spoilers for more.)
But here's the thing. The first two-thirds of the book are character studies--and they're wonderful! And then Cherryh does that thing that I'm starting to expect from her. A thin plot appears! Action happens! The book ends. Justice for the characters involved? Not really.
Some spoilery thoughts before the conclusion:
For all that, it's still better than Rimrunners. Giving this a low 3*.
November 24, 2023
Les Chants du Néants (1994)
Marie Hawkins, du vaisseau cargo Sprite, a été agressée 20 ans auparavant par Austin Bowe, le capitaine du Corinthian. Un jour que les deux vaisseaux se retrouvent autour de la même station, Marie fomente une vengeance, entrainant derrière elle le fils né de cette agression, Tom, qui se retrouve prisonnier de son père.
Eh.
Pour le coup celui-ci m'a vraiment déçue.
Je n'aime pas du tout tout le délire autour de la femme agressée devenue complètement frapadindue, du dictateur patriarche et du fils en quête de qui est son pôpa -vraiment un livre qui m'a laissée froide.
His father.
Marie Hawkins, du vaisseau cargo Sprite, a été agressée 20 ans auparavant par Austin Bowe, le capitaine du Corinthian. Un jour que les deux vaisseaux se retrouvent autour de la même station, Marie fomente une vengeance, entrainant derrière elle le fils né de cette agression, Tom, qui se retrouve prisonnier de son père.
Eh.
Pour le coup celui-ci m'a vraiment déçue.
Je n'aime pas du tout tout le délire autour de la femme agressée devenue complètement frapadindue, du dictateur patriarche et du fils en quête de qui est son pôpa -vraiment un livre qui m'a laissée froide.
His father.
December 31, 2017
Bravo! The antithesis of space opera, and yet there is opera, just enough. How did I not discover Cherryh until recently? A full realized job of SF world building but this is about the people. Try hard to follow the rapid fire dialogue somewhat reminiscent of hard-boiled detective fiction, as our author follows a new protagonist in the detailed Union/Merchant universe. It’s rare that you find a series where the individual books are complete stories and with new characters; nobody takes that risk now. I haven’t even commented on the story itself, but suffice it to say this one again accelerates in a parabolic curve to the climax, and if there be a bit of a figurative ghost in the machine it doesn’t seem a let-down. Note; there is perhaps a literal ghost in the machine too. Recommended but at least read Downbelow station first.
March 2, 2018
What's worse than being an unintentional stowaway? How about accidentally stowing away on your father's ship? But that's okay, he's never met you before so you have a fresh start and really get to know each other! Oh, but you were conceived via sexual assault and your mom has spent most of your twenty-three years of life telling you about all the different slow ways she'd want him to die? Maybe family gossip shouldn't be the first topic of conversation at dinner. Perhaps go with something safer, like politics or religion.
Most of Cherryh's Merchanter novels involve complex interactions of personalities, all of whom want different things and sometimes those different things depend on a variety of other factors, with the end result being a dense flow-chart as you try to track the various loyalties and conflicts that constantly shift as some get resolved partially and some only deepen.
Tom Hawkins, lucky guy, gets dropped right in the middle of that. Born of the aforementioned assault years ago when mom Marie of the ship "Sprite" and dad Austin of the "Corinthian" had an encounter that, if it started out with some mutual interest it sure didn't end that way and Tom's had to live with aftermath of it ever since, growing up slightly apart on a ship where he's literally related to almost everyone else and watching his mother craft a cookbook that only has one recipe, a stewpot of simmering hatred and rage.
Thanks to scheduling and good luck, the ships haven't crossed paths since then but since random chance helpfully decided that the story needed an excuse to start the two of them wind up docking at the same time. Everyone's concerned that Tom's mom is going to pop open the giant can of vengeance she keeps for just this occasion and so Tom is assigned to keep her out of trouble. But when trouble inevitably arrives, its Tom that gets caught up, snatched and brought aboard the "Corinthian", where he gets to experience the family reunion he never expected, a reunion that features his father (who hates him) and his brother (who also hates him) and some random cousins that are at best indifferent to him.
"Rimrunners" proved Cherryh could get into the rhythms of ship life and the drama that develops when a lot of strong personalities who are forced to obey one really strong personality are all crammed together to thoroughly simmer. Here, that's exactly what is posed to happen, as Tom is shoved into a situation he's been taught to fear all these years, bound into service to the "Corinthian" and its fiendish band of slaver pirates.
Except . . . that's not what happens. While very few of the crew would qualify as saints and the ship at times seems to be populated by a cast that's violent or eccentric or both, she spends her time contrasting what Tom's been led to be believe against what he actually sees . . . which for the most part a ship that everyone doesn't mind being on and is run fairly well despite his father's obvious and extreme personality defects. And as much as its interesting to see Tom reacting to the ship, its just as interesting to see the ship reacting to him, as he's dropped into a situation that wasn't super stable to begin with and has no problem stirring it up by presence alone.
Its those complexities of personalities clashing that gives the book its drive, as everyone is layered six ways to Sunday and it colors how they perceive everyone else. Tom has been brought up to hate his father but its also clear that Marie's ability to hold onto a grudge may have left her a little short in the mothering department. Austin is manipulative and far from a great human being but also devoted to his ship and fair to any crew that stay within the lines. His brother Christian has to deal with having a complete prick for a dad but since he's in line to take over the ship one day is more than a little put-out when an older, more experienced and maybe hotter version of himself suddenly shows up.
The resulting mix is so fascinating (although it lacks the pitched intensity of "Rimrunners" as Tom doesn't seem in constant danger of getting killed) that when Cherryh switches back to the actual plot it almost seem reluctant as the main draw for her is Tom finding his footing on a ship full of people who should be bitter enemies but more and more seem like rough around the edges distant relatives who aren't so terrible once everyone's had a few drinks and they realize everyone hates the same movies. The continual upending of everyone's expectations of each other, good or bad, definitely makes this one more character based.
If there's any downside its that the book at times seems determined to coast on character interactions alone. While the "Sprite" seems to be trying to chase Austin's ship to get Tom back, we only check in with them a few times before the book hits the climax and its mostly to see everyone still yelling at each other. She has some more forcibly quirky characters this time out, some with apparently strange powers (a woman who can stay awake during hyperspace, another woman who has supernaturally good intuition), like she's trying harder than usual to convince you this is a motley crew. The plot itself doesn't seem to entirely figure until very late in the book and even then comes across as strangely forced, as a dubious decision by someone in the midst of a search kicks off the events that lead to the climax. And as typical with her resolutions in the Merchanter books, it often feels like events are being affected by events in an entirely different book that you're not reading, which can make it seem like things come out of nowhere (and as is also pretty typical with her during this period, the ending can seem oddly abrupt, like it feels like more of the book could be explored but she's chosen to end it right then and there).
But as a study of people learning to live with people who seem to hate people, her handling of what makes people tick in the future is as sound as ever (there's even a touching, if somewhat left field, romance) and if the proceedings don't reach the fevered intensity of "Rimrunners" or "Hellburner" as an examination of one man's learning that your family can be right and wrong simultaneously it lines up right with her usual standards, depicting the time in every person's life when you finally realize that your family doesn't know everything. Which means for the first time you have a chance to be totally wrong in ways that are purely you, and then decide how to go from there.
Most of Cherryh's Merchanter novels involve complex interactions of personalities, all of whom want different things and sometimes those different things depend on a variety of other factors, with the end result being a dense flow-chart as you try to track the various loyalties and conflicts that constantly shift as some get resolved partially and some only deepen.
Tom Hawkins, lucky guy, gets dropped right in the middle of that. Born of the aforementioned assault years ago when mom Marie of the ship "Sprite" and dad Austin of the "Corinthian" had an encounter that, if it started out with some mutual interest it sure didn't end that way and Tom's had to live with aftermath of it ever since, growing up slightly apart on a ship where he's literally related to almost everyone else and watching his mother craft a cookbook that only has one recipe, a stewpot of simmering hatred and rage.
Thanks to scheduling and good luck, the ships haven't crossed paths since then but since random chance helpfully decided that the story needed an excuse to start the two of them wind up docking at the same time. Everyone's concerned that Tom's mom is going to pop open the giant can of vengeance she keeps for just this occasion and so Tom is assigned to keep her out of trouble. But when trouble inevitably arrives, its Tom that gets caught up, snatched and brought aboard the "Corinthian", where he gets to experience the family reunion he never expected, a reunion that features his father (who hates him) and his brother (who also hates him) and some random cousins that are at best indifferent to him.
"Rimrunners" proved Cherryh could get into the rhythms of ship life and the drama that develops when a lot of strong personalities who are forced to obey one really strong personality are all crammed together to thoroughly simmer. Here, that's exactly what is posed to happen, as Tom is shoved into a situation he's been taught to fear all these years, bound into service to the "Corinthian" and its fiendish band of slaver pirates.
Except . . . that's not what happens. While very few of the crew would qualify as saints and the ship at times seems to be populated by a cast that's violent or eccentric or both, she spends her time contrasting what Tom's been led to be believe against what he actually sees . . . which for the most part a ship that everyone doesn't mind being on and is run fairly well despite his father's obvious and extreme personality defects. And as much as its interesting to see Tom reacting to the ship, its just as interesting to see the ship reacting to him, as he's dropped into a situation that wasn't super stable to begin with and has no problem stirring it up by presence alone.
Its those complexities of personalities clashing that gives the book its drive, as everyone is layered six ways to Sunday and it colors how they perceive everyone else. Tom has been brought up to hate his father but its also clear that Marie's ability to hold onto a grudge may have left her a little short in the mothering department. Austin is manipulative and far from a great human being but also devoted to his ship and fair to any crew that stay within the lines. His brother Christian has to deal with having a complete prick for a dad but since he's in line to take over the ship one day is more than a little put-out when an older, more experienced and maybe hotter version of himself suddenly shows up.
The resulting mix is so fascinating (although it lacks the pitched intensity of "Rimrunners" as Tom doesn't seem in constant danger of getting killed) that when Cherryh switches back to the actual plot it almost seem reluctant as the main draw for her is Tom finding his footing on a ship full of people who should be bitter enemies but more and more seem like rough around the edges distant relatives who aren't so terrible once everyone's had a few drinks and they realize everyone hates the same movies. The continual upending of everyone's expectations of each other, good or bad, definitely makes this one more character based.
If there's any downside its that the book at times seems determined to coast on character interactions alone. While the "Sprite" seems to be trying to chase Austin's ship to get Tom back, we only check in with them a few times before the book hits the climax and its mostly to see everyone still yelling at each other. She has some more forcibly quirky characters this time out, some with apparently strange powers (a woman who can stay awake during hyperspace, another woman who has supernaturally good intuition), like she's trying harder than usual to convince you this is a motley crew. The plot itself doesn't seem to entirely figure until very late in the book and even then comes across as strangely forced, as a dubious decision by someone in the midst of a search kicks off the events that lead to the climax. And as typical with her resolutions in the Merchanter books, it often feels like events are being affected by events in an entirely different book that you're not reading, which can make it seem like things come out of nowhere (and as is also pretty typical with her during this period, the ending can seem oddly abrupt, like it feels like more of the book could be explored but she's chosen to end it right then and there).
But as a study of people learning to live with people who seem to hate people, her handling of what makes people tick in the future is as sound as ever (there's even a touching, if somewhat left field, romance) and if the proceedings don't reach the fevered intensity of "Rimrunners" or "Hellburner" as an examination of one man's learning that your family can be right and wrong simultaneously it lines up right with her usual standards, depicting the time in every person's life when you finally realize that your family doesn't know everything. Which means for the first time you have a chance to be totally wrong in ways that are purely you, and then decide how to go from there.
February 2, 2025
On the weaker side of her writing, primarily due to trying to overanalyze the emotional toil of the situation from at least four points of view. The science is good, and the connection to the wars is a nice tie-up of a few ends.
October 7, 2013
Tripoint is heavy with family dynamics. The focus is on a mother and son, Marie Hawkins and Thomas Bowe-Hawkins. Years ago, Marie was raped by Austin Bowe, and she bore his son, Tom. There was never a clear reason as to why Marie decided to have the child. She never acted much like a mother, abandoning Tom and shunning motherly love to focus on her reckless, unhealthy obsession of getting revenge on Austin.
Tom carries the burden of being unwanted as well as being an outcast on his family's ship, Sprite. Marie's behavior borders on a mental illness, but it's not something ever clearly delineated, as there are times she acts quite rationally.
After years of stalking, Marie finally ends up at the same port as Austin, who is now captain of the Corinthian. She takes off for him, Tom following her, scared of what she may do.
In the ensuing madness, Tom ends up as prisoner on the strange Corinithian. The rest of the story focuses mainly on Tom and his interactions with the Corinthian crew, and his formation of a truly independent, worthwhile individual.
Tripoint is the personal "mental" journey of Tom forming his distinct identity. His relationship with Marie is extremely poor. He's constantly haunted by the fact that he is unwanted, and confused as to why Marie ever bothered to even have him. He finds no love or friendship on the ship. Overall, he feels worthless.
Marie is an interesting character. She acts mostly normal, although brash and demanding. The life-long obsession with finding Austin Bowe is the crazy part. She has spent years collecting information on him and his involvements. She keeps sending him messages and he is fully believes she is 100% lunatic.
And Austin responds like - why is this girl still sending me messages 20 years later? And for Marie, it's still as fresh in her memory as ever.
I wished there had been more action in the story. The ending was a let down for me, considering there had been such a buildup to a final meeting, and then it amounted to very little. Maybe Marie finally found some love for Tom at some point?
I did get tired of the really poor relationships between everyone. Certainly, very believable, but Saby and Tom still had a sour note to it all, even though it was supposed to be a bright spot (at least for Tom).
Mazianni is always in the distant background in all the Alliance universe novels and I wish there would be more involvement with him and his crew.
Tom carries the burden of being unwanted as well as being an outcast on his family's ship, Sprite. Marie's behavior borders on a mental illness, but it's not something ever clearly delineated, as there are times she acts quite rationally.
After years of stalking, Marie finally ends up at the same port as Austin, who is now captain of the Corinthian. She takes off for him, Tom following her, scared of what she may do.
In the ensuing madness, Tom ends up as prisoner on the strange Corinithian. The rest of the story focuses mainly on Tom and his interactions with the Corinthian crew, and his formation of a truly independent, worthwhile individual.
Tripoint is the personal "mental" journey of Tom forming his distinct identity. His relationship with Marie is extremely poor. He's constantly haunted by the fact that he is unwanted, and confused as to why Marie ever bothered to even have him. He finds no love or friendship on the ship. Overall, he feels worthless.
Marie is an interesting character. She acts mostly normal, although brash and demanding. The life-long obsession with finding Austin Bowe is the crazy part. She has spent years collecting information on him and his involvements. She keeps sending him messages and he is fully believes she is 100% lunatic.
And Austin responds like - why is this girl still sending me messages 20 years later? And for Marie, it's still as fresh in her memory as ever.
I wished there had been more action in the story. The ending was a let down for me, considering there had been such a buildup to a final meeting, and then it amounted to very little. Maybe Marie finally found some love for Tom at some point?
I did get tired of the really poor relationships between everyone. Certainly, very believable, but Saby and Tom still had a sour note to it all, even though it was supposed to be a bright spot (at least for Tom).
Mazianni is always in the distant background in all the Alliance universe novels and I wish there would be more involvement with him and his crew.
January 26, 2018
Storyline: 2/5
Characters: 4/5
Writing Style: 2/5
World: 2/5
One doesn't have to read far to get to the "Oh no, not again" moment. Yes, yes we are going to focus on psychologically damaged personalities. Yes, yes again they are going to make life in space even more difficult. And yes, yes again the theme is going to be the monotony and repetition of life in space.
For good or ill (mostly the latter) the characters were developed as if Freudian case studies. I wasn't that excited about the idea, but Cherryh usually manages to make her characters believable, and that was no different in this volume. As for plot, she also has a style of her own. She gives you so little - sets the bar so low - so that when meager plotlines start to intersect and the climax finally approaches, readers can find themselves unreasonably involved. Again, a Cherryh we've all seen before. I felt that the character study got abruptly dropped about the time the excitement blipped on the page. It was as if Cherryh needed the characterization to fill the first nine-tenths of the book, set it aside for the climax, and forgot to come back for it.
The book really isn't so bad. If this was the only Cherryh you read, you might say that it was okay. As a Company Wars book, however, it was rather poor, namely for the glut of repetition.
Characters: 4/5
Writing Style: 2/5
World: 2/5
One doesn't have to read far to get to the "Oh no, not again" moment. Yes, yes we are going to focus on psychologically damaged personalities. Yes, yes again they are going to make life in space even more difficult. And yes, yes again the theme is going to be the monotony and repetition of life in space.
For good or ill (mostly the latter) the characters were developed as if Freudian case studies. I wasn't that excited about the idea, but Cherryh usually manages to make her characters believable, and that was no different in this volume. As for plot, she also has a style of her own. She gives you so little - sets the bar so low - so that when meager plotlines start to intersect and the climax finally approaches, readers can find themselves unreasonably involved. Again, a Cherryh we've all seen before. I felt that the character study got abruptly dropped about the time the excitement blipped on the page. It was as if Cherryh needed the characterization to fill the first nine-tenths of the book, set it aside for the climax, and forgot to come back for it.
The book really isn't so bad. If this was the only Cherryh you read, you might say that it was okay. As a Company Wars book, however, it was rather poor, namely for the glut of repetition.
July 2, 2015
Very good; a young, conflicted protagonist "Tom" grows up and finds himself and love from others. The technology and situations are great, the issue and anger of rape of his mother, thus producing him is well-handled and sympathetic. Again, Cherryh draws her characters well, their doubts and needs and strengths.
I enjoy this book just as much as Rimrunners, but I still think Merchanter's Luck is her finest so far. (I am reading the Alliance-Union books in order of publication)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._J._Ch...
For Cherryh, the Alliance-Union universe books are (mostly) fantastic -
* In order to read:
Downbelow Station (1981) - Superb!!
Merchanter's Luck (1982) - Perhaps her best ever!
Rimrunners (1989) – Very good!
Heavy Time (1991) - good, but long winded
Hellburner (1992) - good, but long winded
Tripoint (1994) - very good
Finity's End (1997) – Superb
Forty Thousand in Gehenna (1983) - good but uneven, important for Cyteen and Regenesis
Cyteen (1988) – Superb
Regenesis (2009) - Superb
I enjoy this book just as much as Rimrunners, but I still think Merchanter's Luck is her finest so far. (I am reading the Alliance-Union books in order of publication)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._J._Ch...
For Cherryh, the Alliance-Union universe books are (mostly) fantastic -
* In order to read:
Downbelow Station (1981) - Superb!!
Merchanter's Luck (1982) - Perhaps her best ever!
Rimrunners (1989) – Very good!
Heavy Time (1991) - good, but long winded
Hellburner (1992) - good, but long winded
Tripoint (1994) - very good
Finity's End (1997) – Superb
Forty Thousand in Gehenna (1983) - good but uneven, important for Cyteen and Regenesis
Cyteen (1988) – Superb
Regenesis (2009) - Superb
July 5, 2016
The sixth in the seven book series of Company Wars tales. Since they are not a conjoined series, it can be read as a stand-alone. However, there are references to characters and history with which it would be helpful to be familiar. Not a major drawback, though for someone coming to this book as a first read.
Essentially it's a story about a twenty year old vendetta harbored by a ship's cargo officer, Marie Hawkins, against her rape perpetrator, the captain of a rival merchant space ship. Her son, the product of the unwanted liaison, ends up on his father's ship and undergoes an agonizing introduction into the life of a crew which bends the rules much more than those on his mother's craft. As is often the case with Cherryh's novels, the character interaction is paramount in the telling. A former Mazianni (read privateer) navigator, Capella, provides extra intrigue. in this satisfying narrative.
Essentially it's a story about a twenty year old vendetta harbored by a ship's cargo officer, Marie Hawkins, against her rape perpetrator, the captain of a rival merchant space ship. Her son, the product of the unwanted liaison, ends up on his father's ship and undergoes an agonizing introduction into the life of a crew which bends the rules much more than those on his mother's craft. As is often the case with Cherryh's novels, the character interaction is paramount in the telling. A former Mazianni (read privateer) navigator, Capella, provides extra intrigue. in this satisfying narrative.
July 10, 2017
Tripoint is character-driven science fiction at its best. Shifting points of view allow characters to mull over their own motives and their often mistaken analyses of the motives of others.
May 1, 2022
C.J. Cherryh's merchanter novels often have a strong dose of family conflict in them. That stands to reason, as each merchanter ship is populated by a large, extended family; nearly everyone on a merchanter ship is related to the others. In Tripoint, Cherryh extends that internecine conflict across two merchanter ships, Sprite and Corinthian, drawing the two families into each other's orbits.
Marie Hawkins holds the role of cargo chief on Sprite, but 20 years earlier she was an inexperienced young officer who got into trouble at a sleepover on Mariner Station. A friendly rendezvous with Austin Bowe of Corinthian led to a sexual assault and a pregnancy. Hawkins chose to keep the baby and raised Thomas Bowe-Hawkins aboard her vessel, with a certain air of aloofness. She has never forgotten Bowe's crimes though, and when the two ships find themselves at Viking Station together, she prepares her revenge. Convinced that Corinthian engages in illegal trade, she and Thomas set out to prove it through some on-the-ground detective work. Unfortunately, this leads to Tom being kidnapped by Christian Bowe-Perrault, his half-brother. Not knowing what to do with Tom, Christian stows him in the brig on Corinthian and the ship blasts off under orders from Austin, now the captain. Under the urging of Marie, Sprite gives chase.
That setup leads to a lot of confrontations between the major characters. Thomas butts heads with Christian, Austin, and a navigator named Capella, who seems able to stay awake and alert during Jumps. Meanwhile, Marie argues with her brother Mischa, the captain of Sprite over whether their pursuit of Corinthian is too personal, and jeopardizes their ability to make a profit. As usual in a Cherryh novel, the author takes us deep into the psyches of the characters, offering us various points of view and describing the inner turmoil of each person. Their loves, hates, hopes, fears, dreams, and desires all come to the fore. This is one of Cherryh's strengths. The mechanics of her Union-Alliance universe now well established, she can focus on the people, the politics, and the emotions, telling a human story against a technologically complex background that is just that - background.
One of the things I most appreciate about Cherryh's work, and an element that is on full display here, is the moral ambiguity of her universe and the dilemmas this forces her characters to face. The choices these people face are not simple or straightforward, and there are rarely clear heroes and villains. Sure, we're rooting for Thomas, who gets more pages than the rest and comes out as the protagonist here. But as readers, I don't know that we can say with any confidence what he should do - torn between two worlds, wrestling with both his mother's ambivalence and his father and half-brother's hostility, what is his best path forward? Should he try to get back to Sprite or just try to make a living on Corinthian? Or is there a third way that will take him far away from merchanter space altogether?
For me, Tripoint doesn't quite rise to the level of either the crackerjack Finity's End or the classic Downbelow Station, with its layers of cultural ideas and meaning. But for its fascinating new additions to the Union-Alliance mythos and for its well-drawn characters, I think this one isn't far behind those other two standouts. I rate this one on a similar plane to Merchanter's Luck.
Marie Hawkins holds the role of cargo chief on Sprite, but 20 years earlier she was an inexperienced young officer who got into trouble at a sleepover on Mariner Station. A friendly rendezvous with Austin Bowe of Corinthian led to a sexual assault and a pregnancy. Hawkins chose to keep the baby and raised Thomas Bowe-Hawkins aboard her vessel, with a certain air of aloofness. She has never forgotten Bowe's crimes though, and when the two ships find themselves at Viking Station together, she prepares her revenge. Convinced that Corinthian engages in illegal trade, she and Thomas set out to prove it through some on-the-ground detective work. Unfortunately, this leads to Tom being kidnapped by Christian Bowe-Perrault, his half-brother. Not knowing what to do with Tom, Christian stows him in the brig on Corinthian and the ship blasts off under orders from Austin, now the captain. Under the urging of Marie, Sprite gives chase.
That setup leads to a lot of confrontations between the major characters. Thomas butts heads with Christian, Austin, and a navigator named Capella, who seems able to stay awake and alert during Jumps. Meanwhile, Marie argues with her brother Mischa, the captain of Sprite over whether their pursuit of Corinthian is too personal, and jeopardizes their ability to make a profit. As usual in a Cherryh novel, the author takes us deep into the psyches of the characters, offering us various points of view and describing the inner turmoil of each person. Their loves, hates, hopes, fears, dreams, and desires all come to the fore. This is one of Cherryh's strengths. The mechanics of her Union-Alliance universe now well established, she can focus on the people, the politics, and the emotions, telling a human story against a technologically complex background that is just that - background.
One of the things I most appreciate about Cherryh's work, and an element that is on full display here, is the moral ambiguity of her universe and the dilemmas this forces her characters to face. The choices these people face are not simple or straightforward, and there are rarely clear heroes and villains. Sure, we're rooting for Thomas, who gets more pages than the rest and comes out as the protagonist here. But as readers, I don't know that we can say with any confidence what he should do - torn between two worlds, wrestling with both his mother's ambivalence and his father and half-brother's hostility, what is his best path forward? Should he try to get back to Sprite or just try to make a living on Corinthian? Or is there a third way that will take him far away from merchanter space altogether?
For me, Tripoint doesn't quite rise to the level of either the crackerjack Finity's End or the classic Downbelow Station, with its layers of cultural ideas and meaning. But for its fascinating new additions to the Union-Alliance mythos and for its well-drawn characters, I think this one isn't far behind those other two standouts. I rate this one on a similar plane to Merchanter's Luck.
August 29, 2022
Finally I feel that this worldbuilding comes second place to the narrative and the feel for the individual characters and their ties to one another in this remarkable world. In Downbelow I had a feeling that we were rushing into explaining everything and that characters lacked the space for their emotions to play out or develop amidst the mad rush to create Pell, create Downers, create the Merchanters. Hellburner is so narrow in scope - and so focused on a military secret - that it is by design isolated from the societies Cherryh wants to dazzle us with.
Finally we have something which genuinely shows rather than tells and where I felt the worldbuilding and technology were seamlessly integrated into the plot and into the stories of these characters. I loved how unclear it is at the start just how we ought to feel about many of the characters and how our protagonist doesn't even necessarily trust his family or his home ship. Stations develop from ports to living breathing beings in this chapter of the series and socially I found it much easier to follow and understand the psychology of ship captains, ship families, Merchanters, Stationers and the Union/Earth divide.
I think this is the best of the bunch I've read so far and enjoyed it massively. Everything in this particular episode seems to work very smoothly together - and as suggested in the prologues and blurbs, this is not a series which follows chronologically or requires a certain order of reading. With that in mind I would recommend this higher than the others in the series as a starter and introduction to what Cherryh built book by book.
Finally we have something which genuinely shows rather than tells and where I felt the worldbuilding and technology were seamlessly integrated into the plot and into the stories of these characters. I loved how unclear it is at the start just how we ought to feel about many of the characters and how our protagonist doesn't even necessarily trust his family or his home ship. Stations develop from ports to living breathing beings in this chapter of the series and socially I found it much easier to follow and understand the psychology of ship captains, ship families, Merchanters, Stationers and the Union/Earth divide.
I think this is the best of the bunch I've read so far and enjoyed it massively. Everything in this particular episode seems to work very smoothly together - and as suggested in the prologues and blurbs, this is not a series which follows chronologically or requires a certain order of reading. With that in mind I would recommend this higher than the others in the series as a starter and introduction to what Cherryh built book by book.
April 9, 2023
I have read all the previous novels in the Company Wars series, and I thought it was time to pick up the next instalment. If you haven't read CJ Cherryh for a while, as I hadn't, it takes time to ease yourself back into her world of (what one reviewer calls) 'techno babble' where you sort of know what she's getting at but maybe not. But once you are safely back inside her universe, it is a good place to be - and this novel, whilst not perfect, is a good example of her work.
The descriptions of the ships and the space stations are really comprehensive and well considered, I really like her space ports and her docksides, I can visualise them completely. I want to go there. And the plot of this novel is a tight, fast-paced story of a young man abducted whilst trying to follow and/or assist his mother as she goes in search of revenge against the captain of another ship for something which happened over 20 years ago, and which has shaped her angry view of the world and those around her ever since.
Few of the characters are particularly likeable, but Cherryh does always present us with some very impressive, strong female leads. She also includes young, hot-headed men who flatly refuse to follow orders or instructions to the point of utter stupidity. In this novel we have a number of each of these stereotypes to perfectly complement those in her previous books.
I understand she has recently written (or co-written) two new adventures in this series of novels some 25 years after the last one in the original sequence was published. I am looking forward to reading these latest instalments and to immersing myself once more in her unique vision of space.
The descriptions of the ships and the space stations are really comprehensive and well considered, I really like her space ports and her docksides, I can visualise them completely. I want to go there. And the plot of this novel is a tight, fast-paced story of a young man abducted whilst trying to follow and/or assist his mother as she goes in search of revenge against the captain of another ship for something which happened over 20 years ago, and which has shaped her angry view of the world and those around her ever since.
Few of the characters are particularly likeable, but Cherryh does always present us with some very impressive, strong female leads. She also includes young, hot-headed men who flatly refuse to follow orders or instructions to the point of utter stupidity. In this novel we have a number of each of these stereotypes to perfectly complement those in her previous books.
I understand she has recently written (or co-written) two new adventures in this series of novels some 25 years after the last one in the original sequence was published. I am looking forward to reading these latest instalments and to immersing myself once more in her unique vision of space.
May 25, 2022
Well, well, 5 stars.
When I started this Company Wars re-read I was fairly sure that only Downbelow Station and Cyteen were going to get 5 stars. My fuzzy recollection of 90's reads of these books certainly seemed to support that. So, either my memory is not as sharp as I would like to think or 90's me missed quite a lot in the books he was reading.
This is a book about survival I would say. Survival of 2 traumas. In the micro, a rape and all around failing of trust 20 years earlier. In the macro of the world Cherryh has built, the war itself which ended around 10 - 15 years previous in the timeline.
The story is all about how two ships on different 'sides' of that war came together calamitously back then and how the aftershocks of that impact a meeting in the present.
I absolutely hoovered this down. Compelling. Brutal. Unflinching. However, there is redemption and paths to a possible better future because the traumas of the past are confronted and moved past.
A point I noted this time (and didn't before) was the little details of ship board life and how they inform the political economy of the setting. These little details are how Cherryh, masterfully, builds the setting and makes you think about the natural implications of things. This neat trick then lets you use this as a lens to examine our own modern day.
For a novel published in 1994, this is still pretty spot on when used as a lens for consideration of today. More importantly, on top of all that, its just a damn good read.
As recommended as any Company Wars book has been.
When I started this Company Wars re-read I was fairly sure that only Downbelow Station and Cyteen were going to get 5 stars. My fuzzy recollection of 90's reads of these books certainly seemed to support that. So, either my memory is not as sharp as I would like to think or 90's me missed quite a lot in the books he was reading.
This is a book about survival I would say. Survival of 2 traumas. In the micro, a rape and all around failing of trust 20 years earlier. In the macro of the world Cherryh has built, the war itself which ended around 10 - 15 years previous in the timeline.
The story is all about how two ships on different 'sides' of that war came together calamitously back then and how the aftershocks of that impact a meeting in the present.
I absolutely hoovered this down. Compelling. Brutal. Unflinching. However, there is redemption and paths to a possible better future because the traumas of the past are confronted and moved past.
A point I noted this time (and didn't before) was the little details of ship board life and how they inform the political economy of the setting. These little details are how Cherryh, masterfully, builds the setting and makes you think about the natural implications of things. This neat trick then lets you use this as a lens to examine our own modern day.
For a novel published in 1994, this is still pretty spot on when used as a lens for consideration of today. More importantly, on top of all that, its just a damn good read.
As recommended as any Company Wars book has been.
June 3, 2023
A woman from the space freighter Sprite on shore leave is sexually assaulted by a man from the space freighter Corinthian. For twenty years the woman plots her revenge while negligently raising the child of that union. When the two ships finally cross paths again the woman sets out to implement her plan and her son follows to help. Things go wrong, he gets shanghaied and thrown in the brig of the Corinthian, which quickly skips port. Now he's trapped on a ship with a father who wants nothing to do with him, a half brother who hates him, a crazy woman who visits him in his dreams, and a pastry chef. Also, pirates.
Lots of clipped sentences. Missing prepositions and proper grammar. Sometimes hard on the eyes. Can't say I'm a huge fan of the style.
Everybody in this book has some severe psychological problems. They are all paranoid with uncontrolled anger issues. And much of the book is spent examining those issues. Page after page is spent with someone questioning their life decisions, questioning the people around them, looking for plots against them, and just plain navel gazing. When things do happen it's pretty interesting, it just takes a long time to get there. The book could have been 100 pages shorter without any appreciable effect on the plot. All this and the one major plot point of the whole thing is left unresolved.
I read three of the earlier books in this series about 25 years ago and remember them as being pretty good. This one had its moments but could have been better.
Lots of clipped sentences. Missing prepositions and proper grammar. Sometimes hard on the eyes. Can't say I'm a huge fan of the style.
Everybody in this book has some severe psychological problems. They are all paranoid with uncontrolled anger issues. And much of the book is spent examining those issues. Page after page is spent with someone questioning their life decisions, questioning the people around them, looking for plots against them, and just plain navel gazing. When things do happen it's pretty interesting, it just takes a long time to get there. The book could have been 100 pages shorter without any appreciable effect on the plot. All this and the one major plot point of the whole thing is left unresolved.
I read three of the earlier books in this series about 25 years ago and remember them as being pretty good. This one had its moments but could have been better.
January 4, 2021
I've read all of Cherryh's early SF novels with my favorites being Downbelow Station, 40,000 in Gehenna and Merchanter's Luck. However, the last novel that I read by her was probably Hellburner when it was published in the early 90s. I felt that her novels were feeling rushed and fragmented and not as engaging as her earlier work.
Tripoint feels the same. Without getting into details, the plot is quite slim and barely SF for most of its length. The protagonist is a young man on a merchant ship, but he is the offspring of the rape of his mother by a now captain of another ship. After many years, his ship now encounters the ship of his father, and this sets his mother on a rampage. Through a series of mishaps, he finds himself kidnapped by his half brother and captive on an apparently hostile ship. However, the situation is not as bad as it seems...
The book is full of terse prose, but the novel is still bloated. Too much time is wasted going over the motivations of the characters again and again. The actual SF elements touching on interstellar trade, navigation and ship culture are interesting but seem like after thoughts. Still intend to continue reading Cherryh, but I may re-read one of my early favorites next.
Tripoint feels the same. Without getting into details, the plot is quite slim and barely SF for most of its length. The protagonist is a young man on a merchant ship, but he is the offspring of the rape of his mother by a now captain of another ship. After many years, his ship now encounters the ship of his father, and this sets his mother on a rampage. Through a series of mishaps, he finds himself kidnapped by his half brother and captive on an apparently hostile ship. However, the situation is not as bad as it seems...
The book is full of terse prose, but the novel is still bloated. Too much time is wasted going over the motivations of the characters again and again. The actual SF elements touching on interstellar trade, navigation and ship culture are interesting but seem like after thoughts. Still intend to continue reading Cherryh, but I may re-read one of my early favorites next.
March 6, 2023
Twenty years ago, a sleepover-turned rape resulted in the birth of a boy; now a man, he's crimped onto his father's ship. This is the Alliance-Union book about sex and rape - and Juu, you might say, isn't that Cyteen? or Forty Thousand in Gehenna? Or Rimrunners, or maybe the Hilfy bits of the Chanur series (bless)? And I reply: yes, there's a lot of it there, so even more remarkable that this is *the* sex book, all about the repercussions of rape, the politics of family and Family ships, and relationships formed around and via sex.
Cherryh does this uncomfortable thing of making rapists people, too: The rapist-father is objectively awful, but the protagonist has to build a working relationship with him anyway. The most interesting character in the book crosses the line into rape while remaining interesting and lynchpinning the larger plot. It's not easy reading, nor often satisfying, but I appreciate the nuance. So the interior and interpersonal struggles in this are engaging; but the larger plot is back-heavy and only okay. That said, I like this a lot as a counterpoint to Rimrunners, which it much resembles.
Cherryh does this uncomfortable thing of making rapists people, too: The rapist-father is objectively awful, but the protagonist has to build a working relationship with him anyway. The most interesting character in the book crosses the line into rape while remaining interesting and lynchpinning the larger plot. It's not easy reading, nor often satisfying, but I appreciate the nuance. So the interior and interpersonal struggles in this are engaging; but the larger plot is back-heavy and only okay. That said, I like this a lot as a counterpoint to Rimrunners, which it much resembles.
March 17, 2022
A confused, angry teenager, told he is the product of rape, is press-ganged... onto the ship his father commands.
Sixth in Cherryh's excellent Company Wars sequence (but quite stand-alone), Tripoint is a fast-paced, riveting read. The style takes a little getting used to, with its tightly clipped dialogue and introspection, but this actually serves to add to the claustrophobic settings (interstellar merchant ships and trading stations), and furthermore creates a feeling of Other entirely suitable to this far future setting. Of course, this being Cherryh, angst is turned up to eleven, but -and again- this only seems fitting in a world where people fall between the big ideas of the science, becoming little more than machine parts, having great difficulty interacting and understanding their neighbours (nevertheless, there were a few times when I wanted to give certain characters a slap, tell them to get over themselves, and just TALK).
And starship battles, as a welcome bonus, are imbued with an air of realism - physicists need not weep too much.
Recommended.
Sixth in Cherryh's excellent Company Wars sequence (but quite stand-alone), Tripoint is a fast-paced, riveting read. The style takes a little getting used to, with its tightly clipped dialogue and introspection, but this actually serves to add to the claustrophobic settings (interstellar merchant ships and trading stations), and furthermore creates a feeling of Other entirely suitable to this far future setting. Of course, this being Cherryh, angst is turned up to eleven, but -and again- this only seems fitting in a world where people fall between the big ideas of the science, becoming little more than machine parts, having great difficulty interacting and understanding their neighbours (nevertheless, there were a few times when I wanted to give certain characters a slap, tell them to get over themselves, and just TALK).
And starship battles, as a welcome bonus, are imbued with an air of realism - physicists need not weep too much.
Recommended.
June 1, 2023
For most of his 23 years on board the Family ship Sprite, Tom Bowe-Hawkins has listened to his angry and unstable mother Marie, rant about his rapist father, Austin Bowe, captain of the freighter Corinthian. Obsessed with vengeance against Bowe, Marie contrives for their two ships to meet at a docking station where she hopes to find evidence of illegal dealings by Corinthian. Angered at her solo venture and urged by their captain, Tom follows her and is trapped on Corinthian when it suddenly undocks, fleeing underworld ex-Military pirates. Marie thinks Tom was kidnapped and is hell-bent on getting him back, for no other reason than she doesn’t want his father having him. Neither parent would get awards for parenting but Tom gradually learns that his father is not exactly as his mother painted him. C. J. Cherryh has written a gripping character study of very flawed people trying to cope with unimaginable hurts, while at the same time advancing her Alliance universe thoughtfully and with excitement. Despite a rather curtailed denouement it is RECOMMENDED.
November 11, 2021
This installment is focussed on the misadventures of a young Merchant officer with a complicated family background.
It is more of a kitchen sink family drama, played out against the backdrop of spaceships and spacestations than a full on action adventure or mystery. We spend a lot of time inside the head of our main protagonist, exploring his complex feelings and concerns.
There are mix ups, miscommunications aplenty and while the background mystery is solved I didn't find the resolution of the family relationship drama very satisfying.
It's not that it wasn't foreshadowed a little but given that the some of books central characters are driven by the aftermath of a sexual assault the final conclusion doesn't fully convince and feels a bit abrupt.
That said Cherryh writes well (as always) and the book is definitely worth reading.
While not strictly a chronological series it's probably best to start with Downbelow Station which spends more time establishing the setting .
It is more of a kitchen sink family drama, played out against the backdrop of spaceships and spacestations than a full on action adventure or mystery. We spend a lot of time inside the head of our main protagonist, exploring his complex feelings and concerns.
There are mix ups, miscommunications aplenty and while the background mystery is solved I didn't find the resolution of the family relationship drama very satisfying.
It's not that it wasn't foreshadowed a little but given that the some of books central characters are driven by the aftermath of a sexual assault the final conclusion doesn't fully convince and feels a bit abrupt.
That said Cherryh writes well (as always) and the book is definitely worth reading.
While not strictly a chronological series it's probably best to start with Downbelow Station which spends more time establishing the setting .
December 11, 2024
Tripoint is a sort of mixed bag; there are sections which are genuinely engrossing, almost epic, others are rather a drag.
In particular, for large parts of the book, we are invited into the brains of two immature, childish spaceship brats (who happen to be half-brothers) to follow their contorted and convoluted elocubrations, with the infinite back-and-forth of a pendulum.
Ships operations and manoeuvring in this book are very complex stuff and language very obscure; the prose is as choppy as Cherryh's prose can be. So, more often than not, I had to content myself with just getting the broad picture of what was happening accepting to leave the details blurred on the sides.
But I guess that's part of the fascination of being out there in deep space where everything is dark and mysterious.
So, not an easy read this one, I was very undecided between a 3 and a 4 stars; I went for the latter in the end, just, as it's in any case a strong book.
In particular, for large parts of the book, we are invited into the brains of two immature, childish spaceship brats (who happen to be half-brothers) to follow their contorted and convoluted elocubrations, with the infinite back-and-forth of a pendulum.
Ships operations and manoeuvring in this book are very complex stuff and language very obscure; the prose is as choppy as Cherryh's prose can be. So, more often than not, I had to content myself with just getting the broad picture of what was happening accepting to leave the details blurred on the sides.
But I guess that's part of the fascination of being out there in deep space where everything is dark and mysterious.
So, not an easy read this one, I was very undecided between a 3 and a 4 stars; I went for the latter in the end, just, as it's in any case a strong book.
May 28, 2025
DREAM OF A POINT of shifting mass, three-body problem. Tricky spot, the navigators said.
The usual: desperate, troubled, complicated, space families in, huh, let's say challenging predicaments, and at the very end, things mostly fall into place. Good enough for sure, but not at the stellar level of the other entries in the universe. And even so, there are passages such as:
"Has it ever struck you, Christian, this fragmentation, this stupid factionalization of the Fleet that should have defended civilization,--says something about the human condition? That enemies are much more essential to our happiness than friends? That our rivals shape our ethics, and our failures define our goals? Seems so, from the business on our own deck. Screw Mazian. And Mallory. But what a miserable, stupid end it comes to."
The usual: desperate, troubled, complicated, space families in, huh, let's say challenging predicaments, and at the very end, things mostly fall into place. Good enough for sure, but not at the stellar level of the other entries in the universe. And even so, there are passages such as:
"Has it ever struck you, Christian, this fragmentation, this stupid factionalization of the Fleet that should have defended civilization,--says something about the human condition? That enemies are much more essential to our happiness than friends? That our rivals shape our ethics, and our failures define our goals? Seems so, from the business on our own deck. Screw Mazian. And Mallory. But what a miserable, stupid end it comes to."
October 15, 2023
This one is a tough, tough read, taking on rape, PTSD, and abuse of all sorts with Cherryh's cool, almost clinical viewpoint. Cherryh never judges her characters; she presents them accurately and fairly and lets you judge them in all their horrifying moral ambiguity and three-dimensionality, without a whiff of authorial lecturing.
Tripoint is, ostensibly, a space opera story about blue-collar shipping crews wandering the stars in Cherryh's well-developed Alliance-Union universe, but it's really a horror story about family trauma and how it messes up people over time and over generations. It's about the way that familial bonds can be twisted and abused, and how righteous vengeance often isn't. It is brutal, uncompromising, and an utterly brilliant book.
Tripoint is, ostensibly, a space opera story about blue-collar shipping crews wandering the stars in Cherryh's well-developed Alliance-Union universe, but it's really a horror story about family trauma and how it messes up people over time and over generations. It's about the way that familial bonds can be twisted and abused, and how righteous vengeance often isn't. It is brutal, uncompromising, and an utterly brilliant book.
May 2, 2020
CJ Cherryh writes courageously about sexual assault, betrayal, and the way trauma is passed down through generations. Our earnest hero, Tom Bowe-Hawkins, is relatable and sympathetic, even when those around him are not. I particularly like the way Cherryh handles sexuality, even in its most taboo expression. There is nothing graphic depicted, but every sexual encounter is deliberate and thought-provoking. All of this is wrapped up an in action story that moves at a swift pace.
If I have any complaint it's that the dialog is sometimes so cryptic, it's difficult to understand what's being communicated.
If I have any complaint it's that the dialog is sometimes so cryptic, it's difficult to understand what's being communicated.
April 27, 2022
I have noticed a pattern with Cherryh novels. They begin with careful world building and character exposition, and end in a jumble of frenetic action. Tripoint hews to this pattern, but feels particularly unpolished. I never quite bought the dynamic of the Sprite family ship. It did not fit in well with the dynamic of other Family ships in the series. It felt like too much time was spent with Tom Hawkins initial days aboard Corinthian. The impact of activity during jump felt out of place and thinly explored. The final bit of action was difficult to follow and somewhat anticlimactic. Definitely not my favorite of the series.
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