Questions About Downbelow Station (The Company Wars, #1)

by C.J. Cherryh (Goodreads Author)

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Answered Questions (4)

Hello, I am interested in Earth vs it's extraterrestrial colonies civil war novels do know any apart from this one?

prcardi Heinlein's the Moon is a Harsh Mistress.
Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars (a trilogy)…moreHeinlein's the Moon is a Harsh Mistress.
Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars (a trilogy)(less)

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This question contains spoilers... (view spoiler)

William

This answer contains spoilers… (view spoiler)[Talley’s complicated. He’s running from want he cares about, because those people will unconsciously place expectations on him that he’s got no idea how to respond to. When he was serving the Union, he was programmed to win people’s trust and then honour it only as far as required for Union objectives. That provided boundaries. Now he’s no longer an unquestioning Union drone, he has to figure out his own boundaries, and doesn’t want to inadvertently hurt those he cares about, or those they care about, while he does it. Hence he goes with Mallory.
I think it is unfair to characterise Mallory’s actions as rape in the early part of the book. There’s a marked power differential in their relationship, and we know Talley, between the Union programming and the partial Adjustment the doomed Russell station authorities subjected him to, isn’t really in a position to give consent, but Mallory doesn’t know that. It’s strongly inferred she doesn’t *want* to know anything about his past because she’s deliberately avoiding emotional entanglements. She’s a damaged person who’s deluded herself she’s just picked up another person with severe emotional baggage, who’s agreed to trade his body for safe passage away from Russell station.
So he’s choosing the devil he knows. They know what he is, and he knows what they are. He knows Mallory has an aversion to emotional intimacy. They aren’t going to be trying to push emotional intimacies onto him that he’s not sure how to respond to. It gives him the time to decide where his boundaries are.
There’s also the way that Pell’s newly-minted independence needs both Norway and the Merchanter Alliance. When a Merchant vessel is late, suspicion will inevitably fall on Norway. A Pell observer on board would count for a lot when Norway claims innocence. By the same token, a Pell observer on board would go far with insuring Norway doesn’t “accidentally” attack a vessel identifying itself as a member of the Merchanter Alliance. Talley can feel reasonably safe on board, because Norway puts at risk their docking rights at Pell if it returns without Talley in reasonable condition. (hide spoiler)]

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This question contains spoilers... (view spoiler)

KF-in-Georgia Not explicit or descriptive at all. Signy is bad-ass, but it's "off-camera."…moreNot explicit or descriptive at all. Signy is bad-ass, but it's "off-camera."(less)

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The Expanse is a fabulous series made even better by the side/back stories of the main characters - brilliant. I love this HARD science space opera. And I enjoyed the hard space opera by CJ Cherryh. The first 4-5 Honor Harrington books were terrific! But I am having great trouble finding any more that is this good. Recommendations of similar?

Oliver Smith Most of Cherryh's work is this kind of "Hard Sci" - even the Morgana books, although they include a mix of fantasy.

Check out the others in the Company…moreMost of Cherryh's work is this kind of "Hard Sci" - even the Morgana books, although they include a mix of fantasy.

Check out the others in the Company Wars: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._J._C...

I really liked the Faded Sun books, great commute reads, 40,000 in gehenna was a difficult but rewarding read, Cyteen was fantastic.

I cut my Cherryh teeth on the Chanur books, but that came with a forewarning by a fellow reader: It was originally a single book that the publisher forced the woman author to split into three because they didn't think a woman could sell sci-fi...

Read the first 3 as one book and it's actually quite a good fun/fi read.

Other authors you might want to consider:

Ryk Brown: Grit your teeth thru the atrocious writing in Book 1, a small part of my enjoyment of the series has been watching him grow as a writer.

Black Ocean by J.S. Morin if you got even a lick of enjoyment from Serenity/Firefly.

Jack Devitt's Alex Benedict novels (less hard-sci and just general mystery sci, quite a nice twist)(less)

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