[Subdue] Downbelow Station by C.J. Cherryh - 4 stars

[Pam]

This 1981 novel is consistently listed in "Top 50/100/etc. Science Fiction Novels of All Time" type lists and won the Hugo award as well as being shortlisted for the Nebula the year it was released. And I can see why! I know this was an influential book on many modern writers, and I have to believe the Battlestar Galactica creators/writers fall in that camp after reading it.

Really immersive, expansive space opera/galactic war story. I love reading epic, galaxy-spanning scifi, but I also love the more near-future stories of Earth-based astronauts that are just a few steps beyond real-world space achievements because they feel more grounded/realistic. This uses the first chapter to setup how the world went from an Earth-based society to this one 350 years in the future that is spread over several solar systems -- and how the sociopolitical mindset developed over that time to get humanity into its current circumstances. I LOVED that! It was the perfect combination of what I love about each type of story.

There are tons of characters and POVs that are constantly bouncing around, but it works because it's telling the broader story of a population, and each person is crucial to understanding the big picture. The characters are also mostly focused on the bigger picture themselves, so it's an approach that works well with this particular story. I thought all the pieces were interesting even when I didn't particularly like some of the individuals.

There's good guys that are bad guys, "bad" guys you can't help but relate to and root for, and characters that defy categorization as anything but extremely flawed. There's also, thankfully, some likable, very easy to root for good guys.

I didn't think there was any way this was gonna successfully wrap up all the storylines in the last 30 pages, but it did. Until a very last surprise at the end involving one of my favorite characters that didn't get explained well enough for my satisfaction. I thought for sure he must show up in one of the sequels, but it doesn't look like it? I just didn't think it fully respected his trauma in the end, and it made me uncomfortable.

Still very impressed overall and would definitely recommend for anyone interested in classic scifi gems.