Most helpful customer reviews
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Two Very Early Cherryh Stories in One, Nov 2 2003
The two stories in this volume are totally independent of each other. In the forward, Cherryh tries to paper over this by saying in the vast reaches of human space, totally different things can be happening at the same time. In reality, these stories just have nothing to do with each other. Outside of being some of Cherryh's very earliest work, they have no business being in the same book. HOWEVER, from the point-of-view of price and of getting these books back in print, I think the publisher had a good idea in doing this. Each of the stories is interesting and about equally well done. If you haven't read these books, then this volume is a good way to get them both. Here are my individual ratings:"Brothers of Earth" is Cherryh's first novel. It's an interesting book, but bears no resemblence to her later books. It's a fairly well written book that explores some interesting concepts. Unfortunately, the book doesn't really go anywhere. Specifically, the main character isn't pushing towards some kind of solution. He's essentially along for the ride. The end result is that things just happen and then the book ends. It's not a very satisfactory ending at all. If you're a die-hard Cherryh fan, I'd say you should read this book just because it's her first. It's not bad, but it's also not that good. You can tell "Hunter of Worlds" is a very early C.J. Cherryh novel. The text is nowhere near as riveting as her later works. You can see where her later style comes from in this work, but it's really not fully present here. In general, it's an ok story. But, you never really buy into it fully. It's like you pick up in the middle of something and then put it away after something happens. You get an inkling of what the various races are like, how they behave, and what they're capable of, but it never really meshes into a consistent whole. You know that the races are different, but you really don't feel it in your bones about WHY they're different. I'm glad I read the book, but it's merely a shadow of Cherryh's later works.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
One for two deal, Sep 7 2003
C. J. Cherryh's early science fiction novels are being reissued by DAW in omnibus editions. Some of the them--The Morgaine Saga and The Faded Sun--are extraordinary bargains, because the books included are classics. At the Edge of Space is also a good deal, because Hunter of Worlds, arguably Cherryh's best novel, is worth the price of the volume. Unfortunately it is bound with what may be her first novel, the amateurish Brothers of Earth.Hunter of Worlds gives you the trademark elements of Cherryh's best work: two cultures with a balanced if unequal relationship are intruded upon by a hairy, vulgar thing called a "human." (He's not even empathic!) We see the action from the non-human perspective. The operatic grandness of the iduve--clannish space predators like wolf packs--contrasts with the delicate slave race (their name escapes me) mediating between human and iduve. Cultural clashes drive the action, and planets are the pawns of political intrigue. Here is the best possible introduction to Cherryh. If you enjoy the politics of Hunter of Worlds, you will love the Richardsonian volumes of the Foreigner series. If you enjoy the richly imagined cultures and languages, and the conflicts that follow from them, you will enjoy the Chanur series and the Faded Sun books, in which multiple races collide over their culturally determined values. If, like me, you fall in love immediately with the extraordinary Chimele, then read the Morgaine Saga.
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by C Cherryh
by C Cherryh
by C.J. Cherryh
by C Cherryh
