With Ms. Cherryh coming out with a new book (Betrayer) I decided it was time to return to some of her earlier books to set my mood right. Because her Alliance/Union series has been a favorite of mine and I haven’t read Tripoint in awhile it became the book to set me in the mood.Tripoint follows a theme that’s common for many of Ms. Cherryh’s books, looking at people who aren’t accepted within their environment and finding acceptance in another. In Tripoint Thomas Bowe-Hawkins is the child of rape; now 20 years later and a crewmember on his mother’s ship he has a hard time being accepted by the crew. He’s a reminder of their failure to help Marie in the standoff between Marie’s ship (Pixie) and Thomas’s father’s ship (Corinthian) (Marie had gone willingly with Austin but it had turned ugly [there’s an implied rape], both ships parties became involved, ultimately causing both ships to be banned from the port). Complicating issues for Tom Bowe-Hawkins is his mother’s desire for revenge on Austin, to the point of being unstable at times. Rating wise this one is difficult. While there’s unique aspects and I love the background (I’ve missed Ms. Cherryh’s Merchanter series), Ms. Cherryh has written similar books that do the job better presenting the “misfit” in society who finds a place (Merchanter’s Luck and Rimrunners are two examples). While I enjoyed seeing Tom grow to understand his background and the drivers in his life, he’s rather obtuse about the things around him. Some of this is possibly because Ms. Cherryh poured herself into the isolated world of a ship and understands how people in a closed society have a tough time understanding things that aren’t native to them. While this may be true and explain some of the writing, there are too many obtuse points. Yes they could be Ms. Cherryh trying to show the confused nature of early tweens coming to grips with their world but it’s still not her best work. I’m calling this one 3.5 stars with a rounding to 3 stars (it can fall to 4 depending on the reader and their view point though).
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 windedHellburner (1992) - good, but long windedTripoint (1994) - very goodFinity's End (1997) – SuperbForty Thousand in Gehenna (1983) - good but uneven, important for Cyteen and RegenesisCyteen (1988) – SuperbRegenesis (2009) - Superb
What do You think about Tripoint (1995)?
I was not enjoying this book very much up to about the halfway point — too much melodrama, and I wanted to whap the main character upside the head for being a dumbass — but then the story took a turn that I hadn't expected, and it started getting a lot more interesting, and kept on getting more interesting right through to the end. The hard sci-fi elements in this series have gotten steadily better with each book since Downbelow Station, and we're getting a lot more insight into what it is like for these characters to live on spaceships and space stations, living with a constant awareness of acceleration and the proximity of hard vacuum. I especially loved the insights in this book into how FTL works, what hyperspace is like, and the nightwalkers...C.J. Cherryh's writing style remains a sticking point that keeps me from loving these books more wholeheartedly, but I have still enjoyed the stories, the characters, and the unique and richly developed future-history.
—retroj
