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    Downbelow Station
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    Downbelow Station
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    Downbelow Station
    Ebook681 pages9 hours

    Downbelow Station

    By C. J. Cherryh

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    The Hugo Award-winning classic sci-fi novel about interstellar war.

    The Beyond started with the Stations orbiting the stars nearest Earth. The Great Circle the interstellar freighters traveled was long, but not unmanageable, and the early Stations were emotionally and politically dependent on Mother Earth. The Earth Company which ran this immense operation reaped incalculable profits and influenced the affairs of nations.

    Then came Pell, the first station centered around a newly discovered living planet. The discovery of Pell's World forever altered the power balance of the Beyond. Earth was no longer the anchor which kept this vast empire from coming adrift, the one living mote in a sterile universe.

    But Pell was just the first living planet. Then came Cyteen, and later others, and a new and frighteningly different society grew in the farther reaches of space. The importance of Earth faded and the Company reaped ever smaller profits as the economic focus of space turned outward. But the powerful Earth Fleet was sitll a presence in the Beyond, and Pell Station was to become the last stronghold in a titanic struggle between the vast, dynamic forces of the rebel Union and those who defended Earth's last, desperate grasp for the stars.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Group
    Release dateDec 2, 2008
    ISBN9781101662274
    Unavailable
    Downbelow Station
    Author

    C. J. Cherryh

    C. J. Cherryh—three-time winner of the coveted Hugo Award—is one of today's best-selling and most critically acclaimed writers of science fiction and fantasy. The author of more than fifty novels, she makes her home in Spokane, Washington.

    Read more from C. J. Cherryh

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    Reviews for Downbelow Station

    4/5

    589 ratings36 reviews

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    • 3/5
      The writing was not very good; she doesn't make it clear what she is trying to say. I was over 200 pages into the book before it got interesting.
    • 1/5
      DNF! Did not finish! This book involved two things I'm not really into: politics, and war. It mentions war in the book summary, but I was hoping for a star wars-ish, shoot-em up space battle of sorts. Personally, it was just too involved, too many characters, and too much descriptive stuff. Not my style. I gave it about 100 pages, but no more. After an internet search, I found that people either love, or just can't stand this book. Well, put me in the latter. And without getting too much more descriptive myself: didn't like it. Sorry C. J. "So many books, So little time." Moving on to the next...
    • 3/5
      I would definitely have given this book four stars if it was 100 (or maybe even 200) pages shorter. There's nothing bad about it really, it's just so terribly long.
    • 4/5
      There are better longer reviews of this book in Goodreads read them if you want a detailed analysis of the book. The basic premise of the story is that Earth and trading company jointly started to explore i and commercially exploit the great beyond. Trade was done at larger space stations and research bases around mostly empty worlds. Finally earth like worlds were discovered with life on them. There was mass migration out of the solar system and colonies were set up. At first trade between Earth and the colonies prospered then the colonies became independent of Earth. Earth at first fought to to retain control. She sent fleets to force her will and control. Then she abandoned support of her fleets without calling them back.. The last Fleet effectively became an independent force fighting for its own survival relying on the now independent stations, who wanted to remain neutral in this war, for support while continuing fight the fleets of the colonies.The book is the story of how the fleet of Earth the colonies and the independent stations dealt with their new reality. The for focuses on the last independent station circling a planet named Pell. I enjoyed the book as a good summer read. The story has its fill of of spies double agents , aliens and refugees. What I did not like were the passages that dealt mostly with the aliens. Those passages were badly written and did not add to the movement of the story. Beyond that flaw this was good space opera.
    • 1/5
      Boring, no relatable characters, very distant and unengaged narrator voice. Abandoned.
    • 5/5
      Still stands up as one of the great ones! I love this book so much. Life has left the solar system and conquered many stars. Humans live in space stations and have even found a few other planets that can sustain life. The story is told from several points of view and is centered around a war between the Earth Company and the Union of outer rim systems that are advanced and growing. A masterpiece on many levels, with love and brotherhood at the heart of the story.
    • 5/5
      Not the book I remembered it being, but none the worse for that. I thought this was about a boy growing up with the kind-hearted Downers,as the only known sentient aliens are known, and his struggles to get permission to come into space. But actually it's not about that at all, even though the Downers feature prominently. This is written early in the Alliance Universe and set as Union is making it's big push for Control of the Beyond away from Earth Company and the rules and politics that aren't applicable any more. Pell Space Station has become the latest battleground, although neither side wants to endanger either the aliens or the civilian population. The Union are operating through the means of subversives whilst the Company are trying to control their Fleet, including the carrier Norway captains by Signy Malory, one of the few we ever hear more details about. The story itself jumps between a few characters the ruling Konstantins trying to do their best for the station and Downers and Lukas theie deputy who is ambitious for more than he's even been given credit for. The Downers themselves have a voice in the presence of Satin, who's ambitious to travel Up Above and see the Sun in Her Glory. One of CJC's great talents is to represent everybody's actions as perfectly normal and self-centered as their characters allow, but at the same time to have these massive global stories rolling over and through their lives. DownBelow is rightly an award winner. It's both grand space opera, with the maneuverings of Fleets and Empire politics, and at exactly the same time, human centered and personal the real lives that are effected by such tides.
    • 4/5
      After reading my first novel by Cherryh, Foreigner, resulting in mixed thoughts, I wanted to try another. I chose Downbelow Station because it is her most-lauded work. As with Foreigner, it took me at least half way through to get hooked, and even after that, I would set the book down for long stretches of time. This is a conundrum because I enjoyed the book, found the story intricate, intriguing, and well-told, and the characters complex, complete, and tangible. Several scenes even gave me the physical chills. So why did I have a hard time finishing this novel? Perhaps it is because so much of the story is political maneuvering or the running internal dialogue of the characters? Perhaps because the action doesn’t start until near the end and the first two-thirds of the book is set-up for the bloody last third? Either way, I’m tempted to say it’s a characteristic of Cherryh, but I would need to read at least two more of her novels to really say with certainty. Cherryh’s strength is her characters. They have a complexity rare in fiction, one that as an aspiring writer, I must learn. In particular, her character Signy Mallory, will stay with me as a favorite, not just in Cherryh’s universe, but from any book I’ve read. As with Foreigner, I finished this book certain that this is a well-told story, one worth the accolades, and one I will recommend.
    • 4/5
      This one started off really slow for me. After beginning with one of my least favorite things; an info-dump, it then took nearly a third of the book for me to connect with the characters. I persevered, slowly slogging my way through and then... I gradually came to realize that my difficulty with relating to the characters was due to the masterful way Cherryh was developing those characters and their various parts of the story. There is no doubt that Cherryh is a challenging author. She does not spoon-feed a plot to the reader. Rather, she intimates and alludes via dialog, slowly filling in the blanks until the focus shifts into clarity. The reason I had trouble was that Cherryh was playing with the good guy/bad guy setup. Upon first meeting, it was nearly impossible for me to tell who I was supposed to be rooting for and who to hiss at. At about the halfway point, plot and characters were settling into place quite nicely - and then she still surprised me with where things ended up. From beginning to end, this book went from a 2-star to a solid 4-star read for me. I don't know why I was doubting Cherryh's ability to bring me around... I should know better.
    • 2/5
      I got 76% through this and just can't bear to keep trying to read it. The basic premise is fantastic: the under-supported Earth Company Fleet battles the unending waves of Union's brainwashed clones. The Fleet is pushed further and further back, until at last the battle reaches the space station orbiting Pell. Pell's station tries to remain neutral while both sides try to take it over.

      I love this idea! It's like DS9 mashed up with Tolkein. But I found the execution so lacking that I couldn't enjoy a single chapter. First of all, Pell's native creatures, the hisa, talk like this: "'You safe come here. Love you. Bennett-man, he teach we dream human dreams; now you come we teach you hisa dreams. We love you.'" They think like retarded children's toys, dividing everyone up into good and bad, but they don't seem alien at all. They're basically a mash-up of adorable teddy bears with Native American stereotypes. Every time they're on the page, my brain revolted.

      Second of all, a large proportion of the story concerns Josh, a Union soldier captured by the Fleet and eventually turned over the space station on Pell. Damon and Elena take him in and feel super-duper sorry for him. He's a fucking enemy soldier! On the very same station, at the very same time, that they're petting him and denouncing the Fleet for being mean to him, neutral civilians are being raped, brutalized and murdered. But somehow they don't merit nearly sympathy or help as the angelically beautiful Josh. This relates to my other big problem with the book: my sympathies lay completely and utterly with the Fleet, who are hard-ass underdogs fighting a losing war for no pay or respect. They are literally Pell's only defense against the Union armies. So every time Damon et al try to prevent the Fleet from taking food or supplies from the station, or sabotage the Fleet's technologies, I can only wonder at their selfish short-sightedness.
    • 3/5
      I've given up on this book for the time being; I was halfway through, put it down, and then realized I hadn't picked it back up in a week and hadn't missed it, which is a flashing neon warning sign that it's not worth the work to finish it. Might come back to it sometime since it's been suggested that it's such a pivotal work of fiction, but I dunno.
    • 3/5
      This is my first book by this author. A friend, whom I respect, frowned every time I mentioned this book as a future read. He said there was a shift in SF in the 1980s with a new flood of good but not great women and men writers. Space operas that could not get an award in the 1960s-70s, because they didn't show innovation or originality, became top of the heap in the 1980s. This is one of those books. If it was shorter I would have finished it. To many other good books out there.
    • 1/5
      Blah. I'm almost 200 pages in, and I care about exactly none of the characters. Okay, maybe I like Satin. But that is it. Rather disappointing, but I am just not willing to slog my way through a boring, tedious book when I have a huge To Read list sitting on my desk.
    • 2/5
      Alas, if only GoodReads permitted me to give this book 2.5 stars.

      I promised that when I finished this book, I would assemble my thoughts about it and provide as accurate a description of my feelings about it as possible. So, here goes.

      I love C.J. Cherryh dearly and if it weren't for the fact she wrote this book (and it is very reminiscent of her writing style), I would have abandoned it long ago. There are too many characters, who lack depth sufficient to identify with (the sole exceptions being Josh/Damon/Elene and Konstantin). For another thing, I'm sorry to everyone who has read this and didn't get the impression, but to me, hisa=Ewoks. Whenever she described a hisa, I saw an Ewok. This did not endear me to them.

      For another thing, for a book that seemed very exciting in parts, the ending really didn't add up to very much. The good and bad guys switched sides, although the ending made it clear that Pell continues to be at risk. I feel like there were too many plotlines that didn't quite match up (and too many plotlines that were cut out just when they were getting interesting). I would have liked to have heard what would have happened with Jessad, Josh, and Damon. I also would have liked to have known what was going on with Ngo and why the book felt the need to jump time without sufficiently explaining what happened in the interim.

      The characters that I liked, I liked because they were multi-faceted. This is a book that cannot be read without having read Cyteen and possibly Regenesis, simply because it would not make sense without those two. Therefore, as a stand-alone, it is a detriment for that. (I have heard it's not really a stand-alone, but without having read the first two books first, it'd be hard to have a position on the azi).

      A lot of the action was tedious and events sometimes went nowhere. The hisa were described as religious and spoke much about dreaming, although the significance of this was never really explained. With their pidgin English and their description, it was hard to find them anything but annoying. And anything that was interesting, she swerved away from. What was so important about that damn statue, anyway?

      I also felt like characters made decisions that weren't fully founded. Mallory, for instance, making a 180. I understand why she did it, yet it still felt unfinished. Josh, in particular, was a case of "wait, did that just happen?" And for someone who's been Adjusted, making the decisions that led to his desire for it again was displeasing to see.

      I suffered through this book. Not since I read a book for school and disliked it have I had this much trouble getting through a novel. There were a few points where I genuinely enjoyed it...but the rest was difficult. It was hard to visualize the action, for one thing, and for another, science fiction written in this era is showing its age. C.J. Cherryh shines at showing interpersonal relationships and relationships between species. When this occurred and there was sufficient backstory and real description of it, it was enjoyable. This didn't always happen--the key example being Jon and Vittorio. It was hard to feel sorry for someone who barely got any screen time and seemed more like a shadow than a character.

      I understand the key issues at stake here. The idea of genocide simply to perpetuate a war agenda is frightening, in and of itself. The idea that this has been going on for a while is equally frightening. The Q mass being shoved together and then brought to the brink of war by mismanagement and having gangs run them is terrifying. I feel like, as a whole, these components would have been excellent. Yet, together, the pieces are jangled and don't quite fit.

      There were also a few instances where I wondered why the copy-editor didn't pick up on errors. In one particular scene, Bluetooth (who is up on the station) is suddenly and inexplicably down on Downbelow. I believe she meant Bounder, but it does give one the impression that the hisa are interchangeable.

      After having fought with this book for twelve days, I no longer feel bad about disliking it. I just feel bad that the things that I enjoy weren't as fleshed out as they were in Cyteen and in the Foreigner series. Too many characters spoil the plot and I'm sorry...but there was far too many to keep track of and too few important ones.

      (Also, the very end of the book made no sense. It was like the disturbing implications mentioned earlier meant absolutely nothing).
    • 5/5
      Her classic work and best example of her writing skills. Here is a good place to start if you've read nothing else of Cherryh. If you like this, you'll like much else that she's written. If not, go no further.

      I just finished rereading this. Once again, I'm impressed with her skill in creating a page turner. And with her imagination. Her contemporary work is even better.
    • 5/5
      One of my favorite scifi novels of all time. Cherryh gives a vivid portrayal of the conflict, claustrophobia & chaos on the station as events play out. Also, I very much like how she writes strong female characters. They're not over-the-top substitutions for males & are instead wholly believable as women, flawed & all.
    • 4/5
      This book details a number of people's stories at the time of the (apparent) fall of Pell Station, a fictional space station in a star system close to Earth. For much of the book, the setting reminded me a little of the fall of Constantinople--the assailants were human but very foreign, the allies cared more about the war in general than the city itself, and the fall was pretty much inevitable from an economic standpoint. The author presents us with a lot of different perspectives here, some more likable than others, but together they paint a vivid picture of the myriad factions and their machinations surrounding this event. I was pretty surprised by the ending, as the author presents a "third option", and while I enjoyed how it tied everything up neatly, I'm not entirely convinced that the characters' motivations as written were enough to precipitate it (I'm looking at you, Mallory).
    • 4/5
      Some particularly grim reading from Cherryh (and that's saying something!). A crumbling empire on one side, a burgeoning one on the other, and a space station crammed full of refugees, stuck in the middle. Throw in a fleet slowly going rogue, merchanters banding together, enemy agent infiltration, and a seemingly childlike alien race with hidden complexities… well, let's just say that no-one is as good at putting her characters into a pressure-cooker situation and then upping the pressure even more. She offers us multiple perspectives from all sides of the issue, giving us a full overview of the situation and enabling us to feel sympathy for most of the characters (and at the same time upping the tension even more). On the other hand, it's extremely slow-moving and feels more like set-up for the broader Company Wars story than a book complete in its own right, and while her prose is always intelligent and precise, in this book it feels particularly dense, and I had to wade through it at times.
    • 3/5
      I selected this piece of science fiction by virtue of its having won the Hugo Award in 1982. The first of a series of books by C. J. Cherryh, much of the time is spent setting the stage and laying out the landscape for future works. I’ve read hundreds of science fiction novels throughout the years, in virtually every genre imaginable. I’ve read the classic authors and many of the newer writers, with varying degrees of satisfaction. To be honest, I wasn’t terribly impressed in this instance, either with the quality of the “science” contained therein, or with the underlying story and writing quality itself.The stage is a universe that has been colonized by Earth through a commercial enterprise referred to as the Company. Ultimately, the colonies grow disenchanted with the Company and form opposition which coalesces around an entity referred to as the Union. Through human engineering, the Union gains the upper hand in the far reaches of space and begins to encroach upon the Company’s holdings. To complicate matters, the Earth Fleet has essentially gone bandit and operates under little or no political control. Conflict, as the story begins, centers around the Company held space station and planetary colony at Pell. The indigenous inhabitants of the planet also play a central role.There is very little “science” involved with the story and what there is can only be deemed lacking. For example, the early narrative refers to a period of 200 years, prior to faster than light travel, in which many space stations are founded in surrounding star systems. Really? Then, faster than light travel arrives onto the scene, and frequent references are made to “jumps” and “scans”. In other words, the author can’t be bothered by such details as the amount of time and the logistics required to travel to surrounding star systems at less than light speed, or the constraints involved with the “jumps”, other than the fact that it is potentially dangerous and makes the travelers nauseous and sluggish.Bottom line, the book is sorely lacking when compared to many of its contemporaries with respect to the “science” aspect of science fiction. What we’re left with is the underlying story itself and frankly, it is not very good. Many times, I was left scratching my head after reading a paragraph, not comprehending what I’d read, especially when the author attempts to take the reader through the battles that erupt between Union and Fleet forces. The author has a problem using confusing and ambiguous pronouns, leaving the reader wondering who he/she is referring to. At other times, the writing presumes a knowledge or understanding of the subject matter which the reader has no reason to possess. For example, there are apparently, in the author’s mind, complicated issues involved with interstellar ships “jumping” into areas and the scans used to detect them, involving space/time. Of course, no explanation is attempted; instead the author uses terms and references with the assumption that the reader understands her concept of physics (which, if it matches her space travel conception, has no basis in reality).In summary, it is simply not very good. I can only surmise that 1982 was a slow year for science fiction.
    • 5/5
      The most lovable aliens I've ever met---horribly mistreated by humans...
    • 2/5
      Why does it feel like a lot of books I'm reading these days are mostly backstory that someone felt made a good book? At least the fiest two thirds of this book felt more like backstory that didn't need to be within teh book. Then the shift of POV between the humans and the Hisa felt like it was filler. Add to that, what does the title have to do with the book? It mostly dealt with the space station and the space war.So not what I expected. And difficult to pull myself through with such disappointments. And very slow going, because the action and intrigue doesn't really kick into gear until the last third of the book. The build was slow, the ending was lacking.Yeah, no.
    • 1/5
      I could not get past the Jar Jar Binks-ish Hisa. Blathering on about love and being all primitive. I started reading it because I heard there was some spicy gendered role reversal, but it wasn't spicy enough because I promptly forgot I read the book as soon as it was done. Literally someone asked me if I'd read it and described the plot and I said, "No...I don't think I've read that one" when I, you know, had.
    • 3/5
      This Hugo-Award winning novel has a lot going for it, but its shares of issues, too.First of all, it begins with a massive lump of exposition that tries to set up the political intrigues over centuries that lead up to the events of the books. Instead of helping, that introduction left me confused and flailing for quite a while. Plus, it was very dull to read.Things improved greatly once the story got started. The cast of characters is wide and interesting. Each has a distinct voice, and I was surprised at how readily I could tell them apart. The politics, however, still left me confused for quite some time, as I wasn't sure who Mazian was or how he fit into things. There were some characters, like Alicia and Jon Lukas's son, who were barely there and I wondered why they were included at all.The station of Pell and the world below are vivid and characters unto themselves. I became especially fond of the Downers, the native primate-like species of Downbelow.The book ended up being interesting and coherent, but I'm not intrigued enough to read on in the series, nor am I sure about reading more of Cherryh's books. However, I'm glad this was selected by my book club, as I've been wanting to read more science fiction and Hugo winners.
    • 4/5
      I took awhile for me to get through this book. Its dense, packed with a lot of happenings for a reader to keep track of. I had to reread the first few chapters a couple of times to keep track of who was who. But once into it, it was still dense, but full of a great and twisty plot, interesting characters, and an unexpected ending. Well worth the read.
    • 3/5
      This was CJ Cherryh first real Sci-Fi blockbuster. What happens on an independant Space Station caught between an interstellar War between Earth and her former Colonies. What separated this book from other Sci-Fi War stories was the focus on Politics. Politics and the way war erodes the rights of the embattled. Politics, bare-knuckle threat diplomacy and what happens when your Military no longer acknowledges civilian Authority.I give it 3 stars because it's a dense, long read that was really suited more for Adults than for the young guys who were buying Sci-Fi at the time this was published. And at times, seem too long and following too many characters.The Positive: Signy Mallory. That was one SCARY Fleet Captain. I'm just sorry that Cherryh never brought this character back in another full adventure in the Merchanter universe.
    • 4/5
      Competition over Pell Station and the Downbelow planet between Earth supporting Mazian's Fleet and Union forces representing a new kind of humanity. Caught in the middle are the merchanter ships and the native non-human planet population. I cannot say I followed all the strategy elements, but the result is an more or less neutral Pell Station allied with the merchanters backed by a renegade captain that breaks off from Mazian's fleet (Union retaining docking rights). The non-natives are not the most interesting aliens in the literature--almost too sweet. But there role in sheltering humans on planet has some sparks of interest (there tunnel shelters). I enjoyed the Mallory character, the captain of the Norway that breaks away from Manian.
    • 4/5
      'Downbelow Station' is the first of many Cherryh novels taking place in the Earth Company/Union/Merchanter's Alliance universe, and a must read for anyone interested in the series. It gives the background to the 'company wars', and the birth of The Merchanter's Alliance and an independent Pell station. Some good characterizations, such as Signy Mallory of the Norway. The depiction of the friendly 'n fluffy alien hisa of Pell is somewhat silly however. The book is moderately paced till the last chapter or so, where it suddenly speeds up. This is where the writing changes from being mediocre to outstanding.
    • 5/5
      This was one of the first serious science fiction novels I read. I loved it. It's not for rollicking adventure "only" sci/fi fans, it's a very thought provoking read. If paced storyline development isn't your thing, you won't like it, you'll get bored and unhappy. There is some action, it's just not an "action" science fiction. It is also the 1st of the 3 foundational novels (with Cyteen and Regenesis, in that order) of CJ Cherryh's Alliance/Union universe - which is the setting of many of her largely standalone sci/fi novels. Cherryh's Chanur books have a little more excitement if that's your need, while still being intellectually thought provoking. Cherryh's big contributions to the genre are 1) showing realistically how mankind's cultural development probably will take place after we move off this planet and 2) the most interesting ever perspectives of any writer - of how alien cultures might see us. The author has an asteroid, 77185 Cherryh, named after her. Referring to this honor, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory writes of Cherryh: "She has challenged us to be worthy of the stars by imagining how mankind might grow to live among them.
    • 5/5
      Prix Hugo en 1982 et nommé au Locus (déjà ça classe...)J'y retrouve ce que j'aime chez Cherryh, cette capacité à me faire entrer en quelques pages dans un univers imaginaire, dans la tête de ses personnages. J'aime le rythme qu'elle donne, le travail de la langue (bien d'autres livre de l'auteur ont un travail encore bien plus poussé).Celui-ci est l'un de mes favoris, histoire, univers, personnages, style...To give you a head start, this novel won the Hugo price in 1982 and was named for the Locus.... Not bad hu?This C.J.Cherryh book is one of my favorite, so easy to immerse in her universe in a few pages, to be in the head of her characters. I love the rhythm she fives, the work on the language -this one is light on the language.Definitely one of my favorite as it has a perfect mix of story, universe, characters and style.
    • 3/5
      Scifi classic about a human space station and furry aliens caught between two equally unappealing sides in an interstellar war.