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Three novels in the classic Nebulanominated trilogyKesrith, Shon'jir, and Kutathappear in an omnibus volume that chronicles the exploits and adventures of the mri, acclaimed interstellar mercenaries, as they confront the ultimate enemy, humankind. Original.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
The Faded Sun is a collection of the Mri war trilogy. As usual in Cherryhs books there is a lone, alienated hero who must absorb the ways of society around him and become one with it. In this case it's Sten Duncan, human soldier captured by the last members of a dying species. Although adhering to Cherryhs tried and true formula, the Faded Sun is a fascinating work of human-alien interaction. Cherryh creates a believable world, populated by real, solid and fascinating characters driven by their own personal motives. Even though the characters are fictional they come alive as in few other works. You can truly sympathize with them, understand what drives them and occasionally scream in frustration at their bullheaded dive towards self-destruction.
This is not Cherrys greatest work. It's a bit to wordy and at times the hesitation and fears of the characters becomes annoying, especially when it's drawn out over several pages when you'd rather know what happens next. On the positive side it does give in depth understanding of the characters and helps the reader relate to their painful experiences. It also creates believable reasons why the heroes won't just lie down and die when they loose their possessions, their freedom and even their sanity.
If you want an action-adventure try Cherryhs 'Tripoint' or 'Rider at the Gate' but if you want an intriguing book that will keep you reading till early in the morning then buy the Faded Sun.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
C. J. Cherryh is undoubtedly the master of intelligent, character-driven space opera. She regularly manages the difficult trick of writing exciting external adventures (there is plenty of action) which arise out of the deeply realised emotional complexity of her characters. Cherryh is justly famous for her brilliant aliens. She embraces the 'otherness' of personal identities like no other SF writer. Her Union-Alliance universe includes humans but it is not human-centric.
The Faded Sun Trilogy is a fixup of three early novels, Kesrith, Shon'jir and Kutath. Together they form one narrative and the sum of their parts far outweighs the individual entries. The reissuing of the three together in one volume offers the perfect entry into the world of the humanoid (but not human) Mri, the wonderfully alien Regul and humans.
The Faded Sun follows a deceptively familiar SF pattern. The noble but inflexible Mri (whose lives are loosely modelled on Bedouin and Samurai codes but with a deeply alien core) have been betrayed by the Regul, after fighting a war against humanity on their behalf. There are only two survivors - the young siblings Niun and Melein. Fleeing across the desert world of Kesrith in search of an ancient secret of their race, they capture and are in turn captured by Sten Duncan, a disillusioned human elite soldier who had fought in the human-mri wars. This is only the beginning of an adventure which will bring Niun, Melein and Duncan far across the stars and deep into inner space.
The books follow subversively classic bildungsroman character arcs. Melein changes from young woman to the hieratic leader of her people, shedding her past self forever; Duncan painfully leaves his human identity to embrace another in scenes of powerful psychological trauma; Niun, on the surface has the least dramatic arc, but it is his which binds the other two. The young Mri must learn to accept who he is and through the acceptance of his own identity he is able to reach out to the non-Mri other. Niun's simplicity is anything but simple.
These threads are complemented by the storylines of their Regul and human antagonists. This is not even to mention the role played by the empathetic Dusei. The inner journeys of the three protagonists are counterpointed by political intrigue and military action.
Cherryh has created a fascinating world. Highly recommended.
The Faded Sun Trilogy is a fixup of three early novels, Kesrith, Shon'jir and Kutath. Together they form one narrative and the sum of their parts far outweighs the individual entries. The reissuing of the three together in one volume offers the perfect entry into the world of the humanoid (but not human) Mri, the wonderfully alien Regul and humans.
The Faded Sun follows a deceptively familiar SF pattern. The noble but inflexible Mri (whose lives are loosely modelled on Bedouin and Samurai codes but with a deeply alien core) have been betrayed by the Regul, after fighting a war against humanity on their behalf. There are only two survivors - the young siblings Niun and Melein. Fleeing across the desert world of Kesrith in search of an ancient secret of their race, they capture and are in turn captured by Sten Duncan, a disillusioned human elite soldier who had fought in the human-mri wars. This is only the beginning of an adventure which will bring Niun, Melein and Duncan far across the stars and deep into inner space.
The books follow subversively classic bildungsroman character arcs. Melein changes from young woman to the hieratic leader of her people, shedding her past self forever; Duncan painfully leaves his human identity to embrace another in scenes of powerful psychological trauma; Niun, on the surface has the least dramatic arc, but it is his which binds the other two. The young Mri must learn to accept who he is and through the acceptance of his own identity he is able to reach out to the non-Mri other. Niun's simplicity is anything but simple.
These threads are complemented by the storylines of their Regul and human antagonists. This is not even to mention the role played by the empathetic Dusei. The inner journeys of the three protagonists are counterpointed by political intrigue and military action.
Cherryh has created a fascinating world. Highly recommended.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have read many sci-fi and fantasy books over the years and this one of ones I have re-read several times because I love it.
Sten Duncan is a very good hero who endures much, has many disadvantages when compared to the alien Mri, but in the end not only begins to understand their culture and way of thinking but also shows the Mri that humanity is not neccessarily their enemy.
Both the Mri and the Regul are well thought out, the Mri, honourable and uncompromising and unwilling to change their ways which to a large extent is their failing and why they are in such dire straits and the Regul, self serving and untrustworthy, their scheming amongst themselves and with Humans and Mri leads to their downfall.
I suspect that Cherryh will not write anymore about the Mri which is shame as the end of the story points to Human and Mri having a strong and beneficial future as both races learn something about themselves and each other and for the Mri in particular it may well be that for the first time in their long history they have found a race whom not only will respect them but try to understand and live with them.
I recommend this to anyone although I would definately buy the triloy in this version rather than in seperate books.
Sten Duncan is a very good hero who endures much, has many disadvantages when compared to the alien Mri, but in the end not only begins to understand their culture and way of thinking but also shows the Mri that humanity is not neccessarily their enemy.
Both the Mri and the Regul are well thought out, the Mri, honourable and uncompromising and unwilling to change their ways which to a large extent is their failing and why they are in such dire straits and the Regul, self serving and untrustworthy, their scheming amongst themselves and with Humans and Mri leads to their downfall.
I suspect that Cherryh will not write anymore about the Mri which is shame as the end of the story points to Human and Mri having a strong and beneficial future as both races learn something about themselves and each other and for the Mri in particular it may well be that for the first time in their long history they have found a race whom not only will respect them but try to understand and live with them.
I recommend this to anyone although I would definately buy the triloy in this version rather than in seperate books.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Tribal cultures
Cherryh is excellent at taking human tribal cultures as her guide for alien species and combining them with her imagination to create people at once familiar and alien to western... Read more
Published 8 months ago by D. Hilsdon
Dusty worlds
There are three worlds in this trilogy, the second book is takes place in a ship in flight, a long flight, and traumatic, that's the second world, and it's a bit claustrophobic,... Read more
Published on 15 May 2010 by R. Court
Budo for SF fans - pure pleasure!
Following the saga of a human, Sten Duncan, and two of the last alien Mri, The Faded Sun trilogy is a deeply moving description of the nobility of a warrior-philosopher race. Read more
Published on 29 Sep 2005 by "everhopefulharry"
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