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language: English
country: USA
year: 1985
form: novel
genre(s): science fiction
series: the Chanur novels, #3
dates read: 10.8.25-15.8.25
C.J. Cherryh’s rather inaptly titled The Kif Strike Back is the third of the Chanur novels and the second of the middle trilogy, picking up immediately after the end of Chanur’s Venture. I know I already said I loved Chanur’s Venture but The Kif Strike Back is even better. I’m obsessed with these books.
Pyanfar Chanur and her crew are caught up in a tangle of overlapping political machinations that threaten the foundations of interstellar law (and peace) in their region of space. the disorientation of the first book sets up the dawning realizations of the second book, which balances its action sequences with periods where its characters have moments to rest and think — and explain. these explanations are complicated, though, by the continual struggle to communicate across linguistic and cultural boundaries.
this is maybe my favorite part of the book (and, indeed, the series so far): all of the interspecies dialogue is clear enough to be comprehensible — and certainly enough to be workable for everyday purposes. the problem is that they are not in everyday circumstances, and so more and more gaps in communication keep piling up. all Pyanfar can do is keep going, keep talking, and hope desperately that she’s understood enough, that she’s managed to communicate enough, and that she’s been able to judge people’s intentions well enough, but knowing as she does that she almost certainly hasn’t done all three of these things, even if she’s managed one or two in a given conversation. I love this.
along with the communication, one of the big things that pushed this one over the edge for me is the handling of the kif. despite the title implicitly positioning the Kif as an evil monolithic empire (originally it was meant to be titled Chanur’s Revenge, which I think would have been a much better fit), in fact what we (finally) get is an extensive engagement with internal divsions among the kif and the complexities of kif social relations. aspects of the plot (Pyanfar ends up with a kif on board her ship) point to an undermining of the species-based political divisions that have structured the social world of the series thus far and towards the (fragile) possibility of a genuine multispecies society. certainly it’s clear that hani (= cat-alien) society will never be the same after this, whatever happens.
I continue to love the fact that there’s only one human character, and he can barely communicate with anyone. I want a Muppet adaptation of these books. but also there’s something here about friendship — I think these books would make a very weird pair with Laurie J. Marks’s Elemental Logic series, but also I think a very productive pair. to choose friendship — to cling to the possibility of friendship — even when the weight of history and politics around you are screaming at you to call someone enemy. when it would be easier to throw them away and pretend you never (could have) cared about them at all. to have nothing left to give and to offer your help anyway, because it’s the right thing to do.
good! book!
moods: adventurous, grimy, inspiring, reflective, tense