The Pride of Chanur (Alliance-Union Universe) [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

Während ihr Schiff auf einer Handelsraumstation angedockt liegt, schafft es ein "Alien", der vor den Kif, einer kriegerischen Spezies, auf der Flucht ist, an Bord ihres Schiffes zu gelangen. In ihren Augen handelt es sich bei dem "Alien" um eine offensichtlich bis dahin unbekannte Spezies und sie ist nicht bereit, ihn an die Kif auszuliefern. Die Kif sind darüber überhauptnicht erfreut und es kommt zu einer wilden Verfolgungsjagd.

Mir hat das Buch sehr gut gefallen, insbesondere weil das Buch aus Sicht der Nicht-Menschen erzählt wird. Hierbei wird alles sehr glaubwürdig erzählt: C. J. Cherryh scheint sich sehr gut in Aliens hineindenken zu können. Ich kann das BUch jedem empfehlen, der Erst-KOntakt-Bücher und glaubwürdige Aliens mag.

This is a whole new galaxy far more complex than you can ever imagine, with so many languages, behavior, norms, etc. interacting with each other - a very realistic vision of what would it be like to live in the very hub of an intergalactic enterprise. One would wonder how Ms. Cherryh came up with such alien-sounding names and all. And what is more, the whole world is quite different from what we are already familiar with. For instance, the Chanur crew are very muscular, sport mustaches and breads, and wear only trousers below their bare-chested torsos, but they are actually FEMALES! And what's more, humans are very scarce in this part of the boundless outer space. So prepare yourself for the great oydessy into the unkown!

If you want a quick, thorough romp through an alien culture novel, concluded with Cherryh's trademark big battle finish, pick up *The Pride of Chanur.* It's two hundred pages, self-contained, exciting and stimulating. Cherryh's space-faring lions make Larry Niven's Kzinti look like intelligent apes, and her extrapolation of lion culture to her needs is fascinating.

One of the best things in the novel is Cherryh's assumption of the non-human perspective, from which the sole human, Tully, seems the most alien, and from which the mahendo'sat, who are also primates, it turns out, seem almost as estranged from us as the insectlike kif.

Be warned, if you go from here into the rest of the five-volume series, that the next three novels --*Chanur's Venture,* *The Kif Strike Back,* and *Chanur's Homecoming*-- are a three-chunk publication of one huge novel, more than a thousand pages, that was intended to be called *Chanur's Revenge.* The first ends practically in mid-sentence, and so does the second. Expect a long haul.