The Pride of Chanur

Chanur, Book 1

By: C. J. Cherryh

Narrated by: Dina Pearlman

Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

No one at Meetpoint Station had ever seen a creature like the Outsider. Naked-hided, blunt toothed and blunt-fingered, Tully was the sole surviving member of his company -- a communicative, spacefaring species hitherto unknown -- and he was a prisoner of his discoverer/captors the sadistic, treacherous kif, until his escape onto the hani ship The Pride of Chanur.

Little did he know when he threw himself upon the mercy of The Pride and her crew that he put the entire hani species in jeopardy and imperiled the peace of the Compact itself. For the information this fugitive held could be the ruin or glory of any of the species at Meetpoint Station.

©1982 C.J. Cherryh (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Best aliens ever

Cherryh has wonderfully alien aliens. And The Pride of Chanur is presented from an alien viewpoint. Not too alien. Her aliens make internal sense based on their origins. This production is rough in spots, words occasionally mangled. Editing could be better. But still an entertaining listen. Like all of Cherryh 's works, it remains current decades after it first appeared. You will want to listen to it more than once.

Fantastic

If you could sum up The Pride of Chanur in three words, what would they be?

Characters, Story, and Excitement.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Goldtooth. A Smooth Operator.

Have you listened to any of Dina Pearlman’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No I haven't, but she was a great reader.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Just very happy to have this entire series on as Audio.

Any additional comments?

Dina Pearlman is a great reader. Please Audible Frontiers have her read the C. J. Cherryh Merchanter Books 'Merchanter's Luck', 'Tripoint', 'Rimrunners' and 'Finity'd End' . More wonderful books that deserve to be in audio.

Awesome

Loved this book!
I have read and reread this series many times. Believable characters from completely different alien worlds and customs, intricately woven into a compelling story full of action, adventure, and exploration.
I enjoyed listening to the narrator voice all the impossible alien names! Some very different from the way I had always pronounced them in my head. I can't wait to listen to all of them.

The Magic of CJ Cherryh

Feline aliens rescue a human and have to fight against the odds and evil aliens.

Cat -Aliens Befriend Human, Risk Galactic War

What did you love best about The Pride of Chanur?

This book has a tight story and timeline. The author doesn't waste any words in the telling and doesn't follow any red herrings. Also, Pride of Chanur is a space opera, but the galaxy-spanning events are viewed from a fairly small-scale perspective, which is great.

What did you like best about this story?

This prompt is basically the same as the last one, but I have another answer so... I like that this book is basically told exclusively from the viewpoint of aliens. The one human character we see any significant amount of is largely inscrutable, from the alien point of view. That is pretty cool and, I'm sure, quite challenging to pull off. Cherryh did it well.

What does Dina Pearlman bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

God bless the narrator on this one. She had to repeatedly pronounce words like Knnn and Stsho (alien races) and she did it with as much grace as I think anyone could have.

Any additional comments?

I probably listened to this book about three times in parallel. I got through 2/3 of it and felt like I had missed too much and started over. And many times I had to back up and re-listen to segments in order to catch something I had obviously missed. At first I thought it was me, but it's Cherryh's writing style. She really doesn't hold the reader's hand at all and there are times when you could accuse her of being vague or obscure, though if you break down the text all the clues are there. While the writing actually doesn't feel dense it all, it is. And it will catch you off guard.

Hard to stay interested

I liked the premise, first contact for humans told entirely from an alien point of view. There are several different species with their own conflicts and politics and the lone human doesn’t understand the language and is mostly a pawn. However I personally found it hard to stay interested in the very complex world building.

Excellent!!

This first book of 3 was outstanding, if a bit short. I have all 3 books & have read them, but this was my first time listening on Audible. I thoroughly enjoyed it!!!

GREAT SF ADVENTURE.

INTRODUCES YOU TO STRANGE ALIEN PEOPLE YOU CAN ONLY MEET IN A BOOK. MAKES THEM ALL COME ALIVE.
READERS PERFORMANCE WAS EXCEPTIONAL. READER'S DIFFERENT CHARACTRRS NEED IMPROVEMENT. SOME ARE VERY DISTINCT BUT SOME SOUND TOO SIMILAR.

I’d lose my mind if this became a movie

I really love the narrator for this series- the mature, feminine, perpetually exasperated voice fits right with the captain’s personality.

There are some slow points in the book that can be boring if you’re not into political intrigue playing around with philosophy. Luckily I am. One of my favorite books by a favorite author.

Good story, problems with narration

A good story--one I've read several times in the paperback. Nice, exciting space opera--various species, shoot 'em ups--lots of fun, setting up future tales with these characters. While this volume ends with a complete tale, I'm aware that the next couple of books in the series end with cliff-hangers.

But there are problems with narration in this one--insufficient distinction between character voices, and frequent misread words: operation for option, relegated for related, etc. (And in cases where the wrong word is so completely out of place, it should have been noticed: "Whether they were relegated or not she could not determine.") Also, misplaced pauses in narration, such as "He walked the corridor narrowly (pause) avoiding..." rather than "He walked the corridor (pause) narrowly avoiding..." I won't actually avoid books with this narrator, but I certainly won't seek them out. Unfortunately for me, this narrator reads the rest of the series; if I want the series, I'll have to put up with the reading. Here's hoping it improves.

I'm delighted to be able to get Cherryh's books in audio format, so I'm willing to put up with this narration. But better narration would have made a more enjoyable listen.