The Faded Sun Trilogy

Written by C. J. Cherryh

Narrated by Paul Woodson

All three books in C. J. Cherryh's epic The Faded Sun trilogy, Kesrith, Shon'jir, and Kutath, collected in one volume.

They were the mri-tall, secretive, bound by honor and the rigid dictates of their society. For aeons this golden-skinned, golden-eyed race had provided the universe mercenary soldiers of almost unimaginable ability.

But now the mri have faced an enemy unlike any other-an enemy whose only way of war is widespread destruction. These "humans" are mass fighters, creatures of the herb, and the mri have been slaughtered like animals. Now, in the aftermath of war, the mri face extinction.

It will be up to three individuals to save whatever remains of this devastated race: a warrior-one of the last survivors of his kind; a priestess of this honorable people; and a lone human-a man sworn to aid the enemy of his own kind. Can they retrace the galaxy-wide path of this nomadic race back through millennia to reclaim the ancient world that first gave them life?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Dec 25, 2018
• ISBN: 9781977371744

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.

Reviews for The Faded Sun Trilogy

[Richard Furman · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Great story but the recording dropped part of the story in chapter 23 other recording. Transitions from the wandering in the desert immediately to the return of the human character to the spaceport. Audio seems to be damaged

[Diane Sidener · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Classic! One of my all time favorites, and one of the best ethnographic science fiction trilogies.

[Marshall Banana · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A better series than Dune, and I consider Dune to be one of the best science fiction books ever, but Cherryh's desert planet trilogy is superior all-round and although there are some who say it starts slow, I think they mean the first few chapters of the first book, but that's only relative to the gripping pace of the entire rest of the series after that, it just might stand out and be a little frustrating for people going back to feverishly re-read it again and again as I have done several times over the years. Yeah, the beginning is "slow" compared to the whiplash to come, I suppose.

[crazybatcow · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

These books were written in the late 1970s. By a female author. That, in itself, would make this an excellent purchase. It is a fantastically written trilogy. The characters/races are distinct and individual and not "let's make this alien just like human" There is no overt "feminism" and yet the gender of the characters is fully irrelevant (and is actually explicitly de-centralized by the very nature of one of the alien species). There is no romance, no sob-story, no whiny "look what "we" did to that"....I would put Cherryh up against any of the "old-school" sci-fi writers in story quality and the ability to connect to readers without a) weapon porn b) sexualizing everything c) glorifying humankind or d) trying to make up reasons to justify bad behaviors. Books 1 and 2 were fully engaging. I will admit that book 3 had a bit of a lull around the 2/3 point, but it picked up very well for the last section. The story came to a satisfying close, and it was most enjoyable that in the last section we didn't know for sure how the ending would satisfy our urges for justice to be served.t might take a bit at the outset to get used to the vocabulary, but it will settle in.

[marklacy-355086 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

C. J. Cherryh is very skilled at creating alien species, with their own cultures, thought processes, customs, etc. But did the last "book" in this "trilogy" need the "elee"?

[sammii507 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I currently re-read this book, and it keeps its place as my favorite science fiction novel of all time. A few of the things I particularly like about it: First, the characters. Cherryh taks a good deal of time developing her characters to the point that you actually CARE about them. Many authors (sci fi and otherwise) are too concerned with the plot to let the reader get to know the characters, and so when it comes down to plot crunch-time, nobody really cares what happens. Cherryh is very much the opposite. You care what happens to Niun and Duncan, you feel their emotions, you fear, cry, love, and laugh with them because Cherryh takes the time to let you into their hearts and minds. The friendship between Niun and Duncan feels so very real, because we see from the point of view of both, and understand how their minds slowly move together towards that point. Second, the emphasis on the alien cultures. Unlike in Star Trek, where all the alien cultures are just humans with a little body paint, the mri and the regul both are completely alien. While the mri at least are vaguely humanoid, both are very alien in their thought-processes, thinking in ways that humans find difficult or impossible to follow. Cherryh does a brilliant job in this book of describing and letting the reader into the cultures of both the mri and the regul. Fascinating! Three: The fact that the book is not resolved by Niun discovering he would be better off human, and assimilating. I've read so many books where the alien character is assimilated by the human character, with the feeling that human culture is better anyway, so of course it will win out. This book is the opposite, and runs in the face of that xenophobic cultural bigotry. Duncan becomes mri. Stavros is well on his way to becoming regul. I love the idea from this book that cultural identity is not just skin deep, but comes with a certain thought process and behavioral patterns - the fact that Duncan is mri is recognized both by the mri themselves, and by the regul - it is only the humans, set in their shallow ways, who refuse to see this change.

In all, this is my favorite book in the science fiction genre.

[fuzzi_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a wonderful trilogy! For detailed reviews of each book, check out the individual titles in my library.

[amzoltai_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

No better aliens in the galaxy!No holds barred suspense!!No doubt a trilogy for the ages...

[reading_fox · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

CJ Cherryh always starts slow, and this is perhaps one of her slowest starts. But it's worth persevering for the totally epic space opera she manages to describe. This trilogy is also unusual in that CJC employs a range of Points of Views, alien and human, which is something she often avoids. It's not a style I often like, but handled well, as this is, it does allow a greater sense of empathy with many more of the characters and a greater explanation of motivations for various actions. Faded sun contains the complete Trilogy:Kesrith:A desert world out at the limits of human exploration, recently seceded to human ownership, after the defeated Regul and their Mri mercenaries withdraw. It is also home to the last of the Mri, a fierce race, who hold strictly to their own ways and do not compromise. Nuin is Mri. Youngest, of those on Kesrith and deeply disappointed that he hasn't and now won't see action in the war with humans that has lasted his entire life. Duncan is human - aide to Stavos, the envoy to the Regul, to observe Regul withdrawal. When chance politics allows him the chance ot explore outside he takes it with glee - anything to get away from the dull, slow ungainly and spiteful regul. However he encounters the uncompromising Nuin, and a destiny is set in motion which will effect the futures of all three races.Shon'jir:The Passing. Nuin and his 'mother' the tribal elder, and his biological sister have their spaceship, and are retracing the journey of their kind, As detailed in their Holy mysteries. Unfortunately the ship comes courtesy of Duncan their human adoptee. Only if he can forget his humanness and become mri - surpassing the constraints of biology can he be permitted to continue with them. For Duncan it is journey beyond his imagining, humans always compromise. Mri do not.Kutath:the journey has reached it's end - 123 dead worlds have been passed, each suitable for intelligent life, but known was found. Finally the mri homeworld has been reached - ancient beyond imagining, the mri were 100000 years in the voyaging, but their strict culture has kept the old ways alive both here and out there. Melein finally has the chance to convince other mri that she has Seen the course of the future, and for Nuin the opportunity to just interact with other mri is a chance he never expected to have. However there is still Duncan - and humans and Regul have followed them, and are alarmed by the dead worlds left in the mri's wake. Duncan is viewed as not-Mri by the homeworlders but Melein and Nuin know that he is theirs, even when loyalties are torn, and the Regul attack from space. The aliens are superb, the characters wonderfully drawn, especially the loyalties between the different species, and the different ways of looking at the world. The only notable downside is that very little actually happens - it's a slow character and dialog driven trilogy. There are a few pages of action here and there, often very fast paced and confusing to follow. I wasn't quite convinced Nuin stays in character all the time - he occasionally shows more human traits than may be expected. Thoroughly recommended, but takes some persevering to appreciate the ending....................................................................................Review Discussions are open HERE for any comments you may wish to make.

[eilonwy_anne · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I usually hesitate to give star ratings to books I read long ago. But I wanted to make sure my recommendation and praise were on record here.This is excellent science fiction. Cherryh's great achievement here is the creation of not one, but two mindsets that are believable, yet pervasively alien. The mri and the regul are so consistent and convincing -- not to mention interesting -- that this trilogy is still the first book that comes to mind when discussing beautifully crafted alien races in fiction.

[miracheskis · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My first series by Cherryh. She truly makes aliens feel *alien*, which is a rarity in science fiction dominated by humans-with-funny-noses. Delightful and refreshing because of that. :)

[black_samvara · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Complex story of two people left after their race has been destroyed - a race of deadly mercenaries. They are accompanied by a man who is balanced between fear of their incredible destructive abilities and his own compassion for a race that has not found a way to live in harmony in a galaxy where everyone fears them.

[jusneuce · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Slow to start but really quite good

[jmvilches · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The mri are a proud warrior race; mercenaries for the regul for thousands of years. But when the regul went to war with humans, the mri lost. Now the regul have ceded the mri homeworld to the humans. With the mri numbers dangerously depleted, and humans coming to claim the planet Kesrith, they are left facing a dire situation. Two surviving mri, Niun and Melein, are thrown into a very unlikely, and very uneasy, association with a human soldier, Duncan. Together the three of them embark on a quest to explore the origins of the nomadic mri in hopes of saving the species from the regul and humans both.Cherryh does an excellent job of creating aliens that don't act too "human" and function logically within the framework she constructs for them. The characters are definitely the highlight of this book - their motivations, feelings, and relationships are explored in depth. This makes for fairly slow pacing, especially in the beginning when the scene is being set. But there is enough action and political intrigue to keep things interesting and the pace picks up after the first third. Cherryh has several books where characters seem to endlessly toil through a desert setting, and this is definitely one of them. But if you make it through the slow set-up and occasional repetitiveness, it's a thought-provoking and compelling book. One of the main themes showcases human adaptability in the face of alien thought patterns.The three books contained in the Faded Sun Trilogy (Kesrith, Shon'jir, and Kutath) were originally published in the late 70s. They don't feel dated, and it's nice to have them all in one book, because I don't think they'd be good as stand-alone reading. Taken together, the trilogy is much stronger than the individual books.4 Stars