Cherryh, C.J. - Morgaine books

[oyceter]

(individual titles: Gate of Ivrel, Well of Shiuan, Fires of Azeroth, Exile's Gate)

I hate writing plot summary. Therefore, instead have a list of elements that make up the series: cold, icy, possibly alien woman attempting to close all the Gates in the universe (Morgaine); dishonored horse-loving warrior who becomes her bond servant (Vanye); medievaloid worlds; science that looks pretty much like magic; body swapping; UST galore.

I read book 1 and 3 of this series four years ago and skipped over book 2, as my library didn't have it. Most of what I remember from that first read is "Morgaine + Vanye = win," "hairbraiding = sexy," and "Who is this Roh guy and what the heck is going on? Oh well, Morgaine is talking again, good."

It's amazing how much more sense the series makes when a) my plot brain has returned and b) I actually read book 2 between books 1 and 3. These would remind me a great deal of traditional sword and sorcery books had I actually read many of those as a kid; as such, I feel Cherryh has many of the trappings, albeit with Morgaine as a master of alien technologies instead of a sorceress, but couldn't say for certain.

The world of Shiuan is the most striking: it's nearly the end of the world there, and the looming sense of DOOM and apocalypse makes it the most memorable of the four worlds.

Still, the reason why I read the books is less the worlds and almost all Morgaine and Vanye. Morgaine is, as mentioned, cold and icy and determined to close the Gates at all cost, while Vanye is frequently torn between his loyalty to her and his conscience. It also helps that Cherryh is excellent at UST; some of the most memorable scenes between them involve hair braiding or Morgaine sleeping on the same bed as Vanye with absolutely nothing implied.

Exile's Gate has much more Morgaine/Vanye, which is almost a bit strange to me after all the UST, but I still love how Cherryh ends up balancing it with Morgaine and Vanye's liyo/ilin relationship.

In conclusion: cool and fun worldbuilding and adventuring, but mostly lots of not-touching and not-saying what you actually mean!

Comments

[cofax7]

I have SUCH great fondness for these books! I remember reading the first one in a Daw paperback with an early Michael Whalen cover in which Morgaine wore a bikini. They are probably my favorite Cherryh novels (although the Chanur novels come a close second). I was So excited when Exile's Gate came out, because I had assumed she'd never write another one, and that it all just ended at Azeroth.

Cherryh and Jane Fancher put together a graphic novel version of the first one, or at least of the first part of the first one.

And if you go to the old Yuletide archive, you will find a really good piece of fic set after Exile's Gate.

[chomiji]

I love the Chanur series!

(But I also really love Heavy Time/Hellburner.)

[cofax7]

Ah, yes, here it is. And yeah, I beta'd it. So good.

[oyceter]

It is very good! I remember spending lots of time on it to try and finish it before the reveal that year! (ahem, possibly while it was totally dead in the office....)

OMG the library copy of Gate of Ivrel is totally the one with Morgaine in a BIKINI! Least Morgaine-like outfit EVER.

[lnhammer]

Shiuan is indeed the most striking, and its story stays with you the longest of the four.

---L.

[oyceter]

Yes! I was trying to remember the storylines for the other books despite having read them with plot brain, and Shiuan is very much the most memorable. Yay apocalypse?

[lnhammer]

Yanno, that's a good point about the apocalypse making it memorable. And it's not a typical apocalypse -- I haven't seen one handled like that elsewhere.

---L.

[oyceter]

Yes! I also like that it is pre-apocalyptic instead of post-apocalyptic... I hadn't quite noticed that until I was typing it out and realized the apocalypse hadn't quite gotten there, and this was everyone scrambling to get out before it hit.

[colorblue]

In conclusion: cool and fun worldbuilding and adventuring, but mostly lots of not-touching and not-saying what you actually mean!

That sounds very much like something I'd enjoy. Thanks for this rec!

[oyceter]

Hope you enjoy! They can definitely be a bit difficult to get into (if you check out my Cherryh tag, you can laugh at my earlier reviews of these, which are basically: "Stuff I do not remember happens. Morgaine is awesome. More plot. Something?"), and they feel very old fashioned to me, but omg I love love love the Morgaine/Vanye dynamic. So rare to find in fiction even now!

[rachelmanija]

I cannot remember the stories of any of these other than the first, vaguely, and that there's confusing bodyswitching and dooooom, but I recall Morgaine and Vanye and the UST and hairbraiding vividly.

I too think it's sword and sorcery with an sf gloss - what people used to call science fantasy and sometimes planetary romance. I adore that genre and wish there was more of it.

[chomiji]

Golden Witchbreed by Mary Gentle comes to mind.

[rachelmanija]

Hmm. It has a similar feel, but I think of it as more clearly sfnal. I was thinking more about stuff like Leigh Brackett or C L Moore's Northwest Smith stories.

[rydra_wong]

I too think it's sword and sorcery with an sf gloss - what people used to call science fantasy and sometimes planetary romance. I adore that genre and wish there was more of it.

Oh, please please start a post for discussion of science fantasy and collection of recs? It's one of my favourite genres too (partly explaining my love for Gene Wolfe despite his politics). I'd especially love more recent examples and/or discussions of what could be done in the genre.

[oursin]

I think this is about thirded for this suggestion?!
I am currently reading Ankaret Wells' The Maker's Mask: Book One of Requite: am only about a third of the way through, but it is ticking a hell of a lot of the right boxes for this kind of thing.

[cofax7]

I wonder if Rosemary Kirstein's work fits that template? I think it does, although it's less overtly fantastic in the narrative, even though it has characters called wizards and so forth.

[oyceter]

OMG bodyswitching never helps when one is trying to keep track of plot! (Even moreso in manga!)

[oracne]

I adored those books. I remember when book 4 came out and I bought it NEW. Which was rare for me in those days, since I rarely had money.

Yesterday, I read a Barbara Hambly short story ("Firemaggot") while on the elliptical, and was once again slammed with how much I love her work. Like Cherryh, she has the ability to really make you feel with her characters.

I should go on a binge of re-reading all my high school/college faves: Hambly, Martha Wells, Lois McMaster Bujold, Cherryh.

[oyceter]

I have actually not read very much Hambly at all! Mostly just the Dragonsbane series (oh self, you should have just stopped at book 1) and the Windrose Chronicles... what would you rec?

[oracne]

My faves are the Windrose Chronicles because Antryg is so wacky, and the Benjamin January historical mysteries which are just awesome.

In THE LADIES OF MANDRIGYN and its 2 sequels, the main hero is male but there's a really good female character who's a mercenary. In the first book, the Ladies need the hero to teach them how to be warriors.

The Darwath books can get really scary, at least to me (I don't read horror for horror's sake, so I held my breath a lot in that series). Points for woman learning to be a warrior. It has people from our world transported to the fantasy world.

The two "Sun-Cross" books had a lot of interesting stuff about oppression of wizards in the first book; the second one, the hero has accidentally ended up with Nazi scientists and has to figure out they're bad.

I liked THOSE WHO HUNT THE NIGHT and its sequel because the vampires were bad or at best ambiguous throughout, and the female lead was awesome. I should re-read those.

BRIDE OF THE RAT GOD had some Chinese stuff in it, in a surface "Chinese curse" way as I recall - it's set in California during the silent-film era, so I really enjoyed the setting. At the time I wasn't horrified by the "Chinese curse" but I haven't read it since the mid-1990s.

I don't remember SISTERS OF THE RAVEN and its sequel as well because I read them when they came out, and by then I wasn't doing repeated re-reading like I used to. Women and their magic was a major theme.

I don't have any of her more recent historical novels.

[oyceter]

Yaaaay, thank you! I think I read the Windrose books at the wrong time (datedness of our world showing through), but I keep hearing people read Those Who Hunt the Night as an interesting vampire book and then promptly forgetting it.

[thomasyan]

I hate writing plot summary

You too, eh? I am happy when I can link to Rachel or Mely or someone else on my readinglist who has already posted a review that includes a summary. I guess I should also take a peek at wikipedia pages and, if they are spoiler-free, link to them.

[oyceter]

Writing summary is so boring! I suspect that is why so many of mine are in the format of: "She's a [blahblahblahblah]. He's a [blahblahblahblah]. Together, they fight crime [do plotty things]!"