Downbelow Station

This one started off really slow for me. After beginning with one of my least favorite things; an info-dump, it then took nearly a third of the book for me to connect with the characters. I persevered, slowly slogging my way through and then... I gradually came to realize that my difficulty with relating to the characters was due to the masterful way Cherryh was developing those characters and their various parts of the story. There is no doubt that Cherryh is a challenging author. She does not spoon-feed a plot to the reader. Rather, she intimates and alludes via dialog, slowly filling in the blanks until the focus shifts into clarity. The reason I had trouble was that Cherryh was playing with the good guy/bad guy setup. Upon first meeting, it was nearly impossible for me to tell who I was supposed to be rooting for and who to hiss at. At about the halfway point, plot and characters were settling into place quite nicely - and then she still surprised me with where things ended up. From beginning to end, this book went from a 2-star to a solid 4-star read for me. I don't know why I was doubting Cherryh's ability to bring me around... I should know better.