C J Cherryh books

[finvarre]

C J Cherryh bibliography

Science fiction novels

The Alliance-Union novels:

The period of the Company Wars:
Heavy Time Warner Books 1991
Hellburner Warner 1992 (these first two have fairly close connections
(an omnibus edition, Devil to the Belt, DAW 2000)
Downbelow Station: Hugo Winner, Best Novel, DAW 1981
Rimrunners, 1989, Warner
Downbelow Station's description:
"The Below started wit the Stations orbiting the stars nearest Earth. The Great Circle the interstellar freighters traveled was long, but not unmanageable, and the early Stations were dependent on Mother Earth. The Earth Company which ran this immense operation reaped incalculable profits and influenced the affairs of nations.
Then came Pell, the first station centered around a newly-discovered living planet. The discovery of Pell's world forever altered the power balance of the Beyond. Earth was no longer the anchor which kept this vast empire from coming adrift, the one living mote in a sterile universe.
But Pell was just the first living planet. Then came Cyteen, and later others, and a frighteningly different societygrew in the farther reaches of space. The importance of Earth faded and the Company reaped ever smaller profits as the economic focus of space turned outward. But the powerful Earth Fleet was still a presence in the Beyond, and Pell Station was about to become the final stronghold in a titanic struggle between the vast, dynamic forces of the rebel Union and those who defended Earth's last desperate grasp at the stars."
The Merchanter Novels:
(Trading ships and commerce after the Company Wars)
Merchanter's Luck 1982
Tripoint 1995, Warner
Finity's End 1997, Warner

Unionside novels:
CYTEEN (Warner Books)- the Hugo Award Winner
Cyteen: The Betrayal (1989)
Cyteen: The Rebirth (1989)
Cyteen: The Vindication (1989)
Cyteen (1995) - The 3 above titles complete in one volume.
(Cyteen sequel - forthcoming, date unknown - ??)

40,000 in Gehenna or Forty Thousand in Gehenna 1984

Serpent's Reach,( set in the far future of the Alliance), 1980

books vaguely connected with the main Alliance/Union cycle:
Port Eternity 1982 DAW
Wave without a Shore 1981 DAW
Voyager in Night 1984 DAW
an omnibus version of the three novels above, The ALternate Realities, DAW 2000
THE HANAN REBELLION
Brothers of Earth, 1976
Hunter of Worlds, 1976
An omnibus edition of the two above At the Edge of Space, DAW 2003

The Faded Sun novels:
Kesrith 1977
Shon'jir 1978
Kutath. 1979
(an Omnibus edition: The Faded Sun Trilogy, DAW 2000)
book description:
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 which first gave them life?"


* * *

The Chanur series:
The Pride of Chanur {nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel.} 1982
Chanur's Venture 1984
The Kif Strike Back 1985
(An omnibus edition of the above: The Chanur Saga,DAW 2000)
Chanur's Homecoming DAW 1987
Books description: 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. He had been a prisoner of his discoverers/captors, the sadistic, treacherous kif, until he escaped to the hani ship, The Pride of Chanur.
Little did Tully know when he threw himself on the mercy of the crew of the Pride that he put the entire hani species in jeopardy and imperiled the peace of the Compact itself. This seemingly defenseless fugitive held information which could prove the ruin or glory of any species at Meetpoint station, and whomever Tully allied with would stand to gain power and riches beyond imagining. For with Tully came the key to opening trade with a previously unknown sector of space controlled by a race called "humans". And what began as a simple rescue attempt would soon blossom into a dangerous game of interstellar politics where today's ally would become tomorrow's executioner, and where methane breathers become volatile wild cards playing for stakes no oxy breather could even begin to understand..."
And the next generation:
Chanur's Legacy. DAW 1993

The Foreigner series:
Exiled to the island of Mospheira, a colony of stranded humans relies on one man, their "paidhi" (liaison), to explain their ways to the dominant species of their adopted world. When Bren Cameron, the current paidhi, becomes the target for assassination in a culture where licensed murder is a recognized political solution, the conflict between species becomes a life-and-death struggle for survival and understanding. Veteran sf/fantasy author Cherryh plays her strongest suit in this exploration of human/alien contact, producing an incisive study-in-contrast of what it means to be human in a world where trust is nonexistent. A good purchase for most sf collections.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

The first trilogy:
Foreigner DAW 1994
Invader DAW 1995
Inheritor DAW 1996

The second one:
Precursor DAW 1999
Defender DAW 2001
Explorer DAW2001

And the third one:
Destroyer DAW 2005 (hardcover)
And soon to come: Pretender

The Hammerfall:From Library Journal
Brought before the powerful ruler known as the Ila, the madman known as Marak receives a command to seek out the silver tower of his mad dreams and return with the knowledge of what the tower holds. Marak discovers, however, that reaching his destination is only the beginning of a greater and more dangerous journey. Cherryh's latest novel introduces a new universe of fallen technologies and warring interstellar empires, divine madness and world-shattering weaponry.
Hammerfall (2001) - Morrow,William & Co
Forge of Heaven Eos 2004, hardcover

Hestia 1979

Cuckoo's Egg DAW 1985
(published together with the Serpent's Reach as The Deep Beyond, DAW 2005)

The following are nominally science fiction, though they are more like a mix of sci-fi and fantasy, about the descendants of colonists on two lone planets: Finisterre and Merovin, respectively.
Rider {Finisterre}: (about the Nighthorses and their riders)
Rider at the Gate 1995, Warner
Cloud's Rider 1996, Warner
Book description: "A forgotten colony lost on a planet of wild beauty and unimaginable danger. A people held together by a renegade band of outcast heroes, called to their destinies by alien dreams. A world of Riders and Nighthorses, their minds linked together on the knifedge of an abyss- for even a single Nighthorse can annihilate a human race. And now one Nighthorse has gone insane..."

Angel with a Sword (Mri-wars period, but nothing in common, really; all novels take place in the city of Merovin,
a "fantastic city of canals, where the wealthy and powerful dwell in the highest towers and the boaters, beggars, spies and thieves lurk on the highly polluted interlacing waterways below.." The main protagonist is Altair Jones, a young canaler who rescues a high-born stranger from drowning and then her life suddenly changes
Angel with a Sword(Followed by all the Merovingen books) 1985 DAW

Merovingen Nights
A shared world, preceded by Angel with a Sword.
No 1.Festival Moon DAW 1987 - anthology, editor
No 2. Fever Season DAW 1987 - anthology, editor
No.3.Festival Moon DAW 1987 - anthology, editor
No.4.Troubled Waters DAW 1988 - anthology, editor
No.5.Smuggler's Gold DAW 1988 - anthology, editor
No.6.Divine Right DAW1989 - anthology, editor
No.7.Flood Tide DAW 1990 - anthology, editor
No.8.End Game DAW 1991 - anthology, editor


FANTASY NOVELS

The Morgaine Cycle (DAW books)

Gate of Ivrel 1976
Well of Shiuan 1978
Fires of Azeroth 1979
(An omnibus version of the above, the Morgaine Saga Omnibus, DAW 2000)
Exiles' Gate 1988
From the book's description - " Morgaine. Pale in coloring and as tall as the tallest men, it seems clear that this mysterious traveler is a descendant of the long-vanished qhal. Aided by a single warrior honor-bound to serve her (Vanye), it is her mission to travel from world to world sealing the ancient Gates whose very existence threatens the integrity of the universe. But will she have the power to follow her quest to its eventual conclusion - to the Ultimate Gate or the end of time itself?"

THE YNEFEL NOVELS (Fortress) (Harper Collins)
Fortress in the Eye of Time 1995
Fortress of Eagles 1998
Fortress of Owls 1999
Fortress of Dragons 2000
Fortress of Ice (forthcoming in 2006)
Book Description:
Deep in an abandoned, shattered castle, an old man of the Old Magic muttered almost forgotten words. His purpose -- to create out of the insubstance of the air, from a shimmering of light and a fluttering of shadows. that most wonderous of spells, a Shaping. A Shaping in the form of a, young man who will be sent east on the road the old was to old to travel. To right the wrongs of a long-forgotten wizard war, and call new wars into being. Here is the long-awaited major new novel from one of the brightest stars in the fantasy and science fiction firmament.C.J.Cherryh's haunting story of the wizard Mauryl, kingmaker for a thousand years of Men, and Tristen, fated to sow distrust between a prince and his father being. A tale as deep as legend and a intimate as love, it tells of a battle beyond Time, in which all Destiny turns on the wheel of an old man's ambition, a young man's innocence, and the unkept promised of a king to come.


The Paladin - set in a mythical Far East, 1988.

Faerie

This includes all myth-based stories.

Arafel:
EALDWOOD (Daw Books)
The Dreamstone 1983 - short story "Dreamstone" + novella "Ealdwood"
The Tree of Swords and Jewels 1983
The Dreaming Tree 1997 - Dreamstone and Tree of Swords and Jewels combined

Faery in Shadow 1994, Ballantine

THE RUSALKA NOVELS (Del Rey)
Rusalka 1989
Chernevog 1990
Yvgenie 1991

Goblin Mirror 1990, Ballantine

PLUS, two anthologies

Visible Light, 1981
(one of the short stories included here, Cassandra, won the Hugo Award)
Sunfall, 1981
(an anthology of dying earth stories)
An omnibus edition of the above, The Collected Short Fiction of C.J.Cherryh,DAW 2004)

And..
THE SWORD OF KNOWLEDGE (Baen Books)

A Dirge for Sabis (1989) - with Leslie Fish
Wizard Spawn (1989) - with Nancy Asire
Reap the Whirlwind (1989) - with Mercedes Lackey

HEROES IN HELL (Baen Books)
Kings in Hell (1986) - with Janet Morris
Gates of Hell (1986) - with Janet Morris

THIEVES WORLD NOVELS (Ace Books)
Soul of the City (1986) - with Janet Morris and Lynn Abbey

Memory Blank (1986) - ACE - with John Stith, et al.
Alien Stars (1985) - Baen - with Joe Haldeman and Timothy Zahn
Glass and Amber (1987) - NESFA Press
Legions of Hell (1987) - Baen Books

I'm sure I've made some mistakes/omissions, so feel free to add whatever information you have

 

[finvarre]

I've been wondering how many of you out there have read the books of CJ Cherryh. She's one of my favourites and has written so many books (see above that IMHO almost everybody is bound to discover something to his/her liking among her novels, be it SF, fantasy or a mix of the two genres...
However, what I liked best about her books was the integrity of the universe she created, for instance, in the Alliance - Union series. I prefer the authors of sci-fi books to create a very detailed and complete vision of the future, so as to be able to savour it (literally ) in more than one book, such as ie. Hain by Ursula LeGuin. Cherryh has managed to conceive and develop one universe, the Alliance/Union one, right from the beginning, when the first colonies liberate themselves of the old Earth's companies (The Company Wars), through centuries of struggle between the two main human powers, the Merchanter Pell and the scientific Cyteen that relies on cloning in order to gain advantage over the Alliance and explore more star systems. In the end, we can read about the events occuring in the far, far future when humans already make contact with other species, like ie. The Mri Wars period about which The Faded Sun Trilogy tells.
The other outstanding feature of her writing is her deep understanding of psychology. Nothing is ever easy for the protagonist, and we always learn about her or his feelings about the problems she/he solves, the way of thinking. This regards the aliens, as well, which for me is fascinating. Sometimes - as in the Chanur books, the Faded Sun books and the most recent and very long (7 books till now, and there are at least 2 yet to come!) Foreigner series - one symphatises with other races, so much so that humans seem the alien ones. Well, maybe those alien species are always too humanoid in form- personally I suspect that the real aliens would be too *alien* to comprehend, but ie in the Chanur novels we have 3 methane- breathing and completely crazy species in addition to the 4 species of oxy breathers, the *sane* ones.
As for fantasy, my favourite is the Morgaine cycle, the first books I've ever read written by Cherryh, and I'd recommend them to anybody as they're really entertaining as well as original, with intriguing protagonists. The Fortress series I'd recommend as well. The beginning is rather slow, but once you're in, you're in for good I have to admit that I don't know the faerie novels, though. I didn't like the Dreamstone at all and never tried again with any of these, especially as ie. rusalkas aren't anything especially exotic for me because they belong to the Slavonic culture. BTW, while compiling the bibliography, I realised that I haven't read nearly as many books by this author as I had originally thought. She's just written so much there's a plenty I have to discover yet... which is as well
So what books did you read by her and did you like them and her particular writing style? What are your favourites?

 

[GOLLUM]

WOW WOW that's all this literary junkie can say YO!!!...

That's probably the most impressively laid out Bio post I've seen here, fairly comprehensive. Good job.

I'll get back to you on Cherryh mate, still picking myself off the floor...

 

[finvarre]

Well, I most certainly can wait . C J has me impressed, samewise. I'm literally lying on the floor, but then that's mostly because my WI FI internet connection doesn't work if I sit down . BTW, good morning

 

[GOLLUM]

Good mornnig to you Finvarre!..

I'll post something on Cherryh over the weekend.

Ciao, work calls...

 

[lazygun]

'Know i've read at least one of this authors' books,remember the name and cover,was a cat-like humanoid,possibly female,cradleing a human baby...?
Memory suggests that library availability more than anything else brought my intrest in this series? to an end...
You would'nt know this particular story/series Finvarre?..

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Cherryh is one of those authors who would probably be about five times better if she allowed herself to be edited, but she's still a towering talent.

For years I was convinced that she was better at writing science fiction and science fantasy than she was at straight-up fantasy, which meant that as my own interest continued to turn away from SF to fantasy I read less and less of her work. Then I read the Fortress books and she proved me wrong.

It always surprises me that so many SFF readers are unfamiliar with her work, because in my opinion it would be difficult to over-estimate her impact on the field. She was doing "gritty" back in the 70's. She was also doing a lot of other things back then that tend to be hailed as innovative when younger authors do them now.

 

[finvarre]

Must have been the Cuckoo's Egg. My copy's coverart is just as you've described, by Michael Whelan. That's one of her earlier ones, and exactly as the cover suggests - it tells the story of a human, Thorn, raised by the aliens of a fighter's caste.. Did you enjoy it?

Yes Kelpie, I agree about the editing... especially in the latter works which are longer.
As you prefer fantasy to sci fi - did you think Morgaine was really fantasy? In Poland it was published as SF, but I found that unjustified.

 

[lazygun]

Couldn't tell you anything else about it, but that i enjoyed it.Remember i could not get any more of that author,..and think i found a run of Asimov,Piers Anthony, Stephen Donaldson available at the same time,..go figure.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

finvarre, I've always considered the Morgaine books to be science fantasy. The best blending of science fiction and fantasy that I can ever remember reading.

 

[finvarre]

And have you read about the nighthorses? I have problems locating a copy of the two . Is it worth the effort? (OK, I know it is, but what do you think about it?) and do you consider something like this or ie. Darkover or Pern series as a blend of sci/fi -fantasy or just purely a scifi?
For those of you who haven't visited the page yet I'd like to recommend checking out the pages about CJ Cherryh as they're really interesting:
her personal site, which she maintains herself,
http://www.cherryh.com
and an unofficial Cherryh fan site, that contains also a message board:
http://www.shejidan.com

While searching that board, I came upon a funny post concerning Morgaine&Vanye cycle, originally posted on Google Groups:

>> The Morgaine books nearly drove me crazy with the
>> sexual tension. I mean, it was cool that Morgaine
>> and Vanye could go through the whole first book
>> without sex being an issue, but by the second book,
>>I was ready for them to at least kiss. By the third
>> book I was dying. She braided his hair. Three books
>> I've been waiting and all she could do was braid his
>> hair !?!
>
>> Four books. You have to wait four books for the
>> consummation. That is masterful.
>
>I totally agree, I thought I was going to go nuts.
>Especially since the issue is CONSTANTLY on Vanye's
>mind, and you have no idea what Morgaine thinks. Ow
>ow ow ow ow.
>Morgaine is SO cool, though.
>> I think if I were dying and something like the Make-
>> a-Wish Foundation were going to fufill my dying
>> request, I would ask them to get C. J. Cherryh to
>> write out that sex scene for me. I would die
>> satisfied.
>
>*grin* Yeah, she wrote that book before you could
>really include "that stuff" in SF novels...

Well, there's certainly more to these books than the Vanye-Morgaine relationship tension, sexual or otherwise , but interesting to know what other people feel like when reading it .

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I haven't read the Nighthorse books yet, which so far as I can see are pure SF.

As for Pern and Darkover, those are the other two examples I usually give when the conversation turns to science fantasy. Except when I bring up Andre Norton instead. (Hmmm. Just noticed, after all these years, that all these authors are women.)

Thanks for including that post about Morgaine and Vanye. Yes, sexual tension is definitely going full force in those books. Just another way for Cherryh to make her main character suffer; she tends to be merciless, physically, psychologically, emotionally.

But I have to ask myself: Where do these young people get these ideas? You couldn't write about sex in SFF during the 1970's? Please. What Cherryh did was teach a whole generation of genre authors right in the middle of the sexual revolution that unresolved sexual tension could be even sexier than the most lurid sex scenes.

 

[GOLLUM]

Hi Finvarre!

I've read some of Cherryh's works but not all of them...

I do remember reading that Nighthorse duology in the past and it was pretty dark fantasy but it's more Sci Fi than fantasy I would have to say with the action taking place on a foreign planet between human colonists and the local animals (night horses in particular) some of whom share telepathic links. The 2 books currently in this series were unsuprisingly very well written! Quite frightening some of the scenes if I recall them correctly but I won't say anymore for those yet to read them. This series has been compared to Wolfe's The Book Of The New Sun which is a fav of mine, so I think you'll really enjoy these books once you can get hold of them.

I've also been following the Ynefel series which I assume is what Kelpie is referring to as the Fortress series. The latest in that series Book 5 Fortress Of Ice is supposed to be coming out this year. I'm still chasing up all the books in this cycle and currently looking at Book 3 Fortress Of Owls. These books rock with some high class dialogue (not unpsurprising with this author) with some really interesting charterizations and worldbuilding and a dose or two of that sexual tension or sexual subtext I think Kelpie refers to. Having said that I still place Erikson and Martin above Cherryh but I guess I'm just a tad biased on these 2 authors...

I don't have the Fortress series in my recommended top fantasy list yet mainly because I'm stil reading the series and prefer to have completed or at least be up to the latest book before passing judgement. Having said that Fortress is certainly on the way to being listed in my top fanatsy series, good stuff!..

I'm yet to read the earlier Morgaine Cycle so I'll try to chase this up once I've completed the Fortress books.

I didn't mind the Ealdwood books that much Finvarre but they're no contest when it comes to the Fortress series I'll concede that.

Over and out...

 

[finvarre]

As for Pern and Darkover, those are the other two examples I usually give when the conversation turns to science fantasy. Except when I bring up Andre Norton instead. (Hmmm. Just noticed, after all these years, that all these authors are women.)

That's interesting. However, I've never heard of a 'science fantasy' genre, so you've enlightened me, Kelpie, thanks! But now that I know of it, I think you could add to your list C.S. Friedman's Coldfire Trilogy, also a woman though. Maybe someone else has come across a man writing science fanasy ?

But I have to ask myself: Where do these young people get these ideas? You couldn't write about sex in SFF during the 1970's? Please. What Cherryh did was teach a whole generation of genre authors right in the middle of the sexual revolution that unresolved sexual tension could be even sexier than the most lurid sex scenes.

That was precisely the reaction of the members of Cherryh forum as well :
"Someone who has the mid 70's confused with the 50's....
Dangerous Visions was published in 1967, and had lots of that stuff in it to mention just one book."

OK, but we haven't mentioned Cherryh's SF works yet, and I think she's written more in this genre. What interests me is for example whether you consider all of these books are in some way connected to each other, do they take place in one universe or not? I'd like to think that Meetpoint& all these species in the Chanur series were just the neighbours of Alliance and Union. As for the mri, Cherryh herself classified The Faded Sun Trilogy as being just "far down the history line". I also had thought about the Foreigner series as about just one more human (Alliance? they don't have any azis aboard the Phoenix...) colony, incidentally lost in space. But when finally we have a description of Phoenix' spaceflight, it seems that the author's altered the theory of spaceflight she has been using in all of her previous books, and so this can't be the same universe... (???)

And as for her fantasy series again: how about the Rusalka trilogy and the Goblin's Mirror? I haven't read them and I'm a bit curious...

I think that the Morgaine cycle is very different from The Ynefel/the Fortress series, which for one part is understandable, as 20 and more years have passed between the writing of the first volumes of the two, but then they're both excellent novels, IMO, though in different ways. In Fortress there's more of worldbuilding, it' s more important to the story. Then we have politics, alliances, intrigues, etc, and more than one hero, though undoubtedly Tristan is the main protagonist of the story and I wouldn't quite call this series an epic fantasy one. In Morgaine, the worlds are well thought out, but there are 4 of them, one in each story, and their diversity is what sticks to mind. There are only two protagonists, but their relationship (see above ) is very complex indeed. It would be hard to say which one is better... for me at least.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

As far as Cherryh's SF, the books I know best are the early ones that aren't so easily classified, so I'd be the wrong person to speculate on connections. I always felt that Port Eternity and Serpent's Reach and Cyteen had a shared history, but that might just because they were thematically related.

As for the Rusalka books and Goblin Mirror, they appear to be unrelated. They both draw on East European folklore, but that's about it, I think. The big difference for me is that I tried the Rusalka books twice and couldn't get very far -- the plots seemed weak compared to her other books and the characters were not so engaging -- and I really like Goblin Mirror.

Faery in Shadow is a rare one, in that it seemed to come and go very quickly and was never reprinted. I spent months looking for it and finally bought it used from Amazon. It's a direct sequel to a piece of short fiction called "The Brothers."

I do love the Fortress books, but there is a greater intensity to the Morgaine books and a sense of greater intimacy with the characters which still had its hooks into my psyche after all these years. Plus, the first three Morgaine books were written back in the days when she was still listening to editors, and the writing and plotting are a lot tighter.

 

[finvarre]

I've just finished reading Cuckoo's Egg (thanks, lazygun, for making me remember I had this book waiting on my shelf. I have to say that, as usually with Cherryh, I enjoyed reading this book v much. Yet another alien species intoduced here:the shonun, and ,as always, fascinating. The author goes as far as to make a human baby, Thorn/Haras alien in our own eyes. The child is raised by a member of the warrior caste, Duun, and in the beginning we observe the child's progress through Duun's alien eyes. This book could be linked as well to the Alliance Union universe, but there's no proof of it. And so I realised it's not as important whether they're really related or not (at least not as long as the author doesn't tell a story about ie. the shonun coming to the mri or hani universe). What's important though is that they're thematically related, as Kelpie put it, and it is usually a similar story told from a different angle/point of view. I think that what I like most about Cherryh's worlds is that she tells what I believe is true about the human nature, regardless of the setting in which the story takes place. Plus she's an expert in intercultural/interspecies relationships.

 

[finvarre]

Seems in my first post I haven't mentioned Legions of Hell written in 1987, part of the shared The Damned Saga books. Features historical characters, like Caesar, Cleopatra, Brutus, Machiavelli or Napoleon all put together in Hell and fighting one another... sounds interesting, especially as Cherryh graduated from classic philology studies (on her official site you can find a Latin course web page).

 

[Teir]

A few years back, my dad brought home a cardboard box filled with old paperbacks which he had been given to do with what he wished. If he took any i don't know but he said to help myself because he was throwing them out. I waded through them and selected a stack (or 2 ). in Amonst them were books by a few different authors, all of whom i didn't know. one was CJ Cherryh. i have....the tree of swords and jewels, Angel with the sword and Exils Gate. i read them by themselves, and they were enjoyable but completely out of context because i didn't know where they fit into a series. Really appreciate the extra info, thanks

 

[Princess Ivy]

i've only read one, hammerfall, but i did enjoy it muchly.

 

[finvarre]

Well, Princess, glad you enjoyed Hammerfall. I still haven't read it but am planning to do so.. as soon as I buy its sequel, The Forge of Heaven. Does Hammerfall have an open ending, or could it be read separately?

Hmm, Teir, as for Angel with the Sword you haven't missed much because what you've read is the first book in a series, and it's really a standalone because the rest of the Merovin books were more like anthologies, written by many authors at the same time. It's quite difficult to get a copy of those, as they are long out of print. But I'd really recommend that you read the first 3 books in the Morgaine cycle, every one of them is equally good, I'd say, and Exile's Gate is the last one in this series. Out of context indeed . Fortunately, they recently came out in 1 volume, titled The Morgaine Saga, so you might like to check it out.