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Downbelow Station cover art

Downbelow Station

By: C. J. Cherryh
Narrated by: Brian Troxell
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Summary

Pell's Station, orbiting the alien world simply called Downbelow, had always managed to remain neutral in the ever escalating conflict between The Company, whose fleets from Earth had colonized space, and its increasingly independent and rebellious colony worlds. But Pell's location - - on the outer edge of Earth's defensive perimeter - makes her the focal point in the titanic battle of colony worlds fighting for independence.

©1981 C.J. Cherryh (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

  • Hugo Award, Best Novel, 1982

What listeners say about Downbelow Station

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Well worth persevering with

I almost gave up on this audio book - I found the narrator's voice extremely irritating and the book gets off to a very slow start as the author sets the scene for the story from the point of view of each of the main characters. I found it all very dense and confusing and it was so hard to stay focussed that I ended up listening to the first 4-5 chapters over and over again trying to make sense of what was going on.



Fortunately I persevered and kept listening. Once past the first few chapters, the story picks up pace considerably. The action continues to move from the viewpoint of one character to another as events play out both on and off-station, giving the story a cinematic quality. As I became more familiar with each of the characters, I got hooked in and started to care about what happened to them. I will definitely read this book again.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Good but confusing

A quite enjoyable book let down by a less than great narrator, Downbelow Station is full of interesting characters, plots and intrigue, but is very dense and takes a lot of concentration to follow the story completely. I feel like I'll get more out of this one on a re-read when I've got clear in my head who all the characters are, since I got lost rather a lot on a first listen.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great story; brilliant narration!

This is one of my favourites by Cherryh; she weaves a fast paced and emotionally charged story of good people, bad people and people just trying to survive.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful.

First read this book many years ago. Couldn't get a kindle book, or find a print copy, so decided to try the audio book. The story itself is every bit as good as I remember. And, although I was unsure at the start, the narrator does a good job.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great well-balanced story

Great story for readers interested in interstellar politics. Some characters are rather complex and pleasantly fall somewhere in between on the moral spectrum.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Read it!

I love CJ Cherryh's Alliance-Union universe books,and was very happy to see them appearing on Audible.Downbelow Station is a complex book,but the narrator did a good job in keeping the different voices distinguishable,and he has been added to my list of favorite readers.If you enjoy classic sci-fi,then all the books in the series are worth reading,and I hope they are all coming to Audible soon!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Failed to grab me

I've started this twice now, and both times it failed to grab my attention enough to keep me listening beyond an hour or two.
Seemed well written, and read, as far as I could tell, but not for me.

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