the Hatani warrior Guild. He is heavily scarred and is missing two of the four fingers on one of his hands. Haras (Thorn) – a Human, raised by Duun as an Hatani. Betan – a Shonun who become Thorn's tutor and the first female he has met. Thorn develops an attraction to her, but she is revealed to secretly be a Ghota agent. Sagot – a teacher Reception Translator and poet Burton Raffel wrote in an essay "C.J. Cherryh's Fiction" that Cuckoo's Egg is "as fine and stirring as anything Cherryh has ever done", and that "it is in a way a brilliant tour de force, looking at humans entirely from an alien perspective. Science fiction author David Langford described the book as a "good read", saying that the master-pupil relationship is "very nicely done", and that "Cherryh's worked hard to make you want the answers to each riddle". Relationship with the Alliance-Union universe Because of Cherryh's use of the tightly-limited third-person storytelling, it is never stated whether Cuckoo's Egg is a part of the Alliance-Union universe or not. J. G. Stinson in her essay "The Human as Other in the Science Fiction Novels of C.J. Cherryh" maintains it is not, although some bibliographies indicate that it is set in this universe. The Age of Exploration Cuckoo's Egg is from C. J. Cherryh's Age of Exploration series, a collection of three science fiction novels that share a common theme, but are unrelated to each other: Port Eternity (1982) Voyager in Night (1984) Cuckoo's Egg (1985) References Further reading External links Cuckoo's Egg at Worlds Without End 1985 American novels 1985 science fiction novels Science fiction novels by C. J. Cherryh Military science fiction novels Novels about extraterrestrial life Novels set on fictional planets Alliance–Union universe Novels set in the future American science fiction novels DAW Books books Books with cover art by Michael Whelan