title: Downbelow Station (20th Anniversary) (Alliance-Union Universe)
author:  C. J. Cherryh 
description: Praise for <i>Downbelow Station</i>:<br /><br />Winner of the 1982 Hugo Award for Best Novel<br /><br />"Cherryh has created her strongest character and her best novel in a story of space exploration, colonization and war." <i>Questar</i><br /><br />"Full of imagination, action, and understandable, sympathetic characters...." <i>Analog<br /><br /></i>The well-drawn variety of backgrounds and motivations of the characters is the works strength. <i>VOYA</i><br /> <br /> A solid, vividly realized background; excellent characterization of humans and aliens; and an ability to keep a story moving Intelligent space adventure, conceived and executed on a grand scale. <i>Booklist</i><br /> <br /> <i>Downbelow Station</i> is a fascinating, complex deep-space-war political novel with a lot of subtle twists. <i>Fantasiae</i><br /> <br /><i><br /></i>
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  Caroline J. Cherryh
  
    
  
    
  
  ![](Images/image00304.jpeg)
  
    
  
  Alliance-Union 00
  
    
    
    
    
  
    
  
    
  
  Editorial Reviews
  
  Book Description
  
  A legend among sci-fi readers, C.J. Cherryh's Union-Alliance novels, while
  separate and complete in themselves, are part of a much larger tapestry-a
  future history spanning 5,000 years of human civilization.
  
    
  
   _Downbelow Station_ is the book that won Cherryh a Hugo Award for Best Novel
  in 1982. A blockbuster space opera of the rebellion between Earth and its far-
  flung colonies, it is a classic science fiction masterwork.
  
    
    
    
  
  Spotlight Reviews
  
    
  
  ![](Images/image00305.jpeg) **Fascinatingly complex political intrigue, but
  not much fun** , July 11, 2002
  
    
    
    
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  It's easy to see why Cherryh's work is so lauded by the prize-givers of the
  science fiction community. Downbelow Station is like a complex spy thriller
  set in an otherworldly locale. There are dozens 