Downbelow Station by C. J. Cherryh

Ms. Cherryh's first Hugo-award winning novel came in 1982 with this book. She was almost unknown at the time, as evidenced by this book first being published by The Science Fiction Book Club and not one of the major houses. Rest assured that THAT never happened again. Her next Hugo winner, Cyteen, was published by Warner.

I've always felt  Ms. Cherryh's greatest asset in her books was her absolutely crystal clear grasp of the isolation involved in the human condition, and her mastery of describing the doubts, fears, and certainties that this inherently instills in her characters. Nowhere is that more in evidence than in Downbelow Station. Its the story of both cultural interplay and social inter-reaction based on the cultural environment of a space station where the planet-bound, the space-faring and the station-dwelling all meet and intermix. As usual, Ms. Cheeryh captures the characterizations and motivations as no other author ever has. Its been years since I first read this, but I read it again for this review...and DANG...its a whopper of a story. Nobody characterizes mindset as well as Ms. Cherryh...mindset and motivations based on environment and culture. Read this one! And after you've sorted through all the plot twists and are ready for a REAL study of cultural psychology, read Cyteen, her next Hugo winner.