The Faded Sun

The Faded Sun trilgoy opens with volume 1: Kesrith.

This is a story of three space-faring races, (Human, Regul, and mri). In the midst of a three-pronged peace accord a lone human finds himself on the surface of a hostile planet, (Kesrith), thrown together with and imprisoned by a pair of mri that are on the run from both the treacherous Regul and their human enemies. Astonished to not be killed outright by the fierce mri warriors, and forced to accompany them as they search to escape from Kesrith, Sten Duncan begins to learn of their ways and codes. The mri, in turn, reach some small understanding of the humans who have recently brought their entire race to the brink of extinction.

This is an in-depth study of a 'Dances With Wolves' scenario. Cherryh handles it with ease, never flinching from the brutal reality of war and conflict while managing to find sympathetic harmonies even between enemies. The characters are complex and the plot convoluted but easy to follow due to the superior prose. Cherryh's ability to turn a simple phrase into a thing of beauty continues to impress.