Can a writer plagiarize herself?

I started playing a little game with myself as I got into this book - 'Which Character Is This?'

Almost every character in this book I've met before, with a different name, in different surroundings, but nonetheless, the same person at heart.

Along with the similar characters come similar relationships.

The book starts with the familiar Cherryh premise - legendary parent/teacher and child/student of wildly different origin.

The familiar innocent but gifted lord and experienced but subservient bodyguard as friends comes along in due time, as does smart benevolent ruler and bemused unworthy noble.

Oh sure, the backdrop is different. Most of the duplication I'm thinking of is with her sci-fi works, not this straight up fantasy. And, not all the characters are repeats. It's more of a 'mashup'.

I can't even say which stole from which, since this novel came out in the nineties, and at least some of the characters I'm thinking of probably post-date this work.

What keeps this story from being strictly a boring repeat, is that she's repeating some of her strongest characters, and the best situations that result.

If you're new to Cherryh, or prefer sci-fi to fantasy, this isn't where I'd start, but it's certainly worth checking out along the way.

If you love her work, you have to read this one, and you'll enjoy it.

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Have made 3 attempts now on this book but have finally had to throw in the towel at pg 250. I just can't into the sloooooooooooow build. However, I happened to come by the second book and the blurb on the back sounds exactly like what was happening for most of what I've already read so, um, that's weird but seems like I can just continue with a later setting and call it good.

I've really been wanting to try Cherryh so if anyone has a suggestion I'd love to hear where to start. Obviously, for me, this was not the right title.

excellent characterization and character development, wonderful prose, amazing dialogue; not always easy reading (like the Morgaine books) but very enjoyable ( )

I tried, I tried for so long. But this falls into the category of CJ Cherryh books where a young bewildered man wanders around stumbling into things while nothing discernable happens(*) and I just couldn't keep trudging through that for a whole book let alone a whole series. I'd like to know what happens next, but I suspect nothing does.

(*) Honestly I can't recall any CJ Cherryh book I've encountered that this doesn't describe, but some managed to either disguise it better with more semblance of plot to hold me, or caught me before I'd cottoned onto the pattern. ( )

Tristen is a revenant, the classic hero brought back from the dead. He serves Cefwin, the new king of Ylesuin, and his own destiny, of which he is unsure. Cherryh's world building is competent, but overall I would not call this opening volume of a trilogy her best work!
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