Chanur’s Legacy is the fifth and final book in C.J. Cherryh’s Chanur series, set after the events of the original tetralogy. Hilfy Chanur — Pyanfar’s niece — is now captain of her own merchant ship, Chanur’s Legacy. What should be a straightforward courier job, delivering a precious artifact to a distant station, spirals into factional politics among the Compact species. Hilfy has to manage a crew that includes a young male hani (still culturally unusual) and a stsho passenger whose diplomatic fragility is a constant liability. Throughout, she’s trying to establish herself as a captain in her own right rather than living in Pyanfar’s shadow.

The book is generally interesting but uninspired. Hilfy is a weaker protagonist than Pyanfar, lacking the presence and force of personality that made the original tetralogy compelling. The stakes are much lower here — no galaxy-spanning conflict, no existential threat to the Compact — and the smaller scale feels anticlimactic after the momentum of the first four books.

Much of the story focuses on character moments: Hilfy’s struggles with leadership, her social confidence, and her relationships with her crew. These are Cherryh’s strengths as a writer, and she handles them with her usual skill. But they are also, for me, the least engaging parts of her work. There’s a parallel with Robin Hobb here — both authors bring a distinctly female-coded sensibility to stereotypically male genres, centering emotional depth and interpersonal dynamics over plot-driven action (see my reviews of her Liveship Traders and Farseer series). That’s not a flaw, but in Chanur’s Legacy the lowered stakes don’t compensate for the shift in focus. The original tetralogy balanced character work against genuine tension and consequence; this book leans heavily on the former without enough of the latter to sustain it.

I’d recommend it only to completionists. The Chanur tetralogy stands well on its own, and Legacy adds little that’s essential. If you love Cherryh’s character writing and want more time in the Compact, it’s a pleasant enough read. If you’re coming off the tetralogy hoping for more of the same urgency, you’ll likely be disappointed.