I read the novella after I'd read the Novel of The Fall of the Kings. I need to read them both again to look at them better. They are well worth investing the time.

As for CJCherryh's THE FOREIGNER series, I am awed by her ability to create aliens that have meaning to me (as a human) and show how humanity can interface with them. I am only to the fourth of the six books, and I need to read the other two then reread them looking at the concensus.