Foreigner

Destroyer

Destroyer is the latest in Cherryh's Foreigner series, the tale of Bren Cameron's tempestuous relationship with the alien atevi. As the paidhi, Bren is the sole human permitted to enter atevi society, and on his head rests the task of translating not only language and culture, but also the instinctual behaviors that can seem deceptively similar ... with sometimes deadly results.

As Destroyer opens, Bren returns to his adopted planet following the 2-year space mission to retrieve human colonists from a remote space station. That mission had been concluded successfully (though not without difficulty). He is accompanied by his atevi staff, the dowager Illisidi, and the heir-apparant to atevi society. But the situation he finds upon his return is not at all what he left.

The government, run by his close atevi associate Tabini, has collapsed. Tabini himself is missing. The shuttles are no longer flying, leaving the orbiting station without supplies and desperately struggling to become self-sufficient. Bren must confront the possibility that his own mistakes are responsible for the disaster, and rescue Tabini's Western Association from its dire straits if he can. For if he fails, the present atevi government will want nothing to do with him, and the alien kyo are likely close behind, looking for reliable allies against an alien menace that threatens human, atevi, and kyo alike.

Foreigner

The series follows a human paidhi (a diplomatic specialist in alien cultures) in his career as liason between a colony of humans and the native race of the planet, the Atevi, who are undergoing a dramatically accelerated transition from the beginning of their industrial period to a human-guided space age. Although a certain initial investment is required, the tale rapidly becomes engrossing. The paidhi's unenviable status as the sole human permitted in close contact with the Atevi, with responsibility for interperting all contact between their cultures, embroils him in labyrinthine politics that threaten his life as well as planetary war.

The Atevi are rendered both tauntingly humanlike and deeply alien, with characters and personalities quite distinct from one another even within the overall strangeness of the race. The humans have their own depth of character. It is, in many ways, a remarkably well-written series. Rarely can I be induced to sit still for 6 books of politicing where the end goal is always a peaceful resolution of differences -- even if that ideal is not always perfectly met.

Cherryh isn't the type of author who hits emotional home runs when the bases are loaded. This is a tale well-told; it does not aspire to greatness, but instead matter-of-factly excels at entertaining and engrossing.

<-- Prev Displaying results 0 - 2 of 2 Next -->

Read this group via RSS or Atom.

Enter your email address to receive email updates for new entries in this group: