The 17th book in CJ Cherryh's Foreigner series kicks off immediately after the closing events of its predecessor 'Tracker'. A semblance of peace has been restored to Alpha station as it orbits the Earth of the Atevi. Bren Cameron is rid of the troublesome human stationmaster Tillington, and Braddock, putative leader of the restive refugees from Reunion Station is in atevi custody. Human associates of the heir to the leadership of the atevi, the young gentleman Cajieri, are safe after their misadventures. Not ideal, but manageable. The kyo starship continues to approach the space station. For talking, or perhaps for less desirable actions.
This latest installment draws heavily on backstory from the the series. In particular it draws on the events of 'Explorer', and just what happened at Reunion and why. Complicated of course in that many of the protagonists are dead, and records are lost or locked away.
The tension builds as the arrival of the Kyo ship becomes imminent. If something goes wrong, there is no escape here. There are the distraction of human and atevi politics to consider. Bren Cameron muses on how he became paidhi, and the changes that he brought to the role, all the while desperately boning up on what little kyo vocabulary was accumulated back at Reunion. How accurate is the story he knows?
The tension is maintained as the kyo arrive, and through the taut negotiations between kyo and atevi and paidhi. The process of deciphering a language from first principles is unpicked and is fascinating. What role do facial expressions hold, and what information is imparted by what cannot be heard?
And then the author lobs a bomb into the series leading to the cliffhanger ending. The reader is left speculating on the necessity for secrecy, the likely effect on trust of such deceptions, and just when these newly planted seeds might come to to fruition, and will that harvest be for good or ill. This is a 'payoff' entry in the sequence. The author has choices on how to proceed, as options for the series widen out from the tight focus on the atevi homeworld. I for one am delighted by this turn of events, and eagerly anticipate the closing installment in the 6th Foreigner trilogy (!) ' Convergence',
This latest installment draws heavily on backstory from the the series. In particular it draws on the events of 'Explorer', and just what happened at Reunion and why. Complicated of course in that many of the protagonists are dead, and records are lost or locked away.
The tension builds as the arrival of the Kyo ship becomes imminent. If something goes wrong, there is no escape here. There are the distraction of human and atevi politics to consider. Bren Cameron muses on how he became paidhi, and the changes that he brought to the role, all the while desperately boning up on what little kyo vocabulary was accumulated back at Reunion. How accurate is the story he knows?
The tension is maintained as the kyo arrive, and through the taut negotiations between kyo and atevi and paidhi. The process of deciphering a language from first principles is unpicked and is fascinating. What role do facial expressions hold, and what information is imparted by what cannot be heard?
And then the author lobs a bomb into the series leading to the cliffhanger ending. The reader is left speculating on the necessity for secrecy, the likely effect on trust of such deceptions, and just when these newly planted seeds might come to to fruition, and will that harvest be for good or ill. This is a 'payoff' entry in the sequence. The author has choices on how to proceed, as options for the series widen out from the tight focus on the atevi homeworld. I for one am delighted by this turn of events, and eagerly anticipate the closing installment in the 6th Foreigner trilogy (!) ' Convergence',