Cherryh's Foreigner series With over 50 years of reading top science fiction, I discovered Cherryh and the Foreigner series. Its world and its characters were so truly drawn that they became "friends" in whose future I felt deeply involved. I have awaited each new book in the series with great anticipation.
Tough one to get through.. Wow, a lot of these reviews are surprising me. Everyone seems to think that this book is somehow _better_ than the original Foreigner. Well, I hate to say it, but the original Foreigner was _really_ good. Here I am now, stuck with about a hundred pages left in this book, and it's taking forever to get through. Literally... this book has been on my desk for about 3 weeks now, and I got through Foreigner in a week. The pace slows down incredibly in this sequel, to the point where the brief 3rd person/omniscient perspective (through the eyes of Bren) from the first novel changes into an ENTIRELY philosophical, pondering pile of stress (through the eyes of Bren.. again). For pages, and pages at a time. CJ Cherryh lets us realize that she is confused, stressed out, and pontificating in this novel, for chapter after chapter, while disguising it as Atevi/Human conflict. It's really, really hard to finish this book, but I loved the first one so much, and I still have 7 more to go after this.... so I'm going to struggle through it. I really hope that Foreigner 3 is more rewarding. I've heard that the series as a whole is amazing, so I'm praying this is just a speed bump on the road of the Foreigner novels. (crossing fingers)
"Intellectual" science fiction in the best sense This is the second volume -- the "bridge" volume, which are notoriously difficult to write -- in what originally was meant to be a trilogy but which is now a nine-volume epic. A couple of centuries ago, a human colony ship went badly astray and was forced to land on an already inhabited world. The native atevi were on the edge of an industrial revolution but have now been yanked into a much more advanced culture with the aid of slowly doled-out human technology. Following a war that resulted from profound misunderstandings between the two species, a treaty restricts the human population to the island of Mosphei and permits -- requires -- a single human in the atevi local capital as paidhi -- the translator and mediator between natives and foreigners. Bren Cameron is that lone human, far more talented than any of his predecessors, anxious to understand the often bewildering atevi psyche, willing to like and even love his hosts. But now the human ship from which his ancestors descended, and which had left the planet's vicinity shortly afterward, has returned unexpectedly and wants to refurbish the abandoned orbiting space station. They expect humans to provide unquestioning labor but don't realize how much things have changed, and Bren has to deal with the sudden change from two-sided relations to a triangular situation between atevi, Mosphei humans (including a rival padhi supported by an anti-atevi faction), and the ship. Cherryh is a master in the explication of very alien psychology and politics. This isn't "space opera," it's a very thoughtful, very detailed study of human-alien relations. Which means it won't appeal much to fans of sword-swinging fantasy and shoot-'em-up fiction, but more intellectual sf fans are gonna love it.
You could say "Invader" is a thinking man's novel... ...because that's mostly what happens in it: the main character, Bren Cameron, thinks. A lot. He certainly has much to ponder. He is the "paidhi," the one human on the planet allowed to live among the atevi, the native race. As described in "Foreigner," the humans are descendants of a lost colony ship. The survivors build a space station around the atevi homeworld, but the ship itself leaves, forcing the station dwellers to migrate to the planet. After a devastating war, humans are now confined to a large island. Bren serves the atevi court as the Interpreter, the only direct link between atevi and human. When the original ship returns after centuries of absence, the fragile balance is threatened by conservative elements from both races. Bren must scramble to bridge the cultural and linguistic gaps between the parties in order to keep the peace.
The story only covers about a week of time. And in that time, Cherryh seemingly shares every single thought that passes through Bren's mind. Fortunately, a lot of it is quite interesting. Cherryh has built a rich and complex alien culture, and lavishes great attention on the intricacies of atevi psychology, language, and politics. It is truly an admirable creation, and for long stretches I was quite caught up in it. But in terms of plot, not much happens. For every action, Bren must spend at least 20 pages ruminating about it, analyzing atevi reactions, worrying about ramifications, and so on. If you strip away the thinking, the action could boil down to about 30 pages. And it is clearly a middle book in a series. The "ending" would be totally unsatisfying on its own, and is designed merely to lead into the next book.
So I have mixed feelings about "Invader." The world building is superb, and the characters are interesting. But the pace can be glacial at times. I'm trying to decide if it's worth reading the sequel. Hmm. Let me go think about it...
An excellent sequel Invader, the second book in what ultimately became the Foreigner series, is an excellent sequel to the first novel, Foreigner. It picks up immediately after where Foreigner ended, with the humans and the atevi both in turmoil over the unexpected reappearance after 178 years of the human ship Phoenix, both groups wondering the same things: why has the ship returned, what does it want, and how will all this affect the delicate human-atevi treaty which has kept the peace for so long?
Again, the story is seen through the eyes of Bren Cameron, the paidhi, the sole human allowed to live among the atevi, the man whose job it is to translate between the two races and who must at all costs prevent the kinds of mistakes that led to the first human-atevi war. The reappearance of the ship has, to say the least, made his job a hundred times more difficult. To make things worse, when Bren returns after treatment for injuries suffered in the previous book, he finds that his temporary replacement as paidhi, the openly hostile Deana Hanks, has not only thrown an entire box of monkey wrenches into the works, she also is refusing to leave, and it is all Bren can do to keep any number of atevi factions from having her legally assassinated in the normal atevi way of dealing with a problem.
One of the things that Cherryh deals with well in this novel is the difficulty of communication, be it on the species level, between human and atevi, or within species as Bren must deal with factions within the human community and factions within the atevi community, and ultimately on the purely personal level as Bren has to reevaluate his relations with those closest to him. As in the first novel, Cherryh continues to show just how hard true communication is, particularly when no groups really speak with a single voice, when unknown agendas are in play, when all sides shade or even withhold information seeking to gain an advantage, and when alien biology makes certain concepts simply untranslatable.
And added to all of the things weighing on Bren's mind in the midest of his growing isolation is the problem of what appears to be a mutual desire between him and Jago, the female atevi assigned to be his bodyguard. He is the paidhi, the translator, and yet he doesn't have the slightest clue of what he should say - or not say - to her, or how to interpret what her overtures might mean - or not mean. More to come on this in future installments, I'm sure.
All in all, an excellent sequel, guaranteed to keep you reading. Highly recommended.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Trevor
