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Foreigner #4
Precursor
National best-selling author and winner of three Hugo Awards, C.J. Cherryh returns to the universe of her acclaimed Foreigner trilogy-with an epic tale of the survivors of a lost spacecraft stranded on a planet inhabited by a hostile, sentient race.
The beginning of a second trilogy, Precursor follows a single human delegate living among aliens, who are just gaining access to space....
Praise for Precursor...
"An addition to Cherryh's superior alien-contact series...Another intriguing human/alien struggle."-Kirkus Reviews"A powerful look at the effects of alienation on individuals and societies."-Locus
...and C.J. Cherryh's Foreigner Universe:
"Superlatively drawn aliens and characterization...a return to the anthropological science fiction in which [Cherryh] has made such a name is a double pleasure."-Chicago Sun-Times
"An incisive study-in-contrast of what it means to be human."-Library Journal
The beginning of a second trilogy, Precursor follows a single human delegate living among aliens, who are just gaining access to space....
Praise for Precursor...
"An addition to Cherryh's superior alien-contact series...Another intriguing human/alien struggle."-Kirkus Reviews"A powerful look at the effects of alienation on individuals and societies."-Locus
...and C.J. Cherryh's Foreigner Universe:
"Superlatively drawn aliens and characterization...a return to the anthropological science fiction in which [Cherryh] has made such a name is a double pleasure."-Chicago Sun-Times
"An incisive study-in-contrast of what it means to be human."-Library Journal
448 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1999
76 people are currently reading
1097 people want to read
About the author
C.J. Cherryh
291 books3,513 followersCurrently resident in Spokane, Washington, C.J. Cherryh has won four Hugos and is one of the best-selling and most critically acclaimed authors in the science fiction and fantasy field. She is the author of more than forty novels. Her hobbies include travel, photography, reef culture, Mariners baseball, and, a late passion, figure skating: she intends to compete in the adult USFSA track. She began with the modest ambition to learn to skate backwards and now is working on jumps. She sketches, occasionally, cooks fairly well, and hates house work; she loves the outdoors, animals wild and tame, is a hobbyist geologist, adores dinosaurs, and has academic specialties in Roman constitutional law and bronze age Greek ethnography. She has written science fiction since she was ten, spent ten years of her life teaching Latin and Ancient History on the high school level, before retiring to full time writing, and now does not have enough hours in the day to pursue all her interests. Her studies include planetary geology, weather systems, and natural and man-made catastrophes, civilizations, and cosmology…in fact, there's very little that doesn't interest her. A loom is gathering dust and needs rethreading, a wooden ship model awaits construction, and the cats demand their own time much more urgently. She works constantly, researches mostly on the internet, and has books stacked up and waiting to be written.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 139 reviews
February 9, 2017
Back to one of my favorite SF series!
It's amazing how hopping into space after having such a thorough grounding in Atevi society can feel like coming home.
Really. Like a holiday where all the in-laws are fighting and sending coded messages across the small and cramped house, where both tradition and the cold vacuum of space keeps everyone cramped and anxious as the great uncles square off against each other...
And in the meantime, Assassin's Guilds and being steeped in truly alien emotions feel like a welcome surcease of conflict.
Humans. They're the real monsters. At least the Atevi are very logical and practical even if they think that liking someone is on par with a preference for salad. It's the captains in the spaceship that are the real aliens!
Conflict, intrigue, mutiny, and a certain Dowager make this fourth book a real delight to read. One might say it's the start of the second trilogy. These things are rather well organized. :) I can't wait to sink my teeth into the next book!
It's amazing how hopping into space after having such a thorough grounding in Atevi society can feel like coming home.
Really. Like a holiday where all the in-laws are fighting and sending coded messages across the small and cramped house, where both tradition and the cold vacuum of space keeps everyone cramped and anxious as the great uncles square off against each other...
And in the meantime, Assassin's Guilds and being steeped in truly alien emotions feel like a welcome surcease of conflict.
Humans. They're the real monsters. At least the Atevi are very logical and practical even if they think that liking someone is on par with a preference for salad. It's the captains in the spaceship that are the real aliens!
Conflict, intrigue, mutiny, and a certain Dowager make this fourth book a real delight to read. One might say it's the start of the second trilogy. These things are rather well organized. :) I can't wait to sink my teeth into the next book!
July 29, 2022
4.5* re-read
Fourth book in Foreigner series - 1st of second trilogy
The narrative picks up three years after the events of the previous book, with the building of the shuttle nearing completion. Test flights have been executed and the first proper flight to the space station is about to take place. The explosive political situation between atevi and Mospheirans has calmed down, even to the point to allow Bren’s family to visit him on the mainland. All looks exceedingly positive. Too much so for Cherryh! The Phoenix captains recall both their paidhi and the Mospheiran government ask for a delegation to be sent to the only partially restored space station. In light of this, it is only logical for Tabini to send Bren too, to make sure the atevi’s side is represented, and of course to act on his own intentions…
I must admit this is becoming one of my favourite series! The author has created a world of such complexity that it feels real and concrete. Each instalment adds to the whole picture, layering detail upon detail, but also enlarging the frame further and further. Bren is an amazing character, both in his role as the aiji’s representative and as a Mospheiran, even if only by birth. His mastery in the art of diplomacy is awe inspiring, as is his efforts to keep peace between all sides for the welfare of the planet. The fact that we are privy to Bren’s fears and doubts only make him the more believable and likeable.
The plot carries on a similar theme to the previous ones while giving us very different circumstances and setting. As if this wasn’t enough, Bren’s mother is trying to get him back with his ex girlfriend and causing incessant trouble. Cherryh juggles with these plot strands effortlessly without loosing sense of the human, or rather biological and psychological elements .
Fourth book in Foreigner series - 1st of second trilogy
The narrative picks up three years after the events of the previous book, with the building of the shuttle nearing completion. Test flights have been executed and the first proper flight to the space station is about to take place. The explosive political situation between atevi and Mospheirans has calmed down, even to the point to allow Bren’s family to visit him on the mainland. All looks exceedingly positive. Too much so for Cherryh! The Phoenix captains recall both their paidhi and the Mospheiran government ask for a delegation to be sent to the only partially restored space station. In light of this, it is only logical for Tabini to send Bren too, to make sure the atevi’s side is represented, and of course to act on his own intentions…
I must admit this is becoming one of my favourite series! The author has created a world of such complexity that it feels real and concrete. Each instalment adds to the whole picture, layering detail upon detail, but also enlarging the frame further and further. Bren is an amazing character, both in his role as the aiji’s representative and as a Mospheiran, even if only by birth. His mastery in the art of diplomacy is awe inspiring, as is his efforts to keep peace between all sides for the welfare of the planet. The fact that we are privy to Bren’s fears and doubts only make him the more believable and likeable.
The plot carries on a similar theme to the previous ones while giving us very different circumstances and setting. As if this wasn’t enough, Bren’s mother is trying to get him back with his ex girlfriend and causing incessant trouble. Cherryh juggles with these plot strands effortlessly without loosing sense of the human, or rather biological and psychological elements .
October 12, 2022
'Precursor' is amazing good, but it won't mean a thing to any reader who accidentally begins reading the Foreigner series with this novel, the fourth in the series. Instead, one must begin here: Foreigner.
I recommend this series, but with warnings. One must absolutely enjoy reading political novels generally as a prerequisite before beginning the science fiction Foreigner stories. They each have grand finale flashbang endings, but before the action starts, there are a couple hundred pages of world-building and political maneuvering to read. Also, the books totally are NOT stand alone on any level. The novels must be read in order.
Speaking for myself, I am really enjoying the series!
I recommend this series, but with warnings. One must absolutely enjoy reading political novels generally as a prerequisite before beginning the science fiction Foreigner stories. They each have grand finale flashbang endings, but before the action starts, there are a couple hundred pages of world-building and political maneuvering to read. Also, the books totally are NOT stand alone on any level. The novels must be read in order.
Speaking for myself, I am really enjoying the series!
December 16, 2023
This was so good! By far my favourite of the series. I wasn’t sure about continuing on to the second trilogy, but I’m so glad that I did.
July 8, 2022
It's three years after the events of the first trilogy. The political situation between the atevi and the local human population of the island Mospheira has improved. The atevi have constructed the shuttle that will allow them access to the long-abandoned space station and the starship Phoenix, allowing more general contact with the three groups: the native atevi, the human population of Phoenix and the human population of Mospheira.
On the eve of the launch of the shuttle, Phoenix recalls their ambassadors to both the atevi and Mospheira while requesting a delegation from Mospheira. This all represents a major disruption to previous agreements with the atevi, so Tabini sends Bren on the first shuttle flight as well.
Bren as the paidhi is trained to be the interface between alien cultures, but this situation just highlights how much of a political operator he became during the events of the first trilogy and how much he's matured since then. There's elements of how he relates to his Mospheiran family as well as how much his atevi people are really the people he now considers family.
Not much Tabini in this one, but lots of Banichi and Jago (including a revelation about their partnership as well as more insight into how the Bren/Jago relationship works). And Ilsidi is brilliantly used as well.
I think this is my favourite of the series so far.
On the eve of the launch of the shuttle, Phoenix recalls their ambassadors to both the atevi and Mospheira while requesting a delegation from Mospheira. This all represents a major disruption to previous agreements with the atevi, so Tabini sends Bren on the first shuttle flight as well.
Bren as the paidhi is trained to be the interface between alien cultures, but this situation just highlights how much of a political operator he became during the events of the first trilogy and how much he's matured since then. There's elements of how he relates to his Mospheiran family as well as how much his atevi people are really the people he now considers family.
Not much Tabini in this one, but lots of Banichi and Jago (including a revelation about their partnership as well as more insight into how the Bren/Jago relationship works). And Ilsidi is brilliantly used as well.
I think this is my favourite of the series so far.
December 14, 2020
C.J. Cherryh is not kind to her main character, Bren Cameron. She puts him through the wringer during this installment of the Foreigner series, with unexpected diplomatic assignments, family issues of several flavours, security issues, slippery negotiations with unreliable ship captains, uneasy relations with the human planetary government, among other things. If it sounds like an awful lot, it is, but Bren has earned a lot of respect, or man'chi, with his atevi staff and has their extremely competent support.
I always love it when the Empress-dowager features and she appears at both ends of this book. I'm just surprised that she didn't bring one of her riding beasts along for the ride! That would really have set the spacefarers on their ears. It becomes obvious that the atevi are just plain old smarter than these shipbound humans, who have lived for centuries in bland, unchanging environments and have become inflexible. They have completely forgotten that giving orders isn't a natural way of dealing with other beings and that you can only be boss of your own group. (Not to mention that they seem to serve glop for food. It may be nutritional, but it's still glop.)
I think Cherryh has drawn some accurate ideas about how an isolated ship's crew might develop socially, especially when they have a siege mentality. Reaching out to others or trusting trade partners are not going to come naturally to them. Plus, we only have their word on yet another alien race which has razed their second space station. Are these aliens a real threat or a bogeyman made up to chivvy the planet dwellers into co-operating? There's no known rationale for such an attack, but the atevi wonder and since I respect them most of all three groups, I wonder too.
I'm glad that the author chose to continue this series and I look forward to many happy hours of reading in my future.
Book number 389 of my Science Fiction & Fantasy Reading Project.
Cross posted at my blog:
https://wanda-thenextfifty.blogspot.c...
I always love it when the Empress-dowager features and she appears at both ends of this book. I'm just surprised that she didn't bring one of her riding beasts along for the ride! That would really have set the spacefarers on their ears. It becomes obvious that the atevi are just plain old smarter than these shipbound humans, who have lived for centuries in bland, unchanging environments and have become inflexible. They have completely forgotten that giving orders isn't a natural way of dealing with other beings and that you can only be boss of your own group. (Not to mention that they seem to serve glop for food. It may be nutritional, but it's still glop.)
I think Cherryh has drawn some accurate ideas about how an isolated ship's crew might develop socially, especially when they have a siege mentality. Reaching out to others or trusting trade partners are not going to come naturally to them. Plus, we only have their word on yet another alien race which has razed their second space station. Are these aliens a real threat or a bogeyman made up to chivvy the planet dwellers into co-operating? There's no known rationale for such an attack, but the atevi wonder and since I respect them most of all three groups, I wonder too.
I'm glad that the author chose to continue this series and I look forward to many happy hours of reading in my future.
Book number 389 of my Science Fiction & Fantasy Reading Project.
Cross posted at my blog:
https://wanda-thenextfifty.blogspot.c...
August 28, 2022
Book #4 of the series, first book of the next trilogy, continuing three years after the last books. Shuttles have started to go up to the station, the Atevi have reached space. Relations with Mospheira have improved. Tabini unexpectedly sends up Bren with with his Atevi household and a Mospheiran delegation. They are not exactly welcome on the station, despite agreements to the contrary. Relations with the crew of the Phoenix prove more difficult than expected and go downhill quickly.
I have to confess that I could not fully relate to the action of the ship‘s captains and their motivations. Was this simply a powerplay? Why stall and antagonize the people that they asked for help and in fact need so badly?
Bren‘s family is still a pain in the neck, especially his mother. And Ilisidi is hilarious, as always.
I am finally, finally hooked. This book so far was the fastest moving, with the most action. I enjoyed this a great deal and will definitely continue. Great start for the next subplot and trilogy.
I have to confess that I could not fully relate to the action of the ship‘s captains and their motivations. Was this simply a powerplay? Why stall and antagonize the people that they asked for help and in fact need so badly?
Bren‘s family is still a pain in the neck, especially his mother. And Ilisidi is hilarious, as always.
I am finally, finally hooked. This book so far was the fastest moving, with the most action. I enjoyed this a great deal and will definitely continue. Great start for the next subplot and trilogy.
June 11, 2013
Atevi in SPAAAAAACE!
I have nothing to say about this book that I haven't said about the other books in this series. I can certainly see why many don't like these books, but they're right up my alley. I recently reread the first trilogy, and I like Bren's character arc. In the earlier books, he has flashes of brilliance while mostly stumbling around out of control. In this book he is brilliant all the time (though often still not at all in control of his circumstances). I also like the paralyzing doubt that sets in between bouts of him forcing every human around him into the pattern he designed for them. And, for some inexplicable reason, I love the stupid drama that his mother, brother, and ex-girlfriend insist on shoving into his life. It's such a ridiculous contrast with the earth shattering importance of his day job.
There are repeating patterns in these books, but I don't care. I'm looking forward to the next book. HERE AUDIBLE - HAVE ALL MY MONEY!
I have nothing to say about this book that I haven't said about the other books in this series. I can certainly see why many don't like these books, but they're right up my alley. I recently reread the first trilogy, and I like Bren's character arc. In the earlier books, he has flashes of brilliance while mostly stumbling around out of control. In this book he is brilliant all the time (though often still not at all in control of his circumstances). I also like the paralyzing doubt that sets in between bouts of him forcing every human around him into the pattern he designed for them. And, for some inexplicable reason, I love the stupid drama that his mother, brother, and ex-girlfriend insist on shoving into his life. It's such a ridiculous contrast with the earth shattering importance of his day job.
There are repeating patterns in these books, but I don't care. I'm looking forward to the next book. HERE AUDIBLE - HAVE ALL MY MONEY!
January 2, 2017
WOOHOO Atevi in space!
Damn, this was a crazy book. Bren and the gang end up on the space station in the midst of a xenophobic crisis (after all, humans are involved; of course they're racist towards the only sensible people on the planet).
When Bren , I cheered. Bren, who'd been so scared for the previous three books, who tried so hard for peace, who nearly wet himself so many times in fear...now he was in charge. Now he welded his power like a gun. It was good to see.
Also, the reveal about Jago and Benini (spellings? I audiobook these) was hilarious because now I'm thinking back to all of the outrageous previous comments and...oh, that's just gloriously crass.
Damn, this was a crazy book. Bren and the gang end up on the space station in the midst of a xenophobic crisis (after all, humans are involved; of course they're racist towards the only sensible people on the planet).
When Bren , I cheered. Bren, who'd been so scared for the previous three books, who tried so hard for peace, who nearly wet himself so many times in fear...now he was in charge. Now he welded his power like a gun. It was good to see.
Also, the reveal about Jago and Benini (spellings? I audiobook these) was hilarious because now I'm thinking back to all of the outrageous previous comments and...oh, that's just gloriously crass.
April 13, 2022
Wow, this installment was the best paced so far - it reached unputdownable levels as soon as about 30% in. I loved the space station setting, I loved Bren in his diplomatic element and not taking anyone's shit, I loved the human/atevi interactions, I loved a certain hilarious plot twist that blindsided me completely. If you want character-focused epic sci-fi you need this series. I'm certainly not stopping now, not for anything.
July 24, 2024
*** 4.59 ***
This is one of those series with a minimum of action, slow developing plot, a lot of suppositions and politics, no romantic arc, very little of what we consider human interaction, but goodness gracious, it is so good!!! This author has stolen my heart with a clinic on how humans might interact with a very closely related race of beings, who at the same time are culturally so different, that the littlest thing could become a reason for war and offense...
Also, Ilsidi is the best! 😃❤️👍
This is one of those series with a minimum of action, slow developing plot, a lot of suppositions and politics, no romantic arc, very little of what we consider human interaction, but goodness gracious, it is so good!!! This author has stolen my heart with a clinic on how humans might interact with a very closely related race of beings, who at the same time are culturally so different, that the littlest thing could become a reason for war and offense...
Also, Ilsidi is the best! 😃❤️👍
August 18, 2021
2021: I'm re-reading the early books in this series because I'm so disappointed in the last few entries, starting around book #17. It's pretty impressive that this series held up for so long. This book #4 is where it begins to get really good!
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Original 2014 review:
From a sluggish beginning this series has improved with each book, and I was quite pleased with this one. It’s the beginning of a second trilogy arc, and it picks up with the same characters only a few years after the last book.
This is something of a political thriller, as ambassador/translator Bren Cameron negotiates agreements between three factions: the native population of the planet, which has received human aid to rapidly accelerate its technology level; the large human settlement, descended from stranded colonists who lost the capability for spaceflight; and the crew of the newly returned, battered human spaceship, who are dismayed to find an abandoned space station and nobody capable of helping them refit.
This is the most fast-paced of the books so far, and it was great to have Bren and his team of atevi on the space station - what’s left of it, anyway. The political situation in this series has always been fascinating, and I’m now really invested in these characters.
This is character-driven space opera, not hard sci-fi, so most of the technical elements are handled quite breezily. Some implausible stuff has to be overlooked. It does seem odd that the author stresses the difficulties of the people who set foot on planet for the first time - they are overwhelmed by open spaces and the assault on their senses - but visitors to the station are unbothered by claustrophobia or free fall.
It’s a little weird that there are still so few people who can translate between the humans and the atevi. Cameron remains convinced that more interaction will lead to misunderstandings and another war, but it seems an awfully fragile situation.
I’m greatly looking forward to the next book.
----------------------------------------------
Original 2014 review:
From a sluggish beginning this series has improved with each book, and I was quite pleased with this one. It’s the beginning of a second trilogy arc, and it picks up with the same characters only a few years after the last book.
This is something of a political thriller, as ambassador/translator Bren Cameron negotiates agreements between three factions: the native population of the planet, which has received human aid to rapidly accelerate its technology level; the large human settlement, descended from stranded colonists who lost the capability for spaceflight; and the crew of the newly returned, battered human spaceship, who are dismayed to find an abandoned space station and nobody capable of helping them refit.
This is the most fast-paced of the books so far, and it was great to have Bren and his team of atevi on the space station - what’s left of it, anyway. The political situation in this series has always been fascinating, and I’m now really invested in these characters.
This is character-driven space opera, not hard sci-fi, so most of the technical elements are handled quite breezily. Some implausible stuff has to be overlooked. It does seem odd that the author stresses the difficulties of the people who set foot on planet for the first time - they are overwhelmed by open spaces and the assault on their senses - but visitors to the station are unbothered by claustrophobia or free fall.
It’s a little weird that there are still so few people who can translate between the humans and the atevi. Cameron remains convinced that more interaction will lead to misunderstandings and another war, but it seems an awfully fragile situation.
I’m greatly looking forward to the next book.
May 23, 2024
C.J. Cherryh's "Foreigner" is a complex series. Unlike a lot of sci-fi, the story centers around politics and how different species interact with each other. This makes it very different from many other sci-fi stories.
In this fourth book, the Atevi send Bren Cameron as their representative to the Guild spaceship. Here Bren runs into a complex hierarchy that seems to be at war with itself. As the Atevi and the Miospherians try to establish a working relationship, Bren must navigate the dangerous politics behind the Guild Captains.
I enjoyed the complex nature of the story. The political/sociological nature of this story make it very different from anything I've ever read. Looking forward to the next book in this series.
In this fourth book, the Atevi send Bren Cameron as their representative to the Guild spaceship. Here Bren runs into a complex hierarchy that seems to be at war with itself. As the Atevi and the Miospherians try to establish a working relationship, Bren must navigate the dangerous politics behind the Guild Captains.
I enjoyed the complex nature of the story. The political/sociological nature of this story make it very different from anything I've ever read. Looking forward to the next book in this series.
November 12, 2018
Review to come!
February 13, 2020
This 'new' trilogy picks up about 3 years after the last. The atavi have finally completed the space shuttle and this raises several issues about rehabing the decrepit space station and dealing with the humans up there. While Cherryh does seem to be a bit formulaic again-- lots of political intrigue, etc., followed by a big action scene at the end, this installment really moved along.
Cherryh does aliens very well! There are more than a few allusions to asian culture in the atevi, even in language; not too surprising given the time when the series started when 'everyone' was fascinated by Japan. Lots of familiar characters, with a few new ones added to the lot. 3.5 stars rounding up to 4
Cherryh does aliens very well! There are more than a few allusions to asian culture in the atevi, even in language; not too surprising given the time when the series started when 'everyone' was fascinated by Japan. Lots of familiar characters, with a few new ones added to the lot. 3.5 stars rounding up to 4
December 28, 2018
That was the best one yet. And finally they make it to space. This one starts about three years after the last one ended.
Ilicidi (is that how you spell it?) is a great character.
Ilicidi (is that how you spell it?) is a great character.
October 19, 2020
4.5 stars
My favorite of the series so far. We know the world very well, four books in, and Cherryh uses that knowledge to push beloved characters out into the unknown. The pacing is incredible, watching Bren's diplomatic efforts is inspiring, and yet again the world has changed irrevocably over the course of 400-some-odd pages. Amazing.
My favorite of the series so far. We know the world very well, four books in, and Cherryh uses that knowledge to push beloved characters out into the unknown. The pacing is incredible, watching Bren's diplomatic efforts is inspiring, and yet again the world has changed irrevocably over the course of 400-some-odd pages. Amazing.
July 29, 2022
Who am I to decide?
Most of all, what have I become, to like this? To gamble with the whole world's future?
Tabini. Tabini. Tabini, who's the only power fit to rule the world.
His own species calls him ruthless.
What do they call me?
You know that feeling when you binge through several good books in a very short window? Kind of a "brain-full" sense that's not bad but might be a small warning to slow down? I just hit that. But I really, really am enjoying this series. Hard to want to stop when you're invested in characters like these.
Precursor timeskips three years ahead. Bren is 30 now, and he and Jase have worked closely in this gap to make the atevi space shuttle functional. Deals are coming due, and that means negotiating with Mospheira's inconvenient space-faring relatives.
Much like in Cherryh's non-Foreigner works, Spacers are a unique lot. Big on order, schedules, security, heirarchy, and (underpinning it all) a convoluted network of kinship ties. Frictions between the three parties (Mospheira, the aishidi'tat, and the Ship) are high.
There is also the ongoing theme of Bren's personal life, and the many directions in which he is pulled. Human (and specifically Mospheiran) by birth, but so specifically acculturated to atevi at this phase that he has to remind himself of such. He's accumulated a great deal of power in atevi society, but that same power comes with a level of responsibility and obligation that undercuts his ability to navigate his own human family dynamic.
"We can't be the same as these ship-humans, but we don't need to be. We won't be." He caught himself using we, as he used it in his thoughts. "Atevi don't need to be. And atevi won't be."
No one is having a wonderful time here, honestly. It's a lot of cramped quarters and subterfuge, and power and helplessness/constraint in equal measure; it's a slow-rise of tension to the boiling point, alleviated by dry bursts of humor.
I have, in the last, only a single complaint, though I earnestly hate to make it.
What can I say, but on to the next book?
July 8, 2022
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Quote:
Review:
BREN IN SPACE! WOOOO!
This is the start of the second Foreigner trilogy and goddamn I love this series. I loved the game that Bren played between the atevi and the stupid humans on Mospheira in the first trilogy. I was reluctant to start this one because I didn't want it to be over. Well, rejoice! Now it is Bren the almost-atevi vs the idiotic humans part 2, now with even stupider humans! And I wouldn't have it any other way.
That is seriously basically the whole book. The humans are stupid, Bren has to try and out-think them. All while in a very precarious position because they finally have the space program up and running. Bren has to go up to the space station and set up the Atevi side, but first we have to make the space station secure for the atevi (and humans).
Oh and his home life is suffering some turmoil. Again. He has such an interesting family dynamic, with the mom who cannot let go, the ex-girlfriend who cannot let go, and his brother who's family life is falling apart because of both his mom and Bren's precarious position. Minor, but it keeps coming up all the time. Not my favourite part of the series but it certain is an interesting addition and adds to the depth of the series.
I love Bren's interactions with the Atevi. This is book four and Bren really just..feels accepted by the Atevi. In a way no human has ever been accepted by an Atevi before. He and his bodyguards feels like a family. Bren feels like he has a position of power in their government when other paidhi before him were little more than dictionary-makers. Mostly because he actually does have power, he isn't just a figurehead. He has carved out his place amongst them. And it is awesome.
This series just keeps getting better!
Quote:
“He ventured into the security station to fill in his staff on what he’d learned, and Banichi was there, looking like death.
“You, nadi,” he said to Banichi, “ought to be asleep.”
“A superfluous habit,” Banichi said. “Conducive to ignorance.”
Review:
BREN IN SPACE! WOOOO!
This is the start of the second Foreigner trilogy and goddamn I love this series. I loved the game that Bren played between the atevi and the stupid humans on Mospheira in the first trilogy. I was reluctant to start this one because I didn't want it to be over. Well, rejoice! Now it is Bren the almost-atevi vs the idiotic humans part 2, now with even stupider humans! And I wouldn't have it any other way.
That is seriously basically the whole book. The humans are stupid, Bren has to try and out-think them. All while in a very precarious position because they finally have the space program up and running. Bren has to go up to the space station and set up the Atevi side, but first we have to make the space station secure for the atevi (and humans).
Oh and his home life is suffering some turmoil. Again. He has such an interesting family dynamic, with the mom who cannot let go, the ex-girlfriend who cannot let go, and his brother who's family life is falling apart because of both his mom and Bren's precarious position. Minor, but it keeps coming up all the time. Not my favourite part of the series but it certain is an interesting addition and adds to the depth of the series.
I love Bren's interactions with the Atevi. This is book four and Bren really just..feels accepted by the Atevi. In a way no human has ever been accepted by an Atevi before. He and his bodyguards feels like a family. Bren feels like he has a position of power in their government when other paidhi before him were little more than dictionary-makers. Mostly because he actually does have power, he isn't just a figurehead. He has carved out his place amongst them. And it is awesome.
This series just keeps getting better!
August 5, 2017
Precursor is the first book of the 2nd trilogy in the Foreigner series and starts a few years after the end of Inheritor. The shuttle to carry people and supplies between the planet and the space station is recently operational and the ship captains recall Jason with little warning.
The early part of the book is a lot of milling around and jockeying for position that drags a bit. But eventually the pace picks up and the book finishes in a rush like mechetti following the leader in a satisfying mad race to home. During Precursor, Bren finally sheds some of his tedious insecurity and Ilsidi charmingly steals the show as usual.
The early part of the book is a lot of milling around and jockeying for position that drags a bit. But eventually the pace picks up and the book finishes in a rush like mechetti following the leader in a satisfying mad race to home. During Precursor, Bren finally sheds some of his tedious insecurity and Ilsidi charmingly steals the show as usual.
April 6, 2014
I love the way Cherryh writes. Always. Also, I never, ever, ever want to go into space. That was true before, but principle of life after reading this book. The space station feels so sickeningly claustrophobic, with so many horrible ways to die. Very suspenseful.
June 9, 2022
5th read: I especially love the first half of this series! The second half is good, two. ;)
4th read: this series is a pretty good distraction in 2020.
It reminds me that behind our conflicts are people I might understand better if I made the effort this intercultural "translator" makes.
4th read: this series is a pretty good distraction in 2020.
It reminds me that behind our conflicts are people I might understand better if I made the effort this intercultural "translator" makes.
April 20, 2020
I don't have much in the way of a coherent review for this one, just a whole bunch of disjointed reactions.
Sure, Bren coldly telling his mother that he couldn't come home for a family emergency because of his job, even a family emergency where someone might actually die, was kind of a dick move.
But his ex constantly throwing herself at him after she dumped him and married someone else was also a dick move—as was his mother's efforts to set them up again, this in spite of Bren repeatedly telling both of them that it's over, he's no longer interested, and he's involved with someone else besides.
In previous books, I've always felt somewhat as if the humans are constantly bending over backwards to avoid offending the atevi's cultural sensibilities and accommodate their different biology, while the atevi make little if any reciprocal effort to understand or accommodate humans. To an extent, this is fair: it is their planet, and humans an invasive species who are only there on sufferance. Even so, though, it was incredibly refreshing to see the reverse situation in which atevi begin stepping into human spaces, and need to be coached on how they're going to need to change their behavior if they want to avoid starting another interspecies war.
Though I will admit to losing a lot of respect for Bren when he insisted that his security be allowed to bring their firearms onto a space station because something something atevi culture. First of all, while I'm all for cultural accommodation within reason, this isn't just a cultural difference between humans and atevi; this is an actual serious safety concern. Secondly, as far as historical atevi culture is concerned, if I remember the first book correctly atevi didn't have guns until humans gave them guns, so that argument falls pretty flat. Then again, the station security also seemed to have guns even though you'd think that when the station walls are the only thing standing between the crew and hard vacuum, doing away with firearms would be the first thing they'd do, so I have absolutely no idea what's going on there.
One very refreshing aspect of this series as a whole is the emphasis it puts on diplomacy over violence. So much science fiction has the heroes be the humans who charge in guns blazing to give those scary aliens what's coming to 'em and the villainous aliens be inhuman monsters defined solely by their incomprehensible bloodlust, with no care for collateral damage and no thought for whether the humans could have done anything to prevent or de-escalate this. Bren cuts right through the flaws in that logic when he points out that humans would have been wiped off the planet two hundred years ago if they hadn't made the effort to sit down with the atevi and hammer out a system that works for both of them, and that not knowing why the aliens are attacking them is not the same thing as having done nothing wrong:
This in contrast to the faction that wants to nuke first and ask questions later, which is shown to be ruled not by logic but by xenophobia and fear, once again in ways that are all too familiar:
Sure, Bren coldly telling his mother that he couldn't come home for a family emergency because of his job, even a family emergency where someone might actually die, was kind of a dick move.
He wondered whether Barb was improving... or wasn't; wondered what lasting damage there might be. With the faults she did have, if their places were reversed, Barb would have moved heaven, earth, and the national borders at least to communicate with him.
Not to reach him, not to live with him in a world where she didn't want to be; but at least to call him, to say, "Bren, are you all right?"
Barb didn't deserve to be hurt. His mother didn't deserve to be pacing the hall of a hospital all night, scared out of her wits. They fought, they disagreed on everything, and still cared, that was the crazed sum of it all, one he'd begun to accept and one he wasn't sure Barb yet realized.
But his ex constantly throwing herself at him after she dumped him and married someone else was also a dick move—as was his mother's efforts to set them up again, this in spite of Bren repeatedly telling both of them that it's over, he's no longer interested, and he's involved with someone else besides.
In previous books, I've always felt somewhat as if the humans are constantly bending over backwards to avoid offending the atevi's cultural sensibilities and accommodate their different biology, while the atevi make little if any reciprocal effort to understand or accommodate humans. To an extent, this is fair: it is their planet, and humans an invasive species who are only there on sufferance. Even so, though, it was incredibly refreshing to see the reverse situation in which atevi begin stepping into human spaces, and need to be coached on how they're going to need to change their behavior if they want to avoid starting another interspecies war.
Though I will admit to losing a lot of respect for Bren when he insisted that his security be allowed to bring their firearms onto a space station because something something atevi culture. First of all, while I'm all for cultural accommodation within reason, this isn't just a cultural difference between humans and atevi; this is an actual serious safety concern. Secondly, as far as historical atevi culture is concerned, if I remember the first book correctly atevi didn't have guns until humans gave them guns, so that argument falls pretty flat. Then again, the station security also seemed to have guns even though you'd think that when the station walls are the only thing standing between the crew and hard vacuum, doing away with firearms would be the first thing they'd do, so I have absolutely no idea what's going on there.
One very refreshing aspect of this series as a whole is the emphasis it puts on diplomacy over violence. So much science fiction has the heroes be the humans who charge in guns blazing to give those scary aliens what's coming to 'em and the villainous aliens be inhuman monsters defined solely by their incomprehensible bloodlust, with no care for collateral damage and no thought for whether the humans could have done anything to prevent or de-escalate this. Bren cuts right through the flaws in that logic when he points out that humans would have been wiped off the planet two hundred years ago if they hadn't made the effort to sit down with the atevi and hammer out a system that works for both of them, and that not knowing why the aliens are attacking them is not the same thing as having done nothing wrong:
"What we bring to this association, sir, is more than resources and engineering. There's an expertise to contacting foreigners and finding out their intentions, one that might well have saved your outlying station. It's the most important resource we have in this solar system, one you have now, in Jase Graham, in Yolanda Mercheson. There's also an art to listening to your interpreters and not letting politics or your own needs reinterpret what they're telling you. The Mospheirans have something you need [...]; the atevi have something else you need: [...] adaptive adjustment to a species you don't instinctively understand. [...] With the atevi, with any species that didn't evolve in Earth's ecosystem, all those signals, all those assumptions don't reliably work. We'll teach you what we've learned on this world. That, gentlemen, in your situation, is the most valuable thing."
"You think we could talk to a species that blew hell out of our station and that probably got our records."
"I think that if you're dealing with a species that might be numerous, sophisticated, and very different, coming from a place we don't know, the ability to figure them out and to talk, if it's appropriate, might save us. I don't say you have to like them. I'm saying you need to know why they shot at you."
This in contrast to the faction that wants to nuke first and ask questions later, which is shown to be ruled not by logic but by xenophobia and fear, once again in ways that are all too familiar:
"Humans prefer to like their aijiin [...] But failing to like him, we still know he deserves man'chi, while Tamun... Tamun only desires man'chi, and promotes fear of aliens, fear of weakness, fear of everything, all to gain his followers."
October 26, 2021
4 stars.
It was a bit of an infodump at the beginning as the author tried to recap on what happened in the last trilogy. However, once Bren was on the space station, I was really invested in all the intrigue.
Again, I really enjoyed the formidable grandmother dowager. Let's hope this book sets the pace for the rest of the series.
It was a bit of an infodump at the beginning as the author tried to recap on what happened in the last trilogy. However, once Bren was on the space station, I was really invested in all the intrigue.
Again, I really enjoyed the formidable grandmother dowager. Let's hope this book sets the pace for the rest of the series.
August 25, 2024
I just love everything about this! This being book 4, I don't know that I've got anything more to say that won't spoil the plot of this particular volume. Just, if you love speculative fiction about how sentient life could possibly develop similar but different from us humans, xenolinguistics and tense political dramas, I highly recommend this series!
April 25, 2021
Another solid entry and just as engaging as the previous book.
Precursor is the first book in space! It's limited to the space station and its politics. A contrast to the typical atevi politics being obscure, the humans in the space station have their own motives that aren't clear to everyone.
Bren and the atevi try to navigate the negotiations among the humans in Mospheira, the space station, and the atevi. Each have their own interested. In the beginning, Mospheira and the atevi appear diametrically opposed. They have been that way for the previous three books. However, as things progress, they may have things in common.
I like that at this point in the series, I am completely on the atevi side of things. Even though now there are two distinct human groups, I can't help but just root for the cold-headed atevi.
I am super interested in what these other aliens are that are supposedly a threat. I'm sure it will still be a decent number of books before there's any sort of face to face meeting with the threat, but I am invested.
Overall, similar pacing as the previous books.
Precursor is the first book in space! It's limited to the space station and its politics. A contrast to the typical atevi politics being obscure, the humans in the space station have their own motives that aren't clear to everyone.
Bren and the atevi try to navigate the negotiations among the humans in Mospheira, the space station, and the atevi. Each have their own interested. In the beginning, Mospheira and the atevi appear diametrically opposed. They have been that way for the previous three books. However, as things progress, they may have things in common.
I like that at this point in the series, I am completely on the atevi side of things. Even though now there are two distinct human groups, I can't help but just root for the cold-headed atevi.
I am super interested in what these other aliens are that are supposedly a threat. I'm sure it will still be a decent number of books before there's any sort of face to face meeting with the threat, but I am invested.
Overall, similar pacing as the previous books.
March 7, 2022
Lots of fun!
June 28, 2023
This series just keeps getting better and better.
October 10, 2023
This was excellent, definitely my favourite in this series so far.
September 8, 2015
Precursor kicks off three years after the previous book with Atevi now having completed their first shuttle that allows them to reach the old earth human built station that orbits their planet as well as have face to face meetings with members of the Phoenix crew whose ship returned in the previous books after having a encounter with aliens which is where things try to take a turn sideways with the ship wanting to have things done it way and the Atevi having none of it naturally! :D This leads to a giant diplomatic situation at the same time as the Atevi delegation realises that they have found themselves in a large power struggle! :D
This all leads to a brilliant edge of the seat storyline in which you have no idea in which way things are going to turn out! :D Conspiracies abound but the way the Atevi delegation take it on is very clever and often is done with a lot of humour at the Atevi sense of humour displays itself as they get to know the locals so to speak! :D
Characterisation is spot on with original characters continuing to develop as well as the new ones introduced throughout which when interacting together provide a lot of the stories focus and humour! :D Due to this we also get to see things as various different levels of ranks and position throughout as the Atevi and Mosphei delegations mix with the crew and each other which again things moving at a hectic pace never letting new things not keep happening and this adds to the overall feel for the storylines as ones that continuously developing in new and unexpected ways! :D
There is though throughout an underlying tension though that gives the novel a feeling that anything can happen and towards the end of the book the pot boils and things start going off left right and centre which the resolution of which sets things up brilliantly for the next book and put the three sides on more even keel! :D This is very clever world building after all the diplomatic manoeuvrings having people eventually ending up on the side and putting everything on a giant canvas with the every present other unknown aliens out there that are often mentioned throughout the novel still keeps it a mystery as to what caused the state of affairs which is another thing that is done brilliantly throughout with the book clearly being part of a bigger designed canvas! :D
The book is a roller-coaster of diplomacy - complete with scurrilous tactics, intrigue and more intrigue and action that will keep you guessing to the last and massive dollops of straight laced humour that will keep you laughing hard! :D
Brilliant and highly recommended! :D
This all leads to a brilliant edge of the seat storyline in which you have no idea in which way things are going to turn out! :D Conspiracies abound but the way the Atevi delegation take it on is very clever and often is done with a lot of humour at the Atevi sense of humour displays itself as they get to know the locals so to speak! :D
Characterisation is spot on with original characters continuing to develop as well as the new ones introduced throughout which when interacting together provide a lot of the stories focus and humour! :D Due to this we also get to see things as various different levels of ranks and position throughout as the Atevi and Mosphei delegations mix with the crew and each other which again things moving at a hectic pace never letting new things not keep happening and this adds to the overall feel for the storylines as ones that continuously developing in new and unexpected ways! :D
There is though throughout an underlying tension though that gives the novel a feeling that anything can happen and towards the end of the book the pot boils and things start going off left right and centre which the resolution of which sets things up brilliantly for the next book and put the three sides on more even keel! :D This is very clever world building after all the diplomatic manoeuvrings having people eventually ending up on the side and putting everything on a giant canvas with the every present other unknown aliens out there that are often mentioned throughout the novel still keeps it a mystery as to what caused the state of affairs which is another thing that is done brilliantly throughout with the book clearly being part of a bigger designed canvas! :D
The book is a roller-coaster of diplomacy - complete with scurrilous tactics, intrigue and more intrigue and action that will keep you guessing to the last and massive dollops of straight laced humour that will keep you laughing hard! :D
Brilliant and highly recommended! :D
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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