Explorer (Foreigner 6) (Daw Books Collector, No. 1238) - Hardcover

Cherryh, C. J.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0756400864 ISBN 13: 9780756400866

Publisher: DAW Hardcover, 2002

Synopsis

In the sequel to Precursor and Defender, professional diplomat Bren Cameron, a human paidhi to the atevi court, becomes caught in the middle of a potentially explosive confrontation between human space colonists, a mutiny, political intrigue, and a possibly warlike alien race.

About this title

About the Author

C. J. Cherryh planned to write since the age of ten. When she was older, she learned to use a type writer while triple-majoring in Classics, Latin and Greek. At 33, she signed over her first three books to DAW and has worked with DAW ever since. She can be found at cherryh.com.

Reviews

A third intelligent species makes its appearance in this sixth superior installment in Cherryh's much praised Foreigner Universe series (Defender; Precursor; etc.). The starship Phoenix, manned by a human crew but with a significant contingent of the gigantic, nonhuman atevi aboard, has spent the last year in interstellar transit from the atevi home world to the ruins of Reunion Station, where the repressive Pilots' Guild still clings to power and a mysterious and deadly alien starship lurks on the fringes. Diplomat and translator Bren Cameron and the Phoenix's newly appointed junior captain, Jason Graham, must keep the peace between two powerful, but short-tempered women: Sabin, the ship's senior captain, and Ilisidi, the imperious atevi matriarch who has been entrusted with looking after her species' interests on the voyage. When they reach Reunion Station, the Pilots' Guild first refuses to allow the starship to refuel and then attempts to take it over by force. Sabin's ill-fated attempt to negotiate the release of the fuel leads to some suspenseful complications. As with previous volumes in this intense series, detailed character development, highly charged dialogue and an eye for subtle differences in cultural preconceptions are of central importance, although Cherryh also manages some fine action scenes. This is serious space opera at its very best by one of the leading traditional SF writers in the field today.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In the conclusion to the second Foreigner trilogy--a standout among Cherryh's generally excellent stories about human-alien relations--atevi-reared human Bren Cameron is the diplomat aboard the starship Phoenix, now jointly crewed by humans and atevi, as it sets out to discover what is going on at Reunion Station. Alien invasion and Merchanters' Guild skulduggery are both possible. On the way Cameron has to ride herd on the heir to the atevi throne, seven-year-old Cajeiri, who is the universal brat. Matters turn very serious at Reunion: the stationers' leaders promptly kidnap Phoenix's captain, and then the mission learns that the station is holding an alien envoy hostage. The rescue of the envoy is action-filled and notably bloodier than usual for Cherryh, the mistress of the low body count, yet it is hard to feel that the station's potentates don't deserve even worse. In the end, Cameron and his human and atevi partners have opened communication with a spacefaring race new to them, which bodes well for a third Foreigner trilogy. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Bren Cameron, raised on a planet colonized by humans and home to the race known as atevi, receives an assignment to act as mediator between the human space station Reunion and a nearby mysterious and potentially hostile alien ship. Threading his way through the delicate lines of power aboard the ship taking him to Reunion, however, poses almost as much of a danger as confronting the alien and human threats that await him upon arriving at his destination. Cherryh superbly crafts complex intrigues and alien races possessed of integrity, as well as a sense of otherness, making this conclusion to the second trilogy (Precursor; Defender) set in the universe of human-atevi relations a good choice for most sf collections, particularly where the author has a following.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: DAW Hardcover
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0756400864
• ISBN 13: 9780756400866
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 416