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Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
In this solid if slow-moving addition to Cherryh's much-praised Foreigner series (Invader, etc.), Bren Cameron and his atevi allies finally return to their home world, where atevi natives and human colonists live in an uneasy truce. Their desperate, two-year mission has been a success; they've evacuated the humans stranded on distant Reunion Station and made tentative peace with the kyo, an enigmatic and heretofore hostile alien race. Bren soon discovers, however, that his troubles are far from over. His employer, Tabini, the most powerful atevi ruler on the planet, has been deposed and may well be dead. Along with Tabini's bumptious young heir, Cajeiri, and the ruler's highly competent but aging grandmother, Ilisidi, Bren must make a dangerous shuttle landing and then travel cross-country through hostile territory in search of his employer, who is the only leader on the planet, human or atevi, with the foresight and presence of mind to deal with the impending arrival of the kyo. Cherryh's Foreigner books make up one of the finest on-going series in the genre. This volume, the first in a new trilogy, is hampered by the need to clarify what is now a considerable back story, but it features a healthy dose of the author's trademark well-developed characters, fine style and intense psychological realism. Cherryh's many readers should snap this one up.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Booklist
Human diplomat Bren Cameron is about to arrive at Mospheira, the homeworld of the atevi, after a two-year voyage that has nearly exhausted his ship's supplies and almost exhausted the patience of the atevi traveling with him. The most important of those is eight-year-old Cajeiri, heir to one of the major political units (so called for want of a more precise term), who is now sufficiently acculturated to human standards of behavior that he wants a birthday party. This is only the first conundrum pitched at Bren; upon arrival, he finds that Mospheira is on the brink of war due to breakdowns in the complex system of rivalries and affiliations among what can loosely be called clans. Bren is probably the only human who adequately understands the intricacies of atevi culture, but he is a long way from human support, which wouldn't be expedient, anyway, though the consequences of atevi social breakdown would be grisly for humans, too. It doesn't happen, but expect further crises in the trilogy Destroyer launches. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.2 out of 5 stars (24 customer reviews)
22 of 23 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Trouble at Home! Beginning of a new trilogy for Bren et al, Dec 1 2004
By G. Mackenzie "gmackenz" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Destroyer (Hardcover)
Just when you thought everything is settled, peace in space and at home achieved, the spaceship Phoenix returns back to the world of the Atevi after a very successful mission to retrieve all the human stationers from a formerly hostile alien territory to find all that seemed stable and secure on the homeworld and in orbit on the decaying human-built ancient space station has devolved into near anarchy and verging into inter-species war in the Phoenix's multi-year absence...I got the chance to read an Advance Readers Copy of this novel and enjoyed it as much as I've enjoyed some of the other books in the first two trilogies about the Human Bren Cameron and his adventures amongst the sometimes very opaque society of the Atevi society. If you enjoyed the last series that took the Human Paidhi Bren and his Atevi staff and acquaintences to space and beyond, you'll enjoy this new book as well. WARNING! There is no chance that anybody who hasn't read the last six books will be able to follow or enjoy "Destroyer." I envy those who are just starting out on this series, please do read "Foreigner" and it's two sequals (which in my opinion has been the best books the author has written in the last ten years).
My one disappointment is that the relationship between Bren, Banichi and Jago seems to have lost some of the attention/excitement given to it in the previous books (particularily between Bren and Jago). The one special nature of these books is the gradual illumination of the non-human nature of the Atevi and it's odd interaction/struggle with human nature as we and the author understand it. The evolving relationship between Bren and Jago was the highpoint of the first three books and I miss that.
It is a misfortune to almost all planned trilogies is that as an opening book, there is often a lot of setup for the the resolution in the final book. Despite that proviso, action does occur, the plot does move forward. I also found the internal monolog of our hero Bren at times a bit wearisome at times (I note that the author has written quite a few books with these tremendously introspective males in the past decade or so where it seems entire chapters are composed solely of the thoughts of the hero and with little or no exterior action...Not to say I didn't enjoy the change of a more intellectual SF/Fantasy, Ms. Cherry).
On the whole, a good start to a new trilogy about a favorite set of characters of mine.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cherryh's a low key genius, Jan 4 2006
By Teron Angel "teroneir" - Published on Amazon.com
Okay, I can't believe I'm the first reviewer here... Cherryh, although highly prolific is also a fine writer, and this book came as a pleasant surprise. Just when we thought Bren Cameron was ready to come 'home' (a highly conflicted term for Mr. Cameron, who has become more comfortable with the hostile aliens his human compatriots share a planet with than he has with other humans) and settle into a competent, productive middle age with his atevi companions, Cherryh has taken Cameron's home and thrown it into chaos. Tabini, whom Cameron serves, has been deposed by the more volatile political elements of the atevi, just as an even more volatile (and threatening) alien presence promises to arrive in the solar system and set up negotiations. To make matters worse, Cameron (realizing that hindsight is 20-20) sees much of the progress that he himself instigated in order to keep the atevi in charge of their own homeworld as part of the cause of the overthrow. Cameron and his companions (including his atevi lover, Jago) are pitched into a desperate and confused race to find Tabini and to negotiate with the most anti-human of the atevi factions. I admit, that although I loved the first five of these books, I found that six and seven lagged a little--too much of the action aboard the space station was inside of Bren's head, and he seemed to be becoming a little self-important. This book, however, put the excitement back in the series--there were macheiti chases, battles, covert operations--all the good action stuff that Cherryh writes so cleanly. There was also the lovely, low-key personal stuff that I personally like to read between the lines--example, Bren and Jago's largely unspoken relationship has a few fine moments here--including Jago's unspoken threat to have Bren's ex-girlfriend assassinated and Bren's almost petulant longing to have a few private moments simply to talk to Jago when circumstances make that quite impossible. All in all, this book revived my excitement in the series, and although I'm still waiting (14 years of waiting, my friends) for the fifth Morgaine and Vanye book, this one went a long way towards making that wait bearable.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
They're Baaack!, Feb 3 2005
By Cherryh Fan "Becky" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Destroyer (Hardcover)
Yes! my all time favorite series is back with a new adventure. I was so sad when the second trilogy in the Foreigner series came to an end. Happy days are here again, but not for Bren and company. Just when he thought he could finally take that vacation he's always wanted our hero is in for a big surprise. As usual Cherryh did an outstanding job in describing (at length) the complex emotions and thoughts our loveable Bren experiences. My only real complaint is that this first visit back to the atevi homeworld ended so abruptly! It took me all of a minute to finish the book and it left me feeling slightly cheated. But, all is not lost my friends - there are two more books left to read. I just hope it doesn't take an eternity for them to become available.
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