Foreigner Universe #10 Conspirator [Hardcover]

I have an associate whom I generally agree with about books, with the one exception, she hates C J Cherryh, and I think She (CJC) is the Greatest writer of our time. Ms. Cherryh writes in such a way that you must become the character, and live the story which is in my opinion, escapism at its finest. So it was with great joy that I opened up my delivery from Amazon this week and found Conspirator inside.

So here's the deal.
Conspirator is made especially for someone like me who is a big fan already, because there is so much character development and history that there is no way to just start here (in book 10) and enjoy it the way you should. But if you not yet a fan like me, do yourself the huge favor of reading the series from the beginning starting with Foreigner: (10th Anniversary Edition) (Foreigner Universe Books)and have the patience to get through the first hundred pages of that character development and history to follow the rest of the story.

Is this sci-fi? Sort of, but mostly it is a character driven political drama that digs deeply into what makes us human, and what helps to form alliance with each other and what causes us to break them apart. It is a marvelous metaphoric inspection on diversity and inclusion, and courtesy. I swallowed this book up in two days and hated to turn the final pages and will be frustrated for the next several months until the next edition comes along.

5* Continuation!

Ahhh, a new CJ Cherryh book; in this case the 10th in the Foreigner series. For most writers, the 10th in a series typically starts to run out of steam; and I have to admit that after Deliverer (Foreigner) I was hoping that Ms. Cherryh was putting the Foreigner series to bed. Having said that and read Conspirator I'm glad Ms. Cherryh chose to continue the series because she managed to find an area that needed coverage in the series and did so admirably. If you're familiar with the series, feel free to skip to the next paragraph; for those not familiar with the series, humans had settled on a planet that had a native humanoid life form (the Atevi) and proceeded to coexist with them until differences and a war between the species forced the humans to retire to an island and leave a paidhi (an Atevi expression for the human who is the ambassador from the humans and broker of technology). The current paidhi is Bren Cameron who has raised the Atevi to a technological level near that of humans (say 21st Century), has the trust of the Atevi leader, and is an Atevi lord in his own right.

Rating wise this one is a very solid 4.5 star book. Ms. Cherryh did such a great job bringing the fire back into the storyline. There are three main focuses in this book; Bren's relationship with his brother Toby (this has been needing some work for awhile), the maturing and gaining control of Cajeiri, and the relationship between Bren and his Atevi estate (this had been awarded by Tabini in an earlier book). Ms. Cherryh addresses all three cases fairly nicely, however there is much more to be unearthed in all three cases (can you say sequel plus one). As always the writing is crisp with excellent dialog. This is particular shown in any dialog between Bren and any of the Atevi, especially Ilisidi (Grandmother to Tabini, Great Grandmother to Cajeiri). In cases where Bren is dealing with the Atevi (especially those of significant rank) I'm reminded of Alexander Dumas's The Three Musketeers (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)due to the formality of the words and the significance applied to what a person says (honor is very much alive with the Atevi). While this book only builds a little on the culture (I've considered the culture to be very feudal Japan with a possible mixing of Europe circa the 1500's), Ms. Cherryh's plot building is outstanding. As in all of the Foreigner series, the title gives us a nice clue on the books focus and Ms. Cherryh does a great job setting up the conspirator and the situation permitting the conspirator to bloom (actually it's been building for several books, we just weren't fully aware of it). Having said this and knowing that Amazon requires whole stars (no partials for a reviewer) I'm going to round this on up to 5 due to how good the story telling and plot were. This combination is making me look forward to Conspirator's sequel (Deceiver), something that is outstanding when you consider that you're reading the 10th in the series. Btw for those interested you can just pick this book up and read it without reading the earlier ones in the series; however you're missing some of the beauty of the series and would have to accept things as Ms. Cherryh presents them. Btw, the artwork on the front should be of Bren, Tano, and Algini.

Some would think that a series would be running out of steam/ideas by Book 10 but this book proves that is not always the case. This was a fabulous addition to the on-going story of the Foreigner universe.

Don't try to read this book though if you haven't read the series. Do yourself a real favor and start from book 1 - so much fabulous reading lies ahead of you - I am envious. Can't wait for books 11 and 12 (she seems to write in trilogies). Cajeiri is only 8 years old so the series has a lot of future possibilities.

These are not typical space opera but totally painless, utterly enjoyable courses in inter-cultural relations and the possibilities that are out there for understanding and agreeing with each other. Men and women alike can enjoy them.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 25 reviews  4.3 out of 5 stars