Depending on how you look at it, Precursor is either book 4 in the Foreigner series or book 1 of the second trilogy. Personally, I think it’s book 4. But, as usual, I’m quibbling. The premise of this book, picking up three years after the conclusion of Inheritor, Paidhi Bren Cameron, recalled early from a visit home, finds the politics of the Atevi mainland all topsy-turvey with the imminent departure of his co-paidhi Jason Grahm along with a very unexpected contingent of humans on the next shuttle to the struggling space station. What takes him even more by surprise, is the ajji has ordered him to the space station as well to negotiate the terms and conditions of the Atevi people rebuilding the space station.
Instead, he finds himself thrust into the middle of a Pilots Guild upheaval, unable to contact Jason, unable to communicate with the captains of the starship, reaching only tentative agreements with the Mospherian contingency, and his messages to the planet monitored and even questioning whether they were reaching the intended recipients. Bren has two choices, retreat to the planet’s surface to negotiate terms of Atevi interaction or to force his way into the Pilot’s Guild and risk the ship turning on the planet itself.
Of the four books in the Foreigner series I’ve read now, I would have to say I think this one is the strongest. Cherryh’s writing just pulled me along. While politics and frenetic events still happen to Bren at an almost unbelievable pace, he is finally starting to take control and dictate the situation rather than being pulled hither and tither. We see more interaction between him and his staff. The reader is treated to how Atevi react in a human space, and how humans, up to now unaccustomed to Atevi, begin to interact with them in a close and confined space.
A delight to read. Recommended if you’ve already read Foreigner (1), Invader (2), and Inheritor (3).
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