Not as interesting as Book #4, but still a quick read. This was definitely a transition book; getting the characters from Point A - the Space Station - to Point B, the space ship, where they can then start to transition to Point C, the abandoned space station.
From Amazon.com: Misunderstandings have led to war in the past and make human/atevi diplomacy incredibly difficult. Bren Cameron trained for decades to be the paidhi, the only human allowed to negotiate with the atevi, overseeing the slow transfer of advanced human technology to the brilliant but less advanced natives of the planet in trade for vital raw materials. Eventually, Bren changed sides, becoming the representative of Tabini, the atevi's ruler, to humanity. Now the political situation has been complicated by the return of the Phoenix, the starship whose much hated crew abandoned the colonists some two centuries earlier, and, worse yet, by the starship's report that its crew has discovered a hostile space-faring race relatively nearby. The senior captain of the Phoenix, negotiating through Bren, agrees to help Tabini build a second starship to defend the planet, but as Bren learns after the captain's mysterious death, other plots are afoot and not all the information shared by the starship can be trusted.
My main complaint with this book is the characters don't seem to have evolved or matured. Bren is still wrestling with family issues, even though he's been on the space station and out of communication for two years. Jase is still behaving like a petulant teenager rather than a mature ship-captain. The Atavi continue not to tell Bren-padhi anything, leaving him to run in circles and scream and shout. The Ship continues not to tell Jase and Bren anything, leaving them to grouse and shout. And then events force all hands and they have nothing more to do than to react, and usually, they react poorly.
However, I still enjoy this series and I am looking forward to reading the next one.
The series to date:
Triology Arc 1
Foreigner
Invader
Inheritor
Triology Arc 2Precursor
Defender
Explorer** Next in line to be read
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