Visitor by CJ Cherryh (Foreigner #17)

Visitor by C.J. Cherryh

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Jacket Blurb: The seventeenth novel in Cherryh’s Foreigner space opera series, a groundbreaking tale of first contact and its consequences…

The human and atevi inhabitants of Alpha Station, orbiting the world of the atevi, have picked up a signal from an alien kyo ship telling them that the ship is inbound toward Alpha. Five thousand of the inhabitants of Alpha are human refugees from the now derelict Reunion Station. They have seen this scenario before, when a single kyo ship swooped into the Reunion system and, without a word, melted a major section of Reunion Station with a single pass. These refugees, who were rescued through the combined efforts of an allied group of humans and atevi and brought to safety at Alpha, are now desperate with fear.

Bren Cameron—brilliant human emissary of Tabini-aiji, the powerful atevi political leader on the mainland below, and also the appointee of the human president of the island nation of Mospheira—is the obvious choice of representative to be sent up to deal with both the panicked refugees and the incoming alien ship.

As a member of the spacefaring delegation who rescued the refugees, Bren has talked to kyo before—and even won their trust by saving one of their kind from a Reunioner prison. Because of his remarkable diplomatic and linguistic abilities, Bren managed to communicate with that grateful kyo individual on a limited basis, and he has evidence that that same kyo is on the ship heading to defenseless Alpha Station.

But no one can predict what an alien race might do, or what their motivations could be.

And Bren Cameron, the only human ever to be accepted into atevi society, is now the one individual with a hope of successfully interacting with the crew of the incoming ship. But Bren knows it will take putting himself in the hands of the kyo.

Can Bren count on the gratitude of one individual alien to save his life and the lives of thousands on Alpha Station?

The saga continues. The Kyo are coming for reason's unknown, there is a simmering rebellion on the Space Station, and tensions are running high all around. But tensions are always running high.

This was not my favorite installment; this one felt more like like a transition book than any previous book: a Two Towers kinda transition book, where the sole purpose was to move the characters from point A to B so the greater plot can move forward. There was lots of backstory, quite a bit of internal reflecting, and numerous info dumps.

What I did observe in this book is Bren delegating more or letting others do their jobs, that he stepped back from tasks that were more appropriately left to others. Gin Kroger tackles the Space Station and the Reunioner issue. Jase Graham acts as liaison between Bren and the other Senior Pilots, Caijeri is tasked with hosting and seeing to the comforts of his small association (Irene, Gene, and the rest) and their families who were pulled from the tunnels and Reunioner side at the end of the previous book.

I truly enjoy Caijeri and Ajii-ma's viewpoints. After so much Bren-angst and interospection, the young ajii's outlook is refreshingly different.

The bit with the Kyo felt like the author was wrapping up a sub-plot line, and it was here where the one bright gem in this book lies that makes reading the book worthwhile. Other than the fact that it's a Foreigner book...

It also seemed like there were a lot of sub-plots left dangling while the Kyo issue is concluded, so I can only assume those will be addressed in the next book.

Recommended with reservations if you've been reading the series. New to Foreigner? You need to start at the beginning. These are not stand alone books. Tho this one came close with the sheer amount of backstory and info dumping.



View all my reviews