At the time of writing, I’ve just started Foreigner book 10. I started out meaning to only read book 1, as is my habit, then I said I’ll only read the first trilogy. Then it was “I can stop at any time”. At this point, unless Cherryh does something atrocious in future books, I don’t think I’ll be stopping till I run out.

To give a bit of context, I usually read one book and move on, maybe 2 if there are only 2 out. More recently Stariel, Mage Errant and Valdemar have gripped me in a similar fun and comforting way, but those were all short series with mostly short books. The Foreigner books are all above 400 pages, and my audiobook listening time for them has gone from 2 weeks each to 4-5 days/book, depending on how many walks I can take. I haven’t read so many consecutive books in a series since the great Discworld binge of 2014.

So yes, I love this series so much. It’s fun, it’s got great characters that I adore, and importantly for me, it’s easy to follow. With one caveat. The beginning of the first book, while perfectly fine in itself, is a lot more spacey and confusing than the rest of the books. And I think it might put off readers a bit, cause it gives off different vibes, while providing important context.

The characters

The series (baring the prologue) follows Bren, human diplomat/ambasador and translator to an alien race called the atevi. I would die for Bren. He is so tired, please someone give this man a bed. And so lonely, he just wants a friend (which in Atevi society is complicated and dangerous). He mostly wants to sit tight and work on his dictionary but keeps getting caught up in political turmoil and danger. Shenanigans happen. He does not always have an easy ride for it, the danger is real and scarring. He worries oh so much, and people hardly ever tell him all he’d like to know.

Much as I love Bren, my absolute favorite character, I squee every time she shows up is Ilisidi. A small and frail (for an atevi) old woman that commands respect everywhere she goes and has a wicked tongue and sense of humor. She is a joy (to the reader, not so much all the time to others). She takes no one’s bullshit, stands on protocol but is not against getting her hands dirty if that’s what it takes to get shit done. Her staff is fiercely loyal and kinda scary. When she first showed up in book one I desperately hoped we’d get more of her, and we do, and she’s awesome. The books that focus on Bren & Ilisidi adventures are my favorites.

The rest of the cast includes:

• a powerful and progressive atevi ruler that’s umm … fun but also kinda scary,
• a pair of black leather-wearing, Assasins’ guild members, bodyguards that are hilarious in their subtle expressions
• a bunch of humans that we hate and are awful, hissssss (I would like to shout out what a good mix of likeable and unlikeable characters Cherryh writes.)
• a few humans that we like and are nice, and we worry so much about them
• a lot of atevi lords politicking and scheming, often this involves the assassins’ guild.
• further in, a grumpy old uncle who’s very proper and people keep ruining his historical premises! His lilies! His lawn! His hedges! I feel for him.
• (there are less grumpy old people too, I promise, such as an old astronomer with a devoted gaggle of students)
• further in, a chaos child that is multiple disasters waiting to happen at any point, who’s definitely watched too much TV.

The world

Foreigner nails the non-human society, it’s similar on the surface but guided by completely different instincts and principles. A great part of Bren’s conflict is that he’s one of the few humans who actually understand those differences, which is very isolating. Even when he meets his family, they don’t truly get that the Atevi aren’t just different-looking humans. As we learn from the backstory Bren fills in, a lot of the conflict between humans and atevi sprung from each assuming they were similar.

While trying to figure out some spellings I found this in the wiki, and I like it:

As with many of C. J. Cherryh’s novels, this series could be best described as anthropological science fiction, focusing on the interface between our human customs and understandings and that of an alien race whose motivations, thoughts and even feelings are diametrically opposed to our own.

For the humans it’s the distant future, they’ve flown to this planet, but the atevi were in a steam engine phase of technological development. So the technology in the series, like everything else, is a fun mix of historical and modern, with the atevi having their own ideas about what innovations they want to embrace, and when. It’s a world that has television and trains but not highways, telephones but the most important messages are still sent by handwritten, sealed notes. And ofc, the Assasin’s Guild is a respected, civilized institution, and a perfectly acceptable way to solve problems.

If I were to have a criticism it’s that the world seems a bit simplistic, at the time of the story it’s united under one central govt, though the outlying provinces don’t fully acknowledge that. And while there is a bit more variation in the human population, the atevi all have the same skin tone, hair color (well, except grey hairs), eye color, and variations of build are mostly lost because they’re all so tall compared to Bren. Mainly they look like tall dark elves, though there’s no mention of pointy ears in the text (that I’ve noticed) they’re shown that way on all the covers. In some ways it feels like a small world, at least at start. Once we get outside the capital we start learning much more about regional differences, dialects, etc. It does actually do a great job of showing ideological differences within human and atevi groups.

A really interesting aspect is how language relates to numbers. Numbers are felicitous or infelicitous, and the speaker must always take care to not address someone in an infelicitous way, as this would cause offense. Bren often mentions how much math he’s doing while talking to always use the proper forms.

The story

The series is built up in trilogy arcs, each telling a story, with some hooks to carry over to the next one. Obviously, the hooks worked for me, but theoretically, you could stop reading at the end of any trilogy if you had self-control. And probably also jump in later since it does catch you up with relevant info.

I won’t go into details but there’s usually a new threat, to Bren or the atevi leadership and somehow Bren gets thrown into the middle of it. There’s always a good mix of clever diplomacy and politics, and getting shot at and high speed chases across the countryside, whether by mecheiti (riding animals, big and dangerous), train, plane, boat or my recent favorite – by bus.

Apart from the fun shenanigans, there’s also a lot of conflict for Bren as he becomes more distant to human society and closer to atevi. He’s sometimes adorkable in his quest for a friend.

I also mentioned that it’s easy to read. For me this is a net positive, but I know for some it can be a gripe, Cherryh is very kind to the forgetful reader. She often reminds us who’s who, and what happened, and what need to know. Usually, with my long breaks between books I desperately need this, now as I binged my way through it was less needed but still appreciated.

The covers are definitely all school sci-fi, but I unironically love the vibes:

Bingo squares:

• Set in Space: Defender and Explorer, hard mode
• Revolutions and Rebellions: Defender, Explorer, Destroyer, Pretender
• Author Uses Initials: Normal  all
• Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey: normal, Foreigner
• Award Finalist, But Not Won: hard mode: Foreigner, Invader, Inheritor, Precursor, Defender, Destroyer
• No Ifs, Ands, or Buts: All – normal mode
• Family Matters: Normal mode: all so far, hard mode: Pretender, Deliverer and I’m not 100% I’m remembering right for Destroyer