Customer Reviews

Deceiver: Foreigner #11

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

First you must understand - I love CJ Cherryh's anthropological approach to SciFi.
I think the Foreigner series should be considered a classic. I have reread each
of the books more than twice (like 3 or 4 times, straight from Book 1).

For me, this is one of the best in this series. There isn't the
amount of self-doubt by Bren, which was wearing a little thin. Instead there was
a lot more action, beautifully written - and many statements that made me stop and
think about what the characters were saying, or even laugh.

I adored it and read it straight through. Only one complaint - now it is done and
although I will read it again in a few months, I have to wait for the completion of Bren's
negotiation in the Marid.

Personally, I hope this series doesn't end with a 12th book - it really can't, can it?
I am looking forward to seeing what happens when Cajeiri (who has become positively
fascinating!) becomes Aji.... and when the Kyo arrive.... and when Ilisidi dies....and when Bren must retire. There are too many story lines I want to see completed - and that is FAR from normal when a series has this many books in it. CJ Cherryh has done the impossible by keeping the excitment alive and the series strong for so long. Long may this continue!!

You should judge any book as a stand-alone work, and by that measure "Deceiver" is probably perplexing. It is the eleventh volume in an audacious collection that tells the story of a small, stranded human colony on a very foreign world. While the humans can breathe the air, much of the native flora and fauna is toxic. Even more troubling, the planet is already populated by a physically larger, more powerful, and very intelligent race, the Atevi. And for -- so far -- eleven novels, author C.J. Cherryh takes the reader on a complex, wild ride through war, revolution, corruption, intrigue, accommodation, misunderstanding, reconciliation, culture clash, and a great many other themes. Taken as a whole, the series is one of the finest works of literature in the past 25 years.

In short, you can't really understand "Deceiver" without reading the ten previous novels. By itself, it is about a human regional lord, but he is the alien, and lord over entirely Atevi inhabitants of his small realm. His power as a lord is provided entirely through the natives, and is subject to the very complex overlapping loyalties of those natives. As a human, he has almost no power at all; his task is to figure out how best to be a regional lord of the Atevi, and to keep their conflicting needs, desires and loyalties from erupting into a planetary war.

On the other hand, if you read "Deceiver" as being the latest chapter in a very, very long novel, rather than as a stand-alone work, it is a gem: a transitional chapter taking the main character, Bren Cameron, from being a vital, but peripheral member of the court of the ruling Aiji (in essence, planetary ruler) and turning him into a human who can, for the first time, take an independent role in the politics of the planet. It is a big, fat, juicy stage setting for the twelfth novel, and like any fan of Cherryh's intensely intimate third-person narrative style, I felt "Deceiver" was around 500 pages too short. As readers, we don't know what happens next, but we do know that it will change the world. And we want that twelfth novel NOW.

Oh, yeah: in addition to the lost humans, now with their independent island colony separated by treaty from the planet's natives, and the Atevi superpower that dominates the rest of the planet, the story has an off-stage component. The entire human-Atevi civilization is under threat from two alien species, one a powerful, possible ally against a second, even more powerful and decidedly malignant race. Add in the complex, very un-human Atevi language, and you have a tapestry vaster than "Lord of the Rings."

Did I mention that I want the twelfth volume right now? While you wait for that, read "Deceiver," plus its prequels: Foreigner, Invader, Inheritor, Precursor, Defender, Explorer, Destroyer, Pretender, Deliverer, and Conspirator.

We sat down after dinner to catch up on what has happened in the last year, but as usual, they kept me up *waaayyy* past my bedtime until we finished telling tales about 3 o'clock. I was surprised and delighted to see Lord Geigi again. Cajeiri is growing up, as all kids must, but I am very impressed with his increasing thoughtfulness and intelligence, as well as his talent for mischief. Except for increasing physical frailty, Ilisidi has not changed a bit; she certainly held her own in a fight with Tabini. (I am still amazed that they so far forgot themselves as to quarrel so forcefully in our presence.) Bren's estate was so peaceful and beautiful and relaxing that the excitement and fear occasioned by the necissity of the sea rescue and then the home invasion attack was a rude surprise, (if somewhat expected nevertheless.) One hopes the attempted peace with our new clan allies is successful, even though the central government will have a fit - a matter I look forward to hearing more about on our next visit. It was nice to see Toby and Barb again. Well, Toby anyway. If someone have to run afoul of old enemies, at least it was Barb. Speaking of old enemies, the Marid, their new leader seems quite intriguing, and his meeting with Bren was has me eager to hear more about this atevi leader. From Bren's description of him, I think that even Tabini is going to have his hands full trying to finesse this fellow; though Cajeiri's take on him would be fascinating. As for Banichi, Jago, Tano, and Algini -- no reunion is complete without their dependable protection and care. So very good to see everyone again and I am REALLY looking forward to the next visit -- I just hope it will be soon. I am not fond of cliffhangers.

OK - I am not going into specifics that give the story/plot, etc... away! I hate it when others do that and then you can not fully enjoy the twists and turns for yourself in complete surprise.
BUT I will say it is as enjoyable as all the other books in this series. It also is rather action packed, although as usual much of the 'action' is Bren trying to figure out the Atevi and what they are doing and why. Of course this helps you figure out the same thing! If you have not been reading the series - you will have some trouble as almost all the characters have been developed in other books (except for a few new ones introduced in this book) so you may not completely understand relationships, personalities, etc... I would strongly recommend reading if not the entire series, atleast read say the .... oh 3 or 4 books prior to this one. That will give you enough of an understanding of everyone to not be thinking 'Huh?' frequently.

I picked it up in the afternoon, fell asleep reading and picked it up again as soon as I got up and read it to the end - so leave yourself some time cause if you enjoy this series you will not put it down easily.

The story builds and builds and builds and you turn the page wanting to see what is next only to discover no more type on the page!!!! So the end is frustrating - I really hate to be left hanging that high and have to wait months (I hope very few months!) to find out what happens and come back down from where you are left. That is my only complaint about the book.

So buy and enjoy - I did!
B Walker

Cherryh writes a well-crafted novel, and Deceiver is no exception. This story continues where the last novel left off with Bren, the dowager, and the ruler's heir Cajeiri staying as guests at his seaside estate. The estate is attacked, and his brother is injured and Bren's ex kidnapped.

While I did enjoy Deceiver, at times I find myself irritated by the characterization. Cherryh has a tendency to write her protagonists `always right' and her antagonists always stupid/wrong/overly flawed. It makes the stories a bit weak, since inevitably Bren and Cajeiri, and the Aiji will be right, and everyone else will be bumbling and incompetent. This grates on my nerves after a while.

In this case, I felt Cherryh's characterization of the new bodyguards in Cajeiri's retinue was a bit weak. First, I felt Cajeiri's inistance that his untrained bodyguards outrank the grads was a bit much. Second, I felt that the 8 year old was portrayed as a bit too wise beyond his years in his perception of the situation, and the guards were portrayed as overly foolish and headstrong to be guild.

Cherryh has a tendency to write Cajeiri as a bit too much of a wunderkind, and while I truly like the character, I felt the situation was annoying. I really don't blame the bodyguards for being unenthused about tending a child who treated them like second stringers to his untrained crony friends. There was also too much spent with Baiji, who was a weak villain to begin with (from the previous book), and the kidnapping was glossed over and Barb is hardly mentioned at the end.

I enjoyed it because I like the characters and it is action-packed but the lack of really redeemable traits in the antagonists make these tales favor the protags too much and gives them a 'too perfect' quality.

I enjoyed this new volume very much, but was surprised to find it a "cliff hanger" at the end. Obviously, #12 is in the works. Cherryh continues to present excellent portrayals of two very different species of intelligent, civilized beings, who have to work hard to understand each other in order to live cooperatively in the world, and in the universe.

What can I say! I've loved this whole series and Deceiver is one of the best. I see the words Bren-ji, Aiji-ma, or Naji-Baji, and I know I'm back and can tune out everything else around me. Cherryh uses her special vocabulary very effectively keeping us in her world the stage without overdoing it. In Deceiver we see Bren Cameron becoming a strong force in himself, making his own decisions from his country estate. Cajeiri, too, shows growth, coming out from his grandmother's shadow with reasoned decision making. As usual, the ending leaves one primed for the next installment. The previous book Conspirator (#10 in the series) was not as enjoyable as some of the others, but Deceiver is excellent and doesn't disappoint! I'd love to read this series on my Kindle!

Carolyn Cherry(h) has published sixty-odd novels in the past nearly forty years and has picked up every available award several times over. She likes to do trilogies and short series, but her best-known books fall into two categories: The "Alliance-Union" novels, which share a universe and are often connected by background characters, but each of which stands alone; and the "Foreigner" series (of which this is the eleventh), which are a continuing saga and absolutely must be read in order, beginning to end. The set-up is simple. Several generations ago, a human colony ship was forced to land on an unexplored world already inhabited by a highly intelligent humanoid species -- the atevi -- whose civilization was at roughly a medieval level by human standards. After misunderstandings and misgivings and a brief, bloody conflict, the humans were ceded the large island of Mospheira, off the mainland and have made their cloistered home there ever since. Part of the treaty was the establishment of the office of human "paidhi" -- a combination translator and explainer of atevi and humans to each other, hopefully a keeper of the peace, and a manager of how much earth technology should be released to the atevi and at what rate, in order to avoid cultural disaster. The atevi are in some ways very human-like -- except considerably larger -- but their psychology is decidedly different. Especially of interest is "man'chi," the sense of loyalty and association that is hardwired into every (sane) atevi. Bren Cameron is the latest in the series of paidhi and he has developed immensely from the first of this series into the diplomatic near-genius of this current installment. He's less involved now with the humans on Mospheira and more concerned with maintaining the authority of Tabini, the "aiji," or head of the Western Association, which is now the preeminent political organization in the world. Bren is convinced that's the only way atevi society will maintain its stability until it reaches a level of true sociopolitical unity, and he's very, very good at his job. Being a theoretically neutral non-atevi has its advantages in dealing with the intricacies of atevi politics.

One of Bren's own principal associates is Ilisidi, the aiji's grandmother, a very powerful political force in her own right and sometimes a bit scary when pursuing her own aims. The word for her is "wily." For several novels now, another important supporting character has been Cajeiri, the adolescent heir to the aiji-nate, who is bright, wayward, inventive, and always a handful -- though he's finally beginning to grow up. Cajeiri has spent a couple of his formative years in space aboard a joint atevi-human ship going to contact another, much more alien species, so he's decidedly different in psychology and world-view from his father -- or, indeed, any other atevi. (I suspect that when Cherryh closes out this excellent series -- if she ever does -- it will be with the accession of Cajeiri to his father's throne.) This volume picks up very shortly after the last one left off, with the padhi having to deal the clans in the south of the continent who are trying to take advantage of the recent civil war that broke out while Bren was off-world in order to take over the west coast, which they've been trying to do for centuries. One thing leads to another, and Bren finally finds himself more involved than he ought to be, as a possible pawn of the aiji -- but he's a negotiator and he hopes he can handle things while keeping his skin intact. Unfortunately for those incapable of delayed gratification, the end of this volume leaves several points hanging, and I'll be waiting impatiently for the next installment. As I said, if you haven't read the first ten novels in the series, this one won't mean a thing to you -- so go and do that right now. If space opera and ray guns are your thing, this series may not be (though there's certainly plenty of sometimes violent action), but Cherryh is expert at political and anthropological detail and I find nearly all her books fascinating.

If there is one thing I would say to C.J. Cherryh at this point about this series it would be this... "will you PLEASE, (for the love of God), actually MOVE FORWARD in this bloody story?!?!? I liked the first books alot, and there's so much that fans of this series are waiting to find out... but it's like she's just draaaaaaaaaaaaaging it on as long as she can... milking it for as much as it's possibly worth, and with the last few books basically NOTHING has happened, to plot hasn't really moved forward at all. I mean, why don't we just read a whole book about Bren watching the grass grow? I mean, we've gone from discovering an alien race on the other side of the galexy, to taking up an entire book with ONE LITTLE adventure at Bren's beach house where some guys try to break in. I mean... come on! Can we PLEASE move forward with the actual story now that we've spun our wheels with two books that do absolutely nothing to move the plot forward??? Honestly...

C.J. Cherryh has offered a very fresh look, at a topic that has been rattling around the cosmos for the last 15 years. I was thinking of plot variations for the next installment, which is my usual way of trying to peek into the mind of a brilliant storyteller, and admit that I do not know what will happen next! After reading 11 books in this series, it is truly amazing how fresh and enjoyable the Atevi-Mospheiran-Ship_Folk relationships really are.

Reading this series from "Foreigner" through the present for the 3-4th time, is just plain fun.

I highly recommend starting at the beginning, to read the character development, but if 11 books sounds daunting, try starting with Destroyer, then Pretender. This set starts as Bren Cameron, Cajeiri-Aiji, and Nand-dowager Ilisidi are returning home from stellar adventures. From Destroyer onward, this set of books really codifies the Atevi culture and human interface.

I signed on to find out when the next installment would be available, and found myself disappointed that Amazon hasn't published a release date. I hope the new release is announced soon!