Customer Reviews

Defender (Foreigner)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm an avid fan of C.J.'s work, especially this series. DEFENDER is not a standalone book, which makes it difficult to review on its own. It's the hiatus between storms, the bridge to what will happen in EXPLORER, and such moments necessarily aren't as satisfying as the final book of any trilogy.
This being said, I wasn't at all disappointed. DEFENDER moves us forward several years, to a time when significant changes have occurred: the birth of the heir, the settling of the station, the tightening of bonds between the economies, and the highly significant and logical development of several more beings who can communicate with both species. There is a feeling of settling accounts on the planet, so that the focus of the characters, and readers, now turns to space.
I can't wait to see where C.J. takes us in EXPLORER. I do feel confident this series will come to stand as one of the great achievements of science fiction. Well done and highly recommended!

I somewhat agree with Terry Cholar's review, although I wouldn't call myself "disappointed". Just "not as thrilled as I expected to be."

There was a feeling of "marking time while setting up the next book". Also, the richness of characterization that I loved from the earlier books was also diminished. Jago, Banichi and Cenedi could have been pretty much any generic Atevi Guild members.

If one were actually to list the significant events in the book (which I won't for the sake of those who haven't read it yet), it would be a pretty short list. That said, what little that does occur takes place in the same rich network of intrigue and totally believable clash of cultures that make me love this series.

Readers of the first 4 books will probably enjoy Defender. But it may not live up to the expectations caused by the quality of the prior books and many months of waiting for Defender's publication. I can't wait for book 6!

As usual, Cherryh has left us wanting more, and knowing we'll get it!

The latest in the "Foreigner" series is no disappointment, except, of course, that the next one is not out for us to grab, run with, and get lost in ... yet.

The depth of the characters just continues to grow, surprises are sprung, and we are kept comfortbly intimate with our established characters. New views, new twists, new horizons, maturity, and new members of the cast strengthen our need to read and pull us into the associations.

I can hardly wait for "Explorer", and the one after that, and the one after... well... you get the picture.

This is definitely a "bridge" book and doesn't have a lot of story on its own. Yes, it has the "crisis" that us Foreigner series readers have some to expect but it is much more muted in this book and not that satisfying.

With the lack of a strong story on its own, the central "difficulty in communicating with an alien race" theme begins to grate a little after 5 books.

It seems kind of extreme to say it of a 464 page book, but I think it could almost have been edited down to be the first chapter of the next book in the series. When I see this kind of thing, I always wonder if the publisher is applying pressure to squeeze out that last dollar.

Explorer, the next book in the series, is out now in hardback and my expectations are very high that Ms. Cherryh gets the series back to the level of quality we have come to expect.

This novel is the second volume of the second atevi trilogy. I understand the way trilogies go. The first volume is a self-contained story, with the hero emerging victorious in the end. In the second volume, things turn out to be more complicated, and the hero's future is in doubt, building to the third volume, where we get the big finish. But if the second volume doesn't contain a good story, the reader might not come back for the third volume.

I have read almost everything C. J. Cherryh has written, and she is one of my favorite authors. No author I've read does a better job of creating alien psychologies. Of everything she has written, this series is the best. (It seems almost unfathomable that the atevi aren't real. They have to be living out there, around some distant star somewhere, they're too wonderful not to be!) I'm constantly reading bits of the novels to my non-reader husband, because they're too good not to share. This novel was originally promised in January, and it has been a difficult wait. In preparation for the November release date, I reread the first four books.

I am sad to say that this book just doesn't deliver enough to keep a loyal reader satisfied through the next two-year wait. Of course, we loyal fans have to read it to prepare for the next volume, but the next time Ms. Cherryh commits to a trilogy, I hope she will make sure she has three stories to tell. This novel feels more like a placeholder.

Sharing a planet between humans and alien atevi has been difficult enough. But when the captain of the spaceship Phoenix dies suddenly after announcing that a long-lost orbital station is still inhabited, the uncertain alliance is shaken--possibly beyond repair. And Bren Cameron, the man tasked as the link between atevi and human is put on the spot. Somehow he has to balance the interests of not two but three parties. Because the crew of the Phoenix is not much closer to, or trusted by the humans of Mospheria than they are by the atevi.

Few if any S.F. authors do a better job in either world-building or in analyzing the psychology of their characters than does C. J. Cherryh and DEFENDER demonstrates Cherryh's skills. The atevi are a completely convincing society--alien in ways that go far beyond physical appearance. Cameron's psychological depth, his ambivalent feelings toward the atevi whom he represents and the humans from whom he springs--drives the story forward.

Unfortunately, as sometimes occurs in middle novels of a series such as DEFENDER (DEFENDER is a sequel to PRECURSOR), the psychological development forms an excessive part of the entire plot. Although humans and atevi are racing to be ready for the attack of a third, completely alien, species, this species doesn't actually make an apperance in the novel. Instead, politicking between the spaceship and atevi, and Cameron's constant worry about his role in the new order, fill the pages. According to the cover blurb, DEFENDER is the THRILLING sequel. A few more thrills would have definitely helped.

I am a huge Cherryh fan (I think the Alliance/Union series ranks among the best S.F. ever written). DEFENDER isn't Cherryh at her best, but any Cherryh is worth reading.

As usual, Cherryh has maintained her high level of writing in this 5th book in the Foreigner series. While I still think the first book, "Foreigner" was the best, the rest of the books continue to build on the complex political and cultural intrigue of the Atevi civilization. The premise of the series involves a human colony stranded on a planet inhabited by the Atevi, a mathmatically brilliant race with a superior and complex culture. Bren Cameron, the brilliant young human chosen as the single translator between humans and Atevi continues to evolve and develop in this book. Unlike many of Cherryh's protagnists, who are never really deeply developed, Bren emerges both as a diplomat and a person. His human family concerns continue to stress him, while his Atevi connections grow stronger. In this fifth book, Bren is shaken to discover that his Atevi lord, Tabini, has kept him completely in the dark regarding a plan to recover lost human colonists from another space station. Bren is left to question his value to Tabini in a society that uses assassination to remove troublesome rivals. Faced with another daunting diplomatic task, Bren is for the first time unsure of his authority and his standing with Tabini. Cherryh makes no effort to resolve all the issues raised in Defender and leaves us anxious for the sixth and pending book, "Explorer". I am hoping for more books to follow. This is one of Cherryhs' absolutely best series for fans of literate and complex science fiction.

Cherryh's strength has been her characters, as much as her plots. In the Foreigner universe, she has created some of her strongest.

But the latest release, Defender, both plot and characters have received short shrift. In fact, at the end of this short book (it has 314 pages, Precursor had 438), the characters and the situation are almost identical. There is little interaction between Bren and Banichi, Jago, and Ilisidi. With a little editing, this book could have been 2 or 3 chapters of the next book. If you miss this one, don't worry. Nothing happened.

I've been a long time fan of CJ Cherryh and I love the depth of her characterizations and the emotions she is able to stir with her writing.
However, this book fails in those expecatations. This is not to say it is not a good book, because it is. My impression is that this book is a sort of place holder - a necessary piece to setup the prerequisite items for the next book. The resulting characterizations lacked the depth and emotion of most of her previous books; my feeling at the end was that I had just read an interlude chapter to cover the time span between books that had somehow grown into its own book.

The majority of the book seems more involved with Bren's internal monologue of doubts and familial issues than it does with the story as a whole.

This will be a must read just to keep up with this evolving series, but it is definitely the weakest of the group and does not stand alone at all.

I am a long-time science fiction reader - now in my sixtys, I started reading science fiction (and fantasy) as a pre-teen. I started with Williams, Heinlein, Asimov, and Clark, and have almost completely been a fan of "thud and blunder" space opera (Hamilton) and "rivets" hard science fiction (the aforementioned "big three").

The Foreigner Universe series has caused the completion of my acceptance of sociological s.f., as well as my previously enjoyed types.

I won't try to analyze the books; that has already been done quite well, but I MUST recommend this series to those of you who haven't tried this category of s.f. before. You may not find it an easy read, but if you stick with it, I believe you will be well rewarded.