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Posted By: Bmat Jan 09, 2003 - 03:57 pm

Explorer

By C.J. Cherryh

Reviewed by Bmat (review copyright by the writer behind Bmat, 2003)


Bren is on board a ship that after a year of traveling is reaching its destination, Reunion. Reunion is a space station that had been abandoned years before by humans who had made their way to the Atevi planet. Bren is the principle translator and mediator between humans and Atevi, and he was assigned to be among those traveling to the station. Others on the ship are humans whose life has been on a space ship, representatives of the humans who had established a life on the Atevi planet, and representatives of the Atevi. A major ruler of the Atevi has sent two important people to accompany Bren, the ruler’s seven-year-old heir and the ruler’s formidable grandmother. Bren considers his loyalty as belonging to the Atevi.

Bren assists the captains of the ship as they try to deal with the station people and as they try to establish communication with the ominous new aliens who are lurking near the station. Bren has mastered communicating with the Atevi, who have a different way of thinking than humans; for example, they have no words for friend or trust. Now he must learn about a completely unknown race, not only their language but how they think. There is urgency because the race had damaged the station in the past, and the race’s ship is approaching the station again. Humans and Atevi need to evacuate the station residents and to load fuel in case the aliens are intent on attack. Besides saving the people on the station, some way must be found to keep the aliens from locating the world of the Atevi and causing destruction there.

It is interesting to watch Bren struggle to maintain friendly relations among the different factions on the ship. To analyze and solve difficulties, he changes his mindset to use both the way humans think and the way the Atevi think.

Explorer is a science fiction novel. There is some action in Explorer but the main story is about interactions between different species and between humans of different backgrounds. Cherryh is highly talented in developing other species. In the Foreigner series the Atevi are believable and sympathetic characters who take charge and who act according to their own logic and internal mandates.

Explorer is the sixth book in the Foreigner series. Explorer can be read on its own, but I recommend reading from the first novel of the series, Explorer,in order to develop the most appreciation of the Atevi and of the translator. I found that as I finished each book I was looking forward to reading the next.

Posted By: D3n15 Jan 31, 2003 - 11:12 pm

The sixth book is out? Woohoo!