Foreigner by C. J. Cherryh

The groundbreaking novel that launched Cherryh's eponymous space opera series of first contact and its consequences... It had been nearly five centuries since the starship Phoenix, lost in space and desperately searching for the nearest G5 star, had encountered the planet of the atevi. On this alien world, law was kept by the use of registered assassination, alliances were defined by individual loyalties not geographical borders, and war became inevitable once humans and one faction of atevi established a working relationship. It was a war that humans had no chance of winning on this planet so many light-years from home. Now, nearly two hundred years after that conflict, humanity has traded its advanced technology for peace and an island refuge that no atevi will ever visit. Then the sole human the treaty allows into atevi society is marked for an assassin's bullet. The work of an isolated lunatic? The interests of a particular faction? Or the consequence of one human's fondness for a species which has fourteen words for betrayal and not a single word for love?

This was actually a reread for me, but the last time i read this was roughly 30 years ago, when I was a teenager. I hadn't remembered much of the story, and I'm sure I got more out of it this time. I will probably follow this up soon with a few more books in the series, something I didn't do the first time I read this.

This is a science fiction book. But I wouldn't call it a science fiction story. By that I mean that after the first chapter the rest of the story takes place on just one planet, with tech not much different then ours. Yes this is an alien world, with aliens, but it is much more of a court/ political drama then it is anything else. To be honest it feels more like a lot of fantasy that includes this sort of drama in it. And for what it is, it is very good. But I wouldn't go in looking for galaxy spanning space opera, it is a much smaller story then that. With the exception of the beginning, it stays with just one POV character, this works, but also aids in the story feeling smaller.

I always find it interesting when you see themes in books written decades ago, that feel that they could be making social commentary today. And this one has a few. I know it is nothing new, but that in and of it self, can be eye opening. Thinking of the fact that we as a society have been dealing with some of the same issues for decades, and in some cases centuries, is both enlightening, and discouraging at the same time.

In the past I haven't done many reviews, but I've decided to do a few more recently to memorialize the passing of Jenny Colvin (Reading Envy). A very active reader and reviewer, and someone who I will miss doing more of these.

This was a very good science fiction novel about different cultures interacting. I liked how Bren Cameron has to figure out what's going on without inadvertently offending his atevi hosts. I look forward to learning what happens next in the second book in the series, Invader.