Rating: 
Summary: My new favorite!
Review: I read so much I'd started to think there was nothing to surprise me or catch my interest or give me a chill anymore: I'd read it all. But I picked up this book--with very mixed feelings about the author, not expecting to like it--and didn't set it down for for days.Even when I wasn't reading it. Even when I'd finished reading it. If it weren't for the fact that I hate to tear up books I'd use it for a teddy bear. *Everyone* should read this book. I know you'll love it! Bren Cameron is a great person, willing even to give his life for peace, and I felt grey when I finished Inheritor, the third book--until I found out Precursor is coming out in November, set three years later. I can't wait!
Rating: 
Summary: Very sloooooow....
Review: I want to like Cherryh. Really. I loved Faded Suns and the Morgaine Saga was memorable...but Foreigner typifies why I can't do more than admire her from a distance. Quite simply put it is extremely slow, with 3/4 of the book bogged down in endless, repetitive introspection. It's well written introspection, but it's just way too much. Which is a shame, as the rest of the story is extremely interesting. Great world, great characters, well crafted language. It's just hard to enjoy those aspects, when you only get out of the hero's head every fifth page. Of course if that sort of thing doesn't bother you, then, by all means, buy it. Really. But for those of us with TV-addled concentration spans, I would look elsewhere, or at least pick up a library copy instead.
Rating:
Summary: Very sloooooow....
Review: I want to like Cherryh. Really. I loved Faded Suns and the Morgaine Saga was memorable...but Foreigner typifies why I can't do more than admire her from a distance. Quite simply put it is extremely slow, with 3/4 of the book bogged down in endless, repetitive introspection. It's well written introspection, but it's just way too much. Which is a shame, as the rest of the story is extremely interesting. Great world, great characters, well crafted language. It's just hard to enjoy those aspects, when you only get out of the hero's head every fifth page. Of course if that sort of thing doesn't bother you, then, by all means, buy it. Really. But for those of us with TV-addled concentration spans, I would look elsewhere, or at least pick up a library copy instead.
Rating: 
Summary: A fine start, but disappointing in the end
Review: I was intrigued by the beginning of this book. The alien race is very well set up and the premise is interesting. As the plot resolved, however, I found the characters and the political premise becoming more and more implausible. After about the hundredth time the main character bemoaned the fact that he (whose job it was to understand the alien race) didn't understand the alien race, I was too annoyed with him to enjoy the rest of the book.
Rating:
Summary: I'm hoping it gets better.
Review: I've already bought the entire set of the 2nd Trilogy in hardback format (I got a good deal on SFBC), so I was kind of forced to finish this first book of first Trilogy in the two-Trilogy set. It took me over a month to get thru it, and believe it or not, I started and finished at least three other books over that time period, so that kind of tells you something about how excited I was to plow thru it. I've got to agree with the comments some other reviewers have made here, about it being an "ordeal", and that the main character second guesses himself too much, and that the aliens are too much like homo sapiens.
Needless to say, I was a little disappointed with the overall quality of this book, and frankly I'm astonished by how many reveiwers here have been giving this book five stars. I mainly read for fun, and I just didn't enjoy this book that much.
Sure, there are some good parts... The two pre-Cameron parts (on the station, and initial contact on the planet) were interesting enough, and the description of the old castle and the horse-like creatures were pretty good.
But look, I've read hundreds of SciFi books, and there is no way this book deserves five stars. Anyway, I'm hoping it gets better as the series develops.
Rating:
Summary: incredibly satisfying
Review: I've been browsing through the reviews of Cherryh's books and I just have to add my own thoughts. I've been reading her work for a few years. I grab all of her sci-fi and just ingest it whole. I love this writer's ability to inject incredible characterization into thoughful storylines that introduce us to sciences that usually don't get a lot of speculation in this genre. To write a sci-fi novel that focuses on political science, sociology and how it can all tie into biology... well, it's gutsy! I love reading fiction that has something to teach me and makes me look at what is happening on our own world in a different light. I've read all the Foreigner series, and I'm breathless waiting for the next one. Every time I hear that the new one is about to come out, I go back and read the others. I find some new level of understanding every time. I can't imagine what it takes to write a story with this many levels. Sure, it might be overwhelming for someone who wants their action on the surface - with the characters meeting all the challenges so the reader doesn't have to... But for those who want to be intellectually stimulated while getting a healthy dose of intrigue and action, this series is it!
Rating:
Summary: Learning What It Means To Be Human
Review: In this story of a human attempting to bridge the distance between his species and the alien atevi who dominate the planet, Cherryh is dealing with a favorite subject and one that plays to her considerable strengths of characterization and complex plotting. The depth and reality of her worldbuilding is unmatched, as usual. A great book by a wonderful author.
Rating: 
Summary: An ordeal
Review: Many years ago, I became a fan of Cherryh's, particularly the Faded Sun series, Downbelow Station. and others. However, I agree with the negative reviews already posted of this one.
Our protagonist mulls over the same stupid questions, which largely go unanswered, for the main body of the book. When we finally get some answers, we have already forgotten the questions, and no longer care. What should be exciting stuff turns into an endurance test.
My main problem with this book is that the setting is far too "earth-like" and contemporary. We are hundreds of years in the future on an undiscovered planet; but just like Star Trek at its worst, the local inhabitants are far too conveniently humanoid and earth-like to be considered truly "alien." The result is that this book reads more like a 19th century tale of a European diplomat sent to the exotic Orient than a reasonably authentic-sounding account of first contact with an alien species. And how come Bren keeps saying "My God"; have these long lost Terrans still retained centuries old religious beliefs? Puleeze. A big disappointment, and one which went right into the recycling bin. I'm reminded of all the reasons I gave up reading Science fiction when I turned 50 (back in 1990).
Rating:
Summary: Hate it or love it
Review: Obviously, I loved it. But I think this is definitely one of those books; depending on whether or not you buy into the character of Cameron. The story does start rather slowly and awkwardly due to heavy dose of background material that we need to get into the story, but it picks up from there and Cherryh starts doing what Cherryh does best (in my opinion) - spinning a tale of a believable alien race that is just different enough from us to be really believable. If you've read others of Cherryh's first contact stories and liked them, this one comes highly recommended. A not of caution though; this is very much a series book, and to really understand the events of Foreigner, you need to read the two next books in the series.
Rating: 
Summary: Foreigner:Displacement
Review: One might think by my title that I disliked this book. So not true. I was merely commenting on the feeling of displacement this story engendered in me.
If you like your Sci-fi full of nothing but action and hostile monstrous aliens where it is them against us, you will not find it here. We are the aliens in this novel world of Atevi. They are not the perfect alien, superior to humans. Nor are we the monsters rampaging through an alien utopia.
What is very explicit throughout this story and the series is that we need others, other cultures, other species, all are neccessary to the success of the evolution of intelligence.
I liked the very human and flawed Bren and loved his Atevi benefactors. I did not get the whining complaint I read in several reviews. I read it as a person thrust into a situation he was not trained in and doing very well thank you. He was a diplomat, not a warrior, he was there specifically to prevent war.
There is as usual in any CJ novel, much internal dialog. If this bores you read no further.
If what you are looking for is an alien race and world so vivid in its realism that you look up from your reading and search for the Atevi in the story on your CNN report, then this is the type of book for you.
| 
