Foreigner - Hardcover

Cherryh, C J

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0099444011 ISBN 13: 9780099444015

Publisher: Orbit, 1995

Synopsis

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?

About this title

Review

...serious space opera at its very best. ("Publishers Weekly", starred review)

"Three-time Hugo-winner Cherryh's gift for conjuring believable alien cultures is in full force here, and her characters, including the fascinatingly unpredictable atevi, are brought to life with a sure and convincing hand." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Veteran sf/fantasy author Cherryh plays her strongest suit in this exploration of human/alien contact, producing an incisive study-in-contrast of what it means to be human in a world where trust is nonexistent. A good purchase for most sf collections." --Library Journal
"A seriously probing, thoughtful, intelligent piece of work, with more insight in half a dozen pages than most authors manage in half a thousand." --Kirkus Reviews
"A large new novel from C.J. Cherryh is always welcome. When it marks her return to the anthropological SF in which she has made such a name, it is a double pleasure. The ensuing story is not short on action, but stronger (like much of Cherryh's work) on world-building, exotic aliens, and characterization. Well up to Cherryh's usual high standard." --The Chicago Sun-Times
"A typically close-grained and carefully constructed world, filled with arresting details of atevi life and history. The long and deliberate setup pays off more than satisfactorily, but without any sense of a pat or closed-off solution. A book that will stick in the mind a lot longer than the usual adventure romp." --Locus

Praise for the Foreigner series:

"C.J. Cherryh's splendid Foreigner series remains at the top of my must-keep-up reading list after two decades." --Locus

"A seriously probing, thoughtful, intelligent piece of work, with more insight in half a dozen pages than most authors manage in half a thousand." --Kirkus Reviews

"One of the best long-running SF series in existence...Cherryh remains one of the most talented writers in the field." --Publishers Weekly

"This is one of the best science fiction series currently running....by this point, the series has turned into a complicated set of thrillers involving political and factional turmoil, as well as a close and detailed examination of the troubled interactions between human and alien cultures." --Strange Horizons
"Cherryh plays her strongest suit in this exploration of human/alien contact, producing an incisive study-in-contrast of what it means to be human in a world where trust is nonexistent." --Library Journal

"A large new novel from C.J. Cherryh is always welcome. When it marks her return to the anthropological SF in which she has made such a name, it is a double pleasure. The ensuing story is not short on action, but stronger (like much of Cherryh's work) on world-building, exotic aliens, and characterization. Well up to Cherryh's usual high standard." --The Chicago Sun-Times
"[Cherryh] avoids any kind of slump with a quick-moving and immediately engaging plotline, and by balancing satisfying resolutions with plenty of promises and ominous portents that are sure to keep readers' appetites whetted." --RT Reviews

"These are thinking man's reads with rich characters and worlds and fascinating interactions that stretch out over many generations." --SFFWorld
"Cherryh's forte is her handling of cross-cultural conflicts, which she does by tying her narrative to those things her point-of-view character would know, think, and feel."--SFRevu

About the Author

C. J. Cherryh planned to write since the age of ten. When she was older, she learned to use a typewriter while triple-majoring in Classics, Latin, and Greek. With more than seventy books to her credit, and the winner of three Hugo Awards, she is one of the most prolific and highly respected authors in the science fiction field. Cherryh was recently named a Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America. She lives in Washington state. She can be found at cherryh.com.

Edition details

• Publisher: Orbit
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0099444011
• ISBN 13: 9780099444015
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 384