Pretender

I'll just admit something to ya'll. This is my go-to series when I want to see great characters, great world-building, exciting politics and, of course, ALIENS.

The Atevi are hands down my favorite species of any series or franchise, and it's not because they're human-like black gods of such mathematical prowess as to make who university departments cower in fear, but because they're so *close* to us.

*close* But not THAT close. It's the differences that are a real killer. Just ask the Assassin's, Guild. Or the civil war or that niggling little feeling that a human can *just* about understand them at the core, but that understanding is nearly always *flawed* in such a way as to create world wars.

In this case, Bren, our wonderful interpreter and quickly-rising political nightmare, is caught in the middle of this world's civil war, with Tabini-aji struggling to regain control of the continent and space-footing.

It's full of great action and, dare I say it, TRAIN HIJINX. :) I really love this stuff. :) I have to say this one probably has the most action and political maneuverings out of all the other books, and I can't say it suffers any for it. Otherwise, it's pretty simple. :) And always fun.



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Quote:
"We value you,” she said. “Our compass. Our true lodestone of virtue.”
“One is glad of some usefulness, aiji-ma.” He was not comforted. The old spark had entered the dowager’s eye this morning, ever since that turn of events in the camp. Ilisidi in this mode was dangerous. Lethal.
And sometimes frighteningly honest. She reached out a hand and touched his arm.
“Protect the truth, paidhi-ji. Do not swerve from that. We wondered when, not if, you would come to consult us about the future.”
His face still burned.
“And what future, aiji-ma? One regrets not to know, but one has no understanding at all.”
“Nor will you. Nor can you. Nor can we. We will know when we see Tatiseigi.”
Review:
After two years in space and a hell of a journey, we're finally back to the Atevi homeworld. Everyone is looking forward to being back. Only, because this is Foreigner, and this is Bren and Ilisidi and the chaos demon known as Cajeiri, nothing can ever go right. They get back to earth and drop into a civil war. Almost literally. Tabini is missing, presumed dead but hopefully alive, a new faction has asserted their dominance over the aishidi'tat, and none of our main characters want this. As soon as they get back they are flying off to see if Tabini is still alive and if they can end the civil war.

Destroyer was soooo gooooood. Oh my god. I didn't want to stop reading. Ever! Holy shiiiiit! I thought the previous trilogy and book were more action packed. It had nothing on Destroyer. The entire situation was incredibly precarious the entire time, plus some added action scenes as well. Sheeeesh! Why do good books have to end?

And Bren himself? Oh gods alive, I love Bren and his anxiety ridden ass. He is exhausted the entire book. The book starts off fine enough and then drops into gogogo mode. He never has enough time to sleep. He never has enough time to recover. It is perfect. It adds to the ambience.

Everything about this was just good. I loved the pace, I loved the story, I loved the characters. This is not the book you want to be starting on. Fuck, I'm lowkey obsessed with this series right now. (Future keikii here: change lowkey to absolutely 100% completely obsessed give me more I needs it.) ( )

http://speculiction.blogspot.com/2019/10/review-of-pretender-by-cj-cherryh.html ( )

Much like the other books in this series, Pretender is as slow-moving, socially complicated, and occasionally as confusing as the aliens that it portrays. However, the mind-bending psychology of the aliens mixed with the coziness of a slow burn political drama is exactly what I go to the Foreigner series for, so I enjoyed myself immensely. This series might not be for everyone by if alien political drama sounds at all appealing to you, I recommend you go back and start with book one, Foreigner. This is not a story that is easily understood if started mid-series. ( )

3.5 stars

(Btw, I'm not sure whether this series could count as steampunk?) ( )