science fiction

Invader: Book Two of Foreigner (Foreigner series 2) by C.J. Cherryh
Review by Johanne Pearl Couturier
4 stars
Looks like Bren Cameron’s life is a problem… a big problem for everyone it seems, even people from his own government. Stuck between his job dictating what he should do and say as a diplomat, and his own respect for the people he is living with, the choice is not going to be easy.
In the sequel to Foreigner, C.J. Cherryh continues the saga of “the man stuck in the middle”, in a world where he has to judge who is with him and who is against him… while the leader he is associated with makes him look like a pawn on a chessboard. Atevi are divided now and more than one group want his life to end while other are not sure yet… seeing him as a very dangerous disturbance with his wild ideas. His life and work are already complicated enough but other players decide to reappear from the past… a past Bren knows less about than he thinks and, suddenly, he wishes that some of these people could be with him, making is loneliness as a human being more bearable, if only by teaching a new guest what the Atevi want him to learn.
Bren is not the only one who wants to be informing the new group of the intricacies of this world and the scales could be tipped in a way that could create another war. He has to use all his talents and knowledge to make sure no one has clear advantage over the other, but what does he really want? Who is he really? Can he develop feelings for an Ateva on whom he does not know much, beside the fact she is a member of the assassins’ Guild? She clearly expressed her curiosity about intimacy but can a relationship develop between two species who do not understand each other at a core level?
So many things are happening in this book, it is insane! You’re wracking your brain with “what ifs”? Trying to find who is loyal and who is not? Being surprised by twists and turns? Go ahead! Give yourself this pleasure and be immerged in a world that you get to understand more and more as you follow Bren’s train of thoughts. If you think your life is not easy, try to walk a mile in this human’s shoes… or ride on the back of a Macheiti for that matter. Did I tell you I love those beasts? Oooops, yes I did already! Lol
Well, time for me to go on reading book 3 so I can find out how the new “guests” will adapt to all this madness! And if his 9 feet black alien beauty’s curiosity, making him so uneasy around her, will be satisfied or shift to that new someone…
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