In this solid if slow-moving addition to Cherryh's much-praised Foreigner series (Invader
, etc.), Bren Cameron and his atevi allies finally return to their home world, where atevi natives and human colonists live in an uneasy truce. Their desperate, two-year mission has been a success; they've evacuated the humans stranded on distant Reunion Station and made tentative peace with the kyo, an enigmatic and heretofore hostile alien race. Bren soon discovers, however, that his troubles are far from over. His employer, Tabini, the most powerful atevi ruler on the planet, has been deposed and may well be dead. Along with Tabini's bumptious young heir, Cajeiri, and the ruler's highly competent but aging grandmother, Ilisidi, Bren must make a dangerous shuttle landing and then travel cross-country through hostile territory in search of his employer, who is the only leader on the planet, human or atevi, with the foresight and presence of mind to deal with the impending arrival of the kyo. Cherryh's Foreigner books make up one of the finest on-going series in the genre. This volume, the first in a new trilogy, is hampered by the need to clarify what is now a considerable back story, but it features a healthy dose of the author's trademark well-developed characters, fine style and intense psychological realism. Cherryh's many readers should snap this one up. Agent, Matt Bialer at Sanford Greenberger. (Feb. 1)
