If Tigers Learned to Speak (Foreigner - C.J. Cherryh)

Member Name: shroud

Product:	Foreigner - C.J. Cherryh
Date:	30/10/07 (89 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: richly detailed, and well imagined, full of intrigue and alien wonder

Disadvantages: a bit slow at the start

What would happen if humans became lost in unfamiliar territory and stranded on a habitable planet in uncharted territory? And what if that world already had an indigenous and rather advanced civilisation? C. J. Cherryh once more launches us into thought provoking sci fi with the best elements of space opera, the twists and turns of the best spy thrillers, and the psychological insight worthy of the best mystery thriller. This very scenario plays out in Foreigner, with a well equipped crew setting out on a mission, only to suffer catastrophe, ending up far off in uncharted space, upon an alien world. Their descendents remain in their own settlement, barely tolerated by the highly civilised pre Industrail revolution level culture of ebon hued humanoids, and misunderstandings abound. Enter Bren Cameron, envoy, or paidhi, to the native atevi. He is the only human allowed to speak to the atevi, and to try to foster a relation between the two groups. He must not only learn to grasp all the alien nuances of thought and emotional meaning behind the words they use, learn and understand their customs, but truly come to understand though born upon that world, he and the others are foreigners, and must adapt. This becomes a matter of life and death, as he becomes the target of an assasin.Who is after him, what is their motive, and can he avert a war between the humans and the atevi?

Once again Cherryh shows just why she is considered one of the modern grandmasters of science fiction. Her world is fully nuanced, complete with fully realised animals and ecosystem as well as a complex alien civilisation. When reading this book, you feel as if you are there, standing in this place, and feel the bafflement and aloneness felt by Bren. You can almost hear the noises, and smell the breeze, so vividly detailed is the writing. The aliens are well considered, with a complete psychological make up as well as physical reality, at once believable and utterly alien. These are not human looking aliens who dress funny and drink space brandy. No, they have a complex physiology that we grasp, a complete and rich culture, and detailed protocols that we can relate to, though completely foreign to what we would expect of other human cultures. Cherryh, as always, seems to have the unique ability to get inside the skin of her aliens, and view us through their eyes, then turn the story round to retell it so that we mere humans can grasp the tale.

Bren is a man of reflection, and his inner thoughts and musings might seem tedious to some, but they all serve a purpose. Bren is a man on a mission, and to accomplish it, he must do what none other has before. He must become an atevi in human skin, and fully integrate himself so that he can work within the intricacies that is atevi politics and culture. His thoughts along the way reflect his learning curve, and we take the journey alongside him, discarding old prejudices and preconceived ideas along the way, on a journey of self discovery and understanding. If he fails, he will likely die, and with him, the hope of the humans left stranded. Learning the cultural rituals and the speaking the language properly are not enough of a challenge apparently, as fate has also handed him the handicap of dealing with an apparently outwardly emotionless race. He is truly on his own, then, when the assassin comes after him, for it is a legal and accepted practice among the atevi, as he has to fend for himself, for they also do not have a word or concept for "friend" or "love". Bren is also further handicapped by himself; he is not a physically brave person, and a bit nervous and full of himself. This is his trial by fire, and though already adult, a true coming of age for him.

At first slow moving, the first 100 pages or so sets up the story, and once in, moves at a pace that leads us headfirst into adventure. During the first 100 pages, we get the disaster, then the human settlement /atevi thing. Then we move from this sci-fi space opera scenario straight into thriller territory. Intricate political manoeuvrings feature here, worthy of the best of the cold war thriller writers, with the added twist of the alien thought processes mixed in a adding to the edge of your seat feeling. Double dealings, posturing, torture, it's all here. Reading this book for the (seriously) 6th time, I still find myself absolutely stunned by the passion and tension this book creates within me when I read it. The atevi rightfully have no real human counterparts, yet the Machiavellian machinations themselves resonate strongly, and that too plays a part in Bren's outlook. Along with Bren, the reader learns to assign human motives to the machinations of this species to his peril, and the valuable lesson of thinking outside the specicial box.

This is the first book in a series of eight, and I highly recommend it. If you like thrillers and intelligent sci fi, this book is for you.

Summary: One of Cherryh's best