C. J. Cherryh is Amazing

[bibliogramma]

OK, I'm getting all fangrrl crushy here.

I have now read Invader and Inheritor, the second and third books of C. J. Cherryh’s Foreigner series.

I continue to be enormously impressed with Cherryh’s ability to realistically convey alien cultures. And I am, as you’d expect, delighted by the complex political negotiations, speculations and plots that are multiplying as we see more factions within the atvei and the humans on Mospheira. It’s fascinating to watch as the central protagonist and man between two worlds, Bren Cameron, human paidhi, or translator/diplomat/cultural observer, among the atevi, becomes more and more integrated into the atevi “world” while still consciously remaining human in perspective – understanding and communication without assimilation – and yet how aliened and isolated he has become from the human “world” on the island of Mospheira. And how, at the same time, it is becoming a necessity for him to start to build a bridge with the “world” of the spaceship humans.

And then there's the whole bit about watching a species with a completely different understanding and perception of mathematics than the one that human have, tackling an accelerated industrial and scientific revolution based on the human path of development.

And just to underline the issues of cultural difference and how they affect communication no matter how important it is and how hard you try, there's Bren's personal relationships with not only the atevi around him (Jago, Tabini, Ilsidi in particular), but also with ship-born and ship-bred Jason, paidhi-in-training to the atevi from the ship.

I’m just loving this series.

Comments

[evil-macaroni.livejournal.com]

I love the development of his relationship with 'Sidi, who is one of my favorite old lady characters.

[morgan-dhu.livejournal.com]

Yes, she's wonderful.

Actually, that reminds me of something else about this series that I find really interesting - the atevi, even more so than the Mospheiran humans, appear to have pretty much of a gender neutral society. Ilsidi is a powerful person in her own right, Jago is clearly one of the best at what she does - unless Bren has a personal relationship with an atevi, there's a sense that gender is completely irrelevant to that atevi's social/public (as opposed to personal/private) functions. Well, except when matters of reproduction and inheritance are concerned, but that's an area where personal and social, public and private, come together in most societies.

I just really like these books.