Notes:

The first three books of the series should be read together. I enjoyed the way everything tied together in this book. I'll definitely continue the series but need to see if I can work it into my audiobook buy list. =)

The end of the first trilogy in this epic SF series.

It's six months on from the second book and Jase-paidhi is coming along under Bren-paidhi's supervision, but it shows that Bren was a product of a ruthless competitive selection process and that Jase is just a volunteer. Even so, Jase is becoming fluent in what sounds like an insanely complex language. (All adult sentences must contain harmonious numbers of words, which means that a speaker must not only be aware of all the nuances of atevi numerology, but must be pretty good at counting on the fly while speaking as well).

The atevi space program is coming along as well and Tabini-aiji's Association seems strong after the events of the second book. However, relations with the human island of Mospheira haven't been worse since the War and Bren is living as an exile with his human friends and family on the island the subject of harassment that the authorities refuse to deal with. This comes to a head with the assassination of one of Tabini-aiji's enemies and some important news for Jase-paidhi that's poorly delivered.

Again we have Cherryh's trademark third-person intensive following Bren and his complex diplomatic and political thought processes as he steps far beyond the traditional role of paidhi. In this volume we don't have the bewilderment of the first book, or the second volume's overwhelming tiredness and injury, but instead we get Bren's full on frustration and anger with his own government. It will be interesting where that leaves Bren in the subsequent trilogy and whether his relationship with Mospheira stabilizes in the future.

An interesting undercurrent in this is the contrast of the political systems here, and the comparison between the atevi autocracy and association and the human democracy. The humans don't come off looking great in this and it's a really interesting read with what's going on elsewhere in November 2016.

Inheritor is the third book in Cherryh's foreigner series, and finishes up the first "trilogy" of books. The Foreigner series has been set-up in a series of trilogies, but from my understanding, they still revolve around the same main character, with a larger over-aching story concluding with each trilogy.

Bren Cameron, human representative of Mospheira, is fully immersed in atevi politics and does not make any effort to return home. It's clear he is very invested in the atevi and immensely supports them. To an outsider, his actions seem to be leading him to defect to the atevi. Bren himself struggles to fully support the humans back home based off their irrational actions and attempts on his life.

The ship overhead in orbit has sent down to the planet two representatives. One to Mospheria, and one to the atevi. Bren watches over Jase, the representative sent to the atevi. Unlike Bren who had years of training and was selected from the top of his class, Jase has had little preparation and he is frustrated at every turn.

The atevi continue with their groundbreaking inventions and are beating the humans in the race to space. There's two main atevi factions in play during the book that leads to tension on the success of the atevi space program, and fear that the current leader may be overthrown in a coup.

Bren finds himself in the middle of everything. Although he's learned much since the first book, he hasn't figured out all the nuances of the culture. It's a constant puzzle.

Inheritor is a slow-paced book that builds. By the end, there's a large twist and an action filled battle. I appreciate that every scene Cherryh includes is for an end goal, even if while reading it, the purpose is not apparent.

Bren is a really likeable character. By this third book, I stopped trying to make sense of everything atevi, as Cherryh's point is that it is rather obscure to humans and challenging to fit atevi practices into equivalent human practices.

It was a book I had a hard time putting down, but much of it was just politics. There's something about this book that really gripped me. I liked how all the puzzle pieces fit together at the end and I spent a lot of time trying to think about what each piece meant. That was what I enjoyed.

I'll be looking forward to the next Foreigner book.

Humans came and humans might go. But the land went on, and the sea washed the rocks.

The spaceship is in the sky, and a race is on the land - a race between humans and Atevi, as well as opposing factions in both societies.

The title of this book could refer to the heavy info-dumping in the first quarter of the book: literal recap of the first book, as well as informational speeches Bren gets from his associates. It was tedious and boring. I didn't care enough to take notes on the Atevi soap-opera, choosing to be confused at times. Laziness!

Thankfully, the rest of the book moves the plot forward, as well as numerous relationships Bren has. One of the central ones is certainly that with a newcomer from the ship, who is struggling. I really love how Cherryh depicts problems one has when introduced to new culture and scenery.

You can die of old age on this planet if we mistranslate a design spec and the program fails. You could die sooner if you don't understand culturally where you're likely to find security wires. You can die if your insults to the aiji disturb the peace of this country.

We can also see how much Bren has changed from the first book - and it's not all unicorns and rainbows, either. Yes, he is much more successful with Atevis, but is also doubting his own humanity. How much could one get estranged from his own people while isolated in another's culture? How to carry on after your own government turns on you and starts behaving irrationally? He sometimes blunders, but tries to hold his own, which made me warm up to him.

Get through this alive and take down the ones who'd threatened him and his the way he could deal with them, not with a gun, but by getting to what they wanted before they did, and interdicting them from everything they intended.

This book concludes the first trilogy in Foreigner's series, and I'm taking a break. This is much harder to swallow than Chanur saga, but still has it perks. One of them is definitely this Chanur reference:
I've been working on get. Everyone uses get.

Bren looked behind him, where a row of atevi stood, Banichi, and Jago, and Cenedi, expressionless,
uniformed, and armed.

He suddenly realized how they must look to Toby and Shawn. And blinked again and saw his dearest friends.

The world is getting much larger and more interesting in this one. Still wondering if Bren is on the spectrum because the specific requirements that a Paidhi faces would mesh well with what I have observed in some of ASD/neurodiverse people I know.

Strong conclusion to Sequence 1

This is the last book in Sequence 1 of the Inheritor/First Contact series. It's very much a continuation of the first book, but also sets up the plot for Sequence 2.

∗∗∗∗ ⋅ /5 Writing style
∗∗∗∗ ⋅ /5 Audiobook Narration
∗∗∗∗∗/5 Interesting ideas
∗∗∗∗ ⋅ /5 Engaging story
∗∗∗∗ ⋅ /5 Good science/technology

∗∗∗∗ ⋅ /5 Overall