Reading CJ Cherryh's Foreigner is like...

[katreus]

reading OotP. Except on an alien planet and with diplomacy.

Seriously -- the levels of angst and crying and feeling of helplessness in this piece is so heavy, I'm surprised the book doesn't weigh more than my
tv.

Edit: Oh goody. At least it ends on a sort of hopeful note. I was about to wonder if this was actually a tragedy complete with a tragic end.

[LilFluff]

Foreigner is part of a series. However, she has a single novel (well, it's part of the Merchanter universe, but near as I can tell doesn't directly
link with any of the other novels like Hellburner or Downbelow Station) called Cuckoo's Egg that is one of my favorite books of hers. It's about a
human raised by aliens who slowly comes to the realization that there isn't anyone else like him on the planet, at the same time learning just why that is
so. I've always wondered about what happens after the end of the story.
-----

Will the transhumanist future have catgirls? Does Japan still exist? Well, there is your answer.

[ECSNorway]

Yeah.

Cherryh's usual style is the slow buildup to a roller-coaster conclusion. In 'Foreigner' she just starts the roller-coaster on page one and doesn't let up until the end.

Part of the "angst and helplessness" is that the perspective character isn't a man of action, he's a diplomat. He has a certain level of character-shield protection, but he doesn't know it and he can't exploit it like, say, a Bruce Willis would.

In general, however, I enjoyed the series.

Unlike a couple of others recently read. Travis Taylor's The Quantum Connection is Marty Stu at its most pelagic. I got about a third of the way into the book and wanted to throw it against the wall. I felt like I was reading a Skysaber fanfic. And not 'Wizard of Gotham', either. (OTOH, Taylor's collabo with John Ringo, the 'Looking Glass' series, is -excellent-, and I highly recommend it. Somehow I think EGG would approve of humanity's first starship being NCC-4144, USS Vorpal Blade... especially when he caught the joke in the NCC number.)
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[Bob Schroeck]

especially when he caught the joke in the NCC number

Okay, going to Google leaves me more confused that I started with. What's the joke?
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Kokuten]

I finished Manxome Foe, book 3 in the Looking Glass series, not too long ago, and if I hadn't been reading on my PDA, I would have thrown it against a wall. Bad Ending, raaagh!

Chewing on the Wild Cards series right now. Yum.Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979

[ECSNorway]

4 - 14 - 4.

Hint: 'N' is the 14th letter of the alphabet.
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[Kokuten]

the NCC-DND Vorpal Blade.

neat.Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979

[Bob Schroeck]

Cute.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.