A review by books17
Invader: Book Two of Foreigner, by C.J. Cherryh

5.0

"It's a frightening job to be an honest man."
"A dangerous job, among fools."

A wonderful follow up to FOREIGNER.

Following the events of the first book, Bren is rushed back to the Atevi capital of Sheijdan to continue his work as paidhi under the cloud of the recently returned Phoenix hanging above the planet. Our translator must tread a delicate balance to keep the peace.

I LOVED this. I struggled slightly with FOREIGNER, being quite an abstract plot and a brand new world, but with a bit of familiarity I really found INVADER a lot easier to read - though I took my sweet time doing so.

Bren is a lovely protagonist - so unsure of himself yet so intelligent and in his own way, charismatic - and the supporting cast feels a lot more fleshed out this time around. Bren's growing, fumbling relationship (or, to be real, association) with Jago is very entertaining and we get to see our translator interacting with other human beings for the first time.

Cherryh has a way of making big events seem small and understated. It's a very detached writing style that I struggle with a bit.

I'm very keen to go onto INHERITOR.