Inheritor

Foreigner Sequence 1, Book 3

By: C. J. Cherryh

Narrated by: Daniel Thomas May

Length: 16 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's Summary

Six months have passed since the reappearance of the starship Phoenix - the same ship which brought humans to the world of alien atevi nearly 200 years ago, leaving a small and vulnerable colony to struggle for survival in a hostile environment. During these six months, the alien atevi have striven to reconfigure their fledgling space program in a breakneck bid to take their place in the heavens alongside humans. But the return of the Phoenix has added a frighteningly powerful third party to an already volatile situation, polarizing political factions in both human and atevi societies, and making the possibility of all-out planetary war an even more likely threat.

On the atevi mainland, human ambassador Bren Cameron, in a desperate attempt to maintain the peace, has risked alienation from his own people by communicating with the staff of the Phoenix as spokesman for the atevi, and has arranged for one human representative from the Phoenix to take up residence with him in his apartments, and for another to be stationed on Mosphiera, humanity's island enclave.

Now, Bren has the difficult task of indoctrinating Jason Graham, a young man who has never before set foot on a planet, in the intricate, delicate, and potentially lethal maneuverings of the human-atevi interface. And this at a time when, thanks to the assassination of an atevi lord who had been one of Bren's primary adversaries, and the near-collision of Bren's personal plane with a jet manned by an unknown pilot, the relationship between atevi factions is becoming more strained by the minute.

©1996 C.J. Cherryh (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Critic Reviews

"Highly recommended for all sf collections." ( Library Journal)

Brilliant and Imaginative

STORY (sci-fi) - CJ Cherryh is an amazing author. The world she has created, the atevi characters, the languages, the political situations...I don't know where she comes up with all this stuff! Just think, there is one human (Bren Cameron) who is charged with translating and maintaining the peace between a human colony and the native atevi, who are large human-like creatures with black skin (see cover art). There are all kinds of differences and extremely tense situations which are great listening. The only complaint I have is that her stories are pretty complex with all the different players and their different motives. There are lots of strange names to keep straight. Several times I wanted to back up and rehear stuff but I was driving and couldn't. I think I would have enjoyed the book more if it were simpler or maybe if I were just smarter!

Things get critical in the end and there's quite a bit of action. The current crises are over by the end of the book so it's not a cliffhanger, but there's so much to come. I'm anxious for the space program to build the atevi's ship and get them into space. It looks as if a new, evil race may be watching...

PERFORMANCE - Mr. May has a very pleasant voice. He does a good job differentiating voices for the different main characters and an incredible job pronouncing all the strange names and places in this book.

OVERALL (actual rating 3.5) - This is a great story, but it's not an easy listen. There is only a little bit of sex and no bad language, but this is definitely not for dummies or young listeneres. It is sci-fi in that it deals with human/alien relations, but the problems are all political in nature. If you're looking for little green men with magical powers and cool weapons, you will be disappointed. Each book seems to provide a pretty good recap to get new listeners up to speed, but I would definitely listen to this series from the beginning in order.

Well it's not finished yet!:-)

I'm dying to tell you short summary, but to avoid any spoilers,
I'll just tell you one thing:
IT'S GETTING BETTER !!!!!:-)

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.

OUTSTANDING

Any additional comments?

To describe anything gives things away - but the Dowager... she is so cool. There is so much to learn about human nature when you compare them to aliens and that is why science fiction is so powerful.

another great book in the series

a well written book which has a lot of implications for people that want to understand different cultures and how it's so easy to make assumptions about each other and how difficult it really is unless you've grown up as a first language in a culture to really understand that particular culture. it's another good performance I enjoyed it when you're older and your eyes are a little more tired it's nice to have an audiobook to listen to especially when the performance is well done.

More new developments

I still favor the compact space series over this but this is certainly a good read.

it was all right.

C J didn't do as good a job as her preceding books. She should have worked on her characters more.

love this series

I don't know how I missed this series when it came out. I am through enjoying it now.

Third Time Through this Series

The narrator really makes this story come alive. His choices for pronunciation of alien names and words comes off as consistent and believable. His voice characterizations are well done. I love the story arcs.

Humans more odd than aliens

This was a great end to the first trilogy. It subtly marked how illogical we humans are and how odd we can seem to each other. I live this series as it does aliens "right ."