Precursor

Foreigner Sequence 2, Book 1

By: C. J. Cherryh

Narrated by: Daniel Thomas May

Length: 17 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's Summary

National best-selling author and winner of three Hugo Awards, C.J. Cherryh returns to the universe of her acclaimed Foreigner trilogy - with an epic tale of the survivors of a lost spacecraft stranded on a planet inhabited by a hostile, sentient race. The beginning of a second trilogy, Precursor follows a single human delegate living among aliens, who are just gaining access to space.

©1999 C.J. Cherryh (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

3 Years have passed!! )-: !!!!

And paidhi-aiji is still in business!!! (-:
Shuttle was built, second is on it's way.
Space gives us new frontiers, new possibilities and
NEW INTRIGUES AND NEW NEGOTIATIONS!!!!


This book is conttinuation of the story line, it's not a sequel!!!
quality hasn't slipped.

This book moves at a lightning-fast pace! Awesome

STORY (sci-fi) - I can't begin to describe everything that happens in this book. It's #4 in a series of 15 books, and it's my favorite so far by a longshot! Bren Cameron (main character) is a human translator/negotiator who lives among the Atevi, an intelligent, peaceful alien species. In this book, Bren and a small group of Atevi travel to a human space station orbiting the Atevi's home planet to negotiate peaceful coexistence while making repairs to the station. They enter a political mess onboard the station, and there's one crisis after another. Too much to begin to describe here, but there's lots of action and suspense and it's also very mentally stimulating. I listened every spare minute I could and was intrigued every second.

CJ Cherryh is a genius! The world she's created, the culture of the Atevi, and I don't know how in the world she came up with everything that went on in this book. The suspense was palpable and the action was exciting, but it didn't rise to the level I would consider "for guys only."

PERFORMANCE - Great job, great voice distinction among many characters. Lots of strange alien pronunciations to keep straight, which he did. He has a distinctive style of reading, the way he pauses throughout sentences, but it's perfect for this book.

OVERALL - Highly recommended for mature males and females. No cursing. A very small amount of vague sexual references. Definitely don't start in the middle of this series because it has a lot of it's own language that would be hard to pick up midstream. Also, the story line builds with each book so you will want that history, but each book ends at a good stopping point where the issues in that particular book are resolved.

Great book; a few slow moments due to backstory

Daniel Thomas May's performance is outstanding. It's insightful and compelling, going beyond just making all the book's vivid characters distinct and memorable.

This book is at least as good as the first three. In fact, I thought Precursor had even more action and suspense than the first three volumes. It introduces people and places of great interest. And the plot takes surprising twists that sometimes made me cheer out loud.

One heads-up: by now there's a lot of background needed by new readers. Cherryh provides the backstory while moving the action ahead, so you might not even notice unless you're reading the books back-to-back. However, since I'm gulping them down one right after the other, I found backstory slowing the usually-brisk pace now and then. Once, when the story had me sitting on the edge of my chair, I wanted to shake Bren and holler, "Stop brooding and do something, already!" (He did.)

I admire how well Cherryh makes each book a complete, satisfying whole. These are NOT cliff-hangers. Each book resolves its story's issues. (Well, so far, at least. I can't swear about the rest of them.) Each book is a complete novel, but they all tie together, and it's worth reading them in the correct sequence.

Audible has released the first six of the 14 books in this series. (The hard-back of volume 14 is due to be released in April.) I hope Audible quickly adds the other eight!

Engrossing inter-species politics.

I read the first sequence years ago. Glad that they're at last available on audible. The political twists are always exciting and I love reading the latest antics of Ilisidi. I think she's probably my favorite character (along with Bren of course).

The author does such an excellent job of setting scenes and offering just enough explanation of the why's of things to inform, yet keep things moving along. The family issues pulling Bren in different directions add depth to the story. Jase's growth in his role has been interesting to "see."

If I were to describe these books in two words, they would be "political intrigue." But there is so much more going on. The cultural heritage of the Atevi is so well developed, it feels right and believable. I find myself painting the Atevi culture with distinctly Japanese/Chinese flavor. . . Reverence for the dowager, their love of fine art and things handmade. . . not to mention the whole concept of an Assassin's Guild, to keep things from heading to civil unrest.

I had to buy more credits to get the next book!

Best one yet!

Any additional comments?

Almost gave up on the series after book 3 ... very glad I didn't! This book has the plot twists, character development and a cliff-hanger that had me buying the next book as soon as I finished. Hooked by the series again! Just finished the next book in the series and find the writing and story telling getting better and better. You could easily start the series with this book, get hooked and move forward or backward in the series without feeling lost.

Boring from the very beginning

What would have made Precursor better?

There just didn't seem to be any interest in getting to the point of the story. Instead of rambling on about what was going on inside the minds of the insanely boring characters, it would have been nice if something, anything had happened. Abandoned this eventually out of boredom.

What was most disappointing about C. J. Cherryh’s story?

The pacing was terrible. Nothing seemed to happen except inside characters heads.

How could the performance have been better?

Not sure if the performance was affected by the mediocre content.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Precursor?

Found the writing clunky, characters un-engaging and the whole thing an absolute bore. Not sure this could be fixed.

An old love rediscovered

I first read the first four books in Foreigner series, as they came out in the 90's. I stopped after completing Precursor, through no fault of the writer or books.
On a recent business trip, I was scanning for books and rediscovered the series.
Daniel Thomas May does a wonderful job reading and brings depth and life to C.J. Cherryh's compelling characters and intricate plot. I have enjoyed listening to the series, actually my wife and I listen to a chapter a night.
C.J.Cherryh is a master. She packs more information and nuance into a sentence than many writers achieve in a chapter.
I highly recommend this book.

I’m on my 3 rd time around

I’ve listened to the series 3 times and I’m starting on 4. I fall asleep to it. It’s not because it’s boring, it’s because these books are beloved.

The Adventures Continue

There is rarely a dull moment in the life of Bren Cameron. After years of working on the shuttle, and finally seeing it launch, the last thing he expected was to be a passenger.

I have enjoyed reading this series several times. The characters grow with the story. The stories unfold and build the world that they live in. As is often true, every time I read them, I discover a new connection or detail that I missed before.

I hope that you start from the beginning and walk through the world of the Atevi and the humans that floated to their planet.

Daniel Thomas May is the perfect storyteller.

Action adventure for language and diplomacy nerds!

I've been through this series reading it, and am now listening to it. The narrator takes plenty of liberties with his pronunciation (there's a pronunciation guide at the end of book 1 for sure) and really loves putting his emphasis on the last syllable instead of the penultimate syllable as it should be. You get used to it though, and by book four I now no longer mutter the correct pronunciation under my breath every time, lol. Other than the incorrect pronunciation of the fictional language/words his narration is fantastic though.
The stories are a little repetative in their formula but with enough diversity of scenario that it stays fun. For all that Bren paidhi is a translator and interpreter, he sure does end up shooting at someone in most books. For all that Ilisidi is a blunt-but-wise old woman, she sure is there for basically every shootout in the series. It's fun.