Deliverer

January 22, 2007
At the start of the stirring ninth entry in Cherryh's much praised Foreigner series (after 2006's Pretender
), the atevi ruler Tabini has thwarted an attempt to overthrow him, though the usurper, Murini, has not yet been captured. Things appear to have settled back into routine, except for the hijinks of Cajeiri, Tabini's young heir, who has grown used to the liberties allowed a human child but not the heir to atevi rule. Then Cajeiri disappears and a troublesome Eastern lord is suspected of kidnapping him. Murini may also be involved. Human translator and diplomat Bren Cameron, along with the elderly but indomitable atevi matriarch Ilisidi and their deadly servants from the Assassins' Guild, must set off cross country in the dead of winter to attempt a rescue, while Cajeiri must prove that he is indeed worthy to be Tabini's heir. As always, Cherryh alternates complex political maneuvering with pell-mell action sequences in an intensely character-driven SF novel sure to appeal to the many fans of this series.

February 15, 2007
Bren Cameron's travels among the atevi and in a context redolent of a feudal Japan equipped with futuristic technology continue from " Pretender" (2006). His mission combines diplomacy, intelligence, trade, anthropology, and safeguarding Cajeiri, a vitally important, eight-year-old heir shrewd beyond his years, as Bren and his atevi friend Jago have already learned. Now it's some kidnappers' turn to learn how hard it is to make the kid do anything he doesn't want to do. That transforms the book into an absorbing combination of anthropological sf and "The Ransom of Red Chief." Faithful Foreigner saga followers, in particular, will have a ball.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)