Betrayer

When this book arrived in the mail I had to totally drop everything else to read it. Seriously, words cannot describe how much I love this series.
This particular book continues the amazingly rich experience of the familiar-but-alien world of the atevi, where a sole human can definitely get into a lot of trouble when he starts meddling in ancient feuds.
What I admire most about this series is the level of detail and the level of immersion. You never feel completely safe, you always feel like anything could happen at any time. I love the politics and the detail about culture.
If you want to some character-based SF, I recommend this series, but do start with volume 1 ;-) ( )

When we left Bren Cameron at the end of Deceiver, he was in a very precarious position - not only in the middle of hostile territory but also in the middle of a potentially deadly conflict of man’chi (the feeling of allegiance and loyalty that holds together atevi society). It will take him some considerable maneuvering to escape with his own and his bodyguards’ skins intact, and if the previous novel was taken up mostly with intrigue and this politics, then Betrayer is comparatively heavy on the action, a large part of it consisting of Bren’s flight back to his country estate while being chased by assassins.

And Cherryh is just as good at tense action as she is at mind-boggling intrigue – Bren and his companions have to make their way through unfamiliar and most likely enemy territory, caught between two forces that are opposing each other and at least one of which is hostile to Bren, while it is far from certain that the other faction can be trusted not to shoot them on sight. While the reader is reasonably sure that Bren will make it alive through the novel, this is by no means certain for his companions, which keeps the excitement high and the reader’s breath bated. Everyone who found Deceiver a bit slow going, should be more than satisfied with Betrayer - in fact both novels complement each other very nicely, and considering how Deceiver ended in the middle of a conflict-laden situation with nothing resolved, one probably should consider those novels as one exceptionally long one. But starting this series anywhere else but with Foreigner is not a good idea, anyway - while Cherryh does do a decent job of refreshing the memory of readers in for the long haul, there is just too much accumulated background to be recapitulated in every new volume without bogging them down with tons of exposition.

Betrayer is also very focused on Bren; there are a few Cajeiri chapters but they tend to be short, with Cajeiri mostly passive – in fact he is learning to passive and finding out that being silent and patient can lead to better results than being noisy and troublesome. He is eight years old in this novel, but atevi apparently develop faster, and he comes across more like a bright fourteen year old in human terms. For the most part I think he’s a quite successful portrait of a teenager – he has not discovered the other gender yet, and I’m quite keen to find out what will happen once he does, almost as keen as for the arrival of the Kyo. Which apparently is still not going to happen in the arc following this one, but judging from the blurbs (I’m waiting until all three are out in paperback before I start reading) we will get some insights into the inner workings of the assassin guild – I’m looking forward to that, as that institution is still mostly shrouded in mystery even after twelve novels.

This long series continues to hold my interest, and after finishing "Betrayer" I have entertained myself by speculating about what will happen in the next installment. Not just the plot, but to the characters Cherryh has been depicting. "Betrayer" is about many things but I liked most the way characters mature as they face and make difficult choices, learn to trust one another, and wrestle with the need to compromise themselves in a complex social world. ( )

Superb. It;s not quite the end of the current 'trilogy' but it definitely provides and action packed finale, whilst retaining the cultural atmosphere and distinct alieness that hallmarked the beginning of the series.

Bren is in foreign territory, even for him. Amidst the outbreak of violence he has been sent by the dowager to the Lord thought to be responsible. Although as events progress it becomes clear that there is probably at least a third or even sixth party involved. Bren now has a delicate issues of conscience on his hands. His bodyguard are sworn to the Aij, but he is about to accept a commission from this Lord to negotiate in his name. As a human he can do this and remain true to the aij at the same time, but the aveti are not hardwired this way. In counterpoint we have the aij's son, who has recently been given bodyguards who have to face the same dilemma as Bren.

I found the balance much better in this book compared to the preceding two, the level of politicking was much better interspersed with the action and the character situations seemed less divisive, even though Cajeiri sometimes only appeared for a few paragraphs. CJC's masterful ability again to restrict information flow to only the that which the characters perceive is readily apparent - and deftly handled by the appearance of various uninformed characters who need distant information explaining to them. Cajeiri as an 8yr old is usually a perfect foil for this. Not everyone may be comfortable with this style but it works very well for me, and CJC gets the balance perfect between keeping the understanding clear, and providing too much information.

Despite this being the 12th in the series it is great to be able to say it is no less enthralling that the 1st. ( )

In the conclusion to this 3-book plot arc, Cherryh really focuses more on action scenes instead of the politics and intrigue that makes this series worthwhile. I enjoyed the interactions with the new character Machigi, though I wish he were a little more clever, and we don't see him at all after he and Bren part ways in the middle of the book. I thought she would go somewhere with the Veijico/Lucasi angle, but I guess that's something to be explored in future books. ( )