Bren Cameron and companions from the Phoenix return to the Atevi homeworld and Alpha Station to discover that all has not gone well in their absence. Tabini-aiji is missing, perhaps assassinated, the shuttles are not flying, and no one is talking. Bren and the aiji-dowager need to get down to the planet's surface quickly to take control of the situation, if they can.

Lots of exciting action in this volume. ( )

The third trilogy in the longer series is still fun to read, but I didn't enjoy it quite as much as the first six books. It's hard to put a finger on it; mostly it's that the sense of an alien culture has disappeared a bit in the more predictable story lines. ( )

Stunning. Best of the series, captures all the action and characters of Invader with the same gripping writing style.

The two year voyage is over, provisions runing low for the 4000 ex-colonists, and all Bren is looking forward is a decent cup of tea in the formal surroundings of home. However news from the planet is not good. The aveti government has fractured with traditionalists overthrowing the technological favoured government that Bren has laboured all his life to hold in place. Faced with the prospect that all his advice has misled his "friends" down a road that has led to ruin, and with his pride in tatters. Bren embarks on a journey to find the absent Tabeni and hopefully restore a stable government to get provisions back to the space-station. But local politics are as confusing as ever, the Dowager intransigent and young Cajeiri the heir exerting his authority will there be anything he can do to help rebuild the situation he caused?

A stunning entry to the third Foreigner trilogy, we finally find out some of the detail of man'chi and how aveti "emotions" work. Easily readable without the previous books, leaves you gasping for more.

After re-read
Oddly Bren deos very very little in this book. He is the sole POV but as his presence exacerbates the conservative factions, he spends most the time watching with his head down, savouring the tea. ( )

we're back from space now. as much as romanticize about space, I much prefer a fracas with the Assassin's Guild over one with the Pilot's Guild. I find Guild Assassins much more interesting. I find non-warehouse-lifestyle culture much more interesting.

and I find planets much more interesting. they have trees.

Bren & co, having completed a strange but passably successful mission, return with potential problems in tow... to find actual and overwhelming problems at home. the government's collapsed, an ambitious fool is in charge, and nobody can find Tabini, or even knows if he is alive. lovely. well, it had to be something of cataclysmic proportions.

Destroyer (#7) is a counterpoint to Explorer (#6), much as the dynamic cornucopia of events in Explorer (#6) contrasted with the slow-paced pyschological intrigue of Defender (#5).

Explorer(#6) was very much Cameron-ci, Cameron-la, Cameron, Cameron, CAMeronnnnn... ah, to be a paidhi of quality! busy, confident Bren Cameron saving the universe and all. Destroyer (#7) pretty much turns that on its head as Bren comes to realize that he has indeed made some egregious mistakes in his thinking and now there is hell to pay (so, he hasn't gotten it, re:enculturation vs biological imperative, not nearly as well as he thought he had). before, the earth of the atevi relied on Bren and the Phoenix lot distrusted him greatly... now that's almost reversed. much of Bren staying out of the way and shutting up in this one, which means that we get more atevi. we get to see and realize more about Ragi culture than we have before, and we get to witness man'chi developing right before our eyes (while in the midst of witty politics and desperate cross-country transits, no less).

new antagonist: Tatiseigi. oh, we've met, but now we have to practically move in with the man, and hope that he doesn't poison anyone while we figure out what side he's really on.

Cajeiri starts growing up... tangibly. and in so maturing, he is not so subdued or quiet, even in the most impressive company of his overpowering great-grandmother or great-grand uncle. we get to really start understanding who he is.

and damnitall, Barb is back. she is such a pain. there's never been a more appropriately named character, I swear. will someone just toss her off the boat already? I do not trust her and I honestly do not care if she is only human--- that doesn't mean her every flaw should be overlooked. if she causes any more trouble, she'd better die of her own self-made doom, or I'm going to gripe about it even more lol.

and just for the record, I haven't ever been able to bring myself to trust Yolanda either.

some typos are very VERY infuriating. Mt. say-what? Edo??? I don't think so.

and the book ENDS when the story is nowhere NEAR done... bah. but at least it is continued in the next book, and doesn't just leave us hanging forever. ( )

Ingrid Bengis wrote one of my all time favorite quotes: "Words are a form of action, capable of influencing change."

Words have started wars, and stopped them, caused murders and divorce, and created great saints and martyrs. Indeed, words are capable of influencing change.

From page 112 of C. J. Cherryh's "Destroyer", in reference to actions by the protagonist, a translator:

"He'd let his dictionary-making duties slip, thinking they didn't matter so much... But where was the clue to his problems? Lurking, as always, in the dictionary, right where he'd begun."

Insightful gems like this one abound in Cherryh's "Foreigner" series, one of the many reasons I treasure her novels. Currently, I'm reading the seventh of what is now nine books, stringing out the pleasure until the ninth book, "Deliverer", is released on January 4th. C. J. Cherryh wrote the Foreigner series in what is so far three sets of trilogies, each of which ends with a satisfying conclusion - however, fans keep asking for more, and Cherryh has delivered. ( )