Convergence

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Quote:

“Mani says if we site a space industry in their district they will become great supporters of the ship. Perhaps we should give them a contract.”
“Change, son of mine, should be applied like salt to a dish—best taste it, understand it, and then decide.”

Review:
Hmm Convergence was..different somehow. A lot of hows, to be honest. I think if I weren't so biasedly in love with this series I might have rated this much more poorly than I have.

While both Bren and Cajeiri have been sharing the perspective for the book since I believe book eight or nine, it is different this time around. They are much more equal characters. Cajeiri has been acting more like an show more adult, having more and more agency with each successive book. Acting less like chaos incarnate. This was like a test for him, and he passed with flying colours.

Bren's story was much of the same as it has been the entire series. Politics, politics, and more politics. The difference being that it was entirely human politics, and it didn't even have to deal with the space station or space ship. It was all Mospheiran. Tabini has sent Bren to Mospheira to make them deal with the rapidly deteriorating situation on the space station, and get Cajeiri's friends down to the planet safe, and in a program to someday replace him as paidhi.

There is a lot of time spent trying to get the Mospheirans to see reason. Which... good luck with that. Jeez humans in this series are absolutely impossible to get along with. It is no wonder that Bren prefers to deal with the Atevi. It is a lot of what we have seen to date. A lot of meetings, mostly without tea because they were large meetings with different cabinets. Nothing special, but still damn fine to read.

Cajeiri on the other hand... has had his first solo outing. He has gone, on his own, to his great uncle Tatiseigi's house. With permission this time! Tabini wants to show that Tatiseigi isn't out of favour with him, and this gives a chance for Cajeiri to just be a kid and get to ride his macheiti which he has only been allowed to ride once before.

Cajeiri is learning how to do things on his own, how to direct the going ons around him on his own. It's all politics, but of the sort a child can handle. He has to deal with keeping his family from getting even more of a mess than it already is. He is a child of politics, tying together way too many lines.

But he is only a kid. And I found myself crying a bit for Cajeiri. He is never allowed to just be a kid. Everything has an ulterior motive. Nothing is safe for him. Everything he ever has tried to do to just be a kid has been interrupted by gunfire or assassins or kidnapping, or some combination. And now he is being saddled with even more responsibility while not being in charge of anything in his life. He is always at the whims of the adults while not ever being allowed to be a kid. It sucks and he isn't even allowed to complain. Poor kid. show less

Oddly enough, I was fully expecting more space, more diplomacy, and more aliens, but that's done for now. Non-aggression treaty and Rosetta Stone signed, in hand, and now shipped downwell, Bren and crew have a brand new problem.

What the hell are they going to do with all those station refugees? Atevi won't take them and there's definitely not enough resources to keep them for long on the station around the Atevi world.

Oddly enough, the simple solution takes this series in a seriously awesome direction I'm surprised hasn't been explored as fully as now: Mospheira. The island where all the humans are kept penned in like livestock. :) Or not livestock, but clannish and fearful refugees from 200 years ago thinking they still have a good show more handle on things when in reality they're just being tolerated by a very understanding Atevi. :)

I was drawn all the way in. I'm surprised how much I enjoyed seeing the human populace for once instead of just dealing with them (or not dealing at all) from the mainland where the Atevi rule. Cajeiri's side-story was quite interesting and develops his character and relationships nicely in a new-adult way, but honestly, I was very much more invested in Bren dealing with all his old colleagues and detractors without getting to rely on all the honors or stations of the Atevi political side.

A good diplomat always tries to work from a position of power, and it was too funny how he worked it. :)

Still a great series! And there's one more that came out! Woo! Can't wait! :) show less

this one's pretty quiet for a novel in this series, lacking the breathless urgency that characterizes Cherryh's style, but it addresses one of the most interesting problems of this Universe, the political question of the isolated human settlement of Mospheira. Bren must negotiate for the atevi rather than the settlement, and old feuds and misconceptions come to the fore. Cajieri the atevi heir, meanwhile, essays his first diplomatic mission in the stronghold of his conservative uncle Tatiseigi. along the way, we see that the whole history of the series (this is book number 18), details the rippling consequences of first contact between alien races, and the pressing need for all parties to initiate and to accept enormous change within show more one lifetime, in order to survive. show less

Another great addition to the series, and a change from the titling conventions!

In this book, Bren finally returns to Mospheira! There's a lot of great stuff there, particularly with some old characters coming back and interacting with him. Bren hasn't really interacted with a lot of Mospheirans in a long time, and a lot has changed since then.

I also really liked the change in Cajeiri's perspective. True, he's only nine years old, but this book reminds us that nine in Atevi years isn't quite the same as nine in human years, particularly for some one of Cajeiri's status. I've never really been a fan of his portions of the novels, but this book I really liked them. He's starting to take on a lot more responsibility and understand the show more consequences of his actions. He spends more time thinking things through before acting on impulse, and putting his thoughts and desires in more young adult modes than childish "I really want to do x, but -insert adult- will probably be angry about it". Not that I want him to be a complete adult because like... he's just a kid. But it's an interesting transition. I think his associates appreciate it a lot more.

Tatiseigi also had some good character moments, and we learn a lot about him. I also really liked learning about how his changed politics plays with the people he's built political ties with over the years, as he moves from a far more conservative standpoint to at least a slightly more liberal one, while still retaining his conservative mindset.

Overall it was a nice, quick read. Can't wait to read the next one. show less

Setting up the next trilogy - nothing actually happens, but it's interesting nonetheless.

The Kyo have left, and so Bren's remaining challenge is what to do with the Reunioners. Tabini tasks him to head back to the Island and settle any political questions and balance the population on the station. This occupies fully a half of the book, but has no challenges, and only one slightly loud meeting.

The other half is Cajeri again, being the active foil to Bren's talking. Cajeri is sent 'on holiday' to his great-uncle's estate where he meets two claimants for the ajuri lordship, one more appealing than the other. Here too little happens.

But despite the inactivity and frequent jumping between the two characters, it's quite enjoyable. You can show more see where the threads are running for the remaining books, the cultural details are charming, the characters as ever retaining distinct personalities and it's just nice, no major alarms, a cosy read.

....................
The frequent jumping between Bren and Cajeri is annoying and seldom well sign-posted, but other than that as above. show less

Reading Convergence sent me to the book shelf to reread the second half of Visitor (#17). I always get more out of her novels the second time round and I look forward someday to rereading from the beginning. That said, the topic of interest to me in Convergence was Cajeiri's maturation and Bren vs. Bureaucracy whereas Visitor was thick into intercultural contact and helping others to discover their direction, with a profound pivot point involving the training and commissioning of peace makers, all of which was much more compelling. Nonetheless, Ms.Cherryh's novels are consistently satisfying and inspiring. For a while, the world feels right.

This installment of the Foreigner series focussed on growth and change. An alternate title might be "Maturity".
That doesn't mean boring. But when you're this far into a saga with so many fascinating characters and enough action to keep readers breathless, the calmer tone of this volume was welcomed.
And cleverly sets up many incipient changes.
As always, Ms. Cherryh has lived up to her Grand Master status.