a pair of black leather-wearing, Assasins’ guild members, bodyguards that are hilarious in their subtle expressions.

a powerful and progressive atevi ruler that’s umm … fun but also kinda scary,.

The books that focus on Bren & Ilisidi adventures are my favorites. When she first showed up in book one I desperately hoped we’d get more of her, and we do, and she’s awesome. Her staff is fiercely loyal and kinda scary. She takes no one’s bullshit, stands on protocol but is not against getting her hands dirty if that’s what it takes to get shit done. She is a joy (to the reader, not so much all the time to others). A small and frail (for an atevi) old woman that commands respect everywhere she goes and has a wicked tongue and sense of humor. Much as I love Bren, my absolute favorite character, I squee every time she shows up is Ilisidi. He worries oh so much, and people hardly ever tell him all he’d like to know. He does not always have an easy ride for it, the danger is real and scarring. He mostly wants to sit tight and work on his dictionary but keeps getting caught up in political turmoil and danger. And so lonely, he just wants a friend (which in Atevi society is complicated and dangerous). He is so tired, please someone give this man a bed.

The series (baring the prologue) follows Bren, human diplomat/ambasador and translator to an alien race called the atevi.

And I think it might put off readers a bit, cause it gives off different vibes, while providing important context. The beginning of the first book, while perfectly fine in itself, is a lot more spacey and confusing than the rest of the books. It’s fun, it’s got great characters that I adore, and importantly for me, it’s easy to follow. I haven’t read so many consecutive books in a series since the great Discworld binge of 2014. The Foreigner books are all above 400 pages, and my audiobook listening time for them has gone from 2 weeks each to 4-5 days/book, depending on how many walks I can take. More recently Stariel, Mage Errant and Valdemar have gripped me in a similar fun and comforting way, but those were all short series with mostly short books.

To give a bit of context, I usually read one book and move on, maybe 2 if there are only 2 out. At this point, unless Cherryh does something atrocious in future books, I don’t think I’ll be stopping till I run out. I started out meaning to only read book 1, as is my habit, then I said I’ll only read the first trilogy. At the time of writing, I’ve just started Foreigner book 10.

Cj cherryh foreigner books in order