Explorer by CJ Cherryh

This book stands among Cherryh’s best. Bren and friends’ reuniting Phoenix and Reunion station does what it says on the tin: an exploration of places nobody from the unnamed atevi planet has ever gone, and many people still don’t believe exists. Here we go. Journey narrative, political intrigue, situations turning into clusters, and meeting an alien species; unravelling the Ramirez mystery that helped carry the last couple of books, teaching the aiji’s heir what’s what in the universe, and gunfights⁠—Bren in lots of gunfights. Well, okay, like two gunfights, but still. In one of them Bren liberates a political prisoner from as deep inside hostile territory as possible.

Figure it. If there were two humans, there were two sides, and if both had a pulse, politics would be at work somewhere in the business.

This action packed-book concludes this trilogy. One thing I want to just mention in passing about the trilogy: it follows Cherryh’s usual pacing across three books⁠—meaning that Precursor opens the three fairly tamely, then Defender ramps up the tensions and complicates the situations once understandings have been reached, then Explorer explodes with action, new information recontextualizing earlier understandings, and follows the characters through their rational courses.

“Yolanda kept her standoffishness from local culture. I didn’t. I fell far more deeply not just into downworld culture, but into atevi culture, and the one thing that both infuriates me and encourages me is that Ramirez appointed me to succeed him. Me. My view of the universe. My atevi-contaminated, impure view of the universe humans have to live in. It’s not a degree of importance I ever wanted, I’ll tell you. But the thought that Ramirez meant to do it, that he actually approved what I am—is what gives me the courage to get out of bed and go on duty.”

This specific book’s pacing also shows the strength of Cherryh’s storytelling. Her book begins just before arrival at Reunion station, which allows the scene to be set before rushing into an alien encounter, and an encounter with long-lost humans. On the brink of the unknown, Cherryh establishes the relationships between characters, then pushes them through that fog-bank, and they don’t understand what they see. They find an alien ship, the human station, and neither matches what the characters expected. Classic Cherryh pacing: set the scene through the characters, their relations, and what worries them; then explore those worries through revelations or journeys; then resolve through logical reactions by the characters; all in a mix of psychological depth, adventure, political intrigue, physical violence, and change. Solid and stunning.

Separation of nations that have once met is dangerous: that seems the most accurate expression of kyo views of politics. What has met will meet again. What cannot stay in contact is a constant danger of miscalculation. Curious notion. Possibly even demonstrable, in history. One wonders whether this is a refined philosophy, out of successful experience. One is very certain we need to go slow with this.

The story illuminates the theme: Bren and company take responsibility for solving a problem they didn’t create. Instead of leaving Reunion station to die, they roll into the area and immediately take steps to correct Ramirez’ mistake of not communicating with the kyo, Phoenix’ difficulties dealing with Reunion, atevi-human interactions, and he tries to moderate the interactions of the three human factions (ship, station, Mospheiran) and all of their subfactions (ship-Jase, ship-Sabin, ship-Guild). This strong theme advocates fixing problems when and where you find them, through humility, and not kicking the can down the road to a future generation.

Play it by ear. Adapt. Abandon the plan. Look for the new pattern in events as they fell. It was not the human view of crisis management. But it was profoundly atevi, profoundly valid. Had not such thinking even become Mospheiran, over the centuries? Had not the paidhiin worked and fought within the university and the government to get that flexibility with their neighbors installed in place of a more rigid, history-conscious policy?

Cherryh has firmly established herself as one of my favorite authors, and one of the best science fiction authors. This trilogy here, books 4-6 in the Foreigner series, certainly help that. Bren changes over the course of this book, becoming less formal and more action oriented. Finally coming to terms with the life he left behind. A great book.

On the Road to Perdition by Max Allan Collins

1. It’s sometimes interesting to see where an author takes their tale in a sequel. These three parts form one story, and are published together, so I’ll use one set of notes for them. This story slides into the last comic between the pages, conceptualized as interludes in the events of the prior book. It is a three-part series, or mini-series—Oasis, Sanctuary, and Detour—with each part about ninety pages long. It deals with a situation that can fit in the timeline of the prior book in multiple places. And that’s kind of cool, that there’s this standalone story within the context of the earlier story, that can kind of slot in anywhere. It’s as if George Martin wrote a number of novels in his Song of Ice and Fire series, each from one character’s point of view, that all fit together like gears, rather than the already interlaced novels ruled by chronology that he has written. To be clear, I like the tactic Martin uses, but I also like this tactic too. Though this tactic could feel like a bit of an afterthought.

2. Here, it appears that Collins and his artists use these sequels trying to humanize Michael, trying to fix my main problem with the last book. But my main problem with it is the same: the characters don’t justify this fan service. Sometimes I read a book and the characters are so fascinating I don’t want it to end, or I want to see more stories about those people. This was not the case with Road to Perdition.
—Michael gets put into three situations that attempt to cause a conflict in his inflexible nature. In Oasis they take a break at a farm belonging to his dead wife’s best friend—but this of course endangers them. In Sanctuary, he lights candles for the men he killed in Oasis, then gets ambushed by the two Jacks while there, then works with the two Jacks against their ambushers—his honor and his need to focus on protecting himself and his son butting against each other. In Detour he tries to rescue his kidnapped friend from Oasis, but is forced to choose between killing Looney’s son and rescuing the damsel in distress.
—These three situations try to wrinkle Michael’s character, but he still doesn’t change. They only illuminate the same boring character that was there before. Despite feeling like it’s trying to branch out, it still relies on violence to move the plot—which is still a good plot—and doesn’t allow Michael to change.

3. The artists are José Luis García-López, Josef Rubinstein, and Steve Lieber. Collectively, they take the varied but detailed work from the last book and simplify it with less line-work. It is more important line-work: because there is less of it, what is there has to say more. But it comes off looking more typical, more like everything else we see. This isn’t a bad thing, it’s just another indicator that we’re dealing with a run-of-the-mill comic book. A pulp fiction comic, and not a great one. It’s always awkward when a comic switches artists, but this switch is less awkward than others.

4. The worst thing about these are that each of the three parts feature a lengthy recap of what came before. I understand a few panels of recap might be felt necessary by the publisher, but he has way too much recap going on. He sets up the story for each chapter, then pauses to recap the earlier book before continuing with the new story. This pulls me out of the new narrative before it even gets going.

5. In all, this is where I am done with these books. I understand from Wikipedia that there are more books to read, dealing with Michael Jr. But I’m just uninterested and even reading these three was a bit of a slog. They’re alright pulp fiction and I know some people who would love this book, but it’s simply not for me. I want characters who change and feel like people, not flat, unchanging, cold killers whose killing never has any affect on them or their child, who witnesses all this.