ren Cameron is one of the most important humans on the world of the alien atevi, a diplomat who facilitates cooperation between two very different species. Versed in a way of thinking and a culture diametrically opposed to his own, he is responsible for maintaining a complicated peace. This task is muddied by factionalism among his own people. Every side has its own agenda, and as paidhi, Bren must anticipate the moves and goals of each.
Despite the complexity of this task, Bren's job is on the edge of becoming routine. Both races are moving out into the stars, with a co-owned space station already in orbit around the planet and a spaceship under construction. As C.J. Cherryh's Defender opens, Bren is living on the space station, smoothing the rails of technological change and brokering deals between the captains of a human starship, land-dwelling human politicos and the atevi leader, Lord Tabini.
Outside his view, however, the allegiances he has helped to create are sliding into new configurations. An alien funeral service opens the game, providing a platform where Tabini makes mysterious declarations about his plans for the future. Shortly thereafter, another death throws everything into chaos. When the senior spaceship captains dies, his deathbed utterances reveal a grand conspiracy, one which threatens to plunge humans into a war on two or maybe even three fronts.
It is suddenly clear to Bren that someone has been forming understandings with the atevi, deals that didn't go through his office. But who ... and why?
A quick breather before battle
Defender is the fifth novel in Cherryh's Foreigner series, an immediate follow-up to Precursor. To fans of this series, seeing Bren Cameron in action again will be an unadulterated delight. Even as his association with the aliens leaches away his humanity, Bren remains an excellent window into the numbers-obsessed atevi culture and its change from a low-tech society to a spacefaring power.
There is no doubt, though, that Defender is a transitional novel. Virtually all of its action takes place in the diplomatic arena, with the revelation of secret deals and the creation of new alliances. Through much of the story, Bren is kept out of the loop by Tabini. As a result, it is hard to appreciate how dangerous the unfolding events—both on the planet and among the increasingly mutinous ship crew—really are. The hinted-at conflicts never break into open violence, and the outcome of this novel is merely that characters are shifted into new roles and onto unfamiliar ground.
The upshot? Defender does a great job of furthering the Foreigner storylines and characters—but slowly. Readers attempting to enjoy this book as a stand-alone may find themselves at sea, even disappointed. Cherryh creates an urgent sense of anticipation for the rest of the tale, but does not yet deliver. What's more, the fact that the situation remains—however shakily—under control means that the Assassin's Guild never comes fully into play. These state-sanctioned assassins (who also act as intelligence operatives and bodyguards) are one of the more fascinating aspects of atevi culture, and their moves and machinations made Precursor a thoroughly exciting read.
In Defender, the Assassins—like everyone else—are restrained, waiting patiently for events to take a catastrophic turn. Cherryh's readers will have to do the same.
