1. Bren seems really isolated from human society -- he mentions one brother(doesn't discuss contacting him), and that he sends very uninformative letters to his mother, and that his father is estranged; his superiors might start missing him if he doesn't call for a fortnight; his affairs are brief and no-strings sorts from women not wanting or expecting more.
Human society doesn't seem all that attached to him, either -- his superiors wouldn't raise any fuss if he vanished mysteriously and was never heard from again, there's no mention of his brother or father possibly contacting him, and his successor, Hanks, pretty clearly isn't his friend, so if he has friends in the department we haven't seen them.
Does this really put him in a good position to be paidhi? If you were a Mospheiran, wouldn't you want the person representing you to the Big Scary Aliens to be a guy you knew, had some influence with, and could be pretty sure was on your side? ...So does the position really go to the most linguistically gifted, NO other criteria involved?
2. Malguri: wow. Especially for a spacefaring populace, the sheer age of the place probably is overwhelming! I was awed when Bren thought that it had been built before humans achieved spaceflight (or, at least, habitable colonies/residential space stations, depending on how you want to interpret that line).
Then I got thinky, and started wondering if this is a relatively near-future SF novel/space exploration isn't that far beyond what it is now. It might explain why Phoenix was carrying so many top-talent people and so much by way of historical records.
Edit: Just checked something I vaguely remembered, and in Book One I found this: They'd been screened, their skills had been tested, they'd had to have recommendations atop recommendations even to come close to this job. They didn't send foul-ups on a ship that carried Earth's whole damned colonial program, and disasters didn't happen to a mission as important as this one.
So the Phoenix was humanity's FIRST colony ship! So the atevi may well be their first encounter with a nonhuman intelligence...
Very polite reception Bren gets at first, despite being the only human ever to travel so far inland; loved the housekeeper asking Bren to sign in Mosphei' as well as Ragi. :D Bren's apartment sounds lovely, too, despite the unpromising corridor he traversed to reach it!
3. Ilisidi! I notice that she scares (well, "commands") Bren... but he still argues with her five seconds later. :D I love the mental image of Bren in the oversized chair with his arms about his knees, ready to duck if her cane comes his way! ♥ Bren, never stop being so adorable. (Don't stop being ready to duck, either.)
Ilisidi's conversational tactics make that little verbal wrangle Bren had with Jago look tame! For an ateva, she's shockingly rude, too -- she slanders him personally ("gambling... sex with the servants... perversion"), and humans (and paidhiin) generally destroying an antique tea set. Bren keeps wondering if she's mad, despite noting several proofs that she's both sane and well aware of the wider world; cognitive dissonance, because sane atevi just don't act that way?
4. Poisoned tea! Poor Bren. (My innards start hurting in sympathy just reading about his reaction!) Interesting, though, that he instinctively trusts Banichi when he's ill, and instinctively distrusts Cenedi (well, instinctively thinks Cenedi is Guild, and dangerous).
1) You're right, you'd think the paidhi should at least have close ties to the culture he's representing with the atevi, wouldn't you? Hmm.
2) I had totally missed that Phoenix was humanity's first colony ship. Huh. It's definitely not the Alliance/Union universe, then. (If Bren meant regular spaceflight instead of "first human in space", it's even later than 3800 right now, though.)
And yeah, quite a cliffhanger - falling asleep (or into a coma?) after meeting the awesome Ilisidi.
Bren seems really isolated from human society He does, and it's one of the reason I find it hard to relate to him, the more so when we learn towards the end of the story how little interest he has in spending time with his family or semi-girlfriend/fuckbuddy - he really just wants to be all by himself :o/
So the Phoenix was humanity's FIRST colony ship! Unless I misunderstand you, I disagree - c.f. e.g.:
Humans explored and intruded against [the silence of the universe], and built their stations […]
[…] the first-built trading station to develop down this chain of stars, Earths latest and most confident colonial commitment, with all the expertise of past successes.
So it seems more like Earth's "colonial commitments" were one at a time, and with (much)FTL travel not generation ships, either - but it doesn't seem like there's FTL communication, so Earth must not expect to hear back from its colonies right away. (Cherryh's FTL seems to be "cross a fold in space" FTL rather than "go really, really fast" FTL, so it's not a matter of a hundred years passing for Earth between sending and arriving, at least.) Still, you have to wonder if Earth is wondering what happened to the Phoenix!
So apparently humans don't have servants, and it seems like just being born on Mospheira gives you either money or a place to live - it's how Cherryh's spacer families and stationer families work, but it doesn't make a lot of sense on a planet, especially not generations removed from living in space / on a spaceship!
And apparently Bren really needs his sleep, because he's calmly thinking things like, "Paidhiin are expendable. Mospheira isn't," upon being told he's "traveling to the country". He also accepts Tabini's explanation that going to Mospheira could endanger his relatives a little too easily - it might be true, but, still, he could say he's going to the cabin and then hole up with police escort or something until the unlicensed assassin has been caught, right? (Do we know whether Mospheira even has police? I assume they have to, and have to have a jail, even if their solution to crime is psychiatric Adjustment like in the Alliance/Union universe.)
He can't really remember his behavior during "the incident" - how much of that is from shock, like he thinks, and how much of it is because he hasn't really slept since then? It's the second day after, and he's gotten very little sleep either night; that's not psychologically healthy!
"He knew, as every paidhi before him had known, that, if someday the Treaty broke down, he'd be the first to know." And he's not thinking that it might be happening right then? Seriously, the aiji teaches you how to shoot, gives you a gun, and then hides you in the interior of the continent with no word to your office and you don't wonder "am I the only human he likes, and he's keeping me safe while he wrecks Mospheira?"?
Then he gets to Maidingi and his concern is that they're taking a van to Malguri rather than "hiring a bus" or "taking the rail" (oddly, it's those two expressions that really make me remember the Mospheirans are foreign humans to me!), rather than, you know, "I haven't slept in days and no human knows where I am"? :p
I forgot that Malguri predated human entrance into space - so the 4200s, atevi reckoning, is probably the 1800s, human reckoning. Bren discovers later that the first fortress on the site was built "two thousand years ago", so that sets the books in the 3800s, or, at least, after 3960. Nice.
aghaghaghah "clip of shells" - I have to keep telling myself that atevi pistols could use clips instead of magazines and it isn't helping. (I know that being pedantic about terminology will cause me only pain, but, uh, this is me being pedantic.) Still, his servants, sent by Tabini, make sure he's armed, and his thought is that he's in "cold storage", not that, you know, Mospheira is in trouble?
The first meeting with Ilisidi is even weirder than the first prolonged conversation with Jago - she really does seem completely insane, and Bren is huddled on a footstool afraid she's going to hit him with her cane. On the other hand, her prurient interest in his sex life is... no, that's still weird and creepy too.
He worries that the tea won't be safe, but after one sip he goes ahead and has another? Oh, Bren. And, of course, now we have the moment for which I was waiting - bam! poisoned tea. The description of the poison is really horrifying, I have to say, not to mention the antidote and the vomiting. :(
And then Banichi scolds him while he's still sick, which is just mean. Shouldn't Bren have been warned about this before he started eating food in a strange house? I mean, he never saw his supper or breakfast prepared, so that could have been poisoned just as easily!
Could Mospheira really be in trouble? Since Bren does usually manage to remember that atevi don't "like" people... if the aiji is preserving his life, the aiji must have some use for him and his office. So probably he's not going to massacre humanity; otherwise he wouldn't need someone to talk to them. (And we've seen that Bren does NOT have the secrets of tech for himself; he goes by what he gets in briefings, so Tabini couldn't just save Bren to give him human tech and eliminate the rest.)
I suppose he might be intending to do something dire but not lethal to the humans, and thus keeping Bren in reserve for when he wants to say, "I have just bombed a third of your island; give me all your guns and laser tech or I bomb another third" -- but, really, would he need Bren for that? Tabini knows the terms of the Treaty, so he knows that Bren's not a powerful or really important person on Mospheira; and Banichi knows some Mosphei' -- I'd bet on him having more staff who also know it! If he'd decided to break the Treaty, he wouldn't need Bren anymore.
Cold consolation that might be for Bren, of course, with assassins coming through the window and mysterious trips inland... Not to mention sleep deprivation. Wouldn't fault him for coming up with all kinds of crazy hypotheses, really I wouldn't. :D Even if he discards them ten minutes later, you're right that it seems strange he's not at least thinking that something massive has gone wrong.
The description of the poison is really horrifying, I have to say, not to mention the antidote and the vomiting
Oooh, yeah. *yuck* Cherryh did a great job on that -- almost too great, because I was pretty queasy and horrified myself! The descriptions, where Bren's walking down the corridors and starting to lose focus... scary!
And euuurgh, the antidote! I loathe milk, and the idea of being forced to drink an entire cup of it, warm... Bleeegh! Poor Bren! I think I'd rather stay unconscious and let them pour it down me with a tube. :D
I was thinking more "Tabini feels fondness for Bren and thus wants to keep him safe while he does away with Mospheira" or something, though as I type that out it seems silly since atevi don't feel feelings like that one. Heh.
Actually... I had a spoilery thought just now re: why, assuming Tabini were planning to wreck Mospheira, he might want to keep Bren around, but I am pretty certain it's for the very newest book. Should I post it to #3-spoiler? I think I'm the only one who's read Betrayer, so...
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branchandroot
First impressions
Date: 2011-06-09 10:07 pm (UTC)Human society doesn't seem all that attached to him, either -- his superiors wouldn't raise any fuss if he vanished mysteriously and was never heard from again, there's no mention of his brother or father possibly contacting him, and his successor, Hanks, pretty clearly isn't his friend, so if he has friends in the department we haven't seen them.
Does this really put him in a good position to be paidhi? If you were a Mospheiran, wouldn't you want the person representing you to the Big Scary Aliens to be a guy you knew, had some influence with, and could be pretty sure was on your side? ...So does the position really go to the most linguistically gifted, NO other criteria involved?
2. Malguri: wow. Especially for a spacefaring populace, the sheer age of the place probably is overwhelming! I was awed when Bren thought that it had been built before humans achieved spaceflight (or, at least, habitable colonies/residential space stations, depending on how you want to interpret that line).
Then I got thinky, and started wondering if this is a relatively near-future SF novel/space exploration isn't that far beyond what it is now. It might explain why Phoenix was carrying so many top-talent people and so much by way of historical records.
Edit: Just checked something I vaguely remembered, and in Book One I found this: They'd been screened, their skills had been tested, they'd had to have recommendations atop recommendations even to come close to this job. They didn't send foul-ups on a ship that carried Earth's whole damned colonial program, and disasters didn't happen to a mission as important as this one.
So the Phoenix was humanity's FIRST colony ship! So the atevi may well be their first encounter with a nonhuman intelligence...
Very polite reception Bren gets at first, despite being the only human ever to travel so far inland; loved the housekeeper asking Bren to sign in Mosphei' as well as Ragi. :D Bren's apartment sounds lovely, too, despite the unpromising corridor he traversed to reach it!
3. Ilisidi! I notice that she scares (well, "commands") Bren... but he still argues with her five seconds later. :D I love the mental image of Bren in the oversized chair with his arms about his knees, ready to duck if her cane comes his way! ♥ Bren, never stop being so adorable. (Don't stop being ready to duck, either.)
Ilisidi's conversational tactics make that little verbal wrangle Bren had with Jago look tame! For an ateva, she's shockingly rude, too -- she slanders him personally ("gambling... sex with the servants... perversion"), and humans (and paidhiin) generally destroying an antique tea set. Bren keeps wondering if she's mad, despite noting several proofs that she's both sane and well aware of the wider world; cognitive dissonance, because sane atevi just don't act that way?
4. Poisoned tea! Poor Bren. (My innards start hurting in sympathy just reading about his reaction!) Interesting, though, that he instinctively trusts Banichi when he's ill, and instinctively distrusts Cenedi (well, instinctively thinks Cenedi is Guild, and dangerous).
What a cliffhanger to end a reading on! :D
Re: First impressions
Date: 2011-06-09 10:23 pm (UTC)2) I had totally missed that Phoenix was humanity's first colony ship. Huh. It's definitely not the Alliance/Union universe, then. (If Bren meant regular spaceflight instead of "first human in space", it's even later than 3800 right now, though.)
And yeah, quite a cliffhanger - falling asleep (or into a coma?) after meeting
the awesomeIlisidi.Re: First impressions
Date: 2011-06-14 07:48 pm (UTC)He does, and it's one of the reason I find it hard to relate to him, the more so when we learn towards the end of the story how little interest he has in spending time with his family or semi-girlfriend/fuckbuddy - he really just wants to be all by himself :o/
Unless I misunderstand you, I disagree - c.f. e.g.:
Re: First impressions
Date: 2011-06-14 08:51 pm (UTC)Re: First impressions
Date: 2011-06-15 07:20 pm (UTC)As
I bet they're wondering, back wherever-the-heck-Earth-is, where their ship full of expensive specialists went! :D
no subject
Date: 2011-06-09 10:20 pm (UTC)And apparently Bren really needs his sleep, because he's calmly thinking things like, "Paidhiin are expendable. Mospheira isn't," upon being told he's "traveling to the country". He also accepts Tabini's explanation that going to Mospheira could endanger his relatives a little too easily - it might be true, but, still, he could say he's going to the cabin and then hole up with police escort or something until the unlicensed assassin has been caught, right? (Do we know whether Mospheira even has police? I assume they have to, and have to have a jail, even if their solution to crime is psychiatric Adjustment like in the Alliance/Union universe.)
He can't really remember his behavior during "the incident" - how much of that is from shock, like he thinks, and how much of it is because he hasn't really slept since then? It's the second day after, and he's gotten very little sleep either night; that's not psychologically healthy!
"He knew, as every paidhi before him had known, that, if someday the Treaty broke down, he'd be the first to know." And he's not thinking that it might be happening right then? Seriously, the aiji teaches you how to shoot, gives you a gun, and then hides you in the interior of the continent with no word to your office and you don't wonder "am I the only human he likes, and he's keeping me safe while he wrecks Mospheira?"?
Then he gets to Maidingi and his concern is that they're taking a van to Malguri rather than "hiring a bus" or "taking the rail" (oddly, it's those two expressions that really make me remember the Mospheirans are foreign humans to me!), rather than, you know, "I haven't slept in days and no human knows where I am"? :p
I forgot that Malguri predated human entrance into space - so the 4200s, atevi reckoning, is probably the 1800s, human reckoning. Bren discovers later that the first fortress on the site was built "two thousand years ago", so that sets the books in the 3800s, or, at least, after 3960. Nice.
aghaghaghah "clip of shells" - I have to keep telling myself that atevi pistols could use clips instead of magazines and it isn't helping. (I know that being pedantic about terminology will cause me only pain, but, uh, this is me being pedantic.) Still, his servants, sent by Tabini, make sure he's armed, and his thought is that he's in "cold storage", not that, you know, Mospheira is in trouble?
The first meeting with Ilisidi is even weirder than the first prolonged conversation with Jago - she really does seem completely insane, and Bren is huddled on a footstool afraid she's going to hit him with her cane. On the other hand, her prurient interest in his sex life is... no, that's still weird and creepy too.
He worries that the tea won't be safe, but after one sip he goes ahead and has another? Oh, Bren. And, of course, now we have the moment for which I was waiting - bam! poisoned tea. The description of the poison is really horrifying, I have to say, not to mention the antidote and the vomiting. :(
And then Banichi scolds him while he's still sick, which is just mean. Shouldn't Bren have been warned about this before he started eating food in a strange house? I mean, he never saw his supper or breakfast prepared, so that could have been poisoned just as easily!
no subject
Date: 2011-06-13 05:18 pm (UTC)I suppose he might be intending to do something dire but not lethal to the humans, and thus keeping Bren in reserve for when he wants to say, "I have just bombed a third of your island; give me all your guns and laser tech or I bomb another third" -- but, really, would he need Bren for that? Tabini knows the terms of the Treaty, so he knows that Bren's not a powerful or really important person on Mospheira; and Banichi knows some Mosphei' -- I'd bet on him having more staff who also know it! If he'd decided to break the Treaty, he wouldn't need Bren anymore.
Cold consolation that might be for Bren, of course, with assassins coming through the window and mysterious trips inland... Not to mention sleep deprivation. Wouldn't fault him for coming up with all kinds of crazy hypotheses, really I wouldn't. :D Even if he discards them ten minutes later, you're right that it seems strange he's not at least thinking that something massive has gone wrong.
The description of the poison is really horrifying, I have to say, not to mention the antidote and the vomiting
Oooh, yeah. *yuck* Cherryh did a great job on that -- almost too great, because I was pretty queasy and horrified myself! The descriptions, where Bren's walking down the corridors and starting to lose focus... scary!
And euuurgh, the antidote! I loathe milk, and the idea of being forced to drink an entire cup of it, warm... Bleeegh! Poor Bren! I think I'd rather stay unconscious and let them pour it down me with a tube. :D
no subject
Date: 2011-06-13 05:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-14 08:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-15 05:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-15 09:46 pm (UTC)