Foreigner

C. J. Cherryh
Foreigner Cover

Foreigner

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7/3/2020
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This first novel provides all of the basic setup and worldbuilding for the series, which takes place in a solar system which is not the one for which the colony ship was aiming, but in which they end up anyway, having to negotiate a co-existence with the intelligent advanced species which already lives on the one habitable planet.

Readers who are looking for non-stop action or space opera may be disappointed. But those who are interested in political strategy and a beautifully-developed alien culture (which avoids the usual clone-of-humans flaw) will likely be absolutely delighted with this series. And there is still some edge-of-the-seat action and adventure, along with all of the philosophical musing on how to accept profound differences between cultures and make a mutually-beneficial co-existence work successfully.

(Hint: The aliens are way more interesting than the humans in this series.)