About the Foreigner series: Spoiler alerts

There is the general spoiler page for general questions.

I’m making this set of pages for more specific questions.

The rule is: do not ask or comment about a book until it has been at least a month in issue. I think that will make everybody happy re spoilers.

363 Comments

  1. tulrose

    I’ve just been re-reading the series and now wonder what happened to the 6 other Taylor’s Children that Ramirez activated. They are mentioned in Precursor (I think) and that seems to be that. Do Jase and or Yolanda know who they are? Is it perhaps a secret known only by the Guild or Ogun and Sabin? Do these people even know their own background?

    • P J Evans

      You’re not the only one who’s had that thought cross the mind. Maybe they all failed somewhere in the training….

  2. CJ

    MMMmmmm…there may be an answer one of these days.

  3. Hanneke

    You know lots of us are now going: ooooh, a nice hint about a real long-ago loose thread with lots of shiny-new possibilities; and mentally haring off in all directions to explore the possible ramifications.
    Good on you for asking, Tulrose!

    • tulrose

      And were they held hostage on Reunion?

  4. Apf

    Given how valuable a resource the Captains are; it’s surprising that Phoenix is still operating with only two – what with Orgun being dockside. I’d have thought that would leave them very vulnerable to an accident or illness losing them a major piece of knowledge. Especially as Jase is so junior and still very limited in his operations experience. Somewhere on the ship there are people who have been thinking for at least two years “why not me” when they look at the empty captains’ chairs.

  5. joekc6nlx

    In the long-ago Navy of my days, the captain might not be on the ship all of the time, especially if it’s in port. The captain has official calls to make ashore, as well as time off for personal business. In the event the ship needed to get underway, there were sufficient personnel onboard to get the ship underway, including a command staff, engineering, supply, etc., within the duty section.

    I doubt that Phoenix would have such a system, because of the jealously guarded heirarchy of the command staff, especially the captains. Amazing in this future day and age that humans can act as though they were kings and queens over others. Phoenix reminds me a lot of the way a man-of-war in the old Royal Navy would have been run – the captain had life and death rule over his crew, he was a virtual god onboard. Sounds like some megalomania comes standard with becoming a captain on Phoenix.

    • Jcrow9

      “Sounds like megalomania comes standard…”
      Not necessarily, when Jase is appointed a captain he tells another of the skippers (don’t recall who) that he doesn’t want the job, and the other captain replies that that attitude is a prerequisite for the job.

  6. HRHSpence

    CJ,

    I have a question about the Atevi’s eyes. You say they are “golden-eyed” several times. Specifically, I wish to discuss the size of the pupil and the sclera to the iris itself. I am thinking that the pupil is round or Bren would have said how different it was from the human eye. But, it seems to me that less of the sclera would be visible because the iris would have to be larger to have their fabled night vision.

    That’s my reasoning. The pupil is round. The iris is larger allowing the pupil to be much larger in the dark. And less of the sclera is visible from the front. Am I anywhere near what you had in mind?

  7. CJ

    There is a little less of the white visible, and there is a bit of an epicanthic fold. The iris is a bit larger than a human’s, proportionately speaking, but remember that they’re bigger than us, too. With eyes, a tiny, tiny difference catches our attention: we’re wired that way: we get our cues from that, from infancy.

  8. NosenDove

    Bee Trayer – Bren takes up honey making.

    Sorry,

    Jonathan

  9. smartcat

    Aaaaarrrrgggghhhhh!! For shame, NosenDove! 😉

  10. SteveB

    Starting to get a little edgy down here. I havn’t seen Deceiver on the shelf at my local bookshop. Not that that’s unusual. You cannot stock quality sci-fi AND leave space for all the vampire crap! Maybe I’ll just buy on-line and get on with it……

    • tulrose

      If you’re in Sydney have you tried that shop in York Street?

  11. William

    Lets talk about the edi

    book 3 inheritor page 124

    “Possibly Tabibi’s own moderate positionon on this issue had placed him in a bind
    and threatened more bloodshed
    And Tabini was dealing with an Edi lord”

    • CJ

      Oh, that’s good. Now, of course Ilisidi is technically referred to as a lord, as the lord of Malguri, precisely. But we rather doubt we are here referring to the Grandmother of the Edi. We rather think the author is asleep at the switch.

  12. warriorofworry

    Not so sure, actually. I have a different edition, so will have to look for the section quoted, but iirc, that was a reference to Lord Geigi, who is, technically, a lord OF the Edi, since he’s not Edi himself.
    I’m sure one of the associates (or Guild!) will be able to check faster than I will, since I’m on an illicit work break . . .

  13. CJ

    That could indeed refer to Geigi. Technically speaking. 😉 Thank you, Warrior!

  14. William

    book 3 chapter 2 Bren finds out from Algini and Tano Lord Saigimi is dead while touring the space shuttle factory with Lord Geigi

    The Lord of Tasigin Marid’ the circle of seacoast at the bottom of the peninsula,was dead not of natual causes

    The Lord of Tasigin Marid, an Edi was the one interest in the peninsulamost violently opposed to the space program

    kind of paraphrased but It seems like …. The Edi….

  15. CJ

    Heh-heh. That does sound like writer stupidity. The lord of the Taisigin Marid—we did get the location of the Taisigin right, and their opposition to the space program, but clearly Bren got that one wrong….
    Think of it as like Dr. Watson’s wandering bullet.

  16. William

    Toby with algini and Tano at Malgury Boating to the rescue Book 9

    Toby at Najida book 10 seems to indicat he has not seen his brother bren “since we dropped you off book #7

    not edi i know CJ you should keep a note book of events before some bind these books together as as an anthology

    dont want to take out a gall bleder twice

    Bill

  17. NandiAllison

    This may already have been asked….

    Can Atevi and human genes produce a halfbreed child? Can we expect Bren and Jago to have a son/daughter??? What would that do to the political situation????

    • Silverglass

      I’m re-reading the series, currently Precursor, and just came across the statement that Bren and Jago having children together was “not in the cards, biologically.” Of course, I defer to the author…it’s her world, and if she sees fit to change that, it certainly would be intriguing! I would suppose it could possibly be done in vitro…maybe? Assuming they would want to. It certainly would shake things up on the atevi world (and I wonder what Ilisidi would say!)

  18. CJ

    Ilisidi loves a good scandal above all things!

  19. IsleAnsuz

    However, with all the flood of info from “Uptop” prior to the shuttles being built and then their subsequent leaving, i wouldn’t put it past Certain human political parties to research cross genetics, if only to shout “Look, they can do this to, they will destroy our purity, we have proof, look at the Paidhi and his numerous lovers…”

    Though, if Bren and Jago were to have a child, it’d be the hereditary lord of the heavens and no doubt Ilisidi and Geigi would have a hand in raising the child in Kabui ways, though it’d be scandalously raised with human influence and be the only real suitable companion/wife for the now much older Cajieri, causing even more upheaval through out the Association… 🙂

    • Silverglass

      Yes, I thought of that…if Bren and Jago had a daughter, mating her to Cajeiri, therefore linking the heavens to the mainland of the planet…And named after Ilisidi, how’s that for outright flattery!

      It would be a hell of a tangle for Bren, though, with a human’s natural love for their offspring conflicting with the atevi’s more pragmatic attachment. And just imagine a daughter growing up with an Assassin mother checking out any youth coming courting…there’s Jago, armed to the teeth: “What are your intentions, young man?”

      • tulrose

        Consider Barb’s face !!!

        • Silverglass

          It would be an infelicitous color.

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