Not as much action as previous books, but plenty of intrigue, politics, and surprises to enjoy. I love how Cajeiri is growing up, not too quickly, though! ( )

http://speculiction.blogspot.com/2020/09/review-of-intruder-by-cj-cherryh.html ( )

Hooked from start to finish. This series is consistently awesome and even more so when guns aren't blazing.

What do I mean?

It's all about the politics.

One of my simmering complaints of the first 12 books in the series, with perhaps an exception of the first, was that Tabini, the leader of the Association and Bren's supposedly staunchest ally and supporter, is generally off the stage. We get plenty of all of the other factions and relatives, not to mention his fantastic grandmother or his own son who gets a PoV in the last trilogy, but very little is ever truly revealed about Tabini himself. He always shows up late in the story or near the opening and then things go to hell and he's off doing leader stuff.

That didn't really bother me all that much until now, just when his reveals and his unburdening to Bren and his family's woes took the forefront and I was left breathless for more.

Nope. Not a gunshot fired. Maybe some ruined curtains and stains on the floor, but no guns fired.

And yet this was one one of my favorites in the series. The politics is rife and ripe throughout, always simmering hotly below the surface. So many situations and histories are meant to be questioned and the whole shadow war and the civil war is cast into a new light. I was thrilled!

Of course, a certain infelicitous eight is getting better, on the whole, but as anyone knows, if you give that kid an inch, he'll use it to tie a knot around his neck. Very amusing. What a monkey. :)

All the other reveals make this book fantastic and now we see the heart of all the conflicts. Pretty amazing. :) ( )

To read more of my reviews, check out my blog at keikii Eats Books!

Quote:

Banichi and Jago and Algini had lasting scars— from keeping the paidhi-aiji in one piece despite his very best efforts to get himself killed.

Review:
After the highs of the last couple of books, which have all been war-based, Intruder should have been an entire let down. It wasn't. It was great. I didn't want it to end. Everything was all about cleaning up from the previous few books. Bren actually had a decently easy book this time around, which is good for him because he really needed it. I mean he is still an anxiety-ridden mess but that's his normal self.

All the problems were actually mostly wrapped up in Cajeiri, who has become even more of a great character than he was before. He has some actual character agency for once, and doesn't just act like a child and get into trouble for others to get him out of. Cajeiri is back home, in his father's household. And he hates it, because he is a child there when he has been treated older for almost a year now by others caring for him.

There is a lot going on for Cajeiri this book. His new sibling is close to coming, and his mother is going a bit haywire at this particular time. His parents are fighting, in part because his mother doesn't feel like she is Cajeiri's mother anymore. His human friends from the spaceship are close to coming down to spending his birthday with him. All Cajeiri is supposed to do is stay on his best behaviour and do what he is supposed to.

So he gets a monkey-like creature.

Seriously.

A loud, screeching monkey. Who is smart. Like a monkey. Who can get into trouble. Like a monkey.

He really isn't the best at staying out of trouble, poor dear.

In contrast, all Bren really has going on is finalizing the agreement he has spent the last two books setting up. This is great, and constitutes the bulk of what I love about both the series and the book in particular. But ultimately not a lot happens with it. I wasn't ever bored, but it should have been boring. Yet it is still a lot of the same things that have happened for awhile now.

Good thing I love this series.

..

....

......

Seriously, dude? You thought you could keep a monkey and stay out of trouble? ( )

I was impressed with the drama which developed out of an exploration of nonviolent resolution to conflicts. The political talk reminded me of Cyteen, and I wasn't all that fond of Cyteen, but my husband thought that Intruder was about love - in all its forms - and that it was looking at the links between loyality and love. ( )