The 19th book in the beloved Foreigner space opera series begins a new
era for human diplomat Bren Cameron, as he navigates the tenuous peace
between human refugees and the alien atevi.
Bren Cameron, acting as the representative of the atevi's political
leader, Tabini-aiji, as well as translator between humans and atevi, has
undertaken a mission to the human enclave of Mospheira. Both his
presence on the island and his absence from the continent have stirred
old enemies to realize new opportunities.
Old hatreds. Old grudges. Old ambitions.
The situation has strengthened the determination of power-seekers on
both sides of the strait. Bren knows most of them very well, but not all
of them well enough. The space station on which the world increasingly
relies is desperate to get more supplies up to orbit and to get a
critical oversupply of human refugees down to the world below. Rationing
is in force on the station, but the overpopulation problem has to be
solved quickly - and Bren's mission on Mospheira has expanded to include
preparation for that landing.
First down will be the three children to whom Tabini's son has a close
connection. But following them will be thousands of humans who have
never set foot on a planet, humans descended from colonists and officers
who split off from Mospheiran humans 200 years before in a bitter
parting of the ways. There is no way the atevi, native to the world,
will cede any more land to these new arrivals: they will have to share
the island. But certain Mospheirans are willing to use force to prevent
these refugees from settling among them.
Bren's job is as general peacemaker - but old enemies want war. Is
Bren's diplomatic acumen enough to prevent a war that both sides are
prepared to wage?
