Gillian’s Reviews > Foreigner > Status Update

Gillian
Gillian is 43% done
Giving up and turning to Octavia Butler, who knows how to write *alien* aliens.

Maybe I'll come back when I'm more in the mood for political intrigue with a vague sci-fi flavor.
Oct 24, 2025 09:18PM
Foreigner (Foreigner, #1)

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Gillian’s Previous Updates

Gillian
Gillian is 33% done
I'm still hung up on how un-alien these aliens are in both biology history and culture. Which is fine! It's Star Trek/Wars aliens! A common sci-fi setting for exploring relatively minor cultural differences! I just was for some reason expecting something grander. I'll get over it eventually (or I'll give up on the book). It all feels subtly but distinctly dated. 1994 was another era in SFF. I'll try to love Bren.
Oct 24, 2025 05:16PM
Foreigner (Foreigner, #1)


Gillian
Gillian is 26% done
The other thing is that all the early focus on people doing science led me to believe this would be a more interested in scientific plausibility than it is. So I'm struggling to get over the aliens being very humanoid, and basically another culture only mildly unintelligible to humans. Not an evolutionary distinct planet.
Again, if I'd only looked at the cover lol.
This story about cultures instead. I'll get there.
Oct 23, 2025 03:39AM
Foreigner (Foreigner, #1)


Gillian
Gillian is 26% done
It's interesting, it's just not where I thought it was going when I started. That's what I get for not only not reading the synopsis, but not even looking at the cover illustration very closely.
It just that I kept getting invested in characters and then CJC would whisk me forward in time several hundred years. So I still miss Taylor. And don't feel ready for Bren. Though evidence suggests I'll be with him awhile.
Oct 23, 2025 03:33AM
Foreigner (Foreigner, #1)


Gillian
Gillian is 14% done
I'm confused about this book's approach to science, but I'm enjoying this alien encounter.
Oct 22, 2025 11:30PM
Foreigner (Foreigner, #1)


Gillian
Gillian is starting
Maybe my adhd addled brain will be able concentrate on THIS one.

Outer space! Capitalism! Dune-esque pilots? I know very little about this book other than that I've seen Cherryh recommended by people whose taste I'm inclined to trust.
Oct 22, 2025 08:34PM
Foreigner (Foreigner, #1)


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