A faction of the colonists then decides to leave the station and land on the planet, while the ship leaves on further explorations. The first two books of Foreigner give us the set-up: a colony ship from Earth, on its way to build a station at a previously surveyed star, is knocked far off course by an interstellar mishap, arriving at the world of the atevi, who have just entered the Steam Age. Foreigner, Invader, and Inheritor, which turn on a vivid portrayal of the difficulties of cultural interfaces, also provide a merciless commentary on the rise and fall of societies.Ĭherryh has developed a single story that arches through three volumes packed with intrigue, adventure and the kind of multilayered politics that is one of her trademarks. Cherryh's atevi trilogies, is the kind of fine-grained social commentary that SF does so well.Ĭherryh, certainly one of the most capable writers in the genre, also has a gift for examining cultures. What is relevant here, in a discussion of the first of C.J. Kornbluth in such classics as The Space Merchants and Gladiator-At-Law to the moral allegories of J.R.R. There are many examples, ranging from the sharp, Swiftian barbs of Frederik Pohl and C.M. Indeed, satire as a form operates from the same basic question as SF: 'What if?'

It's been an axiom among devotees of science fiction and fantasy (collectively, SF) since at least the 1950s that the two genres are an ideal format for satire and/or social commentary. Cherryh, Foreigner, Invader, Inheritor, Atevi

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