the allure of Cherryh's Assassins

those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, god bless you. those of you who do know what I’m talking about, god bless you.

I am quite taken with C.J. Cherryh’s Foreigner series, space opera though it may be, for several reasons. one is the main character, Bren, who is an ENFJ and therefore very similar to me sometimes. so is his situation, at least symbolically. but one very important reason is the Assassin’s Guild.

and WHY, you ask, WHY?

part of it is the alien other. but, after struggling to define it, I came across a passage I had marked wherein Bren explains why the assassins fascinate him, and it’s perfect. Bren and I do have a lot in common.

I just feel like quoting it today:

There seemed a quality to people the Assassin’s Guild let in and licensed. He didn’t know what they had in common, except perhaps an integrity that touched chords in his shades -of -gray soul, a feeling, maybe, that one could do things that rattled one’s conscience to the walls and foundations and still – still own a sense of equilibrium.

Banichi was going to teach him about doors. It wasn’t what he wanted to learn from Banichi. What he wanted to understand was something far more basic. Invader, 388

there are other books I’ve read since my last entry, btw, I just haven’t logged them in yet. I’m sooo behind.