Now in paperback, the twenty-first book in the beloved Foreigner saga continues the adventures of diplomat Bren Cameron, as he navigates the tenuous peace he has struck between human refugees and the alien atevi.

The overthrow of the atevi head of state, Tabini-aiji, and his subsequent restoration have prompted major changes in the Assassins' Guild. With the Assassins now rid of internal corruption, the birth of Tabini's second child, and the appointment of an heir, stability seems to have returned to the atevi world.

Humans and atevi share the space station in peaceful cooperation, humans and atevi share the planet as they have for centuries, and the humans' island enclave is preparing to welcome 5000 human refugees from a remote station now dismantled.

Bren Cameron, returning home after securing that critical agreement, is ready to take a well-earned rest-until Tabini's grandmother claimed his services on a train trip to the most remote of the provinces-a move concerning which Tabini-aiji gave Bren a private instruction: protect her. Advise her.

Advise her-perhaps. Protect her? Ilisidi is hellbent on settling scores with the Shadow Guild, and her reasons for this trip and this company now become clear. One human diplomat and his own bodyguard suddenly seem a very small force to defend her from what she is setting in motion.

Story Locale: Alien planet

Series Overview: The Foreigner series follows a lone human diplomat among a hostile, intelligent, non-human race, a story of first contact that has evolved into a sci-fi odyssey with conflicts spanning decades.