And I also started re-reading Foreigner right from the beginning ... decided I better do it before Cherryh managed to grow the series to Discworld proportions and the tower of unread volumes toppled over and crushed me. I've been giggling a lot as I read ... I'd honestly forgotten how much humour is in these novels alongside the seriousness of the political/sociological/technological situations. Ilisidi is a wicked bad girl (and "girl" is the only word to describe her, despite her advanced age), while the poker-faced and dry (sometimes downright warped) black humour of the assassins Banichi, Jago, and Cenedi is lovely hey-wait-a-minnit doubletake stuff.
I don't think I'm going to have any problem getting caught up now that I've started (now if only I could master knitting-while-reading ...)