Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant linguistic and first contact novel
Review: What a fantastic first contact novel. The alien culture was truly alien--not just some projection of some aspect of current Earth cultures as is the case in almost every book about aliens I've ever read. Amy has truly created a race distinct from humans and based on a realistic interaction with the environment based on sound evolutionary principles. And to top it off, a completely unique and wonderful linguistic system--what a joy! Additionally, the book was , in my opinion, amoral. It did not take sides and mark any practice as "evil" or "good," though it did realistically show how people in each race (human or tendu) may interpret various practices that way. It was wonderfully refreshing. The many interesting twists on first contact were also appreciated--the human turned alien, the alien tendu turning the tables on the arrogant humans (who assumed they had to protect the tendu from them), the hero's realism (she wasn't a superhero but did manage to persevere), etc. Thank you. Can't wait to go read the sequel.
Rating:
Summary: An amazing book, but not for kids
Review: What an amazing book. This book is split into sections often alternating between alien and human points of view. I found this book to be an enjoyable light read while still satisfactorily exploring its fascinating subject. Unfortunately this book contains a small amount of quite MATURE SUBJECT MATTER near the end as well as a brief yet somewhat graphic description of an alien mating. I'm sure everyone who's read the book thinks I'm being over sensitive but I'm not that old (certainly not old enough to have any experience with the stuff she's talking about) and I felt kind of uncomfortable. I found it quite shocking that she would chose to add such unnecessary details to an otherwise nice story of friendship and discovery. I still highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to read it, I just think that parents should think a little about how much they want their kids to know about the birds and the bees, though I'm sure they won't learn about anything they haven't already heard about at school.PS. If you thought you'd like to read this fascinating and eye-opening book out loud to your kids the mature bits could easily be edited out.
Rating:
Summary: Best book I've read in a while...
Review: Wonderful book. A well thought out world complete with a fascinating ecosystem. Not for "action" fans. The story reads like an anthropological study of an alien culture. The characters are rich and full of life. I wish I could read it for the first time again...
Rating:
Summary: Best book I've read in a while...
Review: Wonderful book. A well thought out world complete with a fascinating ecosystem. Not for "action" fans. The story reads like an anthropological study of an alien culture. The characters are rich and full of life. I wish I could read it for the first time again...
Rating:
Summary: WOW
Review: Wonderful story, colorful descriptions that bring me into a new and rich world. Half way through this book I realized that I was reading a receipe on the potential: for healing ones self and others, for combining beingness across self-boundaries while maintaining the integrity of self. All this while enjoying a wellspun story.
Rating:
Summary: Yes!
Review: Yes, this is a great 'first contact' story Yes, I kept waiting for it to turn bad - but it didn't! Yes, I miss these characters.
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