Rating: 
Summary: Predictable portrayal of Earth's future.
Review: This is a disappointing sequel to Amy Thomson's novel "The Color of Distance". "Color" was the story of a human abandoned on an another planet who was forced to understand an alien lifestyle. This story is the reverse - aliens are taken to Earth and struggle to understand the mysterious ways of humans. The great appeal of "Color" was Thomason's wonderfully imaginative creation of a new world and a very different species with a unique culture. This novel lacks that originality. Thomason offers nothing new in her rendition of a futuristic Earth- environmental destruction, political divisions, xenophobia. Added to this, there isn't much plot. I managed to slog through this book, but I wouldn't recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: A surprisingly good sequal
Review: This is the most poorly written book I've read since I last read high-school writing. There are no descriptions evoking atmosphere, the plot proceeds in a mad rush, like an old-fashioned melodrama, characters appear then disappear without a trace, the aliens are not particularly alien, and the (adult) heroine acts like an adolescent. The promise of the book was to view human society through alien eyes and explore how the two cultures affect each other. However, the alienness of the Tendu is nowhere apparent, and their declaimed "change" imperceptible. Similarly, there is no noticeable change in any of the humans who come in contact with the Tendu, nor in any of the humans who oppose allowing the Tendu to come to Earth. The author merely asserts that the characters have changed, but does not support the assertion with any examples or incidents illustrating the change. Save your money. Buy a better book.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Worst Books I've Read
Review: This is the most poorly written book I've read since I last read high-school writing. There are no descriptions evoking atmosphere, the plot proceeds in a mad rush, like an old-fashioned melodrama, characters appear then disappear without a trace, the aliens are not particularly alien, and the (adult) heroine acts like an adolescent. The promise of the book was to view human society through alien eyes and explore how the two cultures affect each other. However, the alienness of the Tendu is nowhere apparent, and their declaimed "change" imperceptible. Similarly, there is no noticeable change in any of the humans who come in contact with the Tendu, nor in any of the humans who oppose allowing the Tendu to come to Earth. The author merely asserts that the characters have changed, but does not support the assertion with any examples or incidents illustrating the change. Save your money. Buy a better book.
Rating: 
Summary: Relistic Portrayal of Human reaction to Alien ambassadors
Review: This seemed like a very realistic story about the views and politics that would occur if aliens with a lower technology level were to visit us. It also dealt with the general public attitudes that might prevail. All in all a good story, but the ending seemed more like a finished chapter than a book ending, almost as though the author had meant for the book to be a little longer. It seems like there will be a 3rd book. I look forward to it.
Rating:
Summary: A surprisingly good sequal
Review: This sequel is almost as good as the first book. It remains exciting, fast paced and innovative throughout. Not just are new ideas presented but also the ramifications of such are touched on, often from a number of perspectives. Though there is speculation to the contrary, perhaps the tendu are just too good to be true.Perhaps an alien culture would be, though one can't help wondering if this is as much to reflect human frailities. I would recommend this book and its predecessor to anyone wanting an exciting but also thought provoking science fiction story
Rating: 
Summary: A disappointing sequel
Review: This sequel to "The Color of Distance" is even weaker than the first. Juna returns to Earth, bringing her adopted son, Moki, and the elder Ukatonen, as ambassadors from the Tendu. It's supposed to be a reverse first-contact story, as the two Tendu learn to live among humans. Instead, it's a preachy discourse on how much humans as a race suck.
What struck me was how, when Juna was marooned among the Tendu, they made her life hell and forced her to conform to their lifestyle. On Earth, everyone bends over backward to accommodate the Tendu, and they still complain. (At least, Ukatonen does. Moki just does a lot of things "exuberantly".) We're made to feel guilty that the Tendu don't have any trees to play in. Well, cry me a river. Less guilt, more story!
Much of the book is also focused on Juna's unexpected pregnancy by Bruce, the nice, sensitive, easy-going, Tendu-liking guy she met at the end of "Distance". Except Bruce goes through a bizarre personality change that is completely unexplained, seemingly only for the purpose of creating an antagonist.
If you like self-flagellation with your science fiction, go ahead and read it, but even as nature-is-so-much-better-than-technology stories go, this one is lacking.
Rating:
Summary: A sequel worthy of the first book
Review: This sequel to "The Color of Distance" was certainly a book that lived up to the high standard set by the first book. It portrayed a human reaction to aliens among us, complete with the fears and the terra-centric views we all hope we'd not have as a species, but know are all too likely. Another book I was unable to put down. I await a sequel to this with baited breath.
Rating:
Summary: Insightful, logical sequel
Review: This sequel to The Color of Distance was very well written. The characters' motivations were all explained (unlike the assertions of other reviewers), and the world was highly consistent with the Earth suggested in The Color of Distance. The human lead had many choices that could have been made on a personal or political basis: The fact that she chose to make them on a personal basis supports the underlying theme of the book rather than making her (in another reviewer's words) "act like a teenager". Even the main adversaries had motivations that made sense in the world that Ms. Thompson describes, and though the themes she addresses have been raised in other novels, her treatment of them is hardly cliché. The reviews I read here kept me away from the book for quite a while. However, if you read The Color of Distance and liked it, you will not be disappointed by this book.
Rating:
Summary: Insightful, logical sequel
Review: This sequel to The Color of Distance was very well written. The characters' motivations were all explained (unlike the assertions of other reviewers), and the world was highly consistent with the Earth suggested in The Color of Distance. The human lead had many choices that could have been made on a personal or political basis: The fact that she chose to make them on a personal basis supports the underlying theme of the book rather than making her (in another reviewer's words) "act like a teenager". Even the main adversaries had motivations that made sense in the world that Ms. Thompson describes, and though the themes she addresses have been raised in other novels, her treatment of them is hardly cliché. The reviews I read here kept me away from the book for quite a while. However, if you read The Color of Distance and liked it, you will not be disappointed by this book.
Rating:
Summary: I enjoyed it very much
Review: You can read the other reviews to get a synopsis but the feeling I was left with was that the author has concentrated on the feelings of the various characters. I mean there's action and plot but the reader sees the motivation behind the action. I've been reading science fiction for a long time and I was comparing this story to the days of Heinlen and Clarke where the biggest ray-gun won the day. Here, the conflicts are on a personal level and they get solved, not with some bigger, better, faster, stronger invention, but with people trying to reach an understanding. It reminded me a little bit of Cordwainer Smith. He's an early sci-fi writer that used biological solutions when all of the other writers were using whiz-bang, high-tech hardware to save the day. Thomson doesn't go into medical detail about how the Tendu achieve 'allu-a' (sort of a mind-meld), for example, but she does explore some of the aspects of a joining/sharing and how it would affect those involved. All in all, I liked the story. This is the second book in the series and I read it before the first (I hate it when that happens). Now I have to find a copy of "The Color of Distance"
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