Slick and entertaining, this is a fun read but doesn't rise much above Storytime. The key asset is that the narrator is an alien; telling a First Contact story through an alien p-o-v is a great idea. There are plot holes, but that the aliens aren't that alien at all in psychology or social structure rather dumbs this down. This is a fine popcorn-movie kind of book, but don't mistake it for weighty. ( )

scifi

Romanzo interessante e gradevole che esula un po' dalla solita avventura tipica fosteriana: nella narrazione del primo difficoltoso contatto umani-thranx Foster si dedica maggiormente a riflessioni, analisi, metafore sulla diversità dei popoli e delle loro mentalità/culture (non ci dimentichiamo che siamo in piena guerra fredda), di quanto sia difficile superare i propri pregiudizi e capire l'altro.
Ed è proprio questo l'ostacolo maggiore dei protagonisti che per prima cosa devono combattere proprio le paure, i pregiudizi, le tradizioni della loro stessa gente più che l'alieno (ripugnante) che si trovano di fronte.
Romanzo a tratti un po' lento e ripetitivo, resta cmq una bella lettura. ( )

Fun romp.
Naturally, on a space romp like this, humanity will find another poor, bewildered species, make first contact, take them under our magnificent wing - and from their an alliance is born.
Humans do not shed Crystal Tears - but Thranx do. As does one young agricultural worker with a destiny he never dreamed of...(nor did any of the other members of the Commonwealth-to-be).
For once we get to see what first-contact would be like from the OTHER end of the contact pool.
As far as how it reads... it's Foster's Commonwealth series.

Stunning book detailing the first interactions between the human and thranx species. Having read a number of the books set in the Humanx Commonwealth universe before reading this, it was great to flip back in time, so to speak, and see the beginnings. ( )