After the first human contact with the Siwannese ended in a mass suicide, the Terran government made a law that no further contact with sentient aliens would be allowed. But since their own planet was overcrowed, they looked to colonize Doona--until they found the Hrubbans. Their choice was simple but dangerous. They could kill the cat-like Hrubbans, or for the first time in history, learn to to coexist with an alien race....
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August 14, 2004: I grabbed this book at my local library while looking for a relatively short sci-fi book to bring with me on a work trip to the West Coast. Unlike some paperbacks that weigh in at 800 pages, this one actually fit in my coat pocket, and I have read good things by Anne McCaffrey (she of Pern fame) in the past, so I grabbed it. It turns out to be a very smart work of science fiction, focusing on a 'first contact' situation between humans and an alien race of cat-like creatures. Considering that this is shown on the cover, I don't think I'm giving anything away by telling you that. What I found interesting here was the way that the contact between the races was handled, as both races had become somewhat 'stagnant,' and were trying to start new colonies as a way of forcing their people to struggle and grow again after years of complacency and apathy. Funnily enough, they both choose the same world to colonize, and it is not entirely clear to either side what the real situation is when they first meet. Smartly written and well paced, this book was a great read and one that I can easily recommend to other readers who enjoy smart sci-fi without blazing death rays. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but another approach is nice now and again, too.
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