Review: After long silence*
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 21, 2012
Real science fiction is back! The SF aisles in the bookstores have been overrun with seemingly endless space opera and fantasy series for a number of years. There is nothing wrong with vampires and paranormal stories, but science fiction they are NOT; and endless galactic wars get tiresome after awhile.Intelligently conceived and written SF is speculative, challenging the reader to think beyond the norm, rather than just dressing up tired issues with new technology and costumes. It need not be 'hard' science, but the story must play out  consistently within the parameters of the world the author builds. Aliens should not be thinly disguised humans, but offer the reader a new perspective on sentience and how humans may interface with very different cultures and life forms. This first novel meets all of these criteria admirably, and I eagerly anticipate more books from the author.*With apologies to author Sherri Tepper for stealing the title of her excellent novel of the inter-species interface for this review.