Review: Engaging and well-written
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 29, 2011
The protagonist is Mormon. I'm not. I didn't see where it made any real difference, except that Mormons go on missions to inform people of their religious tenets, and that is where we find our branch president (minister.) This is a great book. I was intrigued by the title, and I'm really glad I was.Mr. Stone has created a new locale, "peopled" by human colonists and wonderfully original aliens. The difficulties in explaining our religious and social concepts to other-worldly beings are sometimes amusing, sometimes frightening. We often err in communicating with other cultures on earth. How much more challenging would it be if there were no common reference at all?My only complaint about this book is one shared by other reviewers: I wanted more. Perhaps Mr. Stone will one day revisit the swales.