The Man Who Counts by Poul Anderson (American, 2008)

Summary:
The story begins on the planet Diomedes, where Nick Van Rijn's spaceship had crashed-landed. Nick is a Dutch interstellar merchant. He and his crew, Eric Wace and Sandra Samarin, had been rescued by the Drak'ho, winged aliens. Van Rijn, Wace, and Sandra had been taken to Syranax, the leader of the Drak'honai. They learned that Drak'ho is at war with their neighbors from Lannach, who are also winged aliens. The humans discovered that both nations were in the stone age. Van Rijn and his crew realized that the Lannachska were outnumbered and outmatched by the Drak'honai in every way. Van Rijn longed to go back to Earth since all food on that planet is poisonous for humans. He decided to help the Lannachska to end the war. Then, he and Wace helped the Lannachsk improve their weapons and train their people to fight more effectively. After a few battles and no chance of winning at all, Van Rijn realized that the war was taking them nowhere. They had been risking too much. Also, humans were running out of food. The best for everyone was to end the war and come to an agreement. To convince them, Van Rijn pointed out that they were similar and could make trades and benefit each other. Yet, both sides were reluctant. Van Rijn, Wace, and Sandra were rescued by the Thursday Landing.

Another summary:
The book is set in a planet called Diomedes, where two nations are at war: Drak’ho, based on the ocean, and Lannachska, based on land. Both nations are technologically and knowledgeably underdeveloped. The two of them resembling the neolithic period; plus, their inhabitants had features that take after different animals. Therefore, their human-like characteristics are minimal. Van Rijn, a trader from Earth, and his crew land on that planet and are captured by the Drak’honai. As the characteristics of the planet made it impossible for humans to survive, Van Rijn decides that the best, and most profitable, way to get out of the planet is helping one of the sides of the nation. He chooses to help the losing nation of Lannachska, since he thinks he would find it easy to come to an agreement and make a profit from their cooperation. Although the efforts of Van Rijn’s crew members give the Laannachska advantage, they could not make them win the war. Van Rijn suggested both nations come to an agreement, but the admiral of the Drak’ho refuses until the very end and makes it impossible to finish the war. Although the war is not over, Wace, a colleague of Van Rijn, figures out a way to contact their station and they are rescued from Diomedes.

Another summary:
Nicholas Van Rijn was a Dutch merchant. He was travelling with his group (Wace, Sandra and the Grand Duchess of Hermes) and they arrive to another planet named Diomedes. This planet is really different to the one they come from as food, air and water are toxic to them. Then they found out that there is a war between two nations: The Dark’ho who were warriors and intellectual priesthoods and lived on the sea, and The Lannachska who were hunters and lived on the land. The battles between them took place on air as both societies could fly with functional batlike wings. Van Rijn and his group had to get back to the trading post before they stole their food and all their goods. The Dark’ho had beaten The Lannachska as they were more powerful in many ways, but Van Rijn decides to help The Lannachska by helping a prisoner escape and rescuing 3 more men. He helps them beat their opponents as he thought that by ending this war people wouldn’t come to help him and make a little bit of profit for themselves.

World view: The world portrayed in the story is an hypothetical society which seems to be worse than the one the author lives in.
Future projections: Sees the future as potential to reform a reality that once seemed unchangeable.
Ideology: Portrays the enforcement of justice in a positive manner and has faith in human capacity to build a better future.
Characters, plot and writing style: The story features a rebellion against the adverse circumstances (revolutionaries may exploit newer technologies for these ends).
Classification: Dystopia