World-Bulding: Great
Characterization: Great
Plot: Great
I picked this book up, and read it, without knowing it was a sequel. I was still able to follow the story and enjoy it without knowledge of its predecessor. The story follows two perspectives on the planet Astra.
The first perspective is that of Dalgard, a young man born on Astra's Terran Colony "Homeport". His ancestors came to Astra long ago fleeing war and opression on Earth and managed to make a life there. He can communicate telepathically with local mermen and other creatures and his culture has evolved away from the culture of the original colonists so that he is at home and at ease on Astra.
The second perspective is that of Raf, a space explorer coming from an Earth which has thrown off the chains of opression and is now ready for more space exploration. It's a face-paced story in which both of these men encounter the alien one-time rulers of Astra. These opressive rulers were so feared by all the inhabitants of Astra that everyone calls them "Those Others," but Raf and his crew don't know this...
What results is a great, fast-paced story that also manages to ask some questions about how we define humanity, otherness, intelligence, and so on. The only thing that I felt could have been done better was Dalgard's final decision not to make contact. It felt rushed and the reasons for it weren't developed enough, in my opinion. This should have been given a little more time!
Overall, it was a good book that I would reccommend.
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