I think I'm gettin old... and stuff. It's tiresome to read true hardcore sci-fi where action is mere mote in the eye of the world. So much descriptions, so many explanations, tons of details, endless right and wrong guesses... And much of it ending been just a time filler between some twisting points of story.

Even if it's very good and stylish book, I can only admit that it's not my kind of thing. ( )

It managed to keep my attention long enough to get through the whole book, but I thought the ending was quite disappointing and pretty noneventful. ( )

Highly celebrated novel, somewhat disappointed. Nice premise, great conclusion, but feels, reading today, very dated. One only female character who was just the typical Princess Leia. The Prince, cliched. Loved their Inferno novel. Really enjoyed the Ringworld novels. Maybe I would have enjoyed this if I had been reading it around the time I was reading and thoroughly enjoying Heinlein. ( )

Excellent portrayal of an alien culture and how this could clash with our own through population factors. ( )

As a story this was not, in fact, very good. But as a piece of fiction it was excellent.

What do I mean by that? Well, there's not really much of a plot. The characters are not terribly interesting, and their individual story lines are rather predictable. But all that's okay, because those are not what this book is about. This book is about how two species alien to each other might actually go about establishing contact with each other.

How is trust established in such an environment? How is risk balanced against assumption of good intentions? How does the human tendency to want to reduce things to good or evil deal with the reality that an alien species -- like humanity -- is unlikely to be easily reducible to such simple terms? At it's core, this book is an exploration of these and other questions.

So if you're looking for a good story, this may not be the best choice. But if you're looking for speculative fiction, this will likely be a good option. ( )