378 pages
English language
Published Nov. 8, 1994 by DAW Books, Distributed by Penguin U.S.A..
Humans stranded on an alien world. Accepted by the aliens, until suddenly it was war. Because when the aliens are hard-wired in their brains to not even be able to understand the concept of friend; and loyalty to your boss is unbending and forever, until you realize a higher boss has pulled you away -- and that's not betrayal just natural, well, then, how can humans possibly interact? So, now, one man, Bren, is the sole interpretor for all human-alien interactions... and then the whole dynamic changes. A fascinating insight into what it really means to discover an "alien" culture. Gripping story that sets off a series now more than 13 titles strong.
I enjoyed this book quite a bit, though it's pacing is a bit all over the place at times. In the end I really enjoyed the characters, this felt almost closer to fantasy than sci-fi for some reason, but it wasn't something bad :)
