Hellspark

I'd read this years ago but rereading again I enjoyed it even more. This linguistic/anthropology-centred science fiction novel centers around Tocohl, a Hellspark (some kind of uber translator/interpreter) who is summoned to the newly discovered planet Lasstito investigate the bird-like native Sprookjes and determine whether they are intelligent, and whether they're implicated in the death of survey team member Oloitokitok. Kagan paints a vivid picture of a richly multicultural human and alien diaspora that's not too dissimilar to a cross between Star Trek's federation and C. J. Cherryh's interspecies alliances in The Pride of Chanur. If you read Kagan's Star Trek Original Series novel "Uhura's Song" (one of the best of the STTOS novels) you may find a bit of similarity between Tocohl and the protagonist Evan, and both novels revolve strongly about communication and linguistics, but aside from that they're very different stories and both highly enjoyable.

I re-read this now more often than I do my Kipling, and always it earns the highest praise I can give a book: Not simply that it was a wonderful story, but that I learned from it. Few other books remind me so well selfness in all things matters, and this includes much of the human how of the differences that sometimes get in the way of that understanding.