4.5 An ultimately hopeful book about an old, marginalised woman finding self-worth in a first-contact situation. One of the best FC novels I've read, though the aliens are still near-human, of course. Could use a little more space, especially towards the end, but apart from that it's a near-perfect tale of late emancipation. Well worth the read and the Hugo nomination (though it's hard to compete with both Robinson's Blue Mars and Bujold's Memory, I think Remnant Population would have deserved a win there).