This story contains some fascinating ideas for aliens, tech, and cultural interactions, written in a consistently uninteresting fashion. At no point does the plot develop into anything meaningful, nor do the characters ever grow into anything interesting. Niven seems to have an utter hatred for women as anything more than objects to be ogled or fondled, and the only two female characters in the story with anything to say only seem to be written as literal objects of lust.
The male protoganist even quips that one of the two female characters was not particularly smart except she was an expert at sex. It's like Niven had some interesting ideas about sci-fi settings but was too bored and horny to develop them into anything more than a backdrop for his poorly written romance novel.
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