Pretty quick and fun read. I think this has a lot in common with Scalzi's Old Man's War series in that the version of the future feels very much "just like now", but with specific differences. In Old Man's War, the feeling makes sense (or is written off) because the earth has been intentionally kept a technological backwater. In this book, I never got a specific impression of how long the earth had been in contact with alien species, (at least 80 years), but most of the novel could have been set in a near future only a few years away.

I think some of what I liked the most was the version of his old friend the main character brings back as a computer "agent". And this is never really treated as though it is as important as the other stuff in the book, though it seems like maybe it should be, since apparently in all the (600-some?) sentient species, none have ever created a truly sentient AI before?!? (Also, apparently none have created a hybrid or genetically engineered person, which seems equally unlikely.)

Anyway, I enjoyed it.