I'm not sure I've read other books with aliens that seemed as believable. This book definitely had moments of discomfort. As a reader, you're meant to feel both xenophobia and xenophilia, hope and despair, often about the same subjects sometimes and sometimes in the same in the same moment.

This book made me think about what it means to be human, what it means to be sentient, what respect means, and how right and wrong are malleable. Nothing is black and white in this book.

I think this book could stand on its own, but it's definitely part of a series and I plan to read the other books in this series eventually.