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Some excellent ideas held back by characterisation and some lovely 80s sexism - not the worst I've seen in the genre by any means! I like the relationship between humanity and the other species in the galaxy, who have all been Uplifted by previous Precursor races and are thus bound to hundreds, if not thousands of years of service. The non-human aliens are truly that, no humanoid shapes here. The plot moves at a steady clip, but I didn't really love Brin's writing style, and the main character is a serious self-insert.