This note contains spoilers for the book.

My first book by this author, too. Heard enough good stuff I had to give it a try. Don't regret it badly, either.

It's a first-contact story about humans in a universe where we haven't made contact or detected signals or anything. We're happy, living on 9 planets, have limited FTL, good economy, only one interstellar war and it's widely regarded as a mistake. People wonder if we really *are* alone. (It's also quite a few hundred years ahead of us.)

Really fairly good, though there's rather a horror taste to one sub-plot. But somehow the characters, the society, and the story never quite pull together enough for me to be excited; just moderately amused.