Definitely a strange book. It just doesn't seem to fit into any categories of story that I know. The writing is different, the characters are different, the story line is different. It works though. I can't say I particularly enjoyed reading it. Space sci-fi isn't my thing, and all the talk about sex was weird although tastefully handled. I don't agree with any of the world-views of the author either, and felt at times that I was preached at about feminism. Still, it's not a book that one will easily forget, I think.... Maybe for me, that impression is simply because it is so far out of the norm for me to read a book like this. It's one of those things that you can't choose whether you liked it or not, it's just there. It just exists, and you accept that it was. Although I have no doubt the author is a perfect genius to have written it, to have imagined those things that are completely "other" and made them believable, I have no opinion on whether it is a good book or a lousy book. It's a book that is there to be read.