This book had an interesting premise which drew me in quickly in the opening sequence: humans make contact with a less-advanced alien civilization and go down to the surface to study them. The aliens are humanoid enough to relate to and strange enough to be interesting. However, as soon as the book changed to first-person narration, I found myself really turned off by it. The author has a dry, detached style that made it impossible to relate to the narrator, and I felt at many times like I was being spoken down to. Sentences were short and choppy and vocabulary was generally very basic. I finished the book in hopes of resolving some of the more interesting plot threads, but instead it ended abruptly with a promise to continue in the second volume. Sorry, but you didn't hook me enough for a second volume.