Nancy Kress

This is an interesting book in the genre of "aliens trying to figure out how humans tick". In this case they've taken a sample of diverse humans from an isolated planet and placed them all in a city together, all for the purpose of figuring out how it's possible that we can be violent toward each other one moment but then pull out enough cohesion to hold our own against them in war.

The narrative mostly focuses on the humans who have entered the city, how they attempt to create alliances and navigate the new environment. They've been taken from two main cultures which have traditionally been hostile to each other, so now that they've been forced into close quarters violence is inevitable.

One of the major turning points of the book is when the aliens realise they may be able to convince some of the humans to ally with THEM against their own species, which is unthinkable in their own culture. And how strange it is for a human that has bonded with them to expect that they could go against their own fellows.

I sort of expected the conclusion to show that the very strength of humans lies in our diversity and flexibility, however it sort of panned out that among the hundreds who were brought into the experiment there were a small handful who were just kind of special and able to transcend petty squabbles for the sake of a higher purpose. That doesn't really seem like a strength when the aliens are ALL biologically/culturally hardwired to do the same.

It also seemed from the kind of cliff-hanger ending that there should be a sequel, but that doesn't seem to be the case.… (mais)