In The Color of Distance, Survey biologist Juna Saari is left for dead on an alien planet after her team's flyer crashes into the jungle. She is rescued by the previously unknown sentient aliens known as Tendu, but only through their extreme medical intervention. Although she contacts her spaceship through radio, they will not be able to return for her for five years - for the meantime, she's stranded, and must learn to adapt and survive in an alien culture.

Sometimes slow-moving, the book is more concerned with the rich cultural details of the humanoid but frog-like Tendu than with action-adventure scenes. Based on the author's visits to the rainforests of Costa Rica, the arboreal and community-oriented lifestyle of the aliens really comes alive.

In this sequel, Through Alien Eyes, Survey returns for Juna, accompanied by a horde of politically-motivated researchers and experts excited to make contact with this new species. Returning to human civilization with two Tendu ambassadors, Juna must navigate treacherous waters to maintain her suddenly-precarious position as bridge between two cultures. Not just culture shock, but legal battles ensue.

In both books, Thompson uses the contrast between the Tendu and humanity to discuss the importance of ecology, issues of population control, and the importance of harmony and balance. There are a few preachy moments, but overall the 'message' is not too overt. Although humanity is shown to have problems, there is a hopeful outlook - and the Tendu are not perfect either. Rather, both cultures are shown to have things to learn from the other.

Recommended for fans of Sheri Tepper. ( )

Not as engaging as The Colour of Distance. ( )

In the sequel to The Color of Distance, Juna Saari returns to Earth with two of the alien Tendu: froglike beings with an innate talent for biotechnology who have never had occasion to develop hard technology like our own. The humans living on and near Earth, however, aren’t ready to cope with a new sentient species, and there’s plenty of trouble brewing.

Thomson sets out to deal with a lot of issues, including xenophobia, ecological catastrophe, mandatory birth control on a planet stretched to its limits, the potential of the Tendu biotech ability, the reaction of the aliens to the human world, and Juna’s own family. She has plenty of interesting ideas (though the traditional dirt farm with working animals on a space station was difficult for my suspension of disbelief), but she doesn’t manage to weave all the threads together very well. There’s a lot of telling instead of showing, and some threads just get lost without any resolution. Handling them well would probably have required another book, but if the story had kept up the quality of the first book, it would have been worthwhile. ( )

ZB7