From Publishers Weekly
In Thomson's The Color of Distance (1995), Dr. Juna Saari was accidentally abandoned on the planet Tiangi. Despite life-threatening allergic reactions to that world's life-forms, she managed to survive thanks to the biological wizardry of the Tendu, Tiangi's intelligent native species, who radically altered her body to thrive in their environment. Now, returned to human form, Juna comes back to Earth accompanied by two Tendu. They must learnAaboard ship, while visiting a series of Earth orbital habitats, and then on EarthAto adapt to a human environment, but it isn't clear whether humanity will accept them in return. Despite the great biological gifts the Tendu can offer an environmentally distressed Earth, many humans find the aliens frightening. Escorting the Tendu through Earth society, Juna finds her life spun upside down when she discovers that she is accidentally pregnant, an illegal act on an Earth struggling to overcome critical overpopulation. Much of the novel's tension stems from attempts to force Juna either to abort or to give up her babyAattempts stemming, in part, from the father's refusal to allow his child to be raised with aliens. Thomson is an excellent prose stylist with an obvious love for the kind of wild country that is the Tendu's preferred habitat. Her major characters are well developed, though her secondary characters, particularly the good guys, are not properly differentiated. Overall, this is an amiable, unusually thoughtful novel of first contact that should boost Thomson's growing reputation. (July)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
After her stint on the planet Tiangi, researcher Juna Saari returns to Earth, bringing along with her a pair of alien Tengu, linked to her by a lifelong bond. As the aliens Moki and Ukatonen strive to understand and adapt to their new surroundings, they evoke not only friendship but also the enmity and mistrust of some powerful individuals. The author of The Color of Distance presents a thoughtful view of human nature filtered through the perceptions of a pair of engaging and well-meaning, though sometimes unpredictable, aliens. A good choice for most sf collections.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
