| A Mote in God's Eye and its sequel The Gripping Hand by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle are amazing. If you like these books definitely look up The Price as a prequel.
I'm a big fan of Vernor Vinge too, but his books can be rather dense for someone who isn't that into scifi, especially A Fire Upon the Deep. I still think his description of 'zones' in space is one of the coolest things ever. I still can't stand the fucking message log transcript bullshit though =/ |