This book changes it up, surprisingly going for an even slower pacing than the first book, which I considered a ‘down beat’. Maybe pacing was just different from old sci-fi though?I suspect readers were a lot more fervent and authors had people’s attention, possibly. Plus it’s serialized initially; I’m sure that played a part. This book is almost all about one particular character learning about his companions’ culture. I found it pretty interesting and again, for me, this is a really fast book, especially via audio. Good narration makes everything easier and I was pretty interested in the tension between cultures, their modes of thinking, and how that informed said tension. Characters seemed more fleshed out and interesting too. I guess the third book will be the climax, more so than the first two books having one structurally built in. Which is weird but alright, considering the length of each. As with the first it’s not blowing me away or anything. It’s worth a read but fits well within expectations, for better and worse.