I have a serious weak spot for Sci-Fi and Fantasy that comment on and make use of linguistics, social structure, and Anthropology. I also know Elizabeth Moon to be a good author, so I grabbed this once I came across someone else describing it, and I am glad I did. I read this book in a single night. This book is really different, and I found that enjoyable. We get a main character in Ofelia that is so not the usual. She's not young, gorgeous, extraordinarily strong, extraordinarily smart, the Chosen One, or any of the tropes we typically see. Her strength is strength of character, determination, and a desire to be respected. Ofelia turns the art of small stubborn moments and the sublime joy of small things into a lifestyle.

This main character is humanly fleshed out as an individual going through an entirely new time of discovering she is more as a person than she thought she was (or has been permitted to be), and then also discovers the planet around her is not what she thought it was. Anyone who has been an introvert will feel some kinship with Ofelia. Everyone who has faced the stereotypes of other humans will feel some kinship with Ofelia. Everyone who has loved a woman and watched her discover new parts of herself after her children were grown (no matter how much she loves them) will feel some kinship with Ofelia. The aliens aren't what you expect, and then they are, and then they aren't what you expect again. So many authors would have felt compelled to take the entire thing in a far darker direction, and I applaud Elizabeth Moon for acknowledging the darkness, showing it to us, and not letting it steal the focus of the story from Ofelia. I think this was an author skillfully choosing not to follow the "typical" narrative path that most authors would have easily slid the premise of this story into.

And finally, to anyone asking the question, "Can you have a book about an individual who spends a substantial stretch of time alone without it being a riff on Robinson Crusoe?" Elizabeth Moon shows us in "Remnant Populations" that you can.