As long as we're posting our impressions of science fiction we've read recently: I read A Darkling Sea by James Cambias.
I seem to recall a spate of aliens-under-ice stories on podcasts in the last year or two, and that one of them was being adapted into a novel. I picked this up thinking it might be that one. Turned out it wasn't. I wasn't disappointed, regardless.
Here's what I thought:
Characterization is weak. There is more or less one voice for the humans, and one for the other space faring race. The only characters that really sound at all different to me are the native creatures, and that's more because we get more of their internal thoughts than we do with the humans and other aliens; and their social positions are more different from one another, so it's easier to tell them apart.
The human protagonist is a Mary Sue; the rest generally are not.
Some characters are kind of wasted; SPOILER ----SDFasldfj;asldfj;lkasdlfjalsdfj Dr. Sen's death doesn't really cause anything to happen in the story, unlike every other death before the climax of the story ;kljasd;lkfjal;skdjfl;kasdjfl;kasjdflk;j-----END SPOILER
The surprise cliffhanger ending might end up undermining a lot of what I liked about the books in the likely sequel. We'll see.
The Ilmatarans (the native creatures) and their society are very well fleshed-out. Their perspective on the aliens in their ocean makes total sense, and it's clear a lot of thought went into the question of how would a blind animal with stone-age technology and no concept of space view alien invaders.
The Sholen (the other aliens) aren't as detailed or as alien as the Ilmatarans, and Cambias doesn't sell the ideas on which their society is based as well as he does the Ilmatarans; but they're still way above most sci-fi.
I think a lot of attention was paid to the idea of cross-cultural misunderstanding based upon cultural presumptions.
A lot of attention is also paid to how the humans would communicate with the Ilmatarans. It's given that months or years of work preceded the initial contact, giving a head start. But while they start out with halting, misunderstood communication at first, eventually all that is just sort of dropped and they're talking more or less like the humans talk with each other. I get that describing the mechanics of communication would get tedious, but retaining the stilted speech throughout wouldn't be that bad.
I usually hate sex in science fiction. It's usually gratuitous, not really serving character or plot. Here it serves worldbuilding and character (such as the characters are). It isn't explicit enough to be intrusive, and it all pays off near the end in one particularly hilarious scene. I'd not go so far as to say this is an exemplar of how to do it, but it doesn't push my buttons despite its presence, so there's that.
Apart from a few characters, almost nothing is introduced in the story without getting used. There are very few loose ends.
I liked it. I had a few complaints, but I liked it. It's kind of like the Abyss, but better.
