content: I've read a lot of science fiction books over the years, and I can honestly say that this is one of the worst I've ever forced myself to finish. How anyone could read this book and give it a rating above a 2 or a 3 is beyond me. The aliens are upright walking cats and dogs from only 4 light years away who seem to share a lot of the catch phrases and sayings of the current American culture. It was hard to find a coherent sentence on any of the numerous pages. Somewhere an English teacher weeps. Also, the story (if you can call it that) violates Einstein's Theory of Relativity as it applies to major time perception differences between conscious entities aboard objects moving at relativistic speeds and those who aren't moving as fast (fewer years would pass aboard a spaceship moving at 99% of the speed of light than would pass on the crew's home planet). Note to self: "Choose your reading materials more carefully".