A Door into Ocean

I was fairly blown away by the world-building and detailed societies Slonczewski came up with in this book. Having never read her before, A Door Into Ocean was a pleasant surprise. This is top-notch anthropological SF with the characters driving the plot forward. If you like Le Guin's Hainish books, (especially The Dispossessed), Vinge's Snow Queen books, or Russell's Rakhat duology, (The Sparrow/Children of God), then this book should be right up your street. I'll be looking to add the other volumes in this loosely connected series to my library soon.