Part of C.J. Cherryh's series about a lost colony of humans in an alien civilization, where human and atevi instincts make it impossible for the two species to live together without extensive training. And for once, the aliens are bigger than the humans. It's a stunning tour de force as Cherryh makes the atevi, the human characters, and eventually, space-capable humans believable. As usual, her world includes politics and economics as well as emotions and technology.

Here's a nice moment. The captain of a human spaceship is invited to dinner by an ateva aristocrat. The captain is used to eating nutritional paste; she tastes eggs for the first time. "Interesting--what is it?" she asks. The translator hesitates: 'embryonic lizards' seems like a bad answer. He says, "An organic delicacy."

The series so far:
- Foreigner, Invader, Inheritor;
- Precursor, Defender, Explorer;
- Destroyer

Each of these books is about 460 pages.
In my permanent collection.
ISBN 0756400864 or so

See also:
- Cherryh's Compact Space or "Chanur" series
- Cuckoo's Egg