Sur beaucoup de point, le roman de Mann est des plus conventionnel. L'être humain comme élément perturbateur dans un conflit changement/statu quo en particulier a été usé jusqu'à la corde (même si ce conflit n'est intégré que très tard dans le roman). Personnellement, l'élément que j'ai le plus apprécié est l'approche faite au thème de la télépathie humaine, et notamment le conflit interne qui affecte les Pe-ellian. En effet, des générations d'auteurs ont automatiquement assumé qu'une population télépathe aboutit fatalement à une société ouverte, plus ou moins sous la forme d'un esprit collectif. Les Pe-ellian, très humains à leur manière, rejette cette idée bien que conscient que c'est une évolution naturelle, ce qui est probablement l'élément le plus original du roman. ( )

This novel shows its age. It is set supposedly in 2076 but feels more like 1976. There are no computers, no gene engineering, no climate change etc. Earth has developed the Garfield drive, which allows interstellar space travel. A number of worlds with primitive aliens have been found. An elite band of linguists, scientists and even museum curators working for the CLI (Contact Linguistics Institute) has been busy understanding alien cultures. One mystery is that certain destinations seem to 'deflect' space travel.

Something is detected approaching Earth. A secret weapon, the Garfield Whip, is used against it to no avail, but significant collateral damage ensues. An enormous hovering orb appears and two CLI linguists, Marcus Thorndyke and Thomas Mnaba are invited aboard. The orb returns to Pe-Ellia, which is revealed as the course of the space travel interference.

What follows is an emotional encounter for both, as Mnaba tries to stay neutral and detached, according to CLI doctrine, while Thorndyke deliberately uses every possible gambit, even aggressive ones, to penetrate to the heart of the complex and superior Pe-Ellian culture encountered. At the beginning of the novel, Thorndyke's journals are returned to Mnaba. Quotes from them, and Mnaba's notes, give both blow by blow, and contrasting, accounts, of Thorndyke's assault on/absorption into Pe-Ellian culture, built around levels of telepathic ability rather than material control. While the background of the novel is somewhat bland, the quest to uncover and understand a truly alien culture goes into places still relatively unexplored in science fiction. A fine effort for a first novel. ( )