March Books 23) A Million Open Doors, by John Barnes

[nwhyte]

This was a long-ago recommendation from rfmcdpei, and a great read: perhaps reflecting a bit the fall of the Wall and globalisation more generally, it's about an encounter between cultures, the dour market-driven frozen colony of Caledony being forced to open up to the rest of the galaxy and in partiicular to the romantic troubadours of New Occitan. Lots

Comments

[autopope]

Warning: subsequent books are even better, but "Earth made of Glass" (#2) may squick you -- very bitter personal story *and* a diplomat's nightmare scenario.

[autopope]

The fifth, IMO, bolts it back together; the important point to note is that Girault is a proverbially unreliable narrator. And there's always the sixth (and final) book, when John gets it finished.

(Need to go back and re-read the series end-to-end.)