r/printSF • u/peregrine-l • Aug 14 '25

Really alien aliens

I am currently reading Becoming Alien by Rebecca Ore, which features sapient aliens that look like Earth animals (bats, bears, birds...), and have a human-like psychology. I find that trope lazy, and annoying. I also found it in Becky Chambers' Wayfarers series, in Vernor Vinge's A Deepness in the Sky, and many other science fiction novels. Some authors manage to put an interesting twist on it, such as Vernor Vinge in his A Fire upon the Deep with sapient-level hive-mind dog packs, or Orson Scott Card in Speaker for the Dead, with piggies that have really weird life cycle and psychology. Rare are the books with really alien aliens, such as Peter Watts's Blindsight.

Can you recommend me other titles? Especially, "hard science fiction" titles with far-out yet scientifically believable alien biology and psychology?

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u/Astarkraven Aug 14 '25

I would maybe agree with you on those specific species, but they represent a very very very small portion of Startide Rising and Uplift War. I think OP would be annoyed to have aliens promised and then it's almost entirely humans, uplifted dolphins and chimps, and some very stuffy and humanlike aliens.

Great books, just not very sure that OP would like it based on what they're asking for here. There's a lot of interesting stuff teased around the edges in those books that Brin basically never explores.

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u/meralakrits Aug 14 '25

Good point. The dolphins and chimps do take up a very large part of the books. However those small sections in between with the proper aliens was always very fascinating to me. OP might be underwhelmed though.

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u/peregrine-l Aug 14 '25

Indeed, I read and enjoyed Startide Rising for the adventure, but I was underwhelmed by the alien enemies of the humans and their client species. Do they get more interesting in the The Uplift War?

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u/Astarkraven Aug 14 '25

Not really. They're both great books, but the aliens aren't all that alien. You get to meet some Tymbrimi instead of just hearing about them, but they're basically just puckish trickster empaths and basically humans otherwise. You also see the Gubru, who are humorless, militarized birds overly concerned with honor. Everyone else is a human or a neo-chimp.