The Best of All Possible Worlds

I enjoyed this book. I see the reviews are all over the place, but I thought this was an interesting and well-written book with a story about a people, a planet, and relationships that I enjoyed. Some have complained about this being essentially a romance, but I disagree. The science fiction romance books I have problems with are those who essentially take a romance book (immediate irrational physical attraction, lots of emphasis on the physical side of the relationship, etc.) and place in a nominally sf context. Authors such as Linnea Sinclair leap to mind, and to a lesser extent, Catherine Asaro. Now these might be enjoyable stories, but they are definitely more romance than sf. In The Best of All Possible Worlds, the world-building and the plight of the Sadiri take center stage, and the relationships develop gradually and plausibly from that action. The action is not space opera; it is a methodical exploration of the cultures of a planet, so this is not a fast-paced adventure. Actually, it reminds me much more of main-stream novels than romances, transfused into a well-built science fictional setting.