Quote:
Originally Posted by ownedbycats
Thought I may as well post here. 
Basically: Looking for books that give the same feel as the Mass Effect games, though perhaps with a wee bit less cosmic horror robot squids trying to exterminate everyone.  Basically, less "fighting evil aliens trying to invade Earth" and more "befriending cool aliens." |
I don't know anything about "Mass Effect" but for humans-meeting-aliens stories some things come to mind:
Uhura's Song by Janet Kagan
The three books in the Species Imperative series by Julie Czerneda (
Survival,
Migration and
Regeneration)
Mission of Gravity and
Star Light by Hal Clement
Eifelheim by Michael Flynn
Semiosis and
Interference by Sue Burke
Hellspark by Janet Kagan (though there's much about divergent human cultures and not quite as much contact with the aliens until later in the book.)
The
Starbridge series by A.C. Crispin
I quite liked the Stardoc novels, but if you found the first one somewhat disquieting then I'd recommend staying well clear of the rest.