61. The Eyes of Light and Darkness, by Ivan Cat.

The Eyes of Light and Darkness is a book I remember reading at quite a young age, so it's another book that has nostalgic value for me as well as intrinsic value. It's very science fiction-y, with the first human colony rebelling against Earth as it establishes itself along the native, intelligent, species of Jayvee 9. A budding anthropologist (Bartlett) is sent off on a make-work mission after a leaked translation is released to the public, where she teams up with a mentally wobbly mining pod pilot (Walker) and his Fuzzie gunner (Nis) out in the Ring Belts to investigate strange artifacts being picked up by the mining crews.

Eyes is a very interesting book. I particularly enjoy sci-fi books that incorporate populations on other worlds, especially establishing colonies interacting with different alien species. This ticks all those boxes, as well as being pretty well written. Some parts are overstated, but the strong style of writing is fitting for a lot of the book. I like how Ivan Cat portrays different alien species. I've read another of his books - The Burning Heart of Night, also a good read - and he's good at imagining other mindsets, without presenting his characters as fully formed objects. There's a lot of room for personal vsariation - Fuzzies are never fully described, so the reader is free to imagine. It's nice to have some perceived input into the story.