The creature's name is Juna, and she's part of a human survey mission to the planet. Her scout ship crashed and her crew -- clad in environment suits -- had been forced to try and hike back to base camp through the dense Tendu forest. Their suits ruptured during the trip, exposing them to an atmosphere to which their bodies were violently allergic. Everyone else died, and Juna expected to join them.

She didn't, a fact that amazes and horrifies her when she awakes to find herself transformed into something resembling the aliens. She's able to breathe without life support, has a strange skin that reacts to her moods, and razor-sharp talons. After choking back her fear, she begins making contact with the intelligent aliens, hoping against hope that she can still get to her mothership before it leaves.

First contact stories are exceptionally difficult to do right. Fledgling authors -- and even the occasional pro -- often seem to fall back on pulp science fiction when it comes to meeting aliens. Thomson does not. She creates an alien race that has some human aspects, but many others, which are truly alien. The alien world is inhospitable to humans not because of extreme temperatures or a bizarre atmosphere, but because of something as simple as pollen. Thomson has her hero learn the aliens language -- a sort of skin-based sign language -- without the help of an all-powerful universal translator (although Juna does get to accelerate the process with a portable computer later on). The story is well-paced, and steadily moves Juna through alien crisis after crisis until she finally comes to understand the most crucial tenants of life on Tendu. The story is first and foremost about first contact, but its subplots deal with issues of trust and identity.

The novel does have one jarring flaw -- Thomson insists on describing the emotions associated with the aliens skin color changes. I would rather have discovered the meaning of the skin color changes as Juna did -- by observing them and understanding their meaning based on the context clues. Although she occasionally did this, most of the color meanings are spelled out for us. In the end though, this is a minor distraction. The rest of the book, with its rich portrayal of first contact and alien life, more than makes up for it.