It's hard to talk about what I liked about this book without spoiling it.If you like sci-fi, investigation thrillers, aliens, and stories of First Contact going sideways, you will enjoy this. While hard sci-fi, the relationship and character interaction is just as enjoyable and well executed as the handling of government cover-ups, alien language, and culture.If I had to describe it without giving too much away, I would say this is the best Transformers fanfic I've ever read. Truly, calling it Transformers fanfic is probably unjust, I've never read or dabbled in that fandom to be sure of that statement. However. I have seen the first few movies, and this is a lot better at exploring a similar concept and plot points, but going off in an original direction. A sister-series if you will ;)While the plot and story felt like an elevated, and much more interesting, take on synthetic space alien civilizations coming into contact with humans, I really enjoyed the details in this book. The language and dialogue with the aliens and humans really caught my attention. Ellis doesn't make up a language, or at least words, so it's not like a fantasy Tolkien language the aliens speak, everything is English and understandable. Alien concepts that don't translate (which the alien will point out routinely) do get an English word using different root words and such. My point it, everything is understandable, although it is a bit of work to understand at the beginning. It does get easier as you go. I was super engaged during the middle of the book where the human character have some pretty in-depth conversations.Surprisingly, the humans are pretty interesting in this book. Although we do get a limited number of aliens to compare them too, I did find myself enjoying them. The protagonist's family especially. I would hope we see more of her aunt and mother in the sequel. Her aunt especially. Her father was interesting as well, if not as a character I would like to have as a parent, he's an interesting character in fiction though.The setting actually really works. I really enjoyed the references to the pop culture and goings on in 2007 America. It's funny, I worried they might feel gratuitous, but instead they kind of took me back to the time itself and how things were back then. I never thought I would feel nostalgic for the Bush era, but since things did make me reminisce in the nostalgia.Ellis did a great job of making a likeable protagonist with a very strong voice. The story is told from Cora's POV, and I commend the author for making her likeable, relatable, and interesting. In a cast of CIA, federal agents, and aliens, it is pretty risky to make your Human Protagonist/Audience Stand In so ordinary. But it works. I felt invested in Cora as a person and look forward to seeing her in future installments, along with all the other objectively cooler characters.The character that really stood out to me is Ampersand. I thought of him as kind of weak character in the beginning. He was interesting, but he was so hostile and terse that I found myself, like Cora I assume, more interested in the answers that came from him about his species, language, and people than himself as a person. It's only during the later half of the book that he starts to let his guard down a bit and start to open up about himself that I really started to like him. I was absolutely tense during the Final Confrontation where I admit my heart kind of broke for him. The scene in the desert at night is just so wonderfully written. I highlighted the passage about their discussion about the Great Filter. That was a cool moment for me, realizing what the title of the book meant! I just really enjoyed that entire scene and it feels good that Ellis let's you draw conclusions yourself without spelling things out in text.Speaking of conclusions, I did have to put the book down and absorb a bit of what was being set up in the final chapter. Possibly slight spoilers in this paragraph. If it's not clear by the username, I love aliens in fiction, especially aliens that have human friendships. And I was getting some cryptid!lover energy while reading but I wasn't sure if this book was going there. Let's just say that when it hit me what had happened, which was confirmed a few pages later, I had to sit back and give thanks Ellis was unafraid to explore the softer sides of hard sci-fi.Overall, I enjoyed the hell out of this. I bought this out of loyalty to Ellis, as I've enjoyed her content for years. I went in completely blind as the marketing was pretty cagey on what this was going to be. But I am so glad this was not only decent, but it quickly has become one of my favorite novels I've read this year. I eagerly am waiting for news of a sequel. I'll be rereading it a few times while I wait. If you're in doubt, I would implore you to read it. If you enjoyed Animorphs, Ender's Game, Transformers, or Mass Effect you will enjoy this.