Hard Landing by Algis Budrys
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is the first Algis Budrys I've read and while I didn't fall in love with it, it certainly had its good points.

It's first contact from the PoV of humanlike aliens that had crash-landed here half a century ago and who tried to make ends meet however they could.

Honestly, it read like any other kind of fish-out-of-water culture shock kind of novel that would have worked just as well as anyone seriously from the boonies coming to America for the first time, only these people saw some things a bit more clearly. And they were definitely appreciative of the American experience.

There have been tons of stories like this, of course, and while it feels dated and optimistic, even when it truly wasn't, it seemed quite old-fashioned for SF.

Not bad, mind you, it just had that old optimistic feel while trying to show itself as gritty and realistic.

Or maybe I just feel like we live in some bad times. Whichever, lol

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