I like the whole idea and the world. But I feel that this book would have needed a good editor. In large parts not much happens, only endless talking. Also, the characters needed more work: most of them have a single defining characteristic, and we learn nothing else about them. This is true even for relatively central characters, like the wife of the main character, the co-parents, essentially all the aliens. Maybe there are simply too many characters to flesh them out? For example, the main character has three parents (to signal diversity?), but we learn nothing about the two mothers - they appear, but don't really do anything. Instead, additionally, an aunt is introduced that has a single defining character trait (something about technology). Why not simply merge her into one of the parents? A similar approach for other characters could have kept the number of characters at a more manageable level and made them less one-dimensional.

As it is, there is very little going on and at the same time the characters are not well done. Either of these problems would have been OK for me, but having both is a little much.