Backwards

Mattie Chen is abducted and taken to an alien world, where her captors insist that she is a rare type of person, one capable of transforming an entire society. Mattie, however, finds these people reprehensible: they call enslavement "respect," use their astonishing medical talents to make possible a brutal public spectacle, and even have a deceptive notion of up and down. Most of all, she resents them for taking her away from her beloved dog just when he needed her most: in fact, just when he needed medical help of the kind her captors could provide. "'Backwards' takes two of the oldest clichés in science fiction/fantasy, the abduction of an Earthling by aliens and a woman tied to a stake, and turns them into a serious exploration of culture and free will." "Well-written, well-plotted, characters deep and believable, truly suspenseful - the way it is written exemplifies the values it's about."