SOLVED. Sci Fi: Spoiled prince leads exploration on new planet. Befriends native alien. [s]

[Kathleen]

A spoiled prince leads his crew on a mission to explore a planet. None of the crew like him or try to get along with him. They all think he wants to be like his father(the ex-consort) who had tried to killed the queen. The prince didn't know about the attempt. Matures over the exploration. He befriends this alien who became something like their guide. They learn the language through technology and the alien. I think they ended up bringing peace on the new planet(?) I know there was fighting, but I read the book so long ago I can't remember. I want to reread it to see if it's as good as I remember.


In case none of the above helps... *SPOILER* They thought the alien was a male but find out the whole male/female categorizing thing might not completely fit with these aliens because one gender holds the seed and baby while the other gender holds the egg. Something like that. And the ones humans would normally call males are the leaders. Alien/guide becomes pregnant. The prince learns why the crew hates him. The crew stops hating him. He matures and becomes a great leader and is going to talk with his mother about never talking to him in the first place about his father trying to kill her. And stuff.

[Alycia]

I'm 99% certain that this is the Empire of Man series by David Weber.

March Upcountry
March to the Sea
March to the Stars
We Few

[Kathleen]

You are amazing!!!! Thank you!

[Kate]

I'm going to move this to Adult Fiction folder. The Other Solved folder is generally for items that turn out not to be books.