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The Gods Themselves is a 1972 science fiction novel written by Isaac Asimov (ISBN 1061500534). It won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards.
Warning: Wikipedia contains spoilers.
The book is divided in three main parts (originally published in magazine form as three consecutive stories), on Earth, on an alien world (in a different universe with different physical laws), and on the Moon. The main plot line is a conspiracy by the aliens to alter physical laws in our universe, with the final aim of turning our Sun into a supernova, and collecting the resulting energy for their use (this plot is only disclosed toward the end of the second part). Humans initially fall for the trap, but in the end the protagonist understands the danger and finds a solution that harms no one and greatly benefits humanity.
The most notable part is the alien world exploration. Asimov rarely describes aliens, preferring tales of humans and robots, but this time he goes into considerable detail. His aliens have three sexes with fixed roles for each sex. They are quite immaterial and can co-penetrate each other, mainly for sex. They feed off sunlight and have discovered artificial light just before the story's opening. A group of three forms a triad that, after producing three children, will permanently fuse into a "hard" being, which would be the adult, more intelligent form.
Their universe is different because the strong nuclear force is much higher. Therefore, their stars are much smaller (a star like ours would explode immediately), and they try to exploit this difference with our universe in the manner outlined above. The solution offered by Asimov is to find yet another universe, not inhabited, where physical laws are different in the opposite direction, and use that as a balance.
