sarahjay
Written on Jul 31, 2020
An alternate history first contact adventure set in the early 2000's, pitched as Arrival meets The Three-Body Problem, by video essayist Lindsay Ellis.
By the fall of 2007, one well-timed leak revealing that the U.S. government might have engaged in first contact has sent the country into turmoil, and it is all Cora Sabino can do to avoid the whole mess. The force driving this controversy is Cora's whistleblower father, and even though she hasn't spoken to him in years, his celebrity has caught the attention of the press, the Internet, the paparazzi, and the government and redirected it to her. She neither knows nor cares whether her father's leaks are a hoax, and wants nothing to do with him until she learns just how deeply entrenched her family is in the cover-up, and that an extraterrestrial presence has been on Earth for decades.
To save her own life, she offers her services as an interpreter to a monster, and the monster accepts.
Learning the extent to which both she and the public have been lied to, she sets out to gather as much information as she can, and finds that the best way for her to find the truth is not as a whistleblower, but as an intermediary. The alien presence has been completely uncommunicative until she convinces one of them that she can act as their interpreter, becoming the first and only human vessel of communication. But in becoming an interpreter, she begins to realize that she has become the voice for a being she cannot ever truly know or understand, and starts to question who she's speaking for and what future she's setting up for all of humanity.
- ISBN13 9781789095319
- Publish Date 21 July 2020
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Titan Books Ltd
- Format Paperback
- Pages 400
- Language English
Reviews
shannonmiz
Written on Jun 21, 2020
4.5*
This book. This. Book. I am going to go ahead and get the only thing holding me back from giving it a full five stars out of the way so we can move onto the gushing: It started off slow, and I was a little unsure of it at first. But when it got going.... I was hooked, completely and totally. And now I am going to tell you why.
- ►I mean, aliens. Aliens are so fun! Especially when you're not just navigating the aliens, but the government's response to the aliens. Gosh I long to tell you more about the aliens, but frankly, that is half the fun of the book so I am not. But I will just say that getting to know who they are and what they want is for sure worth it.
- ►The time period is so interesting. It's set in late 2007, at the tail-end of the Bush administration. And yes, it is mentioned throughout the book so it is fully part of the plot. I loved the author's choice, because it made how it was handled feel authentic. If it was a more competent president, things may have been less messy. If it were... you know, our current abomination, we'd have all been dead in hours. So I thought it was genius, frankly. Also, the era of internet that we were in at that time worked well with the narrative, too.
- ►The whole story is incredibly thought provoking. What constitutes intelligence? What factors make up morality? What is it about our claimed humanity that is special? So many questions that I don't have the answers to, frankly.
- ►I fell in love with the characters. See, at first I felt a bit disconnected, and wasn't sure. But like I said before, once I was hooked, I was hooked, and so completely invested in the story, especially Cora's personal journey.
- ►The story itself was very compelling and engaging. There's a lot going on: the obvious issues between the alien species and humans, but also inter-alien issues, and all kinds of complex human issues. Some of them are of a more global nature, like government stuff, but plenty are interpersonal relationship issues with Cora and members of her family, and even between Cora and some of the aliens.
- ►SO happy to report that it's a series! I was so scared when it ended because while it does close the current story to an extent, there is just so much more to tell!
Bottom Line: I am completely and totally hooked on this story and this world. I will be eagerly awaiting the sequel because I have a feeling it'll be even more awesome.