the debut novel of james
cambias and a pleasant surprise. it's a well-paced and well thought-out first
contact story set in an interesting environment. the novel reminded me very much of
classics such as hal clement’s "mission
of gravity", where aliens and humans have to cooperate in a hostile (to us)
environment and part of the narrative is from an alien’s point of view.
the setting is both
alien and instantly recognizable: a moon
covered by a kilometers-thick sheet of ice with a vast ocean underneath,
orbiting a gas giant. but instead of orbiting our own jupiter, this moon, named ilmatar, orbits a
gas giant of the star gliesse 745-b, in the constellation sagitta. ilmatar is
the name of an air spirit in finnish mythology, and while the english-speaking characters in the novel refer to the
inhabitants as ilmatarans, the author notes that finnish, scandinavian and
german speakers call them ilmatarainen (the correct finnish name for a person from ilmatar).
the novel scores quite high on the sci-fi hardness scale: apart from a form of faster-than-light travel which is only there to allow travel to the setting, most of the gadgets are plausible extrapolations of existing technology. also, the wetsuits, moon pool and submersibles were a quite welcome change from the traditional eva suits, airlocks and rovers and reminded me a lot of james cameron's "the abyss". this is no space opera, though; there is no universal translator and communicating with aliens is not at all trivial. the aliens are interesting and well designed. their behavior and social structures flow from their evolutionary past in their environments and feel very natural; again, much like the aforementioned "mission of gravity".
the story is instantly gripping, moves at a good pace and at the end of the novel leaves you wanting more. the alien characters are interesting and, while physiologically different, have very human-like thought processes. i suppose we all wish to read about protagonists whose reasoning we can comprehend, but what would a story look like narrated from the point of view of a truly alien being (eg:the scramblers from blindsight)?
ideologically the book is an examination of the famous prime directive, its validity and implications. i will not discuss it more because i wouldn’t want to give anything away, but let me just state that i, personally, have always disagreed with starfleet on this matter (you can let me know in the comments how do you feel about it). if you dig a bit deeper, the novel also offers a commentary on more contemporary politics and attitudes, but it is very subtle and non-intrusive (please take note, mr baxter).
i can wholeheartedly recommend this book to any sci-fi fan looking for a fast-paced, intelligent story reminiscent of the classics.
the novel scores quite high on the sci-fi hardness scale: apart from a form of faster-than-light travel which is only there to allow travel to the setting, most of the gadgets are plausible extrapolations of existing technology. also, the wetsuits, moon pool and submersibles were a quite welcome change from the traditional eva suits, airlocks and rovers and reminded me a lot of james cameron's "the abyss". this is no space opera, though; there is no universal translator and communicating with aliens is not at all trivial. the aliens are interesting and well designed. their behavior and social structures flow from their evolutionary past in their environments and feel very natural; again, much like the aforementioned "mission of gravity".
the story is instantly gripping, moves at a good pace and at the end of the novel leaves you wanting more. the alien characters are interesting and, while physiologically different, have very human-like thought processes. i suppose we all wish to read about protagonists whose reasoning we can comprehend, but what would a story look like narrated from the point of view of a truly alien being (eg:the scramblers from blindsight)?
ideologically the book is an examination of the famous prime directive, its validity and implications. i will not discuss it more because i wouldn’t want to give anything away, but let me just state that i, personally, have always disagreed with starfleet on this matter (you can let me know in the comments how do you feel about it). if you dig a bit deeper, the novel also offers a commentary on more contemporary politics and attitudes, but it is very subtle and non-intrusive (please take note, mr baxter).
i can wholeheartedly recommend this book to any sci-fi fan looking for a fast-paced, intelligent story reminiscent of the classics.
