The world is changing, and humanity must change with it. Rising seas and soaring temperatures have radically transformed the face of Earth. Meanwhile, Earth is being observed from afar by other civilizations . . . and now they are ready to make contact.
Vying to prepare humanity for first contact are a group of dreamers and changemakers, including Peter Hendrix, the genius inventor behind the most advanced VR tech; Charyssa, a beloved celebrity icon with a passion for humanitarian work; and Kanoa, a member of a global council of young people drafted to reimagine the relationship between humankind and alien societies.
And they may have an unexpected secret weapon: Owen, a pop megastar whose ability to connect with his adoring fans is more than charisma. His hidden talent could be the key to uniting Earth as it looks toward the stars.
But Owen’s abilities are so unique that no one can control him and so seductive that he cannot help but use them. Can he transcend his human limitations and find the freedom he has always dreamed of? Or is he doomed to become the dictator of his nightmares?
A beautiful and optimistic image of the future of mankind where, despite our differences and the ravages we have inflicted on the planet, we emerge as ready to take the first steps on a galactic scale.
What I Liked
- The beauty of the descriptions of the natural world
- The overriding optimism and warmth in the novel
What Could Have Been Different
- Some of the characterisation felt a little distant: it was more a novel of ideas than of character.
- The two sides of the plot – the aliens and the underwater life form – didn’t always seem to gel… it almost felt like two different stories stitched together
This is the fourth book I have read of the Women’s Prize longlist, and whilst I was reading it, the shortlist was announced.,, and only one of those I have read – Restless Dolly Maunder – appears on the shortlist!
I have to say that, for me, although I enjoyed this novel and I appreciate its thoughtfulness and optimism, I would agree that it was a worthy longlist book, but not at a level that warranted shortlisting.
The premise of the novel is that, in the near future, aliens have discovered Earth and whilst some factions are seeking to exploit it, others are seeking to protect its independence. Fortunately or unfortunately, these aliens look sufficiently like humans that with a little masking and technology they can pass as human and have infiltrated our institutions.
Owen is one of these aliens and the first part of the novel follows his career as a powerfully charismatic musician lauded internationally. His charisma is part of his alien gifts, inherited from a father who used those same gifts to become a petty tyrant and to rule absolutely in some distant place. We flow between the points of view of both Owen’s alien compatriots and his human staff becoming increasingly exposed to the fact of their employer’s alienness. We see various interests of Owens in a technology company, in holographic technology, in football club training programmes that are part of a wider plan beyond mere music.
The second half of the novel jumps forward in time to a point where Owen seems to have retired and we follow Kanoa and his fellow members of the diplomatic programme of the global council project, a select team of half a dozen human members who seem to be training to with invented scenarios and thought experiments to treat with putative aliens in galactic terms. We are still in a world ignorant of the presence of the aliens… until their presence is exposed dramatically, and the data of the training programmes is revealed to have been true.
Alongside this project, there are other alien allies of Owen investigating the depth of the oceans looking for life and for an intelligence that transcends the human – but is Terran – and may in due course facilitate humanity’s ability to travel beyond the solar system. Lord did invest thought into the difficulty of travel across the vastness of space: portals, symbiosis with sentient interdimensional organic ships…
I’m not sure quite how well Lord let me get to know her characters, either human or alien. Kanoa was the one who we got closest to, introduced to him in the immediate aftermath of his father’s death in the ocean as he starts the global government project. His trauma and acceptance and eventual communion with the spirit of his father via the deep sea creatures did beautifully tie in mythologies and superstition and science fiction, in a moment of real tenderness.
There was so much thought and so many ideas running through the novel, and so many threads that it tried to pull together that it is almost inevitable that some of them failed to quite gel and it felt almost frayed in places. I did love the moment where Owen allows the global community to meet in the raw, physically, through the virtual reality technology and the people of the world are shown together, united, celebrating their shared identity without sacrificing their individuality. It may have only been a momentary reaching out – replaced by more caution – but it showed an optimism about humanity that I had not been expecting
