Like with most people, I first encountered this title, this work of fiction, through the movie. The movie generated a lot of buzz and was very popular several months back, but for one reason or another, I wasn’t able to catch it because I wasn’t really into going to the cinema (which is slowly changing by the way 😀).
Fast forward to May, when I attended one of the Philippine Astronomical Society’s Astro camp (which I haven’t blogged about here 😅), I learned that one of the prizes they gave away in a past Astro camp was a copy of the book. This piqued my curiosity because that just shows this book is well-loved by those space enthusiasts. It was also timely because I was, at that time, slowly returning to my roots as a space nerd. I got a copy of the book and started reading that same month.
The premise of the story is interesting. However, even for someone who loves space, I got a bit overwhelmed with a lot of the technical explanations elaborated in the book regarding the physics and the chemistry involved in the plot. 😅 Still, things do get interesting when Dr. Grace, the protagonist, meets “Rocky”, the alien, in his space journey. I enjoyed all their interaction in the book.
I’ve heard a lot of praises about the movie, that it was tear-jerking and had a plot twist at the end. I didn’t want to get spoiled while still reading the book, that’s why I was really looking forward to finishing reading the novel. However, when I did, the ending didn’t move me, the way I expected it to.
Overall, I would give it a 4/5. It’s not something that I would remember for long after reading it. Let’s see how it pans out when I watch the movie, which I plan to do at the end of this week. 😁
