Carolyn Ives Gilman

I found it a good read, with interesting ideas and things to say. It's about a scientific mission to check out a planet where strange physics stuff seems to be happening.

So far it sounds very conventional, but it isn't. First, there's the composition of the scientific team: there's as much emphasis on hard sciences as in more metaphysical stuff. I found that interesting, but a bit weird. I appreciate that a future society would have different ideas on what's important in science, but a mission funded by a greedy corporation will want tangible results and, frankly, metaphysical sciences are unlikely to bring many of those.

Then we have the natives. They were the best part for me. It's a bit of a copt-out to have a first contact story where the contacted "aliens" are human and even speak English, but in spite of that the natives were refreshingly different and I liked how it felt like both sides had worthwhile things to teach each other. The parts about how differently both cultures perceived things, and how difficult it was for them to learn the others' way was my favorite part.

To spice things up, we also have a murder mystery and some political intrigue that basically boils down to nothing.

I wish we could have had a bit less emphasis on metaphysical mental abilities. It was central to the plot, and that was OK with me, but perhaps I would have preferred a bit less emphasis and less subplots related to that. I'm just not a big fan of that trope.

In line with recent popular themes in SF, many readers will appreciate the emphasis on feminism and looking beyond racial prejudices.

The characters were OK, although they were not the best part of the story for me.

I found the ending satisfying, although some readers might not like that it leaves some things open, either for the readers' imagination or for a future sequel. As I said, it worked for me as it is. I felt like I had a complete story.

In short, not perfect but it had new and cool ideas, and also a story that worked. I enjoyed it and would recommend it.… (plus d'informations)