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4.16 AVERAGE
4.16 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Incredible.
I'm not sure I've ever felt so involved in a story. The cast (for they are not merely characters) so real. The knowledge that this idyllic off world exploration of God was going to go so badly wrong, and how thoroughly unprepared I was for when it did. This is a genuine masterpiece. Not a word out of place.
Father Sandoz is a Jesuit priest and an impeccable linguist. God, fate, the Jesuit hierarchy, the universe (the author, I suppose) conspired to put him and his most beloved in place to receive music communicated from alpha centauri. What follows is a mission to an alien planet, a joy of family and love and God and belonging, and then brutal, inhuman disaster.
It's told partially in time, but also after Sandoz, the only survivor has returned to Earth, damaged and disgraced, both threads meeting eventually at the climax. And bloody hell, isn't it a climax?
I'm not sure I've ever felt so involved in a story. The cast (for they are not merely characters) so real. The knowledge that this idyllic off world exploration of God was going to go so badly wrong, and how thoroughly unprepared I was for when it did. This is a genuine masterpiece. Not a word out of place.
Father Sandoz is a Jesuit priest and an impeccable linguist. God, fate, the Jesuit hierarchy, the universe (the author, I suppose) conspired to put him and his most beloved in place to receive music communicated from alpha centauri. What follows is a mission to an alien planet, a joy of family and love and God and belonging, and then brutal, inhuman disaster.
It's told partially in time, but also after Sandoz, the only survivor has returned to Earth, damaged and disgraced, both threads meeting eventually at the climax. And bloody hell, isn't it a climax?
3.5 stars
The first half of the book was pretty dry. We are skipping between the future "trial" and in the past before the expedition. Frankly, I found all of that fairly boring. The character building wasn't really working for me so I was just waiting for the plot to pickup.
Finally, they arrived on the new planet and made contact right away. From there, I was hooked. The author does a really good job of fleshing out the aliens' language and culture. Then, when it skipped to the future we got insights into what some of it meant in hindsight. That helped to add extra context to the story and pull me into the disaster that was to come.
The ending was also pretty satisfying. Things seemed to go to help fairly quickly but it all made sense.
I would probably recommend this book to any sci-fi lover. Just know it's a slow burn that may not be an enjoyable ride getting around to the action.
The first half of the book was pretty dry. We are skipping between the future "trial" and in the past before the expedition. Frankly, I found all of that fairly boring. The character building wasn't really working for me so I was just waiting for the plot to pickup.
Finally, they arrived on the new planet and made contact right away. From there, I was hooked. The author does a really good job of fleshing out the aliens' language and culture. Then, when it skipped to the future we got insights into what some of it meant in hindsight. That helped to add extra context to the story and pull me into the disaster that was to come.
The ending was also pretty satisfying. Things seemed to go to help fairly quickly but it all made sense.
I would probably recommend this book to any sci-fi lover. Just know it's a slow burn that may not be an enjoyable ride getting around to the action.
I can’t believe this heart-wrenching and believable dystopian novel is 25 years old! Very reminiscent of “The Book of Strange New Things,” also one of my favorite sci fi/dystopian novels. So well written.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Oof.
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
"Always and forever! Those aren't human words, Jim. Not even stones are always and forever."
The last 200 pages really brought the rating up, and I was on the edge of my seat for the last 100. This is a verrrrry slow moving first contact with aliens novel, and there is almost a painful amount of build up for the inevitable horrific conclusion that is alluded to throughout the whole thing. I think the payoff is worth it though, and it is as sad and horrifying as it promises it will be. I don't think I'll read the second novel though because I think it works best as a standalone.
The last 200 pages really brought the rating up, and I was on the edge of my seat for the last 100. This is a verrrrry slow moving first contact with aliens novel, and there is almost a painful amount of build up for the inevitable horrific conclusion that is alluded to throughout the whole thing. I think the payoff is worth it though, and it is as sad and horrifying as it promises it will be. I don't think I'll read the second novel though because I think it works best as a standalone.
Where to even begin. My interests lean more toward to science fiction than theology or drama. This book did not get into any substantial science fiction until about 60% in. The beginning was purely written like soap opera drama with inane details of the protagonist and his friends rather than about the greatest discovery humanity has ever known. It was infuriating. I skimmed over passages on the sexual frustrations of the priesthood hoping to find information about the alien civilization next door. Then the actual details of first contact emerge that just defies scientific sense.
The expedition of priests somehow find an asteroid to commandeer to Alpha Centauri. The planet just happens to be earth-like, with the right temperature, atmospheric composition to be breathable for humans. The flora and fauna are edible. The carelessness and behaviour likened to backcountry campers stumbling upon friendly dinosaurs. And the clincher to the whole story, one can be raped by aliens is just absurd.
Despite all this, the premise was what drew me to this book. But when 60% of it was just uninteresting rom-com, I won’t be reading the sequel.
The expedition of priests somehow find an asteroid to commandeer to Alpha Centauri. The planet just happens to be earth-like, with the right temperature, atmospheric composition to be breathable for humans. The flora and fauna are edible. The carelessness and behaviour likened to backcountry campers stumbling upon friendly dinosaurs. And the clincher to the whole story, one can be raped by aliens is just absurd.
Despite all this, the premise was what drew me to this book. But when 60% of it was just uninteresting rom-com, I won’t be reading the sequel.
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This bookswas recommended to me I think when I was lamenting the lack of religion in modern SF on Galactic Suburbia, and then also somewhat at random by my school librarian. Who then proceeded to buy it for school... but put it on my desk before putting it on the shelf. Truly I am looked after.
The premise behind The Sparrow is one that, once stated, makes an enormous amount of sense when you consider the history of colonisation and exploration from a European perspective. Which group of people have, historically, often been the first into new, uncharted-by-white-folks areas? That would be the Jesuits. Of course. So, in 2019 when a signal is received from another planet, it is the Jesuits who finance and send the first interplanetary mission. As the history of Earth's colonisation would also suggest, it is not an easy mission, and fraught with all sorts of difficulties - physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual.
The narrative follows two timelines: one from the time of the discovery of the radio signal, and the subsequent preparations to go to the new planet; the other, some 40 years later, with the one returnee being... interviewed... by his Jesuit brethren about what happened there. This is a difficult process for a variety of reasons: some pertaining to the priest (Emilio) himself, some to the interviewers, and others to the way the situation has been handled and reported. This second timeline is the most difficult to read, obviously, but in turn it has a big impact on the way in which the first has to be read. In the first, Emilio is not the man he has become in the second, so reading the two congruently gives the reader quite a sense of dissonance - which of course makes sense and adds to the experience of understanding just how this man changed, and why.
Did I mention it's not an easy book to read?
Most of the characters are compelling, and usually in a good way. Emilio is probably the most enigmatic of them, right from the start. The rest of the crew who head off to the alien planet are more accessible, to a greater or lesser degree; most of the Jesuit investigators likewise, although we get to know them to a much lesser extent. There is a nice variety of character - different religious backgrounds being the greatest and most important example of diversity, given the book's premise. I found most of the characters intensely believable, too, with one exception - and that exception I can't really talk about without giving spoilers. Suffice to say, I hope, that I didn't find that this took away from the book in the slightest.
In some ways this book can be seen as a meditation on the impact of European contact and colonisation on the rest of the world in the so-called Age of Discovery. Interestingly, and intriguingly, it looks at the impact on both the subject and the colonisers, which is I think something often missing from the literature (Heart of Darkness being an obvious parallel here). Connected to this, and really really interestingly from my perspective, is the fact that the impact of such an experience - right from the discovery of aliens to contact and the end result of that - on religious people is also front and centre. And taken seriously, and described in ways that I, as a Christian, found quite profound and... accessible, I guess. (The author discusses her own religiosity in an afterword, saying that she was a lapsed Catholic until she had children, at which point she started thinking about religion again and converted to Judaism.) I appreciated this attempt to grapple with what I think are incredibly important issues, and that are often overlooked in the genre.
There is a sequel, apparently, and I'm not sure what I think about that; it stands so starkly and brilliantly by itself that I would be reluctant to add to the 'afterwards'. That said, this book is so beautifully written that I'm a bit in love with Russell's prose and I think I could read every other bit of fiction that she's put out there, so I guess I'll be reading the sequel.
The premise behind The Sparrow is one that, once stated, makes an enormous amount of sense when you consider the history of colonisation and exploration from a European perspective. Which group of people have, historically, often been the first into new, uncharted-by-white-folks areas? That would be the Jesuits. Of course. So, in 2019 when a signal is received from another planet, it is the Jesuits who finance and send the first interplanetary mission. As the history of Earth's colonisation would also suggest, it is not an easy mission, and fraught with all sorts of difficulties - physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual.
The narrative follows two timelines: one from the time of the discovery of the radio signal, and the subsequent preparations to go to the new planet; the other, some 40 years later, with the one returnee being... interviewed... by his Jesuit brethren about what happened there. This is a difficult process for a variety of reasons: some pertaining to the priest (Emilio) himself, some to the interviewers, and others to the way the situation has been handled and reported. This second timeline is the most difficult to read, obviously, but in turn it has a big impact on the way in which the first has to be read. In the first, Emilio is not the man he has become in the second, so reading the two congruently gives the reader quite a sense of dissonance - which of course makes sense and adds to the experience of understanding just how this man changed, and why.
Did I mention it's not an easy book to read?
Most of the characters are compelling, and usually in a good way. Emilio is probably the most enigmatic of them, right from the start. The rest of the crew who head off to the alien planet are more accessible, to a greater or lesser degree; most of the Jesuit investigators likewise, although we get to know them to a much lesser extent. There is a nice variety of character - different religious backgrounds being the greatest and most important example of diversity, given the book's premise. I found most of the characters intensely believable, too, with one exception - and that exception I can't really talk about without giving spoilers. Suffice to say, I hope, that I didn't find that this took away from the book in the slightest.
In some ways this book can be seen as a meditation on the impact of European contact and colonisation on the rest of the world in the so-called Age of Discovery. Interestingly, and intriguingly, it looks at the impact on both the subject and the colonisers, which is I think something often missing from the literature (Heart of Darkness being an obvious parallel here). Connected to this, and really really interestingly from my perspective, is the fact that the impact of such an experience - right from the discovery of aliens to contact and the end result of that - on religious people is also front and centre. And taken seriously, and described in ways that I, as a Christian, found quite profound and... accessible, I guess. (The author discusses her own religiosity in an afterword, saying that she was a lapsed Catholic until she had children, at which point she started thinking about religion again and converted to Judaism.) I appreciated this attempt to grapple with what I think are incredibly important issues, and that are often overlooked in the genre.
There is a sequel, apparently, and I'm not sure what I think about that; it stands so starkly and brilliantly by itself that I would be reluctant to add to the 'afterwards'. That said, this book is so beautifully written that I'm a bit in love with Russell's prose and I think I could read every other bit of fiction that she's put out there, so I guess I'll be reading the sequel.
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes