Reviews

Children of God by Mary Doria Russell

lcolium's review against another edition

2.0

I LOVED the Sparrow, and I could not get through Children of God! I gave up about 60% of the way through because there are too many books in the world for me to spend time on one I am not enjoying. I just found it to be way too terse.

Also, I am definitely counting this as a book I've read because I made it more than halfway through and put a LOT of effort into it.

emiliosandoz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

considering the length of my review for the first book in the series and my love for the series as a whole, i feel like this review should be longer, but i don't have anything else to say at the moment. that will no doubt change, but for now: my g-d that was good.

sweatyback's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

aravenscroft's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.0

strangenoquestion's review against another edition

5.0

my heart ripped open and sewn back together over and over.. goodbye emilio i miss you already

jgintrovertedreader's review against another edition

3.0

I read The Sparrow about a year ago and it's one of those relatively rare books that has really stayed fresh in my mind. I need someone I know to dig into it and pick it apart with me. Of course Catholic missionaries would be among the first people to reach out to life on other planets. They've filled that role here for time immemorial. Why would the reaches of space be any different? The book tackled respecting other cultures, faith, why bad things happen to good people, and how do we help people who have been psychically and/or physically injured beyond all endurance? There is so much to sink your teeth into in that book.

This one just didn't grab me in the same way.

I read this during stay-at-home orders in the COVID-19 pandemic. To my surprise, I find that I'm one of the people who is having a hard time focusing on books in this climate. I don't know why. I don't feel overly stressed out. I'm emotionally well-suited to staying home. And yet here I am, with the attention span of a gnat. So that may be my biggest problem. The Sparrow demanded some serious brain power and that's not something that's in my wheelhouse at the moment.

Moving beyond that though, I think I missed the focus on Emilio. Don't get me wrong--he's still very much the main character in Children of God, but there's a lot of time spent on other characters in parallel stories. It has been a year since reading the previous book, so I could very well be remembering things incorrectly, but I really think that most of that book was spent on Emilio's personal faith and story arc.

There's still room for a lot of discussion here, but this discussion wouldn't be about things that interest me as much. Is it okay to do a terrible thing for a good reason? Are violent revolutions justified? How far is too far? And what's going on with that ending? Not the last scene, but the wrap-up to the interplanetary voyaging. I feel like I missed something.

I might have felt different if I had read this shortly after reading The Sparrow because the two are essentially one book, with this one picking up within months of where the first left off. I recommend reading them together. I still recommend reading this book because it is good and it is more of a natural ending to the overall story, I personally was just a bit disappointed in it.

lehughes19's review

adventurous emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

twfresh's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

readingjag's review against another edition

4.0

Another gem. Not as heartbreaking as The Sparrow, but so very much worth reading. The two books together read more as one long work to me.

My favorite quote from the book:

Spoiler

"Know that if we are children of one God, we can make ourselves one family in time."
"And if God is just a song?" Ha'anala asked, alone and frightened.
Suukmel did not answer for a while. Finally she said "Our task is the same."

abigrosse's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0