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A review by trollbeard
The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber
1.0
This is less about the complications of interplanetary travel and encountering an entirely new group of otherworldly sentient beings, but more about human relationships and the strain put upon them by distance. The premise of the story was incredibly compelling, but never materialized in an interesting way.
This story could just as easily been about a missionary traveling to a remote part of the world and spreading the word of God to a curious native population. Other than their appearance, the Oasans were unimaginative, and frankly dull as characters, whereas the driving elements in this novel came from Bea, Peter's wife who he has left behind. At first I was incredibly curious about the Oasans, yet as the novel progressed I cared much less about the boring natives of the planet Peter was visiting and more about how his wife would react to how incredibly insensitive and self-absorbed he had become.
This being said, I wanted to keep reading. I was interested throughout, and even though I was interested in ways I wouldn't expect from a novel of science fiction, I was definitely driven to finish The Book of Strange New Things.
This story could just as easily been about a missionary traveling to a remote part of the world and spreading the word of God to a curious native population. Other than their appearance, the Oasans were unimaginative, and frankly dull as characters, whereas the driving elements in this novel came from Bea, Peter's wife who he has left behind. At first I was incredibly curious about the Oasans, yet as the novel progressed I cared much less about the boring natives of the planet Peter was visiting and more about how his wife would react to how incredibly insensitive and self-absorbed he had become.
This being said, I wanted to keep reading. I was interested throughout, and even though I was interested in ways I wouldn't expect from a novel of science fiction, I was definitely driven to finish The Book of Strange New Things.