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A review by founddrama
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
5.0
This was a pretty goddamned devastating read. I could see that bit at the end coming for hundreds of pages but Russell so expertly unfolded the story bit by bit that it was like standing there with a bloody heart in your hand, butcher's paper crumpled at your feet.
One of the novels I'm working on (and have been since... 2010? way before I read this and I believe also before I'd heard about this one) would do well to be informed by what she does here. A good first contact story reminds you of how similar we might be across species across the universe, but also that the differences -- when we see them -- will be the ones that we could never have imagined [1] and are thus all the more terrifying for it.
I'll leave it at that for now. I have nothing else to add to the narrative of reviews that hasn't already been said; try:
• Aerin's review:
• Manny's review:
See also:
• http://io9.com/361597/the-twenty-science-fiction-novels-that-will-change-your-life
• http://io9.com/5957073/10-science-fiction-novels-that-will-definitely-never-be-movies
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[1]: And yes, I'm well aware that we obviously just did imagine it, because someone wrote it. But you know what I mean.
One of the novels I'm working on (and have been since... 2010? way before I read this and I believe also before I'd heard about this one) would do well to be informed by what she does here. A good first contact story reminds you of how similar we might be across species across the universe, but also that the differences -- when we see them -- will be the ones that we could never have imagined [1] and are thus all the more terrifying for it.
I'll leave it at that for now. I have nothing else to add to the narrative of reviews that hasn't already been said; try:
• Aerin's review:
It's a view of God that my atheist mind can fathom.
• Manny's review:
This is the third SF story I've read where a Jesuit priest goes on an expedition to another planet and suffers a spiritual crisis as a result. It's almost becoming a sub-genre.
See also:
• http://io9.com/361597/the-twenty-science-fiction-novels-that-will-change-your-life
• http://io9.com/5957073/10-science-fiction-novels-that-will-definitely-never-be-movies
----
[1]: And yes, I'm well aware that we obviously just did imagine it, because someone wrote it. But you know what I mean.