I really enjoyed this novel about first contact between two species, that happens right here on Earth. Similar in tone to the movie The Arrival, it struck the perfect balance between cerebral and action for me.
I’m out familiar with this author, but he writes about exotic locations very well. The future that he has envisioned here is pretty scary and although there is a lot of techno lingo at first, things calm down and we get pulled into the story.
I thought that the story started off quite slowly, hit a good stride for most of the novel, and then very abruptly wrapped up.
Although the plot was pretty interesting, and all angles come together at the end, it felt a little too predictable, and the way the author set up the ending it felt like an easy set up for a future sequel.
I guess I was hoping for a little more of the inter-species communication – there wasn’t enough of that for me in this book.
Next I am reading A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge.
