Wow, this was a really good example of great science fiction. I already knew the author was good at this – but this book really brought a few different genres together into one great story.
My favorite book of his, Children of Time, took a look at the evolution of spiders, with a guest appearance by a hive of ants. This book idea maybe sprang from the ants and their hive mind. It did also seem awfully close to the aliens in Pandora’s Star, which I read recently. But the aliens are only half the story – the humans have a unique part to play here too.
The story developed with a nice sense of pacing, and wasn’t in a hurry to get you to the conclusion. The unexpected close-up inspection of the Shroud moon was scary at first and fascinating later, skillfully written to bring us around to some startling conclusions.
I didn’t have many complaints – if anything I thought the bad guys were a little simplistic, but the author provides some background for this and I guess I could let it slide. I really enjoyed reading this book – impressive!
Next I am reading The Stand by Stephen King. I think this might be my third or fourth time reading it. It is a long book so if any library books come up in the meantime I’ll squeeze those in, too.
