Probability Sun (2001)

Too much infodump and unlikeable asshole to get through before it really got going. Nevermind.

The first few chapters of this were terribly infodumpy. I didn't find the children very convincing either, although they did improve as the book went on. I hadn't realised at first that this was a sequel, but I didn't have any trouble getting into the story and following what was happening. It was an easy read, though not exceptionally original in terms of characterisation and story structure. I did enjoy the invented culture, perhaps a little too much to be really comfortable with the ending. ( )

Probability Sun is the second of the "probability trilogy" by Nancy Kress, taking place about three years after the events chronicled in Probability Moon. At the end of that book, humans had gone from World with the belief that they had been deemed "unreal" by the natives, but as it happens, the natives' "shared reality" has decided that humans are, indeed, real. Another mission is sent to the planet, this time to dig up, test and possibly remove the buried alien artifact that had been found by the previous team of scientists, an artifact that might have great use in the ongoing interstellar war in which humans are engaged. But what might that action do to the people of World, and do the humans even care?.... Often the middle book in a trilogy serves more as a place-holder, moving some of the action forward but generally not resolving anything, but in this trilogy, Kress has managed to construct the novels such that one can read each novel independently; that is, one does not have to have read Probability Moon to understand the events in Probability Sun, although of course it's a richer experience if one has read the earlier book. Here we again meet some characters we have already come to know, and some new characters are introduced. There are occasional info-dumps that exactly duplicate passages from the earlier book, but with that quibble aside, overall this is a very satisfying read; recommended! ( )

This second novel of the Probability triology stands a bit weakly on its own. It is essential however, to the future history of man's ulitmate challenge against indestructible xenophobic aliens while attempting to manage imperative but hazardous second contact with an isolated population of humans that share reality. The primary characters evoke little sympathy, and the science is a bit jumbled and oddly portrayed, but critical to the story line. ( )