James L. Cambias

Pros: great world-building, fascinating alien species, diverse characters, interesting plot, stand-alone novel

Cons:

An accident occurs among the humans observing the native intelligent life forms deep in the oceans under the ice of the distant planet Ilmatar. An alien race older than humans, the Sholen, have decreed that no contact be made with the natives for fear of human colonization. They send a ship to the planet to verify that no rules have been broken, but their inner politics dictate show more that the humans’ mission be shut down, regardless.

Meanwhile, Broadtail 38 Sandyslope, along with a group of likeminded Ilmataran scientists, makes a strange discovery that changes the course of his life.

I love it when the first paragraph of a book sucks you in and doesn't let you go. And this book has an awesome one:

By the end of his second month at Hitode Station, Rob Freeman had already come up with 85 ways to murder Henry Kerlerec. That put him third in the station’s rankings — Joseph Palashnik was first with 143, followed by Nadia Kyle with 97. In general, the number and sheer viciousness of the suggested methods was in proportion to the amount of time each one spent with Henri.

Rob Freeman is the research station’s underwater photographer and drone operator and the first, and only human, viewpoint character. Through him we see how the humans get along and how they react when the Sholen show up.

Our Showlen point of view comes from one of their two scientists, Tizhos, the subordinate in a race that focuses on consensus and achieves it via sexual contact. Through her we see signs of how their society works, using pheromones to calm and attract, as well as trying to subdue natural reactions, like anger and frustration, to maintain peace.

We’re given two Ilmataran points of view, one through Broadtail, a scientist and landowner, and the other through Strongpincer, a bandit. This, and Broadtail’s adventures, allows the reader to get a wider idea of the Ilmataran society.

The alien societies are quite fascinating, and distinct. Ironically, many of the problems that occur in the book are because each group expects that the aliens think and act the way they do - even when the person making this assumption knows better. So, for example, the humans’ passive aggressive screaming and handcuffing tactic isn’t understood by the Sholen, despite the humans thinking it’s a universal form of protest.

While I didn’t like all of the characters, I’m looking at you Richard Graves, there was a good variety of personalities and temperaments represented. Every character had their own motivations for what they did, and reacted differently to the various crises that occur.

The story was very interesting, with a lot going on all the time. And it's a stand-alone novel.

This is a fantastic debut. show less

Daslakh is a small spider droid with an ancient mind that has been pared and shoehorned into its current case. Zee, its human mining partner, has no idea what he is hanging out with. When Zee starts showing signs of ennui, Daslakh hires an uplifted penguin to help by implanting false memories of a lost love in Zee’s innocent brain, giving a renewed zest for life. So far, so good, until Zee meets a girl who exactly matches his fictional memory, letting Daslakh know the penguin has its own show more nefarious agenda. Zee’s imagined lover leads them on a quest for a rumored weapon designed to kill digital minds using a logical loop suggested by the mathematician Kurt Gödel. It is a caper that takes them hopping across the solar system from the rings of Uranus to Jupiter and Mars.
Cambias does two things that add to the fun: he lets the feisty little Daslakh narrate the tale and packs his tenth-millennium world with all sorts of bots, AIs, uplifted animals, and a billion habits, on-planet and off. show less

Really really liked it. First contact, emphasis on the What If and the Sense of Wonder but still interesting characters that we care about, and a dramatic & coherent plot with no actual villains. All that plus gracefully written, complex worldbuilding, respect for individuals of both* genders, even humor.

Totally my kind of book. Almost as good as Longyear's *Enemy Mine.*

The ending, though... hm. Maybe there's a sequel; if there is, I'll gladly reread this before moving on to that to get the show more rest of the story. And I will look for more by the author.

*Yes, all three kinds of beings are apparently straightforwardly binary. And we don't learn enough about the Ilmataran females (though the concept of how the young are raised is well-developed and fascinating). Oh well... there are lots of other imaginative things going on here.

He "doesn't like the idea of starving to death..., but he hates the thought of losing his followers even more."

Apparently this takes place in the relatively near future. Cambias explores human nature, assuming that we'll take our attitudes with us into the future even after meeting real aliens. For example, when one character of this international team is annoyed at another, he expresses the thought that "Europeans have no sense of humor."

One Ilmataran is noting that his work with the humans will probably lead his current mentor to be known in history as colleagues of the great B."... and then he realizes that his apprentice may be having a similar thought, that she might become even more famous and B. will become known as "teacher of the great H."

And then, in what I assume is an homage to Orwell's *Animal Farm,* we have the slogan "four limbs good, six legs bad." I about spilled my tea laughing at that. show less

"... the closest we can come to Star Trek without paying royalties."

Indeed.

So we've got a three way that includes intelligent fish, six-legged cultural purists, and... yeah, you got it... upstart humans. No conflict to start with, mostly just a fact-finding mission trying to get to know the locals without interfering, just like the Prime Directive says, and then we've got COMPLICATIONS.

You know. A bit of curious murder by a people who don't know it's murder. They're just curious. No biggie. show more I can barely hear the screams. After all, he's just a cameraman. Decent start. Reminds me of a blast-from the past homage to old SF. To me, it seemed like a direct homage to Brin's [b:Startide Rising|234501|Startide Rising (The Uplift Saga, #2)|David Brin|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1435151135s/234501.jpg|251634], although, to be perfectly honest, I preferred Brin's Dolphins. There was a lot going on under the surface, there, unlike the wide, but less deep, look at the locals. Cool worldbuilding, for all that. I like the attempt to bring a world to life from under so much ice, but I do complain that it still seems like a direct analogue of "regular people". Really? Just a society of shopkeepers and cultural mores closer to the Greeks or Arabs, in that guests under one's roof is considered inviolate?

Because of that, I want to read this novel like an indictment of our culture, but no, it tries too hard to be a deep and complex society meeting and interacting with two alien species and navigating through THEIR conflict. Damn the humans and their meddling. They never know when to butt the hell out, do they?

It's not a bad novel, but it feels like it ought to belong in the 60's or 70's set of SF novels, and NOT the New Wave set.

It's really, ultimately, only a First Contact novel, and it's fairly entertaining. Not extremely original or surprising, though. I kept expecting the glorious "Gun" to show up and prove that the yokel locals "have the power" to resist the invaders. *sigh*

Well, I can give props to the author for being a long-respected group of GURPs authors known for some really excellent worldbuilding props. I can't say they're fantastic at actual STORYTELLING, but this attempt wasn't exactly bad. Perhaps it was a bit old-hat, but it certainly wasn't bad. I felt like I was taking a dip in an old-style pool.

Perhaps I would have liked this more had I figured I was actually reading a Past Master's Old Script. I just wanted to see a higher dedication to originality and excitement. You know, not just a repelling of invaders and a subtext that right must always pursue might. show less