apatter7's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this first contact story. The authors take on alien first contact and how the world will react is interesting and realistic, causing discord between other countries and America and not everything working as seamless as everyone hopes. Would definitely recommend and looking forward to reading other books by this author.
jimstockwell's review
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
alice_horoshev's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
Too naive and rather preposterous in thinking that UN can ban US. Also it gets boring to read about super basic there is no rainbow colours stuff, the author brings nothing new to Carl Sagan's Contact.
ajlewis2's review
challenging
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
5.0
I thoroughly enjoyed the story and the main characters. I thought the story dragged a bit in parts, but not very much and not often. As the story progressed I saw where those slow parts developed into revealing a bit of the mystery. This was not enough to throw me out of the story, because it was so intriguing. It's so good to find another Indy author that I like! And he's written a bunch, so that's even better.
mallorn's review against another edition
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No
3.75
eviljosh's review against another edition
3.0
Not the best written characters or most satisfying ending, this retelling (in many ways) of Carl Sagan's 'Contact' is still a great sci-fi indie novel, and better written than most of the indie out there (especially the indie sci-fi, which often verges on overdone and comedic).
Indeed, calling it sci-fi is almost a misnomer. This is a thought experiment of how an advanced civilization's probe may go about finding us and initiating contact, and how we would try to study it and work with it.
It's strongest when considering the scientific and religious impact of such contact, but takes a nosedive when postulating on political and security ramifications. The concept of a French invasion of JFK, using military transports squawking civilian call signs, is somewhere between laughable and ludicrous.
Still, all in all it's a great read, especially for fans of uplifting, modern/near-future sci-fi along the lines of Contact.
Indeed, calling it sci-fi is almost a misnomer. This is a thought experiment of how an advanced civilization's probe may go about finding us and initiating contact, and how we would try to study it and work with it.
It's strongest when considering the scientific and religious impact of such contact, but takes a nosedive when postulating on political and security ramifications. The concept of a French invasion of JFK, using military transports squawking civilian call signs, is somewhere between laughable and ludicrous.
Still, all in all it's a great read, especially for fans of uplifting, modern/near-future sci-fi along the lines of Contact.
flowersbloomhere's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 This was...different. I love reading first contact stories. This was a good read but just wasn't what I was expecting. It focused more on humans trying to figure out how to communicate with and understand the anomaly, and not on the actual aliens themselves. I liked that the author made the science so easy to understand. It was a refreshing read, so fast and short I breezed right through it! Definitely looking forward to reading more from this author, and the other standalone books in this series.
gibbo's review against another edition
5.0
Great!!!
Very entertaining loved it, should be made into a movie. Saw it in my Amazon library and glad I read it.
Very entertaining loved it, should be made into a movie. Saw it in my Amazon library and glad I read it.
leok's review
3.0
Not too sure what to make of this book. I liked the concept and premise behind the Anomaly, bit felt the whole story suffered in its execution.
The writing style was brief sentences, with character actions being told to the reader instead of the reader being taken on a journey as events unfolded. Basically, the writing style reminded of the old See Spot, books. See Spot. See Spot run. See Spot catch a ball...
And character actions were often described in the manner, with the character name being mentioned repeatedly within the same paragraph. Mason said this...Mason did that, instead of Mason said this, and he did that...his experience, his perspective...
I knew nothing of the author prior to this book, and after the first couple chapters I wasn't sure if the writing was just that bad or the author. Turns out it was one of the first novels the author wrote, which helped explain why the book felt like a first draft.
That said, I still enjoyed the book. It was onteresing approach to a first contact novel. Not original, as the author points out the novel was inspired by Carl Sagan's Contact book, but it was still interesting what he did with the concept of humanity encountering an alien entity There was also a lot of callbacks to other stories in the sci-fi genre, couple passages felt like they would have fitted right in Childhood's End.
The writing style was brief sentences, with character actions being told to the reader instead of the reader being taken on a journey as events unfolded. Basically, the writing style reminded of the old See Spot, books. See Spot. See Spot run. See Spot catch a ball...
And character actions were often described in the manner, with the character name being mentioned repeatedly within the same paragraph. Mason said this...Mason did that, instead of Mason said this, and he did that...his experience, his perspective...
I knew nothing of the author prior to this book, and after the first couple chapters I wasn't sure if the writing was just that bad or the author. Turns out it was one of the first novels the author wrote, which helped explain why the book felt like a first draft.
That said, I still enjoyed the book. It was onteresing approach to a first contact novel. Not original, as the author points out the novel was inspired by Carl Sagan's Contact book, but it was still interesting what he did with the concept of humanity encountering an alien entity There was also a lot of callbacks to other stories in the sci-fi genre, couple passages felt like they would have fitted right in Childhood's End.