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A review by aasplund
Children of the Divide by Patrick S. Tomlinson
3.0
Children of the Divide follows the inhabitants of Gaia years after Earth has been sucked into a black hole. Humans and their alien refugees, the Atlantians, continue to build society and progress in spite of the growing tensions between the species. When a terrorist attack changes life on Gaia, it's time for everyone to decide what's important to them and what they'll be willing to do to save themselves and the ones they love.
It took me awhile to get into this book, but ultimately, this was a really interesting science fiction novel. The world building was very well done - interesting aliens, unique history, and life-changing new technologies. The characters were also well-developed and interesting people and it was cool to see them change throughout the book. I also enjoyed seeing each character from different perspectives - the story is told primarily by three different characters, so their opinions and thoughts on each other color the story in unexpected ways. I really enjoyed that.
My biggest criticism (which will be a strength to some) is that most of the conflict is a fairly transparent analogy for current events. In some ways, I enjoyed getting a nuanced or new perspective on current events. In other ways, it was way too similar to what I'm living right now and the book failed to provide an escape for me. Society on Gaia is extremely similar to modern society, only with some new technologies and different species instead of different races. There was a racism problem, breaking treaties, even some strangely-handled gender issues. I think I would have enjoyed this book if it had been less transparent. While on one hand, it provided new and important viewpoints to several issues, it also made this book a lot more political than I think it needed to be.
Overall, this is an interesting story and I recommend it to sci-fi lovers and to political activists.
It took me awhile to get into this book, but ultimately, this was a really interesting science fiction novel. The world building was very well done - interesting aliens, unique history, and life-changing new technologies. The characters were also well-developed and interesting people and it was cool to see them change throughout the book. I also enjoyed seeing each character from different perspectives - the story is told primarily by three different characters, so their opinions and thoughts on each other color the story in unexpected ways. I really enjoyed that.
My biggest criticism (which will be a strength to some) is that most of the conflict is a fairly transparent analogy for current events. In some ways, I enjoyed getting a nuanced or new perspective on current events. In other ways, it was way too similar to what I'm living right now and the book failed to provide an escape for me. Society on Gaia is extremely similar to modern society, only with some new technologies and different species instead of different races. There was a racism problem, breaking treaties, even some strangely-handled gender issues. I think I would have enjoyed this book if it had been less transparent. While on one hand, it provided new and important viewpoints to several issues, it also made this book a lot more political than I think it needed to be.
Overall, this is an interesting story and I recommend it to sci-fi lovers and to political activists.