Scan barcode
A review by thatgirlinblack
The Frozen Sky by Jeff Carlson
2.0
Jupiter's moon Europa isn't just a ball of ice; it hides precious deuterium to be mined, and a new animal lifeform that roams the ice tunnels...ready to fight. While investigating ice cave carvings and discovering a new species, astronaut Vonnie loses her 2 compatriots in a cave-in and almost immediately finds herself under attack and on the run from these lifeforms, or sunfish as she calls them. Relying on her super hi-tech suit for protection and cobbling together an AI from her killed co-worker Lam to assist in decision making, Vonnie flees and fights...and falls in love with these new creatures.
She's always wanted to be an explorer and now she's discovered a new alien creature on another world, so it's understandable she's fascinated. They tried to kill her but she's one of those environmental types who magnifies all the bad in humans while advocating for every chance for animals. Plus, she thinks these are "more" than animals, that they're sentient.
After being recovered by her team, she commences advocating on behalf of the sunfish to all the countries on Earth who've sent mining, exploring, or military teams to Europa. Tense days pass wherein all countries conduct tests, send robot mecha to search the ice caverns, and haggle on Earth regarding what should be done. Their proxies on Europa are slowly learning more about the ways and even languages of the creatures. Vonnie wants to make deals with the sunfish, and she's using her AI Lam--who was left in the ice, is taking over robots sent into the ice, displays glitchy and hostile behavior, may be deranged, and is currently accepted into the sunfish tribe--as her eyes and ears. Several of her comrades and her lover keep her secrets and assist on the sly, but her bosses and their bosses and a greedy conniving co-worker make it hard to work on the sunfish's behalf. Is peace possible?
It's got a lot of action, and descriptions of things new and exiting are interesting, but there were obstacles to really enjoying this book. This is a quite science-y read casually filled with techy language, though concepts are generally well-explained. Obviously, as is common among the artificially elevated and cliqueish "science" community, religion and morality are dismissed as obsolete. Apparently they've figured "a way" to eliminate STDs and provide universal birth control, so it's free sex for all! A Christian astronaut is considered a "dumb genius" by Vonnie because of her belief. The Catholic heritage of Brazil forbids them using stem cells to speed up medical healing procedures, which Vonnie scoffs at as antiquated while she smugly accepts it herself. Just like liberals to want all the pleasure and have no consequences, and to snobbishly put down all opposing views or preferences. That is a very annoying aspect of this book, which knocked it down from 3 stars to 2.
She's always wanted to be an explorer and now she's discovered a new alien creature on another world, so it's understandable she's fascinated. They tried to kill her but she's one of those environmental types who magnifies all the bad in humans while advocating for every chance for animals. Plus, she thinks these are "more" than animals, that they're sentient.
After being recovered by her team, she commences advocating on behalf of the sunfish to all the countries on Earth who've sent mining, exploring, or military teams to Europa. Tense days pass wherein all countries conduct tests, send robot mecha to search the ice caverns, and haggle on Earth regarding what should be done. Their proxies on Europa are slowly learning more about the ways and even languages of the creatures. Vonnie wants to make deals with the sunfish, and she's using her AI Lam--who was left in the ice, is taking over robots sent into the ice, displays glitchy and hostile behavior, may be deranged, and is currently accepted into the sunfish tribe--as her eyes and ears. Several of her comrades and her lover keep her secrets and assist on the sly, but her bosses and their bosses and a greedy conniving co-worker make it hard to work on the sunfish's behalf. Is peace possible?
It's got a lot of action, and descriptions of things new and exiting are interesting, but there were obstacles to really enjoying this book. This is a quite science-y read casually filled with techy language, though concepts are generally well-explained. Obviously, as is common among the artificially elevated and cliqueish "science" community, religion and morality are dismissed as obsolete. Apparently they've figured "a way" to eliminate STDs and provide universal birth control, so it's free sex for all! A Christian astronaut is considered a "dumb genius" by Vonnie because of her belief. The Catholic heritage of Brazil forbids them using stem cells to speed up medical healing procedures, which Vonnie scoffs at as antiquated while she smugly accepts it herself. Just like liberals to want all the pleasure and have no consequences, and to snobbishly put down all opposing views or preferences. That is a very annoying aspect of this book, which knocked it down from 3 stars to 2.