The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
Just got round to reading this SF novel- won the 1998 Clarke award… has anyone else read it? Or the sequle(“Children of God”)
Very interesting alien cultures she creates, and also the whole Jesuit take on things (shades of Blish’s “A case of Conscience” there), but the main protagonist was a thouroughly unloveable sod for me, half the time. (I had similar issues with the protagonist in Mieville’s “The Scar”, but overcame them then, too)
Any thoughts? One thing she postulates is, with regards to the inhabitants of Rakhat two sentient alien species, one the former herbivore prey of the carivorous current “ruling caste”, whose relationship has evolved to more of a master-serf one. Does that seem like a likely scenario to any evolutionary biologists who may be reading?
I liked the (mostly) hard-science feel of the actual interstellar space ship, not too far removed from current tech.
Also nice to see an apparently mainstream SF book that has as the central issue, one of faith and christian dogma, played out under alien suns. I didn’t feel the book came down heavily on either side, either. I certainly didn’t feel it attacked atheism…
And interesting that I’d already guessed the major trauma for the protagonist, in addition to the hands thing, and all his friends dying, includes extended bouts of interspecies anal gang rape (that, for a twist, gets poetry made about it that gets broadcast planetwide, and also, incidently, back to Earth)
whew, quite a few spoiler tags there!
Overall I liked the book, and I’m debating getting the sequel.
When I read the thread title, Blish’s A Case of Conscience is what came immediately to mind, along with Philip Jose Farmer’s Carmody stories (Night of Light and the one in the anthology Other Worlds, Other Gods).
To my discredit, I’ve never even heard of Mary Doria Russell, or her books. Gonna have to look these up.
My book club read it. Most of them loved it. I thought I’d rather have red hot splinters driven under my nails. Talk about a depressing downer of a book.
I don’t think the twists were twists - most of them she gave away in the first chapter and then you just had to read to find out exactly how. Which is what made the book such shear torture…“No, the spooky music is playing, don’t go down to the lake to have sex!”
For those who enjoyed this book, may I also highly recommend George R.R. Martin’s short story “The Way of Cross and Dragon,” about an inquisitor suppressing heresy even as he wrestles with his own faith, set in a far-distant-future, schism-wracked Catholic Church. It’s in Martin’s excellent short-story collection “Sandkings” (worth it for the title story alone).
I loved the book, the sequel is pretty good too. I was raised catholic and educated in catholic schools, so church history was fed to me from a young age. I thought it was very refreshing to read a first contact scenario between humanity and an extraterrestrial species that wasn’t a “unitied earth government” or “US Military” led mission, and it was very in keeping with the history of the Jesuit order. It ended badly as most first contacts between cultures do, unfortunately.
I also loved the first book; was one of the most thoughtful and thought-provoking examinations of faith and science on the cultural battlefield I’ve ever read. The sequel, on the other hand, was just okay: not as good a balance between story and theme, I felt.
whichever species evolved toolmaking skills first would pretty much take over the planet and prevent the other species from evolving into anything other than a farm animal or a zoo specimen.
I’ve included this in several must read lists of modern Sci-Fi in different threads and various MBs. It’s a great story, well told, with believable and complex characters. The sequel I know of (Children of God) wasn’t as good, but is still an enjoyable read.