Shroud

Humanity lands on a gas giant and encounters alien life vastly different from ours. This split POV book alternates between human survivors and the aliens.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The different perspectives worked well together, creating a compelling narrative. It depicts a persistent, efficiency-driven corporate human future alongside a naive but increasingly comprehending alien gestalt.

However, the ending was a bit difficult for me. On the one hand, it was a satisfying conclusion that left me eager to speculate about what might happen next. On the other hand, I felt like I wanted more. I’m not sure if there will be more books in the series, but I read it assuming it was a standalone novel.

I devoured Shroud. This is Adrian Tchaikovsky at his scifi best - truly alien aliens and humans being humans, engrossing drama ensues.

I liked the idea of the Shrouded as a hive mind communicating via, and understanding its world exclusively by, EM frequencies - how could Humanity communicate and understand an alien so distinct from how we operate? This is a story about connection - and breaking barriers - between not just the aliens and humanity but also between those humans trapped on Shroud. Great!

In Shroud, Tchaikovsky imagines evolution on a world where visible light is not available.

As a legally blind person I'm both disappointed and glad that this novel is not about blindness. I would have liked to see Tchaikovsky describe the challenges of dealing with blindness, but wouldn't have liked to see him fail at it, like too many other sighted authors.

This is a first contact story. Quite uniquely, establishing communication isn't the first priority.

It contrasts a human capitalist strip mining project with an alien intelligence that has it's own history, constraints and priorities.

But first of all, it is a trek across a dangerous alien environment and survival against the odds.