352 pages
English language
Published Dec. 14, 2014
On the planet Ilmatar, under a roof of ice a kilometer thick, a team of deep-sea diving scientists investigates the blind alien race that lives below. The Terran explorers have made an uneasy truce with the Sholen, their first extraterrestrial contact: so long as they don't disturb the Ilmataran habitat, they're free to conduct their missions in peace. But when Henri Kerlerec, media personality and reckless adventurer, ends up sliced open by curious Ilmatarans, tensions between Terran and Sholen erupt, leading to a diplomatic disaster that threatens to escalate to war. Against the backdrop of deep-sea guerrilla conflict, a new age of human exploration begins as alien cultures collide. Both sides seek the aid of the newly enlightened Ilmatarans. But what this struggle means for the natives, and the future of human exploration is anything but certain.
A three-way first contact story, under an icy ocean, sounded nice enough! But once I started reading I felt like a slob; people competing with "finding the most ways to kill their 'annoying' coworker", anime porn collections and alien genitalia? I'll pass on that. The story itself couldn't give me any motivation to continue with it.
Takova sci-fi ze "stare skoly" (jak sem cetl i jinde). Zajimavy realie i konfrontace mezi trema ruznyma rasama. Fajn. Na druhou stranu si to asi nak dlouho pamatovat nebudu.
A first contact SF narrative where the interpersonal connection comes first, and the fun space battles come second. (That’s a bit of a lie. The whole story takes place on one planet, so the conflict is only a “space battle” if you count “battles that happen on other planets”)
This is a story about two peoples struggling past language and cultural barriers, striving for just a taste of friendship. Interspersed is a horrific worst-case first meeting, distinctly alien aliens, and the classic human refusal to do anything that they don’t want to do.
On a slightly triggering note: one of the minor characters is sexually assaulted. It is not done for laughs and is not swept aside. The horror of the action is a major turning point in the book.
I found the characters and ethical dimensions of the story not too deep (pun not intended, but I'm keeping it), but it does do a nice job of imagining what a civilization that evolved deep underwater might be like.
