Children of God

It was nice to have a sort of happy ending for Emilio, though it was frustrating to have him bouncing back and forth between infantile PTSD and maturity. Unfortunately the elements I didn't like about the Sparrow were all here, but more severe. The characters are not as likeable, and more stereotypical. The decisions they make are absolutely baffling. How can a mission as important as visiting an alien planet get hijacked by a washed up mob boss? On the other hand, I can sympathize with the themes of the book, and appreciate a somewhat sympathetic treatment of religion. My favorite character was Ha'anala, the alien raised Jewish who speaks Runa and K'San and Hebrew.

However I still feel that the Jesuits are shockingly doubtful, not just doubting, but seeming to suggest its okay to believe that God is just poetry, even if you are priest. People in ministry and the church do of course, have doubts, but the people in this book (and The Sparrow), seem agnostic. This makes sense given what I have read about Russel's background, but it is frustrating to have them depicted like this without exception, especially considering the ethical and just plain stupid decisions they make in the book. She could have at least one of them with a more trusting faith, if for no other reason than to provide a foil for Emilio other than being shocked at his outrage. There's a lot more to being a priest than swearing and making pop culture references.

The linguistic anthropology stuff is interesting, but there are massive blind spots concerning pathogens, and the whole Isaac plot line was frustrating.

Thought provoking anyway, and it's nice to read scifi that treats you like an adult.

Children of God definitely had something of the Sheri S Teppers about it for me. The alien lifeforms and the out-of-control crusading ideologies did it. How far can you push liberation before it turns into genocide? "We don’t have lions and tigers and bears in the streets of our cities,"? No, but the lions and tigers and bears didn’t build the cities, did they? (Which unfortunately brings in "The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy" and mice). 'Star Trek' is often about breaking the Prime Directive but here we have a good example of what happens if you do, and of the "What measure is a non-cute?" trope -- if the Runa (kangaroo-like cuties) were ratlike or spiderlike it's probable that nobody would care about them.

It was a relief though to have characters who aren’t all highly intelligent and superbly well-read, even if the hijack crew that whisk Sandoz off to Rakhat again are more Larry, Curly and Moe than the Corleone Brothers -- and how can you really disagree with one of them who describes a Runa as 'a cow with an opinion'? Never mind that the author wants you to, Strawman Has a Point. However CoG did feel like a proper ending to the story begun in The Sparrow.