[books 2012] Ken Macleod
11. Learning the World: A Novel of First Contact by Ken Macleod
A spaceship whose purpose is to travel the galaxy and plant new colonies finds a sign of life, for the first time in thousands of years of colonisation. The "aliens" are a sort of bat people at a level of development that roughly parallels the eve of World War I.
The story is told alternately by the point of view of each people. The title is from a teenager on the spaceship - until now, they have assumed they are alone in the galaxy. The discovery of alien life means that they have to re-learn everything they thought they knew about the universe.
It doesn't end the way you think it will.
By Macleod's standards, there's hardly any difficult political or philosophical ideas to wrestle with, and it's an easy and quick read. I highly recommend it - I don't love it the way I did The Night Sessions, but it's very good indeed. And a stand-alone, so you're not committed to reading a whole series.
No, you can't borrow it - I got it from the library.
Incidentally he's got a new book out next week, and I haven't even read the last one yet.
A spaceship whose purpose is to travel the galaxy and plant new colonies finds a sign of life, for the first time in thousands of years of colonisation. The "aliens" are a sort of bat people at a level of development that roughly parallels the eve of World War I.
The story is told alternately by the point of view of each people. The title is from a teenager on the spaceship - until now, they have assumed they are alone in the galaxy. The discovery of alien life means that they have to re-learn everything they thought they knew about the universe.
It doesn't end the way you think it will.
By Macleod's standards, there's hardly any difficult political or philosophical ideas to wrestle with, and it's an easy and quick read. I highly recommend it - I don't love it the way I did The Night Sessions, but it's very good indeed. And a stand-alone, so you're not committed to reading a whole series.
No, you can't borrow it - I got it from the library.
Incidentally he's got a new book out next week, and I haven't even read the last one yet.