Lewis
I described this to someone as “Canticle for Leibowitz in space, meets cosmic horror” and while that’s not inaccurate having gotten to the end, this book doesn't quite stick the landing. It does give me a good example to point to of the sort of thing that I am looking for in a space horror book, because “generation ship so old that it lost its own sense of history encounters inscrutable, dangerous alien ship and explores it” is a thing I want to read.
Some things we don’t get answers to that I am fine with: who are the aliens and why are they violent/dangerous in this particular way? Why was this human ship made with a giant cathedral in the center and externally visible Christian stained glass displays? What was its’ mission?
Some things we don’t get answers to that I do want answers to: Is it a mistake to recolonize Antioch? Do the church records have any location data or historical information that would have been useful for the ship prior to alien encounter or for Bartolomeo’s plan (I realize it is moot given that they abandon his plan, but we spend all that time on access to the records). What was the deal with the girl who looked like Father Veronica? What were the machines that the bishop was building before they encountered Antioch?
A lot of those are quibbles, but I do think the book could have used an edit to tidy up some of these weird threads or just generally streamline the narrative and then also, the ending sort of feels like there should be a sequel or like we need something more definitive.
I described this to someone as “Canticle for Leibowitz in space, meets cosmic horror” and while that’s not inaccurate having gotten to the end, this book doesn't quite stick the landing. It does give me a good example to point to of the sort of thing that I am looking for in a space horror book, because “generation ship so old that it lost its own sense of history encounters inscrutable, dangerous alien ship and explores it” is a thing I want to read.
Some things we don’t get answers to that I am fine with: who are the aliens and why are they violent/dangerous in this particular way? Why was this human ship made with a giant cathedral in the center and externally visible Christian stained glass displays? What was its’ mission?
Some things we don’t get answers to that I do want answers to: Is it a mistake to recolonize Antioch? Do the church records have any location data or historical information that would have been useful for the ship prior to alien encounter or for Bartolomeo’s plan (I realize it is moot given that they abandon his plan, but we spend all that time on access to the records). What was the deal with the girl who looked like Father Veronica? What were the machines that the bishop was building before they encountered Antioch?
A lot of those are quibbles, but I do think the book could have used an edit to tidy up some of these weird threads or just generally streamline the narrative and then also, the ending sort of feels like there should be a sequel or like we need something more definitive.