Triptych

Aliens in science fiction are a tricky business; they're often little more than metaphors for specific aspects of human society, like the Klingons in Star Trek, or they're a faceless menace with no goal other than destruction and domination, like Wells' Martians or Card's insect horde. Rarely are extraterrestrials given a full, rounded culture and a motivation equal to that of the human characters.

With Triptych, JM Frey has created a work that fully acknowledges the culture of science fiction that came before it, but steps outside of that tradition to create a species of alien refugees with a unique culture and physiology, and a protagonist who represents that culture, but is still able to stand as a fully-formed, three dimensional figure.

Kalp, the alien protagonist in question, really is the heart and soul of the novel - we spend a lot of time with his human partners, Gwen and Basil, but Kalp is the heart and soul of the novel. I'd describe him further, but I think Kalp is the sort of character that needs to be experienced firsthand, so all I will say is that “Of all the souls I've encountered in my travels, his was the most ... human.”

Science fiction is often called “the literature of ideas”, and in some ways Triptych could be used as an example of that, with its representation of polyamory, and its look at how accepting the alien refugees not only changes them, but also the human society that welcomes them - but it feels like expressing those concerns were secondary to Frey, and that she just wanted to tell a heartwarming, humanistic tale of love and loss. Which is, I think, how it should be.