We Have Always Been Here
Ratings7
Average rating3.7
15
Ratings7
Average rating3.7
This psychological sci-fi thriller from a debut author follows one doctor who must discover the source of her crew's madness... or risk succumbing to it herself. Misanthropic psychologist Dr. Grace Park is placed on the Deucalion, a survey ship headed to an icy planet in an unexplored galaxy. Her purpose is to observe the thirteen human crew members aboard the ship--all specialists in their own fields--as they assess the colonization potential of the planet, Eos. But frictions develop as Park befriends the androids of the ship, preferring their company over the baffling complexity of humans, while the rest of the crew treats them with suspicion and even outright hostility. Shortly after landing, the crew finds themselves trapped on the ship by a radiation storm, with no means of communication or escape until it passes--and that's when things begin to fall apart. Park's patients are falling prey to waking nightmares of helpless, tongueless insanity. The androids are behaving strangely. There are no windows aboard the ship. Paranoia is closing in, and soon Park is forced to confront the fact that nothing--neither her crew, nor their mission, nor the mysterious Eos itself--is as it seems.
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A solid debut. I liked the space-horror elements best, the world-building the least.
Full Video Review to come!
This was a great and engaging debut from a new author. It had all the right creepy and deteriorating beats of something strange happening to the crew and I was really intrigued from the get-go. I really enjoyed the timelines and the video transcripts that added a really cool layer as well as the stream-of-consciousness writing style when in Park's head. I like the different discoveries made that kept the book going and really tough to disengage from. It was a thriller through and through with a wonderfully executed scifi feel.
We Have Always Been Here is a gripping sci-fi thriller that twisted in unexpected directions and kept me hooked all the way to the end. There's a real palpable tension and delirium infused into Nguyen's writing that enhances what could have been a straightforward thriller into something much deeper, sharper, and stranger. I'm excited to see what Nguyen writes next, as this was an excellent debut.
See this review and others at The Speculative Shelf.
My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
This book didn't make a big splash in 2021 (so far) but it turns out to be one of my favorites. An interesting mash up of the paranoid closed space vehicle (think: Alien, Solaris) with the creepy mysterious android theme (I thought of ‘Creation of the Humanoids'). There are a few head scratchers some of which are resolved in the reveals (e.g. why does the main character relate better to androids than people, why was she chosen for this mission). There were small and inconsequential nit picks too (gamma rays won't change your mood, probably will give you cancer; how can a misanthrope fare as a psychotherapist?) But, regardless, this is very classic space opera, notably the ending which, in prototype space opera form, has cosmic philosophical significance to the universe and the future of everything. I especially found the flashback narratives thoroughly engrossing, as much as the main narrative. It's probably a matter of taste, but I found the ‘laid back' manner of the narrative to be refreshing and extremely well written (sorry, I've had enough of purple prose horror) - and I think the narration was in-line with the main character's neuro-atypicality and misanthropy - it worked for me. All through the book I was imagining how this would look as a movie.
