REVIEW: Dark Orbit by Carolyn Ives Gilman
Publishing information: Hardback; 304pgs
Publisher: Tor; 14 July 2015
ISBN: 978-0765336293
Stanalone
Copy: Provided by publisher
Reviewer: Tyson
Amazon
Synopsis: "From Nebula and Hugo Award-nominated Carolyn Ives Gilman comes Dark Orbit, a compelling novel featuring alien contact, mystery, and murder.
Reports of a strange, new habitable planet have reached the Twenty Planets of human civilization. When a team of scientists is assembled to investigate this world, exoethnologist Sara Callicot is recruited to keep an eye on an unstable crewmate. Thora was once a member of the interplanetary elite, but since her prophetic delusions helped mobilize a revolt on Orem, she's been banished to the farthest reaches of space, because of the risk that her very presence could revive unrest.
Upon arrival, the team finds an extraordinary crystalline planet, laden with dark matter. Then a crew member is murdered and Thora mysteriously disappears. Thought to be uninhabited, the planet is in fact home to a blind, sentient species whose members navigate their world with a bizarre vocabulary and extrasensory perceptions.
Lost in the deep crevasses of the planet among these people, Thora must battle her demons and learn to comprehend the native inhabitants in order to find her crewmates and warn them of an impending danger. But her most difficult task may lie in persuading the crew that some powers lie beyond the boundaries of science."
Not long ago we were lucky enough to have Carolyn stop by and do a guest post for us (guest post here). I finally had an opportunity to read her novel and I think that lovers of hard Science Fiction will enjoy it.
Dark Orbit is a book about first contact but it is also a murder mystery. As a probe locates a suitable planet that has resources valuable for the inhabited planets of humanity; in addition it also has an unusual amount of dark matter surrounding the planet. A group of scientists are assembled in order to investigate the world and the strange phenomena surroundng it, and also set up for the second wave of travelers that will be arriving to plunder the planet if the findings are true. As the initial landing party arrives on the surface of the planet, they find that not all is as it seems.
There are two main characters, Sara Callicot is sent on the mission to monitor the scientific crews interactions and more importantly to keep a watchful eye on the second main character, Thora Lassiter. Thora is one of the scientists sent on the mission to take in sensory data on the planet. A form of science that the other members of the crew find rather dubious. Sara is a waster, someone who spends more time traveling in space than on a planet. She is much older than she appears to do all of her interstellar traveling at light speed. She is very intelligent and sent on this mission by her mentor and wants to impress him. She is very straight-laced and no-nonsense. Thora on the other hand is more like contained chaos. She does her best to fit in with the others but recent events on another planet have addled her brain and without spoiling too much she is trying to come to terms with who she is now and find solace in what she was before.
The book does a great job of staying within plausibility of what we know now in science and can quickly be seen when they try to communicate with their handlers back on the planet the expedition started at. There are a few leaps of faith because it is the future but overall the book handles it well as the technology isn't that far-fetched. My only real complaint is with the ending. The book's ending was telegraphed way too soon and I could see the resolution to their problem way before the characters did. However, with that said, I did enjoy the book. It was refreshing to see strong female characters in a hard science fiction book. While the book hasn't been out for too long, I do see this book making it onto several books of the year lists.
Overall 8/10
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