This is the sequel to "The Sparrow" and should not be read first - it is really the continuation of that story. It tries hard but doesn't quite reach the standard of the first book although it is an interesting and thought provoking story.
Father Emilio Sandez was the only survivor of the trip to the newly discovered planet and he was maimed both physically and mentally. He is still recovering, aided by the help given by the Jesuits but he is opposing any possibility of returning to the scene of his own hell and is trying to make a life on earth - in the end he gets no choice although the manner of his going surprised me.
Unknown, at the beginning of the book, to anyone on earth Sophie has also survived and she is pregnant. She gives birth to her son and tends him among those she has begun to think of as friends. But the coming of the humans to the planet has affected the balance of power and soon there is revolution and an overturning of the social order and Sophie and those she loves are in the middle of it. I found this part of the book less absorbing than the earth based story because I found it difficult to understand the motivation of the aliens - the author has been successful in making them unhumanlike and therefore she has to explain what they are doing and why in detail. Some of the positions that people took and what they did seemed perverse and inexplicable to me but I am not a great lover of books about politics and political manoeuvring which is what this storu was in places.
This novel covers a longer time period than the first and moved away from the intimate story of the lives of the few travellers into a larger narrative. I didn't really enjoy the change and I didn't find that I easily identified with the new characters. Some of the loose ends of the first book were tied up although there are still some left open at the end - what did happen to the second expedition ? There is room for a third book especially with the new expedition heading towards earth.
The success of "The Sparrow" for me was around its intense concentration on people, the events that affected them and their suffering. The opening up of the story didn't work as well for me and left me unsatisfied in places. Nevertheless this is still an excellent novel with some terrific ideas and a true understanding of cause and affect on the lives of characters. I honestly think that the first book stands on its own as a work of literature but although this novel doesn't enhance it there are definitely occasions when it builds on it and explains it. The scope of the book is wide and the issues tackled are many and beautifully addressed - friendship, faith, motivation, cause and effect, power inequality and suffering to name but a few.
If you've read "The Sparrow" I recommend that you try this one and see what you make of it - if you haven't then I highly recommend that you do.
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