Review: An interesting twist on the alien contact genre
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 22, 2011
Wyle offers us an interesting twist on the alien contact genre, putting Humans on another planet, but in a situation where their own impatience/intolerance makes war a seeming inevitability. In order to ward off that conflict, Mara Cadell comes up with the radical proposal of intentionally developing fraternal twins, one human and one Tofa, in order to create a bond. Of course, such a bond is only as good as the intentions behind it, and when the government believes in knowing the enemy . . . well, you can imagine the consequences.This is a really well-written classic science fiction novel, thoughtful and full of ideas. The aliens here are truly alien, similar enough to humanity that we can relate, but unique enough that we never shake the novelty of them. Smartly, considering the potentially huge scope of the ideas being explored, Wyle draws us into the story on an intimate level, focusing primarily on the development of one set of twins. There are a lot of characters, and some frequent changes in point of view, but the different voices are distinct enough that you never get lost in the narrative. As for the setting, the alienness of Tofa is subtle, almost masked by human intervention, but quite remarkable when it comes through.