Just recently, I watched the movie Arrival starring Amy Adams. It was such a thought-provoking movie and I loved every minute of it so much so that I rewatched it! It put me into the mood for something cerebral. I didn’t want to read something lighthearted, something that would give me a quick thrill and let me be on my way. I wanted a novel that would make me think the whole time I read it, and then some. That is exactly the experience I received with this novel.
When a young girl named Rose is riding her new bike after her birthday party, she didn’t expect to fall through the earth. She wakes up at the bottom of a square hole that has intricate carvings etched into its walls that glow. But the firemen who come to save her see an even stranger sight: Rose is in the palm of a giant metal hand. For the next 17 years, this bizarre artifact remains an unsolved mystery with its origin and its purpose unknown. Rose is now a highly trained physicist who has never been able to forget about this mysterious object. Together with a top secret team, interviewed by a nameless interrogator who seems to hold power with no limits, they begin to unravel this perplexing discovery and try to understand what this means for humanity. But once the pieces are all put together, will this prove to be beneficial for the world or lead to mass destruction?
This is one of those rare novels that I have read that isn’t written in a traditional format. I found it interesting that the author had written the whole story in the form of an interview between the team members and the nameless organizer. One of the reasons why I liked this style is because it allowed me to focus on the story itself rather than getting hampered down by descriptions and details; it was definitely a refreshing way to read!
I also liked all of the characters and the way each was unique. Perhaps it is because of the style of writing but I didn’t feel like there was that much development or growth of character. However, that wasn’t really necessary for this story, and I was quite happy with the way each character dealt with the changing situation.
The story itself is amazing. My knowledge of physics and chemistry is very rudimentary, so I was worried that I may not understand a lot of the concepts the author talked about. While the author did not “dumb down” anything to make it easy, the actual concepts were quite easy to follow and the implications/consequences of them made sense. This story is not one where you can gloss over details; you need to understand what is being said because everything is relevant and when all the pieces come together…. well, the effect is spectacular, to say the least. This is definitely one of my favorite science fiction novels and I am so glad that I decided to read this book!
After finishing this novel with its cliffhanger ending, I was excited to find out that there is a sequel coming out April 2017. I cannot wait to get a chance to read it and see where this story will take me!
Happy reading ~