2.5
The Blue, Beautiful World
ByPublisher Description
As first contact transforms Earth, a team of gifted visionaries races to create a new future in this wondrous science fiction novel from the award-winning author of The Best of All Possible Worlds.
“A complex story of first contact from a unique perspective that is warm, engaging, and wildly original.”—Martha Wells, New York Times bestselling author of The Murderbot Diaries
LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION
The world is changing, and humanity must change with it. Rising seas and soaring temperatures have radically transformed the face of Earth. Meanwhile, Earth is being observed from afar by other civilizations . . . and now they are ready to make contact.
Vying to prepare humanity for first contact are a group of dreamers and changemakers, including Peter Hendrix, the genius inventor behind the most advanced VR tech; Charyssa, a beloved celebrity icon with a passion for humanitarian work; and Kanoa, a member of a global council of young people drafted to reimagine the relationship between humankind and alien societies.
And they may have an unexpected secret weapon: Owen, a pop megastar whose ability to connect with his adoring fans is more than charisma. His hidden talent could be the key to uniting Earth as it looks toward the stars.
But Owen’s abilities are so unique that no one can control him and so seductive that he cannot help but use them. Can he transcend his human limitations and find the freedom he has always dreamed of? Or is he doomed to become the dictator of his nightmares?
“A complex story of first contact from a unique perspective that is warm, engaging, and wildly original.”—Martha Wells, New York Times bestselling author of The Murderbot Diaries
LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION
The world is changing, and humanity must change with it. Rising seas and soaring temperatures have radically transformed the face of Earth. Meanwhile, Earth is being observed from afar by other civilizations . . . and now they are ready to make contact.
Vying to prepare humanity for first contact are a group of dreamers and changemakers, including Peter Hendrix, the genius inventor behind the most advanced VR tech; Charyssa, a beloved celebrity icon with a passion for humanitarian work; and Kanoa, a member of a global council of young people drafted to reimagine the relationship between humankind and alien societies.
And they may have an unexpected secret weapon: Owen, a pop megastar whose ability to connect with his adoring fans is more than charisma. His hidden talent could be the key to uniting Earth as it looks toward the stars.
But Owen’s abilities are so unique that no one can control him and so seductive that he cannot help but use them. Can he transcend his human limitations and find the freedom he has always dreamed of? Or is he doomed to become the dictator of his nightmares?
33 Reviews
2.5
readingrogue
Created 29 days agoShare
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“An unusual first-contact story exploring the sociological side of alien contact and what that means for us as a collective.
Prose was a bit abstract and hard to grasp sometimes but I enjoyed the out-of-the-box storytelling.”
Richard James
Created 4 months agoShare
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🦩Hannah Wilkinson🦩
Created 5 months agoShare
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“Gonna try and be fair in this review because it is (mostly) my fault that I had no idea what was going on for all 238 pages of it. I had all of the longlist for the Women's Prize for Fiction this year on reserve, so when this one became available I happily trotted myself down the lane to the village library to collect it. Started it, quickly felt like I was reading something in an alien language and hate-read the rest of the book because I am too stubborn to DNF.
My issue with it? It's the 3rd in a bloody trilogy and I had NO. I. DEA! Nothing on the front cover, nor the blurb, nor any of the endorsement quotes gave any of this away. No wonder really that I was mostly baffled the whole time. I imagine that there must have been a lot of world-building and character introductions in the first book as this one really just throws you straight in at the deep-end and gives you no time to catch your breath!
So, here's what I THINK I read about... Earth in the future has been battered by climate change, borders which were once the cause of wars are now underwater and the seas are still rising. As humanity struggles to adapt to this changing planet, they are being watched from afar. Other civilisations, on other planets have been paying attention and they are ready to make contact. In preparation for this first contact, a group of people, including tech billionaires, celebrities and humanitarians, come together to try to work out just how a planet which has been divided and decimated by human greed can unite as the universe opens up even further.
The thing which feels unfair about my two stars is that the writing was at times super beautiful, and (what I am guessing is) the idea of the trilogy was intriguing but not only did I have no emotional connection to any of the characters, because I did not know who the eff they were, but I also did not feel that the plot was meaty enough for me. Maybe I would have felt differently if I had read the first two books but surely the publishers must have known people would go into this one somewhat blind as a result of its inclusion for this prize. A head's up on the cover would have gone a long way, this is in no way strong enough to hold it's own as a standalone novel.”
Jo
Created 5 months agoShare
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Hannah
Created 9 months agoShare
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About Karen Lord
Barbadian writer Dr. Karen Lord is the author of Redemption in Indigo, which won the William L. Crawford Award and the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature and was nominated for the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel. Her other works include the science fiction novels The Best of All Possible Worlds and The Galaxy Game, and the crime fantasy novel Unraveling. Lord also edited the anthology New Worlds, Old Ways: Speculative Tales from the Caribbean.
Other books by Karen Lord
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