Went in with two strikes against it already: I hate a prequel, and I hate an apocalyptic book.

Yet Cargill never steers me wrong, and I had to pretend I was not crying on the plane while I read it. Happily for my pride, the passenger next to me was sleeping and didn't notice anyway.

This was a surprisingly fast read and it asks my favorite scifi question in several good ways: What does it truly mean to be human?