I received this book free from Goodreads, having won a giveaway. And let me just tell you, I am SO GLAD that I did. This book was phenomenal. It's been on my to read list for awhile, but I was avoiding it a little bit, since it was the first in a series and the next books have not been published yet. I generally hate that, because I get into a story and then get really antsy when I can't see what happens next. However, I'll forgo knowing for now, and wait impatiently for the next installment with everyone else, because DAMN this book was worth reading now.

I haven't read anything with this kind of story-telling style in awhile, sort of an epistolary, but not quite, it's told through a collection of "files" that include interviews, journal entries, recordings, newspaper clippings/articles, etc. I forget how quickly it moves. And I appreciate that this method allows the author to skip from important part to important part, without needing to overdue the exposition. I also like that it leaves it up to the reader to fill in the in-between times (it's like exaggerated show don't tell) and I'm a fan of the bare story without some of the BS that tends to get in the way with these types of plots. Additionally, the overall pacing and plot development were spot on.

The main "narrator," if you will, the man conducting most of the interviews, is a typical CIA agent type fellow, always acting like he knows more than everyone else (which he likely does). And I started off a little annoyed with him. He seemed too easy a character. Too cocksure and micro-manage-y and too willing to sacrifice the people around him for his end game. With a person like that as your narrator, you can get away with anything and he just becomes too one-dimensional. But I'll be honest, he grew on me a lot. As the story goes and we see his attachment to Kara and Vincent, his willingness to protect them when they need it and trust them when they make a decision. Plus, the fact that he was at one point considered a traitor to the country in his move to use the robot for only defensive purposes/work to understand her with the goal of the world's safety being foremost (while still not losing him rough edges/[methodo]logical thinking) was respectable. Plus, we get to see him a little shaken and out of his depth with the mystery eyebrow-less man in the Chinese restaurant, which is satisfying.

The rest of the characters are well developed, to the extent they can be. Again, when a story is told this way, much of the development is left to the reader, but even with that, a solid enough picture was painted of each person that the holes I filled were done so with indirect suggestion by the author and fit with the overall personality of each, within the context. Kara and Vincent are understandable and make sense, Rose (Dr. Franklin) is very relatable in her actions and concerns, and Alyssa (Ms. Pampanitou) and Ryan Mitchell play their roles believably. Overall, reading about how each handles (scientifically and emotionally) the strain of doing experiments and gathering knowledge on an object SO foreign that they are making it up as they go, pretty much, is super interesting.

A little of the science/tech/math was beyond, but was explained well enough that I at least had a nebulous idea of what was meant (kudos to the author for managing that without making it boring) and I really enjoyed the descriptions of the language development from Vincent. Themis. Cool. The different agendas from the involved governments/parties are what you would expect them to be, though the eyebrow-less man was a wrench in the normal issues. And I cannot wait to see what comes from that. I love a good crazy old man character, and one with lots of metaphor stories and a maybe connection to alien life from centuries ago is even better! And the epilogue really raises a lot of questions that I cannot wait to get answers to. What happened to Rose, ahhhhhh?!

Mostly unrelatedly, the cover is gorgeous. The jack, with the cutout, is pretty on it's own and gives a quick peak of the detail underneath, but when you pull that off, the illustration is just perfect. Plus, it's a really nice metaphor for the whole story, a pretty outside to this robot that hides quite a bit underneath that, presumably, we are just scratching the surface of and will learn more about as the story progresses.

Thanks for the book Goodreads - I highly recommend it!!