This book proclaims itself to be a novella, but I would argue it’s really four connected short stories. Each story is set in the late 30th century/early 31st century on human-colonized Mars and focuses on one character. Humankind is perhaps less advanced than you might expect for a century in the future, in fact some diseases, such as ALS, are now vastly more prevalent. However, we’ve terraformed Mars, leveraged genetic mutation to create “Superior” humans, and have begun to dabble with the “outsiders”, recently encountered aliens, whose DNA may provide further opportunities for genetic advances.⁣
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Erin had prepared me for this book to be a struggle, and a few pages in she was apologizing as I wrote “I’m so confused I could cry”, but then somehow it all melted away and I found myself really loving this book? It’s worth noting that it could have used additional editing. The sentences vary in how successfully they meet English grammar standards, but I think if I’m being honest those issues were small quirks to stumble past, almost never enough to prevent understanding the intention of a sentence. Where I experienced greater confusion at times was differentiating moments happening now vs recounted memories, but also people with flawless English fail that test all the time, and I’m generally one who’s willing to reread until things click into place. ⁣
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One choice I find most interesting in this book is the order in which the stories are presented, which is not chronological, but serves to explore multiple facets of humankind teetering on the brink of, and toppling over into a new world containing both humans and outsiders. We first meet the outsiders in the first story, through the eyes of a genetic researcher studying possible applications of splicing together human and outsider DNA, then we skip forward to see the initial fruits of this labor, following a Superior-outsider boy who’s born blind and physically disabled. The third story skips back in time, told predominantly in the second person, as if the narrator is writing a letter to his deceased wife, filling in additional details about the uncertainty initially adopting of Superior genes. The final story takes place as humans encounter the outsiders for the first time, somehow circling back to prepare the way for the stories we’ve already read, and illuminating our fears on the brink of this thrilling turning point. ⁣⁣
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Yes, this wasn’t a completely straightforward book to follow, but my head feels full in the best way from the experience. I love the ideas at play here, and the feeling of being on the precipice of a new world was sorta timely if you think about it.