Isolating Contact is a 2024 science fiction novel by Ash Remington. It was released in January 2024 and was independently published by the author. The novel is the first entry in the Contact series.
The truth has never set anyone free. It's 2032 and mankind is quite proud of themselves. Nuclear weapons have been destroyed and humans have earned their first contact moment. There's peace with the mysterious alien visitors right up until the portal connecting their two worlds becomes operational, and only hours later, all Hell breaks loose. Earth's fate lies in the hands of a sociopath propagandist, her guerilla journalist nemesis, a hero pilot with a dark secret, a wannabe astronaut out for vengeance, and a mercenary on the lam. Sometimes as enemies and other times as allies, this collection of loners will shape the future of their species, if there's to be one at all. The ugly truth behind why things went so wrong is buried out there somewhere, and it may cost them everything if they go digging for it.
This novel features first-person perspectives of eight characters. Some characters have a single chapter dedicated to their POV, while others have multiple chapters as the events of the story unfold. There are five main characters: Emilia, the propagandist, Alexis, the journalist, Chop, the pilot, Malik, the astronaut, and Maya, the mercenary. The author did an excellent job balancing the perspectives of each character, and capturing the different ways each one would respond to the events of the story. It allowed the story to tackle various themes from grief to legacy to the nature of humanity. Each character has depth and nuance, which becomes clear as the story weaves the different storylines together. Some of the best moments in this novel are character moments, as the desires and goals of characters conflict because they don't all have the same agenda.
While I enjoyed the characters, they weren't perfectly written. I found the antagonists disappointing, due to how one-note they seemed. They were not "evil for the sake of evil" but there was no depth to them, no grey-area to their actions and in such a complex story, I would've liked to see at least one or two of the antagonists to have more layers. I also had an issue with Emilia's arc. She is said, and written to be, a sociopath, but that changes over the course of the novel in way that followed a trope I wasn't a fan of. Additionally, a major plot-point hinges on something incredibly out-of-character for her.
While the plot of this novel is exciting, it's not a fast-paced, mile-a-minute adventure. There are some wonderful and engaging action and combat scenes, but on the whole, the plot is a steady build up of tension as events weave together. The story doesn't start with the first contact, but instead a few months before, giving the reader time to settle into the world, and it lay the foundation for each character and their lives before everything falls apart. The narrative as a whole has a lot of twists and turns, and they are very well-executed. The seeds for each revelation are planted very early on, and subtly, and the story doesn't rely on one big reveal, but instead a series of smaller revelations, slowly escalating in scope and impact. The climax of the novel is engaging, and ends in a satisfying way. All of humanity's problems aren't solved, but there's a clear hope for the future.
The writing in this book is straight-forward. The prose doesn't get too fancy, which works perfectly for this kind of story and world. The author is clear about how things are, what things mean, and so on. There is some hiding of things from the reader, characters thinking "no one can know my secret" without saying what the secret is, but it isn't overdone, and each time the use of that tactic makes sense to preserve the mystery until it's time for the truth to be revealed. While the story doesn't take place too far in the future, the author did have to do some world-building. This was executed very well, without too much exposition or info-dumping. My one complaint about the writing is how the author conveys jumps in time. Rather than let some things happen "off-page" during a time skip, such as military training or the preparation for a mission, the author told the reader in straightforward text that the training continued or the compound was built or a relationship developed. I understand not wanting every single event to happen in detail, it would make the book far too long, but by narrating over those gaps in time, it makes the timeline of the book feel far too short, like it was unfolding over the course of a few weeks and not several months.
Isolating Contact was a fun and engaging science fiction novel. It had compelling and intriguing characters, each navigating the strange post-first-contact world in their own way. At the same time, some of the choices made when writing the characters fell flat. The novel has a very engaging plot that kept me on my toes with the twists and turns in the story, while ending on a cathartic note, and leaving room for more books in the series. The writing was easy to digest and interesting, but not perfect. All in all, it was a suspenseful, gripping science fiction story.
Rating: 4.25 Stars
Follow Me Elsewhere: Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads / Instagram / Buy Me A Coffee?
Support Local Bookstores (Please note, this is an affiliate link and I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase)
No comments:
Post a Comment