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Richard Dawkins recommended Red Strangers in Books (curated)

 
Red Strangers
Red Strangers
Elspeth Huxley | 2006 | Fiction & Poetry, Romance
(0 Ratings)
Book Favorite

"This epic saga sweeping through four generations of life among Kenya’s Kikuyu tribe is a novel of Steinbeckian stature neglected by literary connoisseurs. Huxley leads us into the Kikuyu world so that, when the British arrive, they seem as alien as invading Martians. Her descriptive powers rival Steinbeck’s, but her imagery is drawn from the Kikuyu mind. A felled tree ‘tottered like a drunken elder.'

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The time is now. Humanity has deciphered an alien message that basically says, "we're dead, bad things are coming for you, take our technology and get the hell out." Of course, the message arrived in 1945, so we're a little behind. Faster Than Light marries the hard science fiction of The Martian, 2010, and Gravity with the idealism of the original Star Trek. I love it. It's a very grounded series, with realistic characters doing realistic things.

The story comes in small 2 or 3 issues arcs, so the adventure of the week is easily digestible, but somehow it still feels choppy. Like in one instance an entire mission wasn't there, and we just got the end of it, but it didn't link up with anything else. Theres a nifty gimmick, where a free downloadable app can be used in conjunction with the comic. Scan pages and get access to the alien encyclopedia, Captains logs, a translation matrix for the alien dialogue, etc. (This may be the cause of the stories choppiness, as there may simply be pieces I'm missing out on.)

Unfortunately, some of the art isn't as up to par as the story telling, which can make it difficult to tell crew members apart, which causes the story to suffer. But overall this is definitely a title to keep an eye on, looking forward to Volume 2...