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matosapa's review
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
This is the fourth book of Cawdron's I've read. The others have gotten consistently high ratings from me but this one is the lowest rating I've given because of the "shoehorned" romance that occurs with the protagonist. It had no purpose as far as I could tell, just another instance of romance in a story that had no reason for it. He did a much better job with male/female dynamics in Xenophobia. I'm hoping this is an anomaly (/wink) of his published books.
weaselweader's review
5.0
“The United States … has rejected the notion of United Nations peacekeepers operating on American soil.”
From first page to last, the description of the behaviour of people and governments around the world, and most particularly, the rabid, belligerent and bellicose reaction of the American people and their government to the event of first contact with extraterrestrial intelligence rings sadly true and credible.
Peter Cawdron provides a succinct summary of his novel:
“ANOMALY examines the prospect of an alien intelligence discovering life on Earth.”
“Mankind’s first contact with an alien intelligence is far more radical than anyone has ever dared imagine. The technological gulf between mankind and the alien species is measured in terms of millions of years. The only way to communicate is by using science, but not everyone is so patient with the arrival of an alien spacecraft outside the gates of the United Nations in New York.”
That the craft, which turns out to be, in fact, unmanned should land at the front door of the United Nations is clearly a preposterous coincidence that has to be forgiven as literary license. But beyond that, ANOMALY is a first rate page turner that will grip readers with rich possibilities, great science, and the sad reality of the right-wing proclivities (dare I say, stupidities) of much of the world today. As a side comment, I would congratulate Mr Cawdron on the absolutely brilliant idea of inserting a school teacher and a journalist into the thick of events. By that simple addition, the explanation of great gobs of science becomes a plot necessity and what would otherwise be endless info-dumps and sidebar essays simply becomes a natural flow of the events of the story.
And I just LOVE the ending! Someday maybe but, most definitely, not today!
Highly recommended. I’m a new Cawdron fan and I’m definitely heading to the bookstore and the free lending library boxes hunting for more of his work.
Paul Weiss
From first page to last, the description of the behaviour of people and governments around the world, and most particularly, the rabid, belligerent and bellicose reaction of the American people and their government to the event of first contact with extraterrestrial intelligence rings sadly true and credible.
Peter Cawdron provides a succinct summary of his novel:
“ANOMALY examines the prospect of an alien intelligence discovering life on Earth.”
“Mankind’s first contact with an alien intelligence is far more radical than anyone has ever dared imagine. The technological gulf between mankind and the alien species is measured in terms of millions of years. The only way to communicate is by using science, but not everyone is so patient with the arrival of an alien spacecraft outside the gates of the United Nations in New York.”
That the craft, which turns out to be, in fact, unmanned should land at the front door of the United Nations is clearly a preposterous coincidence that has to be forgiven as literary license. But beyond that, ANOMALY is a first rate page turner that will grip readers with rich possibilities, great science, and the sad reality of the right-wing proclivities (dare I say, stupidities) of much of the world today. As a side comment, I would congratulate Mr Cawdron on the absolutely brilliant idea of inserting a school teacher and a journalist into the thick of events. By that simple addition, the explanation of great gobs of science becomes a plot necessity and what would otherwise be endless info-dumps and sidebar essays simply becomes a natural flow of the events of the story.
And I just LOVE the ending! Someday maybe but, most definitely, not today!
Highly recommended. I’m a new Cawdron fan and I’m definitely heading to the bookstore and the free lending library boxes hunting for more of his work.
Paul Weiss
deathcabforkatey's review
2.0
I wanted to like this book. I really did. But it ended up being a complete rip-off of Contact, which I can't stand, and I had to power through finishing it. Yes I understand he was inspired by it, I read the thing at the end. But the entire book the only thing I was thinking about was how much this story was basically Contact with some changes. Especially the way the book ended - I mean seriously?
Since when are schoolteachers and young children allowed into NASA research on extraterrestrial life? This is the most unbelievable part of the entire book and it's so annoying. This guy is constantly talking about how not-smart he is, and yet he gets the ear of literally everyone on this project? Oh and everyone is magically okay with the fact that he's on the team with people who actually know what they're talking about?
Also, the way it was written is aggravating. Every other chapter there's a moment where everyone sits down and basically talks through a TED Talk on whatever the sciencey thing they're talking about is. It doesn't flow with the conversation, it might as well have been prefaced with "we now interrupt this novel to have a schoolteacher explain really complicated physics to the reader."
The extra star I give is for looking at how this would affect international politics. I think that's something that often is not examined in sci-fi, and somehow the world is a-okay with the U.S. leading the world's effort in these things. So him including that is appreciated and I think interesting.
All-in-all glad I didn't pay for this book.
Since when are schoolteachers and young children allowed into NASA research on extraterrestrial life? This is the most unbelievable part of the entire book and it's so annoying. This guy is constantly talking about how not-smart he is, and yet he gets the ear of literally everyone on this project? Oh and everyone is magically okay with the fact that he's on the team with people who actually know what they're talking about?
Also, the way it was written is aggravating. Every other chapter there's a moment where everyone sits down and basically talks through a TED Talk on whatever the sciencey thing they're talking about is. It doesn't flow with the conversation, it might as well have been prefaced with "we now interrupt this novel to have a schoolteacher explain really complicated physics to the reader."
The extra star I give is for looking at how this would affect international politics. I think that's something that often is not examined in sci-fi, and somehow the world is a-okay with the U.S. leading the world's effort in these things. So him including that is appreciated and I think interesting.
All-in-all glad I didn't pay for this book.
daydreamangel18's review
4.0
I really liked Contact and enjoy the authors attempt at a more intelligent kind of alien story in the same vein.
themidnightlibrarian's review against another edition
2.0
Thought this was cool until I watched Contact
apatter7's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this first contact story. The authors take on alien first contact and how the world will react is interesting and realistic, causing discord between other countries and America and not everything working as seamless as everyone hopes. Would definitely recommend and looking forward to reading other books by this author.
jimstockwell's review
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
alice_horoshev's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
Too naive and rather preposterous in thinking that UN can ban US. Also it gets boring to read about super basic there is no rainbow colours stuff, the author brings nothing new to Carl Sagan's Contact.
ajlewis2's review
challenging
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
5.0
I thoroughly enjoyed the story and the main characters. I thought the story dragged a bit in parts, but not very much and not often. As the story progressed I saw where those slow parts developed into revealing a bit of the mystery. This was not enough to throw me out of the story, because it was so intriguing. It's so good to find another Indy author that I like! And he's written a bunch, so that's even better.
mallorn's review against another edition
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No
3.75