A superb start to a space opera coming from an unexpected place: Earth is already destroyed, and the culprits are known but largely uncontacted and impossible to understand. A small number of other species seem to know something more of what’s going on (but aren’t sharing). Factions abound.

There are a lot of strands in play in this book. What will the effects be of human gene manipulation, and what happens when some (but not all) are willing to accept it? What sort of reactions will extreme threats provoke, and will there be a backlash against even what seems to be the most sensible plans? In that sense this is very much a book of its time, taking themes from modern right-wing revival politics and anti-vaccine rhetoric into the scenario of alien invasion.

5/5. Finished Tuesday 3 August, 2021.

(Originally published on Goodreads.)