Year Published: 1998
Genre: Science fiction
Rating: A+
Review: Yesterday I reviewed The Sparrow. Children of God is the sequel, and it's just as good, but
you should definitely read the earlier book first.
Children of God starts off with Emilio Sandoz back on Earth, broken in both body and spirit; it
follows him back to Rakhat and then back to Earth, and back to spiritual and
physical health. Along the way there are plenty of plot twists to keep the
story moving, but what is most remarkable about both The
Sparrow and Children of God is not so much the
plot, as the character development and the way Mary Doria Russell manages to
incorporate a great deal of spiritual wisdom without either sounding
"preachy" or slowing the plot down.
Even the alien characters (of both
alien species) are sympathetic, even when they do utterly alien things.
And the human
characters are each fully drawn; they jump from the page into your heart and
mind. These are real
people, with warts, but also with numerous redeeming qualities. It is relatively
easy for an author to make us feel sympathy for people who are similar to us - Mary Doria
Russell pulls off the much harder feat of making us sympathetic to people(and aliens) who
are very different from us.
In terms of spiritual wisdom, perhaps Russell
is able to do this because of her own history: She was raised Catholic, became an atheist,
and then converted to Judaism. She certainly
shows sympathy for people in all three groups. Many of the characters are
Jesuits; Sandoz himself
goes from being a Jesuit (in The Sparrow to atheism, and
back to faith.
Another main character (Sofia Mendez) is
Jewish. The aliens have
their own religions, as well.
Highly recommended.
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