Steal Across the Sky

Nancy Kress has once again written a piece of fascinating science fiction. "What if?" is one of my favorite questions, and it's the question this book asks. It's a questions she's asked before, and once again she's drawn us in as she considers it. I won't disclose the second half of the "What if....." question, since I hate spoilers, but it's a good one and could use further exploration. Now my quibble. The book falls into two halves. One deals with humans dropped into alien cultures. The second deals with aftermath back on Earth. I loved the first half. Kress has a gift for alien culture building and the ethical issues visited upon terran observers. I totally love the naive Earthlings trying to figure out what's going on. It tickles my brain in the right way and both entertains and provides a puzzle. Good stuff. Back on earth, though, it all fell flat. Not totally, abysmally, unreadably flat, but flat compared with how engaged I was in the first half. I dunno. Maybe she just doesn't like Earth as much as Elsewhere. I don't blame her. And I didn't put the book down; I wanted to find out how the little twisty bit left over from the first half would play out. It played out satisfactorally for now and in such a way that I suspect we may in future be reading more of the story. If this turns into a series like the Sleepless books, you'd hear no objection from me. It reminds me of them in some ways which would be obvious to all but those who haven't read it yet. I'm going to keep reading Kress. OK, this one's a bit uneven, but she's still good. Very good. Enjoy!

Nancy Kress is a master at starting a story one place and ending it another. In Stealing Across the Sky I thought I knew where the story was going but had it all wrong. In the near future Earth has been visited by the Atoners, aliens who removed humans from Earth 10,000 years ago, placed them on different planets and used them in an experiment they now feel was wrong. The Atoners have chosen 21 Witnesses to visit the planets where the humans were sent to witness what was done. It looks like following the Witnesses on those planets is the story, but after the first third of the book the story moves to what happens when the Witnesses come back to Earth. The premise is good, the mystery well presented and the cast of characters keeps everything moving forward. This is an interesting what if story about humans and what we might be missing.

I am really no good at writing book reviews, so I will just tell you my opinion. I almost didn't pick this book. I was at the library and out of time. As I was checking out this book caught my eye in the "new books" section and I decided to just grab it and I am really glad that I did. I love the advertising on the internet thing and I love that this is a sci fi book based in the very near future. I think the discoveries made by the Witnesses in this book were unexpected and I have never read anything like it. I do wish the book had taken the time to explore some of the other planets more. It seemed odd to me that of the two planets explored (in the book) both were very primitive by our standards yet both had been given just as much time to evolve as we on Earth had been given. All in all I found this a good read, light enough for a busy mom of three to be able to pay attention to, but deep enough for a busy mom of three to be able to escape in a book. I know as far as book reviews go mind kinda sucks, sorry about that. But overall I found this to be interesting and different, something I really enjoyed. If you enjoy Sci-fi I think its worth checking this book out :)

In an incredibly powerful and fast-paced story, author Nancy Kress explores what we may be missing by being human. With wonderful imagination and explosive imagery, it begins shortly after aliens land on the moon and inform humankind - through a posting on the Internet - that they conducted an experiment on our species many millennia ago and now it's time to show what they did. Oh, the aliens do apologize about things before delving into what was changed. And then the race begins on how to make things right, as Kress captures the essence of looking to the skies and pondering about universal questions....with the answers perhaps found in a finite world that contains real heart and soul.

The alien Atoners race came from deep space to establish a base on the earth's moon. They use the Internet to inform humanity that they committed a heinous crime against mankind ten millennium ago that they cannot rectify. Instead they ask for twenty-one English speaking volunteers to serve as witnesses to see the results of the crime they committed by witnessing and testifying first hand what has occurred on seven planets in which they seeded abducted earthlings. Safety is guaranteed to and from the planets visited. Cam, Lucca and Soledad respond to the Internet advertisement and are selected by the Atoners as human surrogates. They are escorted to the moonless twin planets of Kular A and Kular B. The humans living on these orbs treat life as expendable as they believe that life does not end with death. What the three human visitors learn they bring back to an earth already reeling from the alien visitation. STEAL ACROSS THE SKY is an exhilarating cerebral science fiction thriller that asks profound questions about humanity's development, religion, and social interaction through the Atoner (apropos descriptor for this group) intervention. The three earthlings represent mankind visiting two planets in which each orb can be seen in the sky of the other; while the Atoners remain mysterious almost Godly due to their superior technology, knowledge, and humble need to atone for their mistake. The residents of the two deep space orbs also seem real even as their culture (their existence actually) on the Kular twins is owed to the Atoners, which makes for a fascinating religious relationship between the settled and those who performed the deliverance. Nancy Kress provides plenty of action, but it is the thought provoking questions to include defining what a crime is that make this a great tale. Harriet Klausner