Should I Read This: Yes
Book Seller Link (non-affiliate, but I do know the owner): Hole in the Sky a book by Daniel H. Wilson - Bookshop.org US
Author’s Website: Daniel H. Wilson’s Official Website
Okay, based on last week’s review where I stated that I hate mysticism, the title might make people think I would be trashing this book. Actually, I quite enjoyed it. Am I a hypocrite? Probably, but I do think there are some important differences between the two stories.
Hole in the Sky by Daniel H. Wilson is a mystical story wrapped in the clothing of science fiction. It tells about the discovery of first contact, the immediate aftermath, and how the first contact is anything but. It tells this story in a fairly standard way — through the eyes of civilians in the contact zone, government officials too far away to actually affect the situation directly, and military and government officials on the ground trying desperately to protect against something they have no understand of or tools to deal with. The mysticism is baked into the story from the start, and I think that is why I was okay with it.
Right from the start, as we are introduced to the pre-contact situation, mysticism is present. The way in which the government finds out about the coming contact is mystical. It is is presented, by the narrative, as scientific, but I don’t think that anyone is supposed to think it is anything other than a form of magic, a reading I believe the book later supports. The civilians largely survive by leaning on the their traditions and religion. The solution is pure mysticism, with an ending that occurs largely because the people involved believe in it strongly enough. I am okay with this, unlike last week’s book, because the mysticism is right up front and center from the start. It is clear what kind of story I am getting and that makes the difference. It is the same as accepting, say, faster than light travel. If you are upfront about it, I can overlook the fact that it is not real.
The story built around the mysticism is a lot of fun. It is a legitimate mystery until deep into the book what the end game is likely to be, and the solution comes from well established principles and history that the book has laid out. The characters are all believable and the acts as you believe they would act, not as the plot would have them act. This is mostly a fun romp, but you could also argue that the ending has a small comment on the difference on how Western cultures deal with the unknown and how other cultures do. I am not sure how much is intended, but I think that the text certainly supports that reading.
Overall, Hole in the Sky is a fun read with good characters and a solid mystery. Even if it does revolve around mysticism.
Crossposted soon at Bookstack