The story follows a scientist, Dr. Rose Franklin, who fell into a hole as a child and discovered a mystery that becomes the entire focus of the plot. A giant metal hand, surrounded by metal walls covered in an untranslatable alien script, kicks off a race to discover its purpose, and the identity of the mysterious civilization that must have left it there.
Although the prose was nothing much to speak of - it was essentially nonexistent, due to the nature of the text's organization into a military-esque series of interview transcripts, journal entries, and scientific logs - the story itself, and the minimal cast of characters which propelled it, was so thoroughly compelling as to make eloquent prose an unnecessary afterthought. In fact, I daresay the book would not have worked nearly so well had it been treated as a traditionally formatted novel.
Although the book lacks any sort of traditional narrator, the story seems to take place from the perspective of an anonymous puppetmaster, who interacts with each of the characters and sets all the book's events in motion, and who clearly lets on much less than he - the only identifying characteristic being gender - knows.
Although the story has a rather slow start, with nearly the entire first part serving as exposition, the action moves fairly quickly once it comes, with the novel's roughly 300 pages encompassing over four years of complex storyline. Relationships are forged, broken, and forged again. Discoveries are made and un-made, revealed and covered up. Though there were a few instances of deus ex machina, the character of Vincent and his storyline being the most obvious culprit, the majority of conflicts were handled with realism and grace.
Overall, this story was an expertly crafted and uniquely formatted foray into a sweeping story about the determination of humanity, and our place among the stars. I, for one, can't wait for the sequel.
Overall rating: (5 stars)
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