Blindsight

Blindsight by Peter Watts is a hard sci-fi novel set near the end of the 21st century. Humankind has just experienced Firefall, when 65,536 objects simultaneously enter earth's atmosphere. In response man sends a manned mission to investigate the source of this phenomenon.

The spaceship Theseus is a wonder of engineering, beyond the cutting edge of science. The crew is an eclectic group selected for their unique abilities and skill sets. First there is Siri Keaton, the synthesist. He is there to observe and report. The story is told through Siri's viewpoint and is interspersed with flashbacks from his past life, which give us a view of what Watt's future Earth is like.

Next is Jukka Sarasti, the mission commander. Sarasti is a vampire, and as such his reasoning and logic skill far outstrip what any homo sapien could hope to achieve, even with cybernetic enhancements.

The rest of the crew consist of Amanda Bates, the pacifist military officer in charge of security. Next is Susan James, AKA the Gang of Four. James is a linguist who has split her brain into 4 unique personalities. Finally there is Isaac Szpindel, a biologist so heavily interfaced with equipment he can see xrays but at the cost of most of his normal senses.

These five are sent in suspended animation to make first contact. What they encounter is beyond their wildest nightmares.

Blindsight has a definite horror element to it. Conceptually its a brilliant take on first contact. The science is highly plausible, and the alienness of what the crew of the Theseus encounter is unlike pretty much anything I've seen before. There is an appendix at the end up the book in which Watts explains certain concepts, and while the technology factor is pretty high, the story doesn't get bogged down in jargon.

Hard sci fi isn't my normal sub genre of choice, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book. A lot of the early buzz surrounding Blightsight has speculated that it could win the Hugo. While its not my first choice, it definitely belongs on the short list and I wouldn't be upset if it did win. Any fan of hard sci fi should certainly pick this book up.

8.5 out of 10

Buy this book at
Clarkesworld
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If you would like to try before you by Watts has even made this book available under the creative commons licence. It can be downloaded here.