(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

The aliens have arrived... they've landed their Embassy ship on a platform in New York Harbor, and will only speak with the United Nations. They say that their world is so different from Earth, in terms of gravity and atmosphere, that they cannot leave their ship. The population of Earth has erupted in fear and speculation.
One day Dr. Marianne Jenner, an obscure scientist working with the human genome, receives an invitation that she cannot refuse. The Secret Service arrives at her college to escort her to New York, for she has been invited, along with the Secretary General of the UN and a few other ambassadors, to visit the alien Embassy.
The truth is about to be revealed. Earth’s most elite scientists have ten months to prevent a disaster—and not everyone is willing to wait.

*2.5 stars*

This novel started very strongly - an alien ship lands to warn humans of a terrible spore cloud that will wipe out humanity. Then the aliens and humans try and work together to come up with a solution. All very interesting, with the clock ticking, it adds some a sense of urgency to this part of the book.

Sadly, from there on, it all goes a bit weird. There seemed to be a stronger focus on Marianne and her family and the science stuff seemed to get forgotten. Then the cliched larger-than-life benefactor shows up, giving Marianne everything she needs to keep learning more about the aliens - until he turns out to be a megalomaniac who wants revenge on those bad, bad aliens. We get kids who can hear trees and the ground...we get poorly treated characters (I mean, really, could Sissy have been any more of a stereotype if the author had tried)…
...and it all gets uncomfortable when Marianne is sleeping with Harrison but dreams of her bodyguard Tim (who is sleeping with Sissy) and then she and Harrison break up, Sissy dies, and Marianne and Tim start sleeping together...WTF??? Why was that even necessary?

What should have been a very cool science fiction novel kind of turned into Days of our Lives with some hard science. Not sure I am interested in reading any more of this series.


Paul
ARH

Nancy Kress is one of those authors who’s been writing for over four decades, writing about 30 SF novels and quietly collecting awards – to date, by my reckoning, six Nebulas and two Hugos. The last of these Hugos was awarded in 2014 for the novella which makes up the first part of this expanded novel.

Nancy’s reputation has been built on her skill in writing technically realistic hard science fiction stories, often set in a fairly near future. Her fiction often involves genetic engineering, and, to a lesser degree, artificial intelligence. The hardness of the SF in her work is based upon extensive research which gives the impression that her stories and the topics within them are possible.

With this in mind, Tomorrow’s Kin’s begins in a way that readers of her earlier writing and Sir Arthur C Clarke’s Childhood’s End will recognise – the arrival to Earth of aliens – but then, like the best of Clarke, transcends from this to something new and contemporary.



From the publisher: “The aliens have arrived… they’ve landed their Embassy ship on a platform in New York Harbor, and will only speak with the United Nations. They say that their world is so different from Earth, in terms of gravity and atmosphere, that they cannot leave their ship. The population of Earth has erupted in fear and speculation.

One day Dr. Marianne Jenner, an obscure scientist working with the human genome, receives an invitation that she cannot refuse. The Secret Service arrives at her college to escort her to New York, for she has been invited, along with the Secretary General of the UN and a few other ambassadors, to visit the alien Embassy.

The truth is about to be revealed. Earth’s most elite scientists have ten months to prevent a disaster–and not everyone is willing to wait.”



So: based on this outline we have a traditional style SF novel, with, in Analog/Asimov’s Magazine style prose, the plot of a gifted scientist holding part of the key to Humanity’s Uplift – something which I think Clarke would have pleased by, even if her own view is somewhat different:

“She was a workman scientist who had delivered a workmanlike job of fairly routine haplotyping.” (Chapter 2)

What Kress does to add to the plot is introduce her daughter and her two sons – all different from each other in temperament and manner. Elizabeth is the argumentative daughter who believes that the USA’s isolationism is the only way to secure a manageable future and works for the Border Patrol. Ryan is the most popular of the trio – athletic, sociable, a family person who cares for the environment and works for a wildlife organisation concerned with the invasion of invasive botanical species. By contrast, Rory is the youngest and most wayward rebel of the family. An addict to ‘sugarcane’, he lies, steals and generally drifts his way through life from one sofa to the next.

Marianne’s meeting with the alien Denebs (not from there, but the nickname stuck) has led to a revelation with global consequences. Although this is Humanity’s first contact with aliens, they are not as alien as we may think, which is why Marianne is involved. There are other, badder aliens in the universe and the Denebs are here to warn us. (I wasn’t quite sure at this point why the inscrutable aliens had waited eighteen months before having this first meeting, but all will be revealed later.) In Pern-like style, on the way to Earth in a matter of months is a deadly cloud of spores that, if allowed to settle, could lead to events that could wipe out life on Earth.

This news has an effect on Marianne’s work and her family. Whilst we are counting down until the extinction-event, the disparate members of the family deal with it in their own different ways.

The second part of the novel shows the reader what happens when the spores arrive on Earth and the real meaning of the Deneb’s appearance on Earth. With her trusted assistant and bodyguard Marianne travels all over the USA defending the alien’s actions, which in a changing world has consequences for those around Marianne. Marianne leaves her job to work for eccentric billionaire Jonah Stubbins, who is determined to build a spaceship to travel to the alien’s planet.

The third and final part refocuses on Marianne’s family and how they cope with a changed Earth. All of them have different degrees of involvement with the aliens. Jonah is determined to build a spaceship based on alien plans to allow travel to their original planet, World. Marianne’s work now involves working for the slick yet enigmatic Jonah, although his own motives are never that clear. She also spends time with her grandchildren Colin and Jason, who spend time with her at Jonah’s construction facility. There are other children there too – feisty Ava and slow, withdrawn Luke, and together they form a band of outsiders, all with special talents.

In some ways this novel is typical Nancy Kress. If you know her work, you know what to expect. It is a well-crafted novel that starts slowly but drags you in, a tale of science and scientists, trying to solve world-changing problems.

Sometimes expanding novellas by fixing them up into bigger novels doesn’t always work. Stories that worked well in brief become flabby and unfocused. Here Nancy has managed to expand the original story and make it worth doing so.

Here the characters are given room to breathe and whilst some of them are still a little sketchy (I suspect they may be more important later) the focus on the people is enough to make you feel that you get to know the main characters, and Marianne in particular. Marianne is not perfect and she makes mistakes, but this creates the impression of realistic characters. Though most of this focus is concentrated on Marianne, as the book progresses other viewpoints are brought in to expand the story. By the last part of the book Nancy manages to create convincing viewpoints from the youngest characters, which are very effective.

It is clear by the end of the book that other things are about to happen – it is the first book in a trilogy, I understand – but there is enough of an ending for readers to feel satisfied which what they’ve read up to this point. It’s a read that echoes the best of the traditional scientific science fiction.

For all of the novel’s scientific rationale, it is noticeable that it is the people that gives this story a surprisingly emotional resonance. We are aware of the bigger proceedings which underlie the plot but often without detail. It reminded me of the style often used by Arthur C. Clarke.

In short, Tomorrow’s Kin is a great alien-first-contact novel that has a pleasing amount of serious science to tell a surprisingly human story. Readers of Analog and Asimov’s Magazine will recognise its style and its quality.

If you are hungry for a readable first contact novel focused on how human's are respond to alien contact, Kress's Tomorrow's Kin is a recommended read. The story focuses on the main character, Dr. Marianne Jenner, who is to assist the aliens. She and her three children are the central character. This is a scifi beach read. Enjoy it. The characterization is bit forced or flat, with one child in the family as the lost soul, one as the invasive species expert, and one as the hard nosed border patrol. If you can just go with it the story is good, and you'll want to know what happens in the next book in the series.

As I started reading this title, I felt it went a little slowly. The beginning basically rehashes Kress' novella "Yesterday's Kin," but then moves on from there. Once it gets past the narrative of the novella, it ramps into high gear, and becomes almost un-put-down-able. The mystery of the childrens' powers sucked me in, and now I'm very much interested in the next two books and finding out how the story concludes. If you've read the novella this book is based on, go ahead and skip that part, but buckle up for the rest of it!

Beggars in Spain has been my favorite Nancy Kress novel since back when it first came out, and one of my favorite social science fiction novels by any writer. Tomorrow's Kin may have taken over for it. Mind you, the two novels have some elements in common.

Tomorrow's Kin takes a previous novella, Yesterday's Kin, and spins it out. Basically, aliens come to Earth, but prior to the start of the book, no one actually gets to see them. But now, an older geneticist is chosen to actually meet the aliens about the reason they came to Earth, which is a cloud of spores that will kill everyone. It turns out that the aliens are humans removed from Earth in the distant past for unknown reasons, and the reason they came to Earth is that their world is in the path of the spores, but later, so if a cure can be found, it will save them as well. Also, they want Dr. Marianne Jenner to find people who have their genome, since they want to meet their distant relatives. It also turns out that her adopted son is one of those relative. (she has three children: a border patrol member who gets irate because the aliens are foreigners, and an environmentalist who is irate because of invasive species, and the youngest, a drug addict who is absorbed into the alien society).

This only covers the first third of the book, and then things get interesting. Turns out that the spores aren't going to kill (many) people on Earth. However, when it comes, it wipes out most mice in the world, because they are vulnerable. This leads to environmental disaster, followed by economic disaster, which is extremely well thought out. Also, children after are born with either no hearing, or hypersensitive hearing.

The aliens left behind plans for space ships so that once built, Earth can come to their home, World. Only thing is, people think (in typical human prejudice) that if the aliens hadn't shown up, all the bad wouldn't happen. As a result, ships are being built, planning to go attack World for... warning people that these spores were coming? People seem to assume they knew exactly what would happen and didn't warn them about the other results of the spores. Personally, I think that attitude is asinine, but I can see it happening in the real world.

The parts that fascinated me the most was the parts about the far-reaching effects of mice disappearing (kind of like the real world problems from colony collapse among bees). And the whole business of the children with hyper hearing reminded me of the kids who don't need to sleep in Beggars in Spain.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and I look forward to the other (forthcoming) two books in the trilogy.

I am sorry to say that I got bored with this about half way through. It started off strong but went downhill and I couldn't bring myself to finish it. I just wasn't that invested in it.

Tomorrow's Kin has definite echoes of Greg Bear's Darwin's Radio, but only in the best ways. Kress dives into the science aspects of her world in a way that is challenging to the reader, but not overwhelming, and balances the science with the story of a scientist doing her best to cope in a post-first contact world.

I LOVED that the main character, Marianne, is a grandmother, a scientist, and a woman who is flawed and so very human. She's not a gun-wielding warrior. She's a smart woman who is persistent, a little naive, and doing the best she can under extraordinary circumstances. Some of the other characters fall a little flat, and readers may be frustrated that the aliens go off-stage for a chunk of the story. But, this is also the first story in a series, and a great deal of it is setting up the next parts. It resolves nicely, without an annoying cliffhanger, but leaves enough questions dangling to make sure that I'll be buying the next book in the series.

This novella is set in three parts. First dealing with the aliens and finding out who they are. Marianne is the scientist that has found DNA evidence of a newly discovered mitochondrial DNA sequence that the aliens are very interested in. The second part deals with a few years after the aliens left with a few people with this DNA sequence and in exchange they have given us technology that we can build our own ships and come to them. The Earth is also dealing with worldwide disaster from passing through a giant spoor cloud that the aliens warned us but didn’t have the technology to stop it. The third section deals with the spaceships almost being completed. As much as you would think this is a tech story this is more of a people story and how persons and people as a whole react to all of these changes.

A good solid read and I’ll be interested to see where it goes next.


Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley

Published by Tor Books on July 11, 2017

Irrational hatred of aliens is common enough in America. An irrational hatred of space aliens fuels Tomorrow’s Kin, a first contact novel that has Americans and most of world’s population blaming aliens for problems they did not cause. Although the aliens are of human origin, Nancy Kress’ point (I assume) is that irrational hatred of the “other,” stoked by politicians, may be inevitable in a country that prefers bumpkin logic to rational thought.

The other important theme in Tomorrow’s Kin is the fragility of an ecosystem. The sudden removal of one species from the Earth may have a devastating impact on the world economy, for reasons that Kress illustrates convincingly.

The novel’s central character is Marianne Jenner, who has published a paper outlining her discovery of a new haplogroup of mitochondrial DNA. Her publication party is interrupted by FBI agents who want to escort her to the president, something that regularly happens in science fiction novels and thrillers when a scientist’s knowledge is urgently needed, particularly when space aliens are involved. The aliens are in orbit, but they build a floating embassy, surrounded by an energy shield, in New York Harbor. The aliens, known to Earth folk as the Deneb, want to meet Marianne. Hence the urgent need for government agents to summon her.

Marianne’s son Noah is dependent on sugarcane, a drug that gives him confidence in his personality, although the personality differs every time he takes it. Her daughter Liz is an isolationist who has bought into “America first” propaganda, which suits her role as an overzealous border patrol officer. Her son Ryan works for a wildlife organization and argues with Liz about the benefits of globalization. The offspring play varying roles of importance as the novel progresses, and at least two of them will presumably play some role in later volumes.

We quickly learn that the Deneb are descendants of Earth, members of the haplogroup Marianne discovered. And we quickly learn that they’ve come to Earth to save it, much to the consternation of isolationist Liz (who views them as illegal aliens) and ecologist Ryan (who views them as an invasive species). The threat to Earth comes from a cloud of spores that is drifting toward Earth. The Deneb hope to find a way to save Earth because the same cloud will swarm their own planet a couple of decades later.

To avoid spoilers, I won’t say much more about the plot, apart from the fact that it is set up by the Deneb visit but otherwise doesn’t have much to do with the Deneb. In fact, the story loses some of its steam once the Deneb depart, although it does set up short-term and long-term threats to the Earth (mostly from stupid humans). Ensuing volumes will no doubt follow characters into space, which is something I will look forward to seeing.

There is a certain amount of family drama, followed by relationship drama, in Marianne’s life, but it contributes to the story without overwhelming it. There are also a bunch of children who are learning to cope with … skills? disabilities? … that have been genetically unlocked in their minds. That aspect of the story is more interesting than a conspiracy involving a rich guy, which has some good moments but is too much like other conspiracy stories to generate much excitement.

Some storylines are left dangling, and not all of the plot threads cohere, so I wouldn’t recommend this as a stand-alone, although the ending isn’t a cliffhanger. I suspect the entire trilogy will be a more satisfying reading experience than Tomorrow’s Kin standing alone. I may need to revise my opinion after reading the rest of the trilogy, but I can guardedly recommend Tomorrow’s Kin as a moderately interesting beginning to a story that, I hope, will become even more interesting as it develops.

RECOMMENDED

ARC received in exchange for a review vis Netgalley.

I was initially excited to read this book because I've been on a real scifi kick this summer and I was approved for an ARC shortly after watching Arrival. I expected an alien first contact story in a similar vein. I got a very small amount of that in the first part of the book, but as the narrative continued to jump further and further into the future, the less attached i became to it.

All together, the story spans roughly 10 years, which isn't bad on it's own, but the time jumps were so regular they didn't allow the reader much time to dwell on what was going on, and a huge problem for me was the fact that much of the really important and/or interesting action through the first 3/4 of the book took place off screen. One of the best examples of this are the choices and transformation undertaken by the protagonist's youngest son, Noah, during Part 1 of the story. He makes a huge life change that effects his place in the story and yet that entire transformation happens completely off screen. Most, if not all, of the actual science also appears off screen.

There's an unfortunate amount of 'telling' rather than 'showing' as the author continually tries to catch the reader up on everything that happened during a time jump instead of just....showing up the exciting/interesting stuff happening.

[Spoiler] I wasn't a huge fan of the way Kress stuck in two diverse stereotypes and then used them for cheap "emotional" shock value. When you kill your gay and fridge your "frizzy haired" black woman,
it tells me that you only included them to check off diversity boxes. [/spoiler]

The entire third part was predictable (it's nothing you havent seen done before).

Overall, not the worst thing i've ready, but uninspiring especially compared to Arrival (perhaps an unfair comparison, but considering how closely together i engaged with both and their similar subject matters I don't think it's entirely inappropriate to talk about them together).

If you're looking for a very low-science, mild first contact story you can give it a try.

*c/p from Goodreads

<i>Tomorrow's Kin</i> is a solid, interesting first contact novel. As someone who generally really responds well to <i>any</i> first contact novel, to enjoy one a little more than the rest is not a bad thing in the least, and I would say that's where I place <i>Tomorrow's Kin</i>.

The premise is pretty straightforward, where some aliens land on Earth and, once communication is established, we learn about where they are from and why they are here. The results of all this information inform a story that becomes less about "what is it like knowing there's other life" and more about coping with the aftermath, both of meeting an alien race (and all that implies in this book's conceit) and of what the aliens came to accomplish. It's a unique and different take on the genre, and one I appreciated greatly.

The big downfall of this book? Approximately the first third is basically (if not entirely) a reprint of the novella that preceded it, <i>Yesterday's Kin</i>. I somewhat wish someone had warned me of this ahead of time, as I worked to complete the novella before diving into this only to find that I was basically rereading the novella immediately afterwards. If there were additions, they did not make a measurable impact on the overall story for me, so use this as a takeaway if you're already familiar with the novella. For new readers, though, you can dive right in without issue. Absolutely a great read and solid take on the subgenre.

If you read the novella Yesterday's Kin you can skip the first part of this book and start on part two. Part one is the same and the addition starts with part two. I have to say I was very disappointed. I loved the novella but it just went downhill after the aliens left. I kept reading and hoping that I would like the addition but I just found it boring. Spaceships were being built and there was danger but the plot just did not make that much sense. I will continue with book two and hope it is better.

A continuation of the novella that won the Nebula is a great idea, and Nancy Kress has done a great job. A very entertaining novel, waiting for the next one.
A full review in spanish: https://dreamsofelvex.blogspot.com/2017/07/tomorrows-kin-nancy-kress.html

Tomorrow's Kin by Nancy Kress

Aliens have arrived in New York. Their spaceship, known as the Embassy, floats on a platform in the city’s harbour but nothing has been seen yet of its inhabitants, although communication has been made. The aliens, dubbed the ‘Debnebs’ out of a mistaken belief that they had arrived from the Debneb star, are, thankfully, friendly but are unable to show themselves due to the danger physical contact could bring to themselves and to humanity. But after two months, the Debnebs reveal that they are ready to meet their human hosts. Dr Marianne Jenner, an unremarkable scientist working on the human genome, is picked as someone they particularly wish to make contact with. And so Marilyn and a few other scientists are brought to the Embassy and taken inside its strange walls.

The Debnebs warn of a threat that is travelling to Earth, due to arrive in only ten months. All life could be extinguished. The only chance is for human scientists to work with the Debnebs to come up with a solution. Time is short, the outcome unlikely, but there is little choice for Marianne and the others. But as the doors seal behind them and work commences, the rest of humanity is affected by the knowledge of both the aliens in New York and the threat that they warn against. People are affected in different ways but nobody is immune, including Marianne’s three grown children who each react to the challenges facing mankind in their own way.

Tomorrow’s Kin has a deceptively calm beginning. All seems normal. Marianne is receiving acclaim for some of her breakthroughs in tracing the human genome into its distant past while her two sons and daughter are each living their own separate lives. But everything is thrown into uncertainty by the revelations that follow thick and fast throughout this thoroughly absorbing and captivating novel. First contact stories are a favourite of mine and almost without fail they suck me in and Tomorrow’s Kin did this very quickly indeed, largely, I think, because of the sophisticated and seemingly simple way in which we’re guided into the Embassy and into knowledge.

There are plenty of big themes here, notably the shaping of the family. Several years are covered and more than one generation plays a role. Despite all that is going on, we’re still given time to immerse ourselves in Marianne’s family life with all of its complications, both for better and worse. When the grandchildren play their role later on, I was particularly hooked. I love what these children bring to this novel. But apart from family, the novel is equally concerned with our relationship to our own planet, to Earth. This is a novel with environmental warnings but they are made very well indeed. This isn’t a book that bludgeons the reader with message and policy. It achieves its aim with wit and a gentle touch. We are shown the effects that an alien species can have on another, or on a world, in so many ways. There is a sensitivity in the way that some people react to their world that strongly affected me.

Tomorrow’s Kin is the first in a trilogy and this is such good news. The novel ends at a good point – there is some conclusion but it also opens another door to any number of possible futures. Nancy Kress’s writing is wonderful – this is the first novel by her that I’ve read – and I loved its style, pace and humour. Tomorrow’s Kin tells a great story very well indeed and I can’t wait to see where we’re taken next.

Basándonse en las ideas expuestas en Yesterday's Kin, la exitosa obra de Nancy Kress, la autora de Buffalo tiene previsto publicar una trilogía, de la que Tomorrow's Kin será la primera entrega.

No tenía muy claro cómo pensaba expandir la historia de los Deneb y los humanos, pero al comenzar a leer el libro todo me sonaba muy familiar. Tanto, tanto que resulta que los primeros capítulos es el mismo Yesterday's Kin.

Esto supuso una pequeña decepción para mí, porque aunque la novella me gustó en su momento, no me apetecía releerla para ponerme en situación. Salvando este escollo, irritante más que molesto, se puede apreciar la historia de Tomorrow's Kin.

Los hechos se retoman unos años después de que los aliens hayan dejado la Tierra, con la "herencia" correspondiente. La propia estructura de la novela hace que tenga un clímax y una finalización a mitad de la lectura, por lo que resulta complicado volver a comenzar la narración. Esto ralentiza el ritmo de lectura y a la novela le cuesta volver a despegar. Sin embargo, el esfuerzo que requiere del lector merece la pena.

Desde el punto de vista especulativo, estamos ante una más que interesante charla sobre ecología y biología, escrita de una forma amena y comprensible. La falta de una especie inclina totalmente el delicado equilibrio biológico de la Tierra, haciendo peligrar la vida humana. Y sin embargo, los humanos se preocupan más por su propio beneficio que por aunar esfuerzos para encontrar soluciones. Algo tan descorazonador como realista.

La historia se sigue centrando en Marianne, la investigadora seleccionada por los aliens para llevar a cabo un estudio de la población humana. El resto de personajes, aunque con sus peculiaridades, parecen girar a su alrededor y creo que esto empobrece el resultado. Además seguimos con las casualidades en la familia, que hacen que sigan siendo protagonistas de la historia. Esta parte es la que menos me ha convencido.

Lo cierto es que el libro se encaminaba hacia una puntuación menor hasta que llegó el final, que acelera de forma espectacular y muy interesante. Vale que hay que hacer un poco de suspensión de la incredulidad, pero cuando los acontencimientos empiezan a sucederse y ya no hay vuelta atrás, es difícil dejar de leer. Espero con interés la siguiente entrega.

Having previously read and loved Yesterday's Kin, I was eagerly looking forward to this extended version (though the page count doesn't expand by much). It starts of the same, with Dr Marianne Jenner being collected by the FBI in the middle of an evening celebration dedicated to her and her work, as she's needed for the alien issue. Because aliens have landed, and it's her work specifically that the entire world is now relying on.

Four months ago aliens arrived on earth. They set up shop, didn't allow anyone on board or (to anyone's knowledge) leave their own ship, but they started communicating immediately with the UN in English that rapidly improved the more study they took. Two months ago they requested permission to land their structure in New York Harbour and in return they'll share some of their knowledge of physics (though not technology).

Now, though, Marianne along with very few others have been specifically invited on board the vessel. And you'll just have to read on to find out what happens next.

The point of view changes between Marianne, her son Noah (who's a bit of a failure at pretty much everything), and though the book starts of with rather a narrow focus, it expands as the plot expands and the deadline of the whole point of the book is revealed. Though the whole ten month thing is almost negligible - what this is really all about is family - it's what holds Marianne together, and it's what drives the aliens onwards.

What I don't really remember from reading Yesterday's Kin was the slightly awkward choice of deaths - first to one of the few (only?) black characters (Sissy), and then to the only gay character. Marianne also then sleeps with Sissy's husband, for some reason. Yes, it shows the failings of our 'hero', but the actual choices were disappointing. 

Overall this is more of a three-and-a-half star rating, but I bumped it up to four in case it's just my preconceived ideas from remembering loving Yesterday's Kin way more than I ended up liking this one.

Tomorrow’s Kin is the first in a new sci-fi series by Nancy Kress. It opens with a mystery, of sorts – an alien spaceship sat at anchor near the United Nations. But there’s more than first contact at stake.

The world as we know it has changed. Well, a little, anyway. At the start of Tomorrow’s Kin, the social geography feels familiar. New York is still New York – a thriving city of millions, going about its business in a way that the reader is broadly acquainted with. Kress does show us snippets of urban life – there are quiet moments in city parks, and brash, gritty diners. These are contrasted neatly with the quieter, more remote rural areas. Again, this feels like the calm before the storm – the world is one we recognise instantly, and the concerns are similar, if sometimes a little esoteric – damage to the environment, debates over immigration and sovereignty, economic downturns, and who’s going to win the Superbowl. It’s all mostly in the background, but this is our world, the lives we live, and in that context, it’s very convincing.

Of course, in this case, there’s also aliens. Quite what they’re up to, why they’ll only talk to the United Nations, and even what they look like – it’s all something of a mystery. I was reminded of Clarke’s Childhood’s End; the aura of mystery and creeping concern is similar. But these aliens – whatever they may be – are a catalyst for exploring larger ideas. The text follows one family, that of Dr. Marianne Jenner. Jenner is brought to speak with the aliens after making an unusual genetic discovery – and everything unravels thereafter. Marianne herself is an interesting protagonist – a sharp, smart professional, who is self-aware enough to be confident in her competence but not feel egotistically brilliant. Her two drivers appear to be professional progress, and, perhaps more importantly, her family. She’s convincing as the logical, perhaps slightly frosty scientist; but her internal monologue gives her a vulnerability in thoughts of her family which is equally substantial.

That family is multi-generational – children and grand children – and more than a little troubled. A daughter is a forceful immigration agent, given room to discuss immigration, the economy, and other bête noir. This usually leads to a clash with one of Marianne’s sons – an ecologist, concerned with invasive plant species, rather than with the movement of people. They’re both given the room to be opinionated, their arguments crashing together between the pages. This isn’t a political tract, mind you – but the discussions are engaging, and help indicate both the personalities of the characters, and the state of the world around them (or at least, those parts of it which they’re concerned with). Marianne does have another son, Noah – a wanderer, a wastrel, a man who feels the need to take drugs in an effort to define an identity for himself, lost in the shadow of his siblings.
This is a book which tries to meld the drama of one family – their smaller squabbles and relationships and concerns – into the larger narrative themes it’s wielding. It actually works rather well, letting the broader themes be illustrated in the effects on individual lives. As the story hots up, the focus draws tighter around Marianne, tracking her through decades of discovery, and charting her family and world at the same time.

It’s surprisingly difficult to talk about Tomorrow’s Kin without spoilers, as you can probably tell from the above. But it pulls together some excellent science-fiction threads: it has a big idea, and it follows that idea to a logical conclusion. The story approaches its concepts logically and plausibly – and the trials and tribulations of the characters work, both because they make sense in context, and because we’re drawn into caring about the characters. Alongside the big idea (or two), there’s a multigenerational family story, one with arcs of personal discovery to match the science happening elsewhere on the page, and with the ability to relate facets of larger debates into a smaller scale, convincingly and in such a way as to make for an interesting read.

It’s not perfect – it feels in some cases that the conceptual stuff, the clever ideas, the “sci-fi” bit, if you like, takes up the page at the expense of further depth of character, especially for some of Marianne’s family. This isn’t an entirely bad thing – the concepts on display are cool, and a lot of fun to read. I guess what I really wanted was a little more; we can care for Marianne, and sympathise with her tribulations, but it feels like there’s room here to tell more stories about her family, and give them a little more room to breathe.

That said, this is an undertaking of impressive scope – a mixture of multigenerational saga and hard science fiction, across geography and time periods, able to talk around some of the big issues of the day, and throw its own ideas into the mix. On those terms, it’s also a successful one – I kept turning pages to see where the story would take me next, and the ambitious and compelling narrative held up to the end. If you’re looking for a solid piece of hard SF, this looks like the start of an exciting new series.

I was originally very excited for the premise of this story, but unfortunately I was quite disappointed by the execution. The synopsis sounded very similar to the basic setup of Arrival/Story of Your Life. However, this book was completely different and it would be unfair to compare it to that masterpiece work.

For me, the downfall of this novel started with the marketing, which setup the wrong expectations for the reader. This book is advertised as hard science fiction, which was not at all accurate. Instead, this read more like a family drama, that just happened to have elements of science fiction. Certainly, this book involved aliens and research, but those aspects almost felt like background noise. For a science fiction story, I hoped there would be more focus on the technology and alien culture.

Also, given the synopsis, I was surprised that this was not really a story of first contact. Instead, the novel begins four months after the aliens arrived on earth. I wanted to read firsthand how the characters reacted to the ship appearing on earth, but instead these events were simply described to the reader retroactively in a handful of paragraphs. I feel the author really missed an opportunity to tell one of the most interesting aspects of the story in a more active manner.

Instead, the story is more of a character study, focusing on the central character and her children. This story is very emotionally driven demonstrating the fallout of how this world-changing event affected this particular family. The story is more about the humans, than the aliens, addressing how average people would react in such a life-changing situation.

The book, itself, was fairly short and was easy to read. Told over multiple perspectives, I was able to finish this story relatively quickly, despite not really enjoying the reading experience. The writing was very simple to follow, with a straightforward style. There is not a lot of action in the story, yet the plot-driven narrative kept the story moving along through time. The book was readable, yet it ultimately lacked substance. The plot felt hollow, despite the grand scale potential of the larger story.

I requested this book from the publisher via Netgalley.

Tomorrow's Kin by Nancy Kress
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC!

I've read a lot of Nancy Kress, going way back to the Eighties and Nineties when she was a regular in Asimov. I'll be honest and say that I was amazed by her debut novels. Some of the later ones, though? Not so much. I know that this novel isn't going to get a super-glowing review, but I can tell you that it's solid novel. Very solid.

As with a lot of Kress, we get a lot of single or at most dual high-science concepts taken all the way as the grand arc for a novel, and this one is no different. In this case, were talking about the global effects of an invasive species in an ecological System, only we see it from the actions of an alien first-contact scenario and focus more on the subtle effects rather than an in-your-face action sequence that dominates most stories.

I appreciate that a lot.

It's thoughtful, personal, and because of the nature of the theme, usually only obvious long after the initial contact is done and done. That's not to say the effects aren't long lasting... because they are. And in a very real way, it's very dangerous and even possibly catastrophic.

This is just assuming that all parties involved, I.E., both humans and aliens, enter into some sort of dialog or transaction with the highest possible motives!

I think that's Kress's main strength. People are generally rational and even when everyone is doing their best on either side of a huge (or small) genetic gap, unintended consequences always can ruin your day. :)

For everyone else just wanting to know what they can expect, science-wise? Genetics, a bit of cool physics, Systems Theory, and a lot more than a hint of species-change. :) And there are a few cool surprises and scary points, too, with action and explosions, but this is NOT the coolest part of the novel. The coolest part is how down-to-earth it is and how much good science is explored in a really fascinating way. :)

I'm looking forward to any sequels to this. It's so nice to see rational people struggle and eventually succeed in good stories. We all know how often the other sort tends to dominate the hero business.

Aliens have landed on Earth and stationed their ship at the New York Harbor. They’ve communicated that their own world is very different from Earth and they cannot leave their ship but are willing to talk with the United Nations about their arrival. This is of course causing a bit of fear and panic among citizens wanting to know more and why the aliens are here.

Dr. Marianne Jenner had made a discovery that got her name on the map but while attending a faculty event someone arrives stating that she has been requested to accompany them to New York. After arriving Marianne finds herself among other elite scientists with the dilemma of solving a scientific discovery with a countdown of ten months until all of Earth will be in danger.

Tomorrow’s Kin is the first book of the Yesterday’s Kin Trilogy by Nancy Kress. First I will admit sci-fi is not a top genre for me so I always find reading them that it’s a bit iffy as to whether I’ll enjoy a book or not. With this particular book I found the story involved to be an interesting one and wanted to give it a try.

For me though this story was entertaining enough plot wise that I wanted to know what would happen but I wasn’t a huge fan of the way it’s executed overall. I knew there was a countdown which made a big part of the story but what we have is some really quick time jumps which leaves me a bit disconnected to the characters. All in all by the end years have gone by and while it’s interesting what is going on I can’t say I wouldn’t have liked more depth to get more hooked into the book.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.