I am a member of the American Library Association Reading List Award Committee. This title was suggested for the 2020 list. It was not nominated for the award. The complete list of winners and shortlisted titles is at <a href="https://rusaupdate.org/2020/01/2020-reading-list-years-best-in-genre-fiction-for-adult-readers/">

A refreshing take on Aliens.
This was a really different read with different aliens all on the same planet.
A good read.

Daisuke Matsumori is a very unhappy man. Frustrated over his recent divorce and disillusioned with his job, he just wants to finish his last show and try to forget. Then his government send him to New Guinea because a wormhole to another world has been discovered there.

He ends up in a multinational group that is tasked with exploring this new world. The world they find themselves in is full of alien landscapes and beings. On their first trip to explore the planet, their plane crashes. They must learn to work together to survive and to make it back to camp.

There are many surprises in store for the group and It's quite possible that the aliens are the least of their worries.

I enjoyed this book and recommend it to all sci-fi fans. It has amazing aliens and countrysides. It has politics, romance, and danger. Definitely a fun read!

Everyone else seems blown away by this book, but for me it was just okay. There were some pretty incredible elements, namely in the descriptions of Junction and its alien inhabitants. Daniel M. Bensen has created vibrant, detailed and wonderous aliens worlds within this story. In his acknowledgements, he wrote that this originally started out as an alien field guide and this basis definitely comes through. As a field guide, this would have been really impressive but as a story it just fell flat for me.

The first chapters were just so odd, here’s a guy who makes his living as a TV explorer and is told he’s being given the opportunity to explore a previous unknown wormhole to an alien planet. Most people would be bowled over and have a million questions about this astonishing discovery, but all he can do is stare at his ring finger where his wedding band had been. Personal issues aside, how can that be your reaction to the greatest discovery and opportunity ever afforded to man? Everyone’s reaction was off for that matter. No one really seemed to question this and we didn’t get to see how the rest of the world felt about it. It was just a few government officials saying “Hey here’s a wormhole, let’s go in with a film crew!” I think the author really missed a good opportunity here.

The second half of the book was much stronger and you started to really feel immersed in this dangerous and desolate planet. It had elements of Annihilation, Rendezvous with Rama, and At the Mountains of Madness in that it really captured the mystifying scenes around our fictional explorers. It was a short read so to be able to do that in less than 300 pages is pretty impressive.

This wasn’t a bad book but for me it wasn’t an amazing one either. What I would love to see is a follow-up/companion book written from the point of view of our no-nonsense biologist Anne, possibly co-written with our hero, Daisuke. Now that would be a really fantastic read. I think if this had been more of a field guide as it was originally envisioned, all the areas where it was lacking (character development, motivations, dialogue) wouldn’t have been as noticeable. Either way, I would like to learn more about the ominous Junction and where else it leads to so if there are sequels I'll probably read them.

What an enthralling, entertaining, and educating novel! Science fiction plus contemporary comment plus deep characterization, shades of Star Trek's Prime Directive and of colonial imperialism, contribute to making this such an enthralling novel. I was thrilled from beginning to end and couldn't set it aside. An Australian biologist's accidental discovery in New Guinea of a Wormhole, with a civilization living on "the other side," impels governments of all sorts to intrude. And the selected "hero explorer" is a reality tv star whose career has been founded on wilderness survival.

A good sci-fi with an interesting world building and an engaging plot.
i loved the style of writing, the plot and the setting.
I look forward to reading other books by this author.
Recommended!
Many thanks to Flame Tree Press and Netgalley for this ARC

Original scifi at it's best. I enjoyed the plot and look forward to a sequel. Bensen presents a great story.

A wormhole is found on the Papuan highlands. This caught my attention immediately. I’m mad about good sci fi and Junction by Daniel M. Bensen gripped me from the start.

I get to explore this new world with our heroes, Daisuke - right pronunciation is Dice-Kay not Dye-Sue-Key - who is a japanese nature show host and Anne, who is an australian biologist.
I have met with a lot of crazy, amazing creatures.

The story behind this exciting field trip didn’t move that much but I started this book for the aliens and I stayed with the story because of them.

Thank you NetGalley and Flame Tree Press for this digital book.

It appears I’m in a dissenting minority here, going by all the other glowing reviews…I just didn’t care for this book at all. Which is disappointing, because it’s such an intriguing concept and I was due for a good sci fi story, but these adventures on the alien world that randomly appears in Papua New Guinea just didn’t work for me, tried as I did to get into it. For one thing…not that original. From the first chapter of a make multinational shift team, meant to reflect the geopolitical complexities of this alien world discovery, venturing out to reconnoiter and survey this alien world replete with wild and wildly different creatures…it’s entirely too much like VanderMeer’s Annihilation. And I haven’t even read that book yet, so going by the movie version alone. The premise is similar to identical, the execution leaves a lot to be desired. Something about this inferior Annihilation is just oddly choppy, unengaging and distant. Like a second rate foreign movie with a third rate dub job. I didn’t care about a single character. The creatures were interesting, the best thing about the book, which ironically enough according to the afterword meant to be something of a field guide to alien flora and fauna. Maybe it would have succeeded at just that, a picture book with descriptions. The actual narrative plot, though, was just too bland, at best. Actually not even that, it’s difficult to put into words what it is, because it’s a sound, if not even remotely original, concept on paper. And, going by other reviews, a well liked effort. It’s entirely possible this was just one of those reader to book incompatibility things. To each their own and all that. To me this was a slow, plodding, indifferent read. Didn’t even know Flame Tree (new publishers) do science fiction, having read two of their conventionally horrific books before. Well, variety is great. Though this one wasn’t. And thus the dissenting minority opinion was offered. Thanks Netgalley.It appears I’m in a dissenting minority here, going by all the other glowing reviews…I just didn’t care for this book at all. Which is disappointing, because it’s such an intriguing concept and I was due for a good sci fi story, but these adventures on the alien world that randomly appears in Papua New Guinea just didn’t work for me, tried as I did to get into it. For one thing…not that original. From the first chapter of a make multinational shift team, meant to reflect the geopolitical complexities of this alien world discovery, venturing out to reconnoiter and survey this alien world replete with wild and wildly different creatures…it’s entirely too much like VanderMeer’s Annihilation. And I haven’t even read that book yet, so going by the movie version alone. The premise is similar to identical, the execution leaves a lot to be desired. Something about this inferior Annihilation is just oddly choppy, unengaging and distant. Like a second rate foreign movie with a third rate dub job. I didn’t care about a single character. The creatures were interesting, the best thing about the book, which ironically enough according to the afterword meant to be something of a field guide to alien flora and fauna. Maybe it would have succeeded at just that, a picture book with descriptions. The actual narrative plot, though, was just too bland, at best. Actually not even that, it’s difficult to put into words what it is, because it’s a sound, if not even remotely original, concept on paper. And, going by other reviews, a well liked effort. It’s entirely possible this was just one of those reader to book incompatibility things. To each their own and all that. To me this was a slow, plodding, indifferent read. Didn’t even know Flame Tree (new publishers) do science fiction, having read two of their conventionally horrific books before. Well, variety is great. Though this one wasn’t. And thus the dissenting minority opinion was offered. Thanks Netgalley.