The Blue, Beautiful World (SF) - Karen Lord ****

This is a genuinely original science fiction novel with an intriguing underlying concept and multiple twists and turns at its heart. It's a shame that the cover proclaims it a 'story of first contact', because one of the twists is the reveal that this is the case, which isn't obvious to begin with in the book itself, but you can't see the cover without knowing it.

The first part involves a dip into the life of international music star Owen, whose combination of magnetic stage presence and cult-like following reminded me of Valentine Michael Smith in Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land. We then switch to the recruiting of a series of twenty-somethings to a mysterious global organisation and their distinctly odd training, ranging from assessing threats to the world to playing football. That abrupt switch requires a small suspension of irritation, but everything does come together in a satisfying fashion - and the 'first contact' challenge is quite unlike anything I've ever seen before.

In this respect, the novel really does earn the anonymous Guardian comment on the back 'Lord is on a par with Ursula K. Le Guin' - the originality and richness of the plotting is indeed up there with the greats. If I'm honest, the writing style isn't there yet - it's mostly fine, but a tad amateurish in places, which feel in need of a good polish. In this respect, I'm afraid, there's a way to go before catching up with Le Guin's skill as a writer.

The same applies to characterisation. All the central characters are part of a technocratic, intellectual elite who consider the ordinary people sheep to be manipulated. Theirs is a world where nepotism is actively encouraged. Lord seems to think (perhaps rightly) that major changes in society require not very nice people to make things happen.  

More positively, I've always enjoyed books where you read something and think 'Huh? What's going on?' and this happens quite a few times with those aforementioned twists, including one example that for quite some time seems like a mistake on the author's part, but is then explained as the plot develops.

If you like a Star Trek-like tendency to have very humanoid aliens (with the same underlying excuse as to why this is the case) and some physically unlikely alien abilities (notably psi) that were common in earlier SF, but have rather dropped out of fashion, this is a very impressive novel.

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Review by Brian Clegg - See all Brian's online articles or subscribe to a weekly email free here