Blurb:

Will We Find Them?

In 1977, humans placed the Golden Record on the Voyager spacecraft with the hope it would be found by an alien civilization in the future.

In 2036, the alien equivalent arrived on Earth.

When the news leaks to the press, a global wave of fear, panic, and disinformation leaves people to wonder if the damage can ever be undone. In an attempt to quell unrest, several world governments begin an open exchange of ideas and information, hoping to understand the alien signal. As decades and centuries pass, humanity works together to answer one question.

Review:

Here’s my first SFINCS semifinalist review as a judge for Team Secret Scribes. These are my personal opinions and not a team review or rating. Our finalists will be revealed later on. 

And now the review!

Have you ever wondered what a first contact looks like? Not just the actual meeting of species, but all of the science, politics, and intrigue behind the scenes?  Well, if that intrigues you, After the Syzygy is the novella for you. And yes, I’ve had to look up Syzygy at least twice while writing this review to make sure I’m spelling it correctly. 

First off, though, this is not a shoot-em-up “kill those aliens dead” novella. There’s actually no combat at all. Here, we’re focusing on a lot of the behind the scenes people in a first contact that does not immediately descend into war. So if you’re expecting starship troopers, this ain’t it.   In fact, this is a novella unlike any other I’ve read. You could describe it as a collection of interconnected scenes.  At first, you may be wondering what the connections are, but as you read, things become clearer, and there are some pretty great “aha!” moments. 

We start in the year 2036 with some political behind the scenes after the first knowledge of extraterrestrial life is found.  This was a fast paced, dialogue heavy opening, and it immediately drew me in.   Over the next several chapters, we look in on linguists, scientists, pilots, astronauts, interstellar space captains, etc in a novella that spans over 300 years. Yes, 300 years in less than 100 pages.  Like I said, unlike any other novella I’ve read. 

And it works. Really well. Normally, I’m a character focused reader. I want to be invested in the main characters and follow them through the full narrative of the story. Well, that doesn’t really work here since we have a totally new cast of characters in each chapter (which makes sense when 100 years might have passed since when the previous chapter took place).   I found this novella, while focused on the concept of showing the evolution of a first contact from the beginning, does really well with bringing each new POV character to life. Sanderson has a good ear for dialogue and a way with prose.  This novella reminds me of some of John Scalzi’s work, particularly some of the Old Man’s War series and some of his short fiction, though the tone here is a bit less snarky. The prose and the dialogue just give me that vibe. 

There were a few chapters that didn’t quite hit as well as others for me, and a few moments where I felt there could have been a bit more tension/conflict and suspense. It’s hard, when you keep jumping forward in time, to give each character the weight they deserve, and while I feel the author did really well at bringing connections in later on, there were a few scenes that just didn’t quite bring the weight of some of the other, stronger scenes. 

As a whole, I absolutely enjoyed this novella and will look to read more by the author.  If you’re looking for a sci-fi novella that’s well written, thoughtful, and a bit experimental, this is the one for you! I definitely enjoyed my time with it!