Just someone who has read this and would like to talk about it.

[Beebee]

Jennifer wrote: " I read this book several years ago and have yet to find anyone else other than my husband who has read it and its sequel. I think it is a remarkable piece of science fiction with some pretty int..."
Both my husband and I have read it and we rate it pretty highly as a science fiction work. Very well written with an anthropological point of view that brings the story and characters to life. We recommend it to all our friends who love to read.

[Beebee]

Brian wrote: "Suzanne wrote: "Non-sci-fi readers love this book because, really, it's not sci-fi."

I applaud most of what you're saying, Suzanne, but I disagree with your definition. A book (or movie, or tv sho..."

Yeah! Well said Suzanne.

[Lynn]

I read both and loved both of the books. I thought about the characters and the questions raised for days after I finished each.

[Renae]

I really liked the first book, "The Sparrow," but not the second one so much. I'm not even quite sure what it was that I didn't like about "Children of God." Part of me felt that it was an unnecessary follow-up, that the first book stood on it's own sufficiently to tell the story and the follow-up story didn't need to be told. I have still recommended the second book though.

"The Sparrow" was a wonderful example of how sci-fi and religion and politics can co-exist in a fantastic story that causes people to still want to discuss it years after reading it!

~Renae

[Lynn]

That's interesting, Renae. I thought the second book perfectly brought the theme full circle, that there is intricate pattern in life; like a web of silk threads we can only see if we look at just the right angle.

[Louise]

Initially I was put off by the blurb on the back cover. I had visions of religious space opera. But a friend lent me a copy unprompted and I absolutely loved it. Very thought provoking and compelling. Sometimes I had to put it down, so I could mull over the thoughts it provoked which were distracting me from the text.

The sequel Children of God is just as good. Emilio helps a second group of Jesuits prepare for another trip. Definitely recommend it.

[Chuck]

This was a thought-provoking book in a way that much scifi doesn't even try to be. The characters were enjoyable, though such type-A wunderkinds I did want to smack them a bit. But I especially like that it tackled (with fine writing and suspenseful plotting) the idea of comprehensibility with an alien culture. Aliens not as wholly unknowable as in some of Stanislaw Lem's scenarios, but beings who have embarked on a different social development millennia ago, and with no less of a claim to morality than our own. I did want to know why Emilio's loss of faith in God only happens after his own personal trauma, though. What about those Sudanese kids? Didn't that have the same effect or was it just that his personal path toward divine oneness was brutally interrupted?

[Hasinta]

Oh goodness! Theres so many people here! I never would have guessed! You have all had such incredibly amazing ideas. I myself just finished the book and it has given a new light to my life. I even had a dream of becoming the first female jesuit priest!
The focus on the Jesuits isn't really on religion but on spirituality, and for me that made a whole lot more sense, it made it easier to swallow AND even my friend, a complete church hating atheist softened up and began understanding why some people are religious because of this book! Absolutely fantastic in my opinion, I wish to write an essay on this book but there are SO MANY angles I cant just decide!

[Amyss]

That's excellent!! Sorry I've been out of this site for a while but I love it. Anyway loved your comment!