Another solid recommendation from Emily May on Goodreads. She mostly reviews YA, but when she branches to a bestseller or in this case, thriller/sci-fi, she can always be relied upon.
As a girl, Rose Franklin falls into a giant hole in the woods near her home. It turns out to be a giant metal hand with strange markings and a turquoise glow. Years later, as a physicist, Dr. Franklin heads up a team of experts to find additional body parts all over the globe for the eventual construction of an otherwordly robot. Why is it here? Where did it come from? Is discovering its capabilities going to help or destroy those on Earth?
This is an epiostolary novel, with the chapters alternating from interviews with a mysterious unnamed project lead to personal logs. This made for interesting pacing as you read through the gaps between entries, but it hampered the novel when you had to decipher relationships through the interview. The entries about personal interactions were unrealistic and distancing. Mr. Burns was the most fascinating character, and I’d read on to the next book in the series just to hear more from him.
This was similar to World War Z, and while the interviews detracted from the personal details of the characters, I think it helped immensely to make the subject matter feel real. I realize now that I’m reviewing a book that sounds like a Transformers movie, but the portrayal of the wonder of discovery and determining our pecking order in the universe made it well worth my time.
Vocab word: alterity.
