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Robert Charles Wilson, saysThe New York Times, "writes superior science fiction thrillers." HisDarwiniawon Canada's Aurora Award; his most recent novel,The Chronoliths, won the prestigious John W. Campbell Memorial Award. Now he tells a gripping tale of alien contact and human love in a mysterious but hopeful universe. At Blind Lake, a large federal research installation in northern Minnesota, scientists are using a technology they barely understand to watch everyday life in a city of lobster like aliens upon a distant planet. They can't contact the aliens in any way or understand their language. All they can do is watch. Then, without warning, a military cordon is imposed on the Blind Lake site. All communication with the outside world is cut off. Food and other vital supplies are delivered by remote control. No one knows why. The scientists, nevertheless, go on with their research. Among them are Nerissa Iverson and the man she recently divorced, Raymond Scutter. They continue to work together despite the difficult conditions and the bitterness between them. Ray believes their efforts are doomed; that culture is arbitrary, and the aliens will forever be an enigma. Nerissa believes there is a commonality of sentient thought, and that our failure to understand is our own ignorance, not a fact of nature. The behavior of the alien she has been tracking seems to be developing an elusive narrative logic--and she comes to feel that the alien is somehow, impossibly, aware of the project's observers. But her time is running out. Ray is turning hostile, stalking her. The military cordon is tightening. Understanding had better come soon.... Blind Lake is a 2004 Hugo Award Nominee for Best Novel.… (more)
User reviews
Not his best work.
Characters: Easily the best part of the book. And that's not common for his genre. He easily fleshed out a good 4-5 people; and that's an accomplishment to me.
Plot: Little weak here. The mystery was good, but some of the resolution was a little trite.
Style: Really pretty
I loved the characters. I loved the growth, and admittedly teared up a bit at the very end.
A couple of elements that tweaked me a little while reading are resolved as the story progresses. One thing that I don't think was handled well was integrating the several viewpoint characters into one narrative. We would get so far and then jag back without necessarily knowing it to an earlier time with another character. This would only become apparent when the story caught up with a scene from someone else. It just didn't seem to be handled as well as I've read in many other stories. On the plus side there is some real strong characterization in here, esp the 11 year old girl who may be slightly autistic. She's different. I got a real sense of the world she lived in. Other good character portraits in here as well, including the girl's mother and a journalist. 4 stars for imagination and characterization. Less for the rest.
Blind Lake has more of a suspense angle than what you find in typical SF - more of an SF thriller. It starts slow and builds to a very
As a general read, it may be paced a bit slowly for non-SF readers and the ending may be a bit obtuse for those same readers. For SF readers the end is its own reward.
A new technology (that is not understood) allows us to see, through a screen, other planets. We're watching two different ones. One has a sentient, alien life that builds cities and makes things, but seems entirely unlike humans. And the base using this technology is suddenly cut
A good, old sci-fi tale about scientists playing with stuff they don't understand, vast alien societies (or not), even vaster alien intellects (or not). And some basic human insanity, to spice things up.
Young Tess may be crazy... or she may be communicating with an alien presence. Her mother may be overly-sentimental... or onto a breakthrough of galactic proportions. Her ex-husband almost certainly is crazy... and suddenly, due to the quarantine, he's in charge. And then there's the weird stuff.
Robert Charles Wilson is another writer that I find easy to read. And fun. Certainly, this is not as good as Darwinia, but it's just about as strange.