In the market for a thoughtful narrative, I struck gold with Planetfall.
To start on a sci-fi note, there is a golden formula for a good Doctor Who episode – a ‘base under siege’ story. This rings true for Planetfall as you get vivid and grounded characterisation, an interesting dynamic of the colony and Ren, our narrator’s, role within its core, wrapped up inside a mystery and then subsequent siege of their space base. To call it a murder mystery would be wrong, as it falls nearer to an emotional view into dealing with a life-changing set of events and secret.
“The resurgence of this kind of religious talk makes the skin on the back of my neck prickle. The times it’s blossomed in the colony have brought us closer to self-destruction than anything Mack has kept hidden.”
The anxiety raised by the narrator for religious murmurings within this new colony marks a definite choice by Newman to frame the instability of human judgment as a parallel to the need for a greater, guiding emblem of power/faith. This reliance is mirrored in Ren’s calm that she finds in creation, being an engineer and the primary fixer of the many “printers” in the colony.
As there is a slow-burning shift towards a lack of faith in their leader, the colony begins to shift back to the very human response of looking to their instinctive source of guidance. Society cracks at this point, alongside Ren’s mental disintegration as her coping mechanisms are stripped away. The inability in Planetfall for characters to be completely free of their anxieties, their faith, left over from Earth ultimately poisons what fresh life the colony should – could – have provided.
The book is an introspective story about the lessons of human error, placed in a futuristic setting that soothingly promises a smoother way of life. However the value of Planetfall lies with the protagonist, Ren, who the story studies cleverly. Themes of faith, sci-fi, science, love and loss make this an easy recommendation if you are after something fairly quick yet thoughtful and engaging to read.
There is still peace and wonder to be found in a sci-fi book.
“That scared me more than anything, sometimes; the noise of my thoughts, the sense that even the space inside myself wasn't safe.”
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