Tomorrow’s Kin is the first in a new sci-fi series by Nancy
Kress. It opens with a mystery, of sorts – an alien spaceship sat at anchor
near the United Nations. But there’s more than first contact at stake.
The world as we know it has changed. Well, a little, anyway.
At the start of Tomorrow’s Kin, the social geography feels familiar. New York
is still New York – a thriving city of millions, going about its business in a
way that the reader is broadly acquainted with. Kress does show us snippets of
urban life – there are quiet moments in city parks, and brash, gritty diners.
These are contrasted neatly with the quieter, more remote rural areas. Again,
this feels like the calm before the storm – the world is one we recognise
instantly, and the concerns are similar, if sometimes a little esoteric –
damage to the environment, debates over immigration and sovereignty, economic
downturns, and who’s going to win the Superbowl. It’s all mostly in the
background, but this is our world, the lives we live, and in that context, it’s
very convincing.
Of course, in this case, there’s also aliens. Quite what
they’re up to, why they’ll only talk to the United Nations, and even what they
look like – it’s all something of a mystery. I was reminded of Clarke’s Childhood’s End; the aura of mystery and
creeping concern is similar. But these aliens – whatever they may be – are a
catalyst for exploring larger ideas. The text follows one family, that of Dr. Marianne
Jenner. Jenner is brought to speak with
the aliens after making an unusual genetic discovery – and everything unravels
thereafter. Marianne herself is an interesting protagonist – a sharp, smart
professional, who is self-aware enough to be confident in her competence but
not feel egotistically brilliant. Her two drivers appear to be professional
progress, and, perhaps more importantly, her family. She’s convincing as the
logical, perhaps slightly frosty scientist; but her internal monologue gives
her a vulnerability in thoughts of her family which is equally substantial.
That family is multi-generational – children and grand
children – and more than a little troubled. A daughter is a forceful
immigration agent, given room to discuss immigration, the economy, and other bête
noir. This usually leads to a clash with one of Marianne’s sons – an ecologist,
concerned with invasive plant species, rather than with the movement of people.
They’re both given the room to be opinionated, their arguments crashing
together between the pages. This isn’t a political tract, mind you – but the
discussions are engaging, and help indicate both the personalities of the
characters, and the state of the world around them (or at least, those parts of
it which they’re concerned with). Marianne does have another son, Noah – a wanderer,
a wastrel, a man who feels the need to take drugs in an effort to define an
identity for himself, lost in the shadow of his siblings.
This is a book which tries to meld the drama of one family –
their smaller squabbles and relationships and concerns – into the larger
narrative themes it’s wielding. It actually works rather well, letting the
broader themes be illustrated in the effects on individual lives. As the story
hots up, the focus draws tighter around Marianne, tracking her through decades
of discovery, and charting her family and world at the same time.
It’s surprisingly difficult to talk about Tomorrow’s Kin
without spoilers, as you can probably tell from the above. But it pulls
together some excellent science-fiction threads: it has a big idea, and it
follows that idea to a logical conclusion. The story approaches its concepts
logically and plausibly – and the trials and tribulations of the characters
work, both because they make sense in context, and because we’re drawn into
caring about the characters. Alongside
the big idea (or two), there’s a multigenerational family story, one with arcs
of personal discovery to match the science happening elsewhere on the page, and
with the ability to relate facets of larger debates into a smaller scale,
convincingly and in such a way as to make for an interesting read.
It’s not perfect – it feels in some cases that the
conceptual stuff, the clever ideas, the “sci-fi” bit, if you like, takes up the
page at the expense of further depth of character, especially for some of
Marianne’s family. This isn’t an entirely bad thing – the concepts on display
are cool, and a lot of fun to read. I guess what I really wanted was a little
more; we can care for Marianne, and sympathise with her tribulations, but it
feels like there’s room here to tell more stories about her family, and give
them a little more room to breathe.
That said, this is an undertaking of impressive scope – a mixture
of multigenerational saga and hard science fiction, across geography and time
periods, able to talk around some of the big issues of the day, and throw its
own ideas into the mix. On those terms, it’s also a successful one – I kept
turning pages to see where the story would take me next, and the ambitious and compelling
narrative held up to the end. If you’re looking for a solid piece of hard SF,
this looks like the start of an exciting new series.
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