The Book of Strange New Things // Book Review

 

The Book of Strange New Things

by: Michel Faber

4/5 stars

This book started off really boring for me. It had a lot of set up, which looking back was definitely necessary. 

This isn't the type of book I would normally read but I had absolutely no idea what it was about when I started. However, once the set up was done, I was hooked. I wanted to read it all the time to figure out what would happen next. 

This story blends religion with science fiction, which seems like it would be a very difficult task. It's all about a minister who is chosen to evangelize to an alien race. Interesting, right? 

So the main character of this story is Peter. He is chosen by a huge company to go to space and be their minister. He travels without his wife who was deemed "unfit" to participate in the program. He visits the native people of the land and finds that they already know a little bit about Jesus and are extremely willing to learn. 

He works with these native people for a long time while dealing with the fact of missing his wife, hearing about horrible things happening at home, and trying to figure out the real meaning behind his mission. 

You don't have to believe in God to find this book interesting, but it does have some Christian undertones. The story quotes Bible verses and helps to teach us that even if someone doesn't look like we do, they are valuable.