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The Object
Deep space holds secrets……and one astronomer for NASA has found a big one.But it’s not what she thinks.Dr. Melody Adams, a physicist at the Gemini North Observatory, was studying Pluto in the telescope data and it struck her as odd. The numbers didn’t make sense. Could there be an extraterrestrial object in our solar system?She followed protocol.The scientific community didn’t believe her.And before she knew what happened, her career was over.The day that changed Melody’s life was like any other over the previous two years. She’d found she had a gift for writing and her career as an author had almost healed the pain of losing her job. When the Secret Service rang her bell, everything changed.Something was nearing Saturn……and it was slowing down.Had she been right about the object?You’ll love this hard science fiction novel because Melody is about to find out that everything she knew about space and time was wrong.Get it now.
392 pages, Paperback
Published February 1, 2024
2417 people are currently reading
1375 people want to read
About the author
Joshua T. Calvert
52 books245 followersJoshua T. Calvert has traveled the world--on foot, by Jeep, by bicycle, by motorcycle, and lots of other ways besides. As you might imagine, he's seen many things most people never see - including an Iranian prison cell, from the inside! In Kyrgyzstan, he fared slightly better, narrowly avoiding being kidnapped for ransom. Skydiver, scuba diver, martial artist, adventurer - his goal is to experience everything possible, and then make it real to you in his books. And he's made a good run of it so far: in the Philippines, he did police training on multiple types of firearms (despite being no fan of guns himself); dove in Asian waters among sharks and shipwrecks; and patrolled with Sumatran jungle rangers.
That's what defines Calvert's approach to method writing: pushing himself beyond his own limits, to experience first-hand what his characters experience, to make your immersion in his stories as deep as it can be.
For Ganymede Rises, after a slight detour with some smugglers in the deserts of Uzbekistan and the steppes of Mongolia, he traveled by dogsled and snowshoe to the Arctic Circle to experience first-hand what it's like to be utterly isolated in the coldest place on Earth. For his book The Fossil, he sat with professional pilots in flight simulators for Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 aircraft to learn what it's like to fly a passenger jet. His latest adventure: a parabolic flight with European Space Agency astronauts, to experience zero-gravity. All so he can describe it to you, in his own words.
That's what defines Calvert's approach to method writing: pushing himself beyond his own limits, to experience first-hand what his characters experience, to make your immersion in his stories as deep as it can be.
For Ganymede Rises, after a slight detour with some smugglers in the deserts of Uzbekistan and the steppes of Mongolia, he traveled by dogsled and snowshoe to the Arctic Circle to experience first-hand what it's like to be utterly isolated in the coldest place on Earth. For his book The Fossil, he sat with professional pilots in flight simulators for Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 aircraft to learn what it's like to fly a passenger jet. His latest adventure: a parabolic flight with European Space Agency astronauts, to experience zero-gravity. All so he can describe it to you, in his own words.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 354 reviews
December 12, 2024
The Object
By Joshua T. Calvert
This was certainly an awesome sci-fi novel that really kept me entertained. It had great science, characters (except for Elon Musk), a great plot, and a wonderful and surprising ending. Really emotional ending. Definitely need to read more by this author.
By Joshua T. Calvert
This was certainly an awesome sci-fi novel that really kept me entertained. It had great science, characters (except for Elon Musk), a great plot, and a wonderful and surprising ending. Really emotional ending. Definitely need to read more by this author.
May 31, 2024
Bad writing, Scientific errors:
If Joshua Calvert were writing a chase scene, we'd know every detail about the movement of the steering wheel and the accelerator, and be bored stiff. As though writing to someone with dementia, he is forever reminding us of what just happened last page. His PhD characters insist on verbalizing facts they learned in grade school (Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun, carbon dioxide can cause a greenhouse effect, twenty percent of fifty is ten...)
The term "hard science" should be removed from the cover, unless it's meant to warn us that JTC finds science hard. Cosmic rays are not electromagnetic, physicists in my experience deride people for using the term centrifugal force (it's not a force), and extra-terrestrial means "not from earth" (ALL asteroids and comets are extra-terrestrial). Misuse of mathematical terms, mis-explained X-ray crystallography, and basic metabolism errors can be found here.
Most distressing to anyone familiar with NASA is that in this narrative, NASA leaves all the thinking to the astronauts and doesn't even prep them with possible scenarios. Far from the NASA I know (which employs science-fiction fans), this NASA never even considered science fiction scenarios which have been around for three-quarters of a century (that I know of).
To his credit, the author is clearly fascinated by orbital mechanics and space engineering, and his knowledge here appears well-based, if tediously explained.
Note that nearly all other reviewers mention how slowly the novel drags - makes one wonder why they still gave it five stars. If I can save even one literate science fiction aficionado from wasting time here, the review is worthwhile.
If Joshua Calvert were writing a chase scene, we'd know every detail about the movement of the steering wheel and the accelerator, and be bored stiff. As though writing to someone with dementia, he is forever reminding us of what just happened last page. His PhD characters insist on verbalizing facts they learned in grade school (Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun, carbon dioxide can cause a greenhouse effect, twenty percent of fifty is ten...)
The term "hard science" should be removed from the cover, unless it's meant to warn us that JTC finds science hard. Cosmic rays are not electromagnetic, physicists in my experience deride people for using the term centrifugal force (it's not a force), and extra-terrestrial means "not from earth" (ALL asteroids and comets are extra-terrestrial). Misuse of mathematical terms, mis-explained X-ray crystallography, and basic metabolism errors can be found here.
Most distressing to anyone familiar with NASA is that in this narrative, NASA leaves all the thinking to the astronauts and doesn't even prep them with possible scenarios. Far from the NASA I know (which employs science-fiction fans), this NASA never even considered science fiction scenarios which have been around for three-quarters of a century (that I know of).
To his credit, the author is clearly fascinated by orbital mechanics and space engineering, and his knowledge here appears well-based, if tediously explained.
Note that nearly all other reviewers mention how slowly the novel drags - makes one wonder why they still gave it five stars. If I can save even one literate science fiction aficionado from wasting time here, the review is worthwhile.
April 4, 2024
It is exciting for me when I come across a book that has me researching terms and learning something new. That happened here with some of the science in this story by Joshua T. Calvert. Needless to say, I was hooked on the story from that point, although it took the scientists awhile to come to a conclusion about that alien craft that seemed pretty self-evident. All for purposes of the plot, I suppose. Thoroughly enjoyable and recommended.
April 4, 2025
I give it a 3.2, or 3 of 5 stars.
The book is basically a science fiction take on Oumuamua, the extra solar object that transited through our solar system in 2017, and became the subject of plenty of speculation.
This book had an interesting, though slightly odd or off-kilter premise. Without spoiling the plot, I can say I liked the first half and it’s potential. I’d say it felt a little slow progressing and at about 60% into the book it started to transition to … something pretty damn weird in my opinion. Not what I was expecting and I was a little disappointed. The last 5th of the book got weirder yet, … even cringeworthy to the extent that I nearly abandoned it multiple times, but in the end it explored a somewhat interesting if unlikely concept. This final idea will probably stick with me as a pleasant memory, and salvaged a 3+ from what was devolving into barely a 3 or worse. But … it still just didn’t seem plausible, so 3 at best. I honestly don’t know how I’ll feel about it in a month or so.
.
I have started reading Rendezvous with Rama, a 1973 novel by famous sci-fi author Arthur C. Clarke, that has a similar starting premise. The genius there is that he wrote it before such an object came into the solar system. In Rendezvous, the part about discovering the object, which they named Rama, and going out to rendezvous with it was very short. Not sure if it was 10 pages and seemed still in the first chapter when they landed a ship on Rama, whereas The Object took about 2/3 of the book to get there. That first 60% of The Object was my favorite, though it was too slow and should’ve been no more than half the book. What happened at the object … utterly disappointing.
The book is basically a science fiction take on Oumuamua, the extra solar object that transited through our solar system in 2017, and became the subject of plenty of speculation.
This book had an interesting, though slightly odd or off-kilter premise. Without spoiling the plot, I can say I liked the first half and it’s potential. I’d say it felt a little slow progressing and at about 60% into the book it started to transition to … something pretty damn weird in my opinion. Not what I was expecting and I was a little disappointed. The last 5th of the book got weirder yet, … even cringeworthy to the extent that I nearly abandoned it multiple times, but in the end it explored a somewhat interesting if unlikely concept. This final idea will probably stick with me as a pleasant memory, and salvaged a 3+ from what was devolving into barely a 3 or worse. But … it still just didn’t seem plausible, so 3 at best. I honestly don’t know how I’ll feel about it in a month or so.
.
I have started reading Rendezvous with Rama, a 1973 novel by famous sci-fi author Arthur C. Clarke, that has a similar starting premise. The genius there is that he wrote it before such an object came into the solar system. In Rendezvous, the part about discovering the object, which they named Rama, and going out to rendezvous with it was very short. Not sure if it was 10 pages and seemed still in the first chapter when they landed a ship on Rama, whereas The Object took about 2/3 of the book to get there. That first 60% of The Object was my favorite, though it was too slow and should’ve been no more than half the book. What happened at the object … utterly disappointing.
March 28, 2024
I found the accurate scientific elements quite interesting, but found the actual story a bit slow. Liked the ending though.
May 11, 2024
I liked this very much!
A bit too long but i was interested to the very end.
The ending was great 👌🏻
A bit too long but i was interested to the very end.
The ending was great 👌🏻
July 29, 2024
This was, in my opinion, a wonderful book. The writing was descriptive and well researched and It really took you on a journey. I would have given it five stars, but there were just a few things holding me back. The first was that the book took a while to really grab me and not let go. I feel like the middle I had to force myself to keep reading to get to the good part. I guess that can be said for a lot of good books, but I feel like 5 stars should be reserved for the books that I pick up and absolutely can’t put back down. The other reason was that while the book got very good and very fast near the middle/end I had a hard time really picturing what was going on and following along. This is probably the readers fault, but just something that I noticed when things got exciting. I just ended up getting confused on where things were and what was happening. Overall not a huge knock on the whole book because it really is a great read. The plot was wonderful and I feel like I learned something at the end. Would definitely recommend this book. Especially if you liked The Martian or its sequel.
October 11, 2024
Pretty light but I didn't find this offensively derivative or straight up corny unlike a lot of modern sf.
February 14, 2024
I am a long time science fiction fan but don't normally read it but watch it. But as I was reading the blurb on this book it called to me. And so I jumped in. I am really glad I did.
I liked the idea that other alien lifeforms don't always have to look like us. And that is the case here. The author did a good job of developing the characters so they fit together as the story unfolds. There is a good deal of technical babble in parts that I did skim over. Although in fairness I think I would have liked to have read all of the technical stuff so maybe on my next trip into science fiction there would have been relevance. I can always go back and reread it.
I enjoyed how the story evolved and the realizations that come about. I felt the ending made sense and fit the direction the story had taken.
I don't know when first contact with a true higher lifeform, aka an alien, is likely to happen but I do hope we on our big blue marble will have learned how to open our minds to new possibilities and accept that there is more to the universe than just us.
I liked the idea that other alien lifeforms don't always have to look like us. And that is the case here. The author did a good job of developing the characters so they fit together as the story unfolds. There is a good deal of technical babble in parts that I did skim over. Although in fairness I think I would have liked to have read all of the technical stuff so maybe on my next trip into science fiction there would have been relevance. I can always go back and reread it.
I enjoyed how the story evolved and the realizations that come about. I felt the ending made sense and fit the direction the story had taken.
I don't know when first contact with a true higher lifeform, aka an alien, is likely to happen but I do hope we on our big blue marble will have learned how to open our minds to new possibilities and accept that there is more to the universe than just us.
April 11, 2024
I am always leery when an author puts hard science fiction on the front page of their book but Joshua T. Calvert’s book lives up to the subtitle. The Object is an entertaining book with a lot of science, quite a bit of geo and domestic politics, psychology, and believable characters. Of course, there is also an alien.
The story is primarily told through the eyes of Melody, a naval Lieutenant Commander with a doctorate in physics and a former NASA astronaut trainee. While she is clearly a determined and intelligent woman, what makes Melody so interesting is the depth of her convictions and her personal moral code. Learning about how Melody sees the world is quite a bit about what I enjoyed in this book.
There are a number of other important characters, a lot about how NASA deals with politics and science, and a space mission. While the object is both the title of the book and the center of the story, I greatly enjoyed all of the other subplots woven in my Calvert.
The object itself is an extremely interesting alien visitor. I won’t give away anything here by telling you that Calvert slowly reveals more and more about the object, enticing you to keep reading.
This was definitely one of the better sci fi books I’ve read this year.
The story is primarily told through the eyes of Melody, a naval Lieutenant Commander with a doctorate in physics and a former NASA astronaut trainee. While she is clearly a determined and intelligent woman, what makes Melody so interesting is the depth of her convictions and her personal moral code. Learning about how Melody sees the world is quite a bit about what I enjoyed in this book.
There are a number of other important characters, a lot about how NASA deals with politics and science, and a space mission. While the object is both the title of the book and the center of the story, I greatly enjoyed all of the other subplots woven in my Calvert.
The object itself is an extremely interesting alien visitor. I won’t give away anything here by telling you that Calvert slowly reveals more and more about the object, enticing you to keep reading.
This was definitely one of the better sci fi books I’ve read this year.
April 16, 2024
I've read a sci-fi book or two lately and sometimes found myself cringing at the "science," so when I came across The Object, the plot intrigued me and the "hard science" convinced me.
I'm not knowledgeable enough to say the science in The Object was spot on, but most seemed plausible. The plot was slow to develop, sometimes because of the scientific information. However, it was engaging enough to make me want to read more.
The author's attempt at politics is not up to the level of his scientific knowledge, but again, plausible enough.
SMALL SPOILER:
The one thing that I hated was the brief inclusion of Elon Musk as a character. The man is revolting and has no redeeming qualities. Nothing that has been developed at SpaceX is the result of his knowledge or intelligence. I think this will cause the book to become dated faster than it should.
I'm not knowledgeable enough to say the science in The Object was spot on, but most seemed plausible. The plot was slow to develop, sometimes because of the scientific information. However, it was engaging enough to make me want to read more.
The author's attempt at politics is not up to the level of his scientific knowledge, but again, plausible enough.
SMALL SPOILER:
The one thing that I hated was the brief inclusion of Elon Musk as a character. The man is revolting and has no redeeming qualities. Nothing that has been developed at SpaceX is the result of his knowledge or intelligence. I think this will cause the book to become dated faster than it should.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 15, 2024
I gave this book 3 stars to be kind, because I think the author is well intentioned and the actual story was a good one. However spending time describing complex electronic systems on a spacecraft, or using extremely technical terms to describe the physiology of an alien being is not enjoyable. These descriptions took up too much of the book, and again they did not move the actual story along. I’m sure there are some fans of science-fiction who love that kind of writing, but I do not. If I want to read technical manuals, I will do so. What I did want to do was read a good story. The actual “story“ in this book literally took up maybe 100 of the 380 pages.
August 10, 2024
entertaining like “contact” and “the martian” films
If you liked the movies contact or the martian, you’ll love this entertaining read.
I recommend it for people interested in the idea of space travel, consciousness, and our place in the universe.
If you liked the movies contact or the martian, you’ll love this entertaining read.
I recommend it for people interested in the idea of space travel, consciousness, and our place in the universe.
April 28, 2024
Good read, but it's a more the Martian + Rondevous with Rama than I was hoping for. Not bad. Definitely has an audience with thinkers and space cadets alike.
March 17, 2025
Come for the aliens who never arrive, leave for the bad science, flat characters, and love letters to Elon Musk. Zero sense of wonder achieved.
June 14, 2025
This novel needed an additional round of proofing and editing. At one point, the term "each other" was used four times in a single sentence. Might be a new record.
Sometimes the double speak was confusing; the author would say two opposing ideas in the same sentence when stating one would have sufficed.
Bernard and his cliches...it was a bit much.
The details of Hongbo's death were grotesque and dark, reaching into the horror genre.
Sometimes the double speak was confusing; the author would say two opposing ideas in the same sentence when stating one would have sufficed.
Bernard and his cliches...it was a bit much.
The details of Hongbo's death were grotesque and dark, reaching into the horror genre.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 20, 2024
The Object is a scifi story that really didn't do it for me. I generally like hard science fiction, but this was kind of a Farscape offshoot. The ship was biological, and it was exploring the galaxy along with others of it's kind. It happened on the human's solar system, and raised all kinds of havoc from earth, so they sent an expedition to meet the spaceship. Did it work? Well, I'll let you read it to see the answer to that, but the answer is both yes and no. (you'll just have to read it to see what I mean). I wasn't impressed with the story myself, but it certainly had potential. As it turns out though, this just wasn't my kind of story. Others will of course have different opinions, and that's fine, but for me, this story just didn't click, there was too much hand waving in the beginning, and though it did finally get explained, I don't think it was adequate enough to cover the events of the story though. And, of course, the end is kind of a cop out if you ask me, (no hard science there). But, I'm sure some scifi fans will enjoy this one, so feel free to add it to your read shelf if you want, I won't complain, it just wasn't for me.
November 6, 2024
Very cool book! Though I wondered why they didn't bring a bunch of drones on the journey.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 23, 2025
Great Read
Absolutely loved this book. Sometime the language could be repetitive… using umpteenth for the umpteenth time. The story and science was incredible!
Absolutely loved this book. Sometime the language could be repetitive… using umpteenth for the umpteenth time. The story and science was incredible!
May 2, 2025
I thoroughly enjoyed this down to earth, hard science fiction epic about first contact with a life form that isn’t the typical form of life readers are used to, which creates a fascinating tale of discovery and exploration! It is definitely hard science fiction, I only detected one factual error throughout the entire book. It is notable the book is independently published, but was obviously professionally edited and I hope author Joshua T. Calvert receives every dime of the revenue from the book! It has over 9,000 ratings on Amazon, over 6,000 on Goodreads.
I both read the book on Kindle Colorsofft and listed on Audible. The narration is excellent.
I both read the book on Kindle Colorsofft and listed on Audible. The narration is excellent.
October 6, 2024
Give it a miss.
Clearly, the author is phenomenally incapable of writing "hard science" fiction. The characters act like totally i. Further, the story is a mishmash of tired scenes from others.
Clearly, the author is phenomenally incapable of writing "hard science" fiction. The characters act like totally i. Further, the story is a mishmash of tired scenes from others.
July 9, 2024
This seems like a novel written in the wake of Andy Weir's "The Martian" - heavily steeped in "proper" science and astronaut protocols - yet it really just never is that engaging. It's also filled with problems. Basically a Grade Z "The Martian" or a Grade C "Project Hail Mary", this book is FILLED with typographical errors that run the gamut from clear spellcheck misses to incorrect word usage. It doesn't help that the author relies on specific metaphor phrases like a crutch - "dye dissolving in water" is just not that deep to keep using.
The topper is definitely the "double vote" that we all know that the Vice President of the US has in the Senate, coupled with somehow SpaceX being a near deus ex machina force for chunks of the book. It also doesn't help that this book bounces around in time frame by matters of years at a time with the only mention being an introductory sentence in a chapter - for something with the amount of this, even just tossing in notional dates as part of the chapter headings would be helpful.
All in all, forgettable and really not worth reading.
The topper is definitely the "double vote" that we all know that the Vice President of the US has in the Senate, coupled with somehow SpaceX being a near deus ex machina force for chunks of the book. It also doesn't help that this book bounces around in time frame by matters of years at a time with the only mention being an introductory sentence in a chapter - for something with the amount of this, even just tossing in notional dates as part of the chapter headings would be helpful.
All in all, forgettable and really not worth reading.
September 25, 2024
Astronauts are trained over and over to do very specific tasks. I get that part of the intent with this story was for the cast to make contact with something completely new and a full preparation would not be possible. But seriously...
"We found something completely new and original" (that really smells a lot like Clarke's Rama).
"Let's send someone completely unqualified to make first contact!"
But, "Let's do this stupid thing first"
followed by
"Ooh-ooh! Here's another stupid thing we can do"
and finally
"Awesome! A cataclysmicly stooopid thing I can do"
was no end of annoying.
Add to that the simplistic writing style, this turned into an unpleasant slog. I really don't know why I didn't abort.
I have heard it posited that eating a hot dog will take a year off of your life. I don't know about that, but I do know that I will never get back the time I wasted reading this. I would label this one as a "Must Miss" and move on to something well thought out and written.
"We found something completely new and original" (that really smells a lot like Clarke's Rama).
"Let's send someone completely unqualified to make first contact!"
But, "Let's do this stupid thing first"
followed by
"Ooh-ooh! Here's another stupid thing we can do"
and finally
"Awesome! A cataclysmicly stooopid thing I can do"
was no end of annoying.
Add to that the simplistic writing style, this turned into an unpleasant slog. I really don't know why I didn't abort.
I have heard it posited that eating a hot dog will take a year off of your life. I don't know about that, but I do know that I will never get back the time I wasted reading this. I would label this one as a "Must Miss" and move on to something well thought out and written.
June 6, 2024
The title of this book is apt, “The Object Hard Science Fiction”. It was the author’s objective, but he falls well short. My book club chose this book after doing a search for “new hard sci-fi”. Looking at the book I purchased, I discovered it had no publisher and on the back page states it was printed at the same time as I ordered it. It was self-published. We (my book club) looked and determined that most of the 4-5 star reviews look like the kind generated by star mills and the low ratings by real people.
The worst example of poor/no editing occurred on pages 130 and 158. On page 130 a major character is stated as making three flights as command pilot to the International Space Station. On page 158 the same character has just been launched on the mission to The Object and is awarded a pin for their “first time in space” by the rest of the crew. Other lesser poor plot and character issues are present as well.
Regarding the science part of the book, it is not hard. The author either doesn’t understand or chooses to ignore basic science/engineering factors of space flight. As anyone who understands the rocket equation knows (and as very well taught by the Kerbal Space Program game), weight is all important. And any thought on the subject would lead to the assumption that we would not bring back to the earth’s surface a spaceship which has contacted an alien object (contamination quarantine anyone?). But the author chirps on about the heatshields and aerodynamic surfaces on the existing type of space vehicle used for the mission. But if NASA has to mount a very deep space (interplanetary) mission quickly, using off-the-shelf tech, these tons of useless weight would be the first to go.
Then the spacecraft is able to accelerate at 1.2 gee for an extended period using only the “cold gas thrusters”. First, this is vastly in excess of the thrust capabilities of any normal attitude control system. Second, the level of gas consumption would last for a fraction of the time needed. Even a hypergolic based thruster system would not have the needed impulse (a word the author never uses).
Minor issues, such as use of non-dried food for a mission lasting years, while at the same time discussing water recycling, shows the author’s either lack of understanding or unconcern for the basic physics/engineering of rocket flight.
But the final straw for this not being a hard sci-fi novel is the ending. The alien craft, while stated as being an exploration vessel and capable of perceiving “the entire electro-magnetic spectrum” doesn’t notice humanity as we operate on a different time scale. It also seems to lack any collision avoidance detection capability). Communications are finally established using pseudo-science direct mind contact.
In summary, this book is hard science fiction for those who consider Star Trek hard sci-fi. My book club came to the conclusion that the author chose the title as click bait and the positive reviews were mostly self-generated, either directly or in-directly. There are a lot of better books out there if you want real science in your fiction, and better writing too.
The worst example of poor/no editing occurred on pages 130 and 158. On page 130 a major character is stated as making three flights as command pilot to the International Space Station. On page 158 the same character has just been launched on the mission to The Object and is awarded a pin for their “first time in space” by the rest of the crew. Other lesser poor plot and character issues are present as well.
Regarding the science part of the book, it is not hard. The author either doesn’t understand or chooses to ignore basic science/engineering factors of space flight. As anyone who understands the rocket equation knows (and as very well taught by the Kerbal Space Program game), weight is all important. And any thought on the subject would lead to the assumption that we would not bring back to the earth’s surface a spaceship which has contacted an alien object (contamination quarantine anyone?). But the author chirps on about the heatshields and aerodynamic surfaces on the existing type of space vehicle used for the mission. But if NASA has to mount a very deep space (interplanetary) mission quickly, using off-the-shelf tech, these tons of useless weight would be the first to go.
Then the spacecraft is able to accelerate at 1.2 gee for an extended period using only the “cold gas thrusters”. First, this is vastly in excess of the thrust capabilities of any normal attitude control system. Second, the level of gas consumption would last for a fraction of the time needed. Even a hypergolic based thruster system would not have the needed impulse (a word the author never uses).
Minor issues, such as use of non-dried food for a mission lasting years, while at the same time discussing water recycling, shows the author’s either lack of understanding or unconcern for the basic physics/engineering of rocket flight.
But the final straw for this not being a hard sci-fi novel is the ending. The alien craft, while stated as being an exploration vessel and capable of perceiving “the entire electro-magnetic spectrum” doesn’t notice humanity as we operate on a different time scale. It also seems to lack any collision avoidance detection capability). Communications are finally established using pseudo-science direct mind contact.
In summary, this book is hard science fiction for those who consider Star Trek hard sci-fi. My book club came to the conclusion that the author chose the title as click bait and the positive reviews were mostly self-generated, either directly or in-directly. There are a lot of better books out there if you want real science in your fiction, and better writing too.
October 30, 2024
This was an interesting tale that wove hard science fiction with an individual's determination and persistence, and the shadows that politics sometimes cast over our greatest endeavors. I loved how the astronauts on the Pangaea, even though they were from different cultures and different social structures, were able to put aside their differences in the pursuit of their goal, even when short-sighted politicians could not. In the end (no spoilers!), it was their drive to succeed, against all odds, that helped to nudge humanity into a better, more enlightened future in this story.
The characters were relatable, if not in their professions, then in their personalities, fears, and weaknesses, as well as strengths. I loved Melody and Hongbo, especially, though I think it is Hongbo who evolves the most in the story. Melody is driven from the very first page, and while she does evolve, her changes are along a predictable spectrum. That doesn't make her any less lovable. More so, in fact. When she could have turned bitter, instead she doubled down on her conviction and hope. This is a character we can get behind.
The story is a good one, and well told. I had a hard time putting the book down, with the possible exception of one specific part where the storyline got so intense, I needed a little bit of a break. That lasted about 10 minutes, whereupon I picked it up again and finished it that same evening. I began, about 50% of the way through, to suspect where it was going. I was right, but that didn't make me love the story any less. The way the author twisted the scenes kept me guessing enough that I didn't get bored. I even went back the next morning, and re-read the last 1.5 chapters, so I could experience them again. Well done!
The only drawback for me was the long passages of hard sci-fi explanations of orbital mechanics, mathematical engineering, and other in-depth explanations and descriptions for why things happened the way they did, or why the characters needed to do a thing in a specific way. I'm no mathematician, nor engineer, nor astronaut. Much of the lengthy explanations were far beyond my understanding, even as clear as they seemed. I ended up skimming/skipping past most of them. Doing so did not decrease my enjoyment or understanding of the story's premise overall.
Definitely an intriguing story, with a few interesting twists. If you love hard science fiction with clear threads of human-interest, this is a great addition for your TBR list. Highly recommended.
The characters were relatable, if not in their professions, then in their personalities, fears, and weaknesses, as well as strengths. I loved Melody and Hongbo, especially, though I think it is Hongbo who evolves the most in the story. Melody is driven from the very first page, and while she does evolve, her changes are along a predictable spectrum. That doesn't make her any less lovable. More so, in fact. When she could have turned bitter, instead she doubled down on her conviction and hope. This is a character we can get behind.
The story is a good one, and well told. I had a hard time putting the book down, with the possible exception of one specific part where the storyline got so intense, I needed a little bit of a break. That lasted about 10 minutes, whereupon I picked it up again and finished it that same evening. I began, about 50% of the way through, to suspect where it was going. I was right, but that didn't make me love the story any less. The way the author twisted the scenes kept me guessing enough that I didn't get bored. I even went back the next morning, and re-read the last 1.5 chapters, so I could experience them again. Well done!
The only drawback for me was the long passages of hard sci-fi explanations of orbital mechanics, mathematical engineering, and other in-depth explanations and descriptions for why things happened the way they did, or why the characters needed to do a thing in a specific way. I'm no mathematician, nor engineer, nor astronaut. Much of the lengthy explanations were far beyond my understanding, even as clear as they seemed. I ended up skimming/skipping past most of them. Doing so did not decrease my enjoyment or understanding of the story's premise overall.
Definitely an intriguing story, with a few interesting twists. If you love hard science fiction with clear threads of human-interest, this is a great addition for your TBR list. Highly recommended.
July 8, 2024
This was such a good book.
The book can be divided into three main parts, when they're on Earth, when they're in space, and the third act (I don't want to spoil anything).
Overall:
Acts one and three were amazing. Act two, however, did drag on a bit because it felt repetitive. There's a problem, oh no what do we do, solution. And that's fine, but I think that axing some of it would have made the story flow a bit better because I wanted to get to the ending and figure out what was going on.
The themes were good, I like that everything had a place and a way to connect. Often, I feel like science fiction books fail to do this, where they will introduce threads and never connect them. Here, however, they do connect, and the themes match the overarching plot. I also like that this was a standalone and not a part of a larger universe.
The science in it seemed plausible. I am by no means an expert in anything science, but from what I could understand, it seemed like it made enough sense. I was afraid that the "Hard Science Fiction" label meant I'd be drowning in pages of physics like in Seveneves, but this was far more digestible.
Characters:
I like the characters, specifically the main character Melody, who was a character to root for and be happy for. I will say that at times it didn't seem like she had too many negative traits, which is fine, but it stopped her from fully developing the way that I wanted her to.
My personal favorite was Hongbo, who you don't get to meet until well into Act one, but I fell in love her with rather quickly. Bernard is another character who I liked because he had a pretty good arc.
Other Thoughts:
The reveals that we get were really well timed, however I think that shortening the second Act would have made it flow a lot better because the pacing was mistimed as a result of the bloated Space portion. While I like that the majority takes place in space, a few of the problems felt far more intriguing than the others.
Contrary to other reviews, I thought the prose was lovely. I didn't find myself having to re-listen or go back to try and catch things. It was clear, it communicated the story, and elicited emotions out of me. All in all, one of my favorites I've listened to this year, will most likely be re-reading physically because I loved it so much.
The book can be divided into three main parts, when they're on Earth, when they're in space, and the third act (I don't want to spoil anything).
Overall:
Acts one and three were amazing. Act two, however, did drag on a bit because it felt repetitive. There's a problem, oh no what do we do, solution. And that's fine, but I think that axing some of it would have made the story flow a bit better because I wanted to get to the ending and figure out what was going on.
The themes were good, I like that everything had a place and a way to connect. Often, I feel like science fiction books fail to do this, where they will introduce threads and never connect them. Here, however, they do connect, and the themes match the overarching plot. I also like that this was a standalone and not a part of a larger universe.
The science in it seemed plausible. I am by no means an expert in anything science, but from what I could understand, it seemed like it made enough sense. I was afraid that the "Hard Science Fiction" label meant I'd be drowning in pages of physics like in Seveneves, but this was far more digestible.
Characters:
I like the characters, specifically the main character Melody, who was a character to root for and be happy for. I will say that at times it didn't seem like she had too many negative traits, which is fine, but it stopped her from fully developing the way that I wanted her to.
My personal favorite was Hongbo, who you don't get to meet until well into Act one, but I fell in love her with rather quickly. Bernard is another character who I liked because he had a pretty good arc.
Other Thoughts:
The reveals that we get were really well timed, however I think that shortening the second Act would have made it flow a lot better because the pacing was mistimed as a result of the bloated Space portion. While I like that the majority takes place in space, a few of the problems felt far more intriguing than the others.
Contrary to other reviews, I thought the prose was lovely. I didn't find myself having to re-listen or go back to try and catch things. It was clear, it communicated the story, and elicited emotions out of me. All in all, one of my favorites I've listened to this year, will most likely be re-reading physically because I loved it so much.
February 9, 2025
Not entirely sure what I think yet…
First I should say that I finished the book, and that far exceeds the fate of the last several books I’ve bought based on ads or Kindle recommendations. So I did enjoy the book enough to keep reading. In fact, I don’t think I ever considered stopping. Sorry for the faint praise, but my experience of late has been poor.
Second, the premise was a good one, with satisfaction delayed to the end.
I am not really qualified to judge the quality of the writing except from my own impressions, and I would say that the writing style did not bug me in any way. When the writing style is good enough, it disappears into the story and doesn’t get in the way of enjoyment.
My problem with it might be my problem, but there was an awful lot of descriptions of things the characters were physically doing and building, and I (an engineer) did not bother trying to follow. I think I got the gist without following the details, but there were a lot of details. I know the ship had to be tied down, for instance, and I got the harpooning. It was:a not clear what was going on with the EVAs on the surface, but that was a very complicated situation with spin forces dominating, I think. Was the 1.3 g a negative from the spin or positive from the mass? It was a blur for me, because the words didn’t adequately describe it for me. But that might be my problem. I’ve always been a bit concerned that my mental images when reading are not really what the writer has in mind. I’m not a detailed reader.
There are several areas of science that come into play in the book. There are Newtonian physics throughout and biological science toward the end, with a bit of philosophy of mind thrown in. I never suspected that the author was just throwing out sciency stuff to make a story; it was largely faithful to science. I guess I should voice strong appreciation for that.
First I should say that I finished the book, and that far exceeds the fate of the last several books I’ve bought based on ads or Kindle recommendations. So I did enjoy the book enough to keep reading. In fact, I don’t think I ever considered stopping. Sorry for the faint praise, but my experience of late has been poor.
Second, the premise was a good one, with satisfaction delayed to the end.
I am not really qualified to judge the quality of the writing except from my own impressions, and I would say that the writing style did not bug me in any way. When the writing style is good enough, it disappears into the story and doesn’t get in the way of enjoyment.
My problem with it might be my problem, but there was an awful lot of descriptions of things the characters were physically doing and building, and I (an engineer) did not bother trying to follow. I think I got the gist without following the details, but there were a lot of details. I know the ship had to be tied down, for instance, and I got the harpooning. It was:a not clear what was going on with the EVAs on the surface, but that was a very complicated situation with spin forces dominating, I think. Was the 1.3 g a negative from the spin or positive from the mass? It was a blur for me, because the words didn’t adequately describe it for me. But that might be my problem. I’ve always been a bit concerned that my mental images when reading are not really what the writer has in mind. I’m not a detailed reader.
There are several areas of science that come into play in the book. There are Newtonian physics throughout and biological science toward the end, with a bit of philosophy of mind thrown in. I never suspected that the author was just throwing out sciency stuff to make a story; it was largely faithful to science. I guess I should voice strong appreciation for that.
June 10, 2025
Relying on recommendations generated by AI (or, more likely, sponsored by publishers peddling their wares) can be risky.
Recently, I had the misfortune (entirely my own fault) of listening to the audiobook The Object by Joshua T. Calvert. Honestly, I should have stopped after the first few chapters, but as a frequent victim of the sunk cost fallacy, I continued listening, initially hoping it would improve, and later simply listening in morbid fascination, like observing a car crash in slow motion.
The concept itself isn't bad, though hardly original, and a few ideas related to the titular "object" (no spoilers here) are genuinely intriguing. But the execution is terrible. The prose is pompous, artificial, and bombastic to the point I'm genuinely surprised the book made it through publishing (and even got recorded as an audiobook). The dialogue is even worse; stilted, pretentious, and unnatural, sounding more like conversations between badly programmed LLMs than real people. The inevitable infodumps (this is hard sci-fi after all) are so absurdly over-the-top, it’s unclear who the author was writing for.
And the ending is downright awful. The solution to contacting the titular object is such a clichéd, scientifically inconsistent mess that it hurts to even think about it.
I suppose I received this as a recommendation because I'd previously listened to genuinely good hard sci-fi (like Arthur C. Clarke’s Rama and Adrian Tchaikovsky’s excellent Children of Time series). Unfortunately, that led me to stumble onto this disaster.
I really need to learn to stop reading or listening to trash like that the moment I realize I'm not enjoying it. Those were hours wasted, hours I'll never get back.
My recommendation: avoid at all costs.
Recently, I had the misfortune (entirely my own fault) of listening to the audiobook The Object by Joshua T. Calvert. Honestly, I should have stopped after the first few chapters, but as a frequent victim of the sunk cost fallacy, I continued listening, initially hoping it would improve, and later simply listening in morbid fascination, like observing a car crash in slow motion.
The concept itself isn't bad, though hardly original, and a few ideas related to the titular "object" (no spoilers here) are genuinely intriguing. But the execution is terrible. The prose is pompous, artificial, and bombastic to the point I'm genuinely surprised the book made it through publishing (and even got recorded as an audiobook). The dialogue is even worse; stilted, pretentious, and unnatural, sounding more like conversations between badly programmed LLMs than real people. The inevitable infodumps (this is hard sci-fi after all) are so absurdly over-the-top, it’s unclear who the author was writing for.
And the ending is downright awful. The solution to contacting the titular object is such a clichéd, scientifically inconsistent mess that it hurts to even think about it.
I suppose I received this as a recommendation because I'd previously listened to genuinely good hard sci-fi (like Arthur C. Clarke’s Rama and Adrian Tchaikovsky’s excellent Children of Time series). Unfortunately, that led me to stumble onto this disaster.
I really need to learn to stop reading or listening to trash like that the moment I realize I'm not enjoying it. Those were hours wasted, hours I'll never get back.
My recommendation: avoid at all costs.
December 19, 2024
A mysterious object is detected in the far reaches of the solar system. Is it a comet? An asteroid? Melody Adams is the discoverer. She is also a former astronaut who never got to go into space because a competing candidate cheated on a final test and got the slot. There is a lengthy section where the author shows the depth of his research about space travel and extraterrestrial science as the scientists in the story argue about whether it is a natural object or, as Melody believes, a spaceship. Many chapters - too many in my opinion - are spent on the Melody's struggle within NASA to promote her views and increase her rank. A halfhearted love story is developed between her and another character. Eventually a mission is authorized to explore the object. You can guess who becomes the mission leader. I won't say more on the plot to avoid spoilers.
The author's research is impressive but his manner of displaying it is rather clunky. There are a lot of conversations between scientists and astronauts where person A explains some basic science to person B when clearly anyone in person B's position would certainly already know that. Some of the "science" is speculation or imagination, which is perfectly acceptable in science fiction, but it can be distracting when we don't know if we're supposed to believe it or not. Various crises arise which are resolved in dubious manners. In the end the nature of the object is discovered and it is quite imaginatively resolved, although it is not very plausible. I'm rounding up to four stars from three and a half.
The author's research is impressive but his manner of displaying it is rather clunky. There are a lot of conversations between scientists and astronauts where person A explains some basic science to person B when clearly anyone in person B's position would certainly already know that. Some of the "science" is speculation or imagination, which is perfectly acceptable in science fiction, but it can be distracting when we don't know if we're supposed to believe it or not. Various crises arise which are resolved in dubious manners. In the end the nature of the object is discovered and it is quite imaginatively resolved, although it is not very plausible. I'm rounding up to four stars from three and a half.
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