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Yesterday's Kin Trilogy #2
If Tomorrow Comes
Nancy Kress returns with If Tomorrow Comes, the sequel of Tomorrow's Kin, part of an all-new hard science fiction trilogy based on a Nebula Award-winning novella
Ten years after the Aliens left Earth, humanity succeeds in building a ship, Friendship, to follow them home to Kindred. Aboard are a crew of scientists, diplomats, and a squad of Rangers to protect them. But when the Friendship arrives, they find nothing they expected. No interplanetary culture, no industrial base—and no cure for the spore disease.
A timeslip in the apparently instantaneous travel between worlds has occurred and far more than ten years have passed.
Once again scientists find themselves in a race against time to save humanity and their kind from a deadly virus while a clock of a different sort runs down on a military solution no less deadly to all. Amid devastation and plague come stories of heroism and sacrifice and of genetic destiny and free choice, with its implicit promise of conscious change.
The Yesterday's Kin Trilogy
Tomorrow's Kin
If Tomorrow Comes
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Ten years after the Aliens left Earth, humanity succeeds in building a ship, Friendship, to follow them home to Kindred. Aboard are a crew of scientists, diplomats, and a squad of Rangers to protect them. But when the Friendship arrives, they find nothing they expected. No interplanetary culture, no industrial base—and no cure for the spore disease.
A timeslip in the apparently instantaneous travel between worlds has occurred and far more than ten years have passed.
Once again scientists find themselves in a race against time to save humanity and their kind from a deadly virus while a clock of a different sort runs down on a military solution no less deadly to all. Amid devastation and plague come stories of heroism and sacrifice and of genetic destiny and free choice, with its implicit promise of conscious change.
The Yesterday's Kin Trilogy
Tomorrow's Kin
If Tomorrow Comes
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2018
115 people are currently reading
597 people want to read
About the author
Nancy Kress
452 books900 followersNancy Kress is an American science fiction writer. She began writing in 1976 but has achieved her greatest notice since the publication of her Hugo and Nebula-winning 1991 novella
Beggars in Spain
which was later expanded into a novel with the same title. In addition to her novels, Kress has written numerous short stories and is a regular columnist for Writer's Digest. She is a regular at Clarion writing workshops and at The Writers Center in Bethesda, Maryland. During the Winter of 2008/09, Nancy Kress is the Picador Guest Professor for Literature at the University of Leipzig's Institute for American Studies in Leipzig, Germany.
Excerpted from Wikipedia.
Excerpted from Wikipedia.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 116 reviews
October 28, 2018
I think I understand why some reviewers weren’t crazy about this book. It’s true that the series is a bit more of usual fare vs some of Kress’ more original stories. None-the-less the characters are well developed- mostly we are in the minds of three: a thirteen year old boy who is conflicted about where he fits in, a middle-aged doctor reviewing his choices and a young adult in the military who is adaptive and slowly learns to question assumptions and his less adaptive commander. There is action but it’s not military sci-fi and that might disappoint some. There is a lot about developing vaccines and how practical science is done which is something I like.
Onto book three!
Onto book three!
May 12, 2018
Originally reviewed at Bookwraiths.
My rating is 2.5 stars.
If Tomorrow Comes by Nancy Kress is the follow-up to Tomorrow’s Kin and the second installment in the Yesterday’s Kin Trilogy. Since there isn’t any way to review this book without giving away spoilers for the first book, I have to warn you now not to continue reading if you haven’t finished book one.
A decade ago Earth was changed by the arrival of aliens. Not only did these being give warning of a coming “spores” plague, but they also left behind technological advancements to aid Earth in their coming trials and tribulations. While Earth was still ravaged by the foretold plague, the advanced notice was put to good use including the building of the starship Friendship.
Once completed, this interstellar craft is dispatched from Earth, crewed with a plethora of scientists including Dr. Marianne Jenner, a very familiar face from Tomorrow’s Kin. She and her fellows tasked with this journey to the aliens’ home world of Kindred to lend aid in that world’s own plague outbreak.
What the Friendship finds on arrival is beyond their worst fears: a primitive world without amazing technology or advanced medicine. Truly, Kindred is a planet completely unprepared for the coming spore plague. The hope for it and the crew of the Friendship surviving what is coming near zero!
Now, it goes without saying that Tomorrow’s Kin was a first contact story, involving the normal elements of the meeting and greeting of aliens come to Earth. If Tomorrow Comes is really a continuation of that first contact story except this time the author turned the familiar script on its head, showing people from Earth’s traveling to an alien world and having to learn about a strange society with alien customs and having to deal with their own ingrained biases and prejudices. This the true heart of the narrative even more than the rising tension and frantic action as the countdown to the spore plague ticks ever downward.
Probably the best element of the novel is the writing of Nancy Kress. She explains the science of viruses in a careful, easy-to-understand way. She also does an outstanding job describing a truly alien people, their society, their morality, and juxtaposing those things with the familiar Earth beliefs. Her careful crafting of both a frightening viral plague and a living, breathing alien world the true highlight of the book.
The weakness of the narrative is the characters themselves however. No one here really comes to life, captures a reader’s interest or makes them feel real empathy. Certainly, the fear of the Earthers that they will be returning home to family aged beyond their worst fears due to space travel time differences is understandable and interest, but most science fiction readers will have seen the issue handled more thoroughly and more emotionally in other stories. And while Dr. Jenner is a familiar name from book one, here she gets lost among a host of one dimension faces who keep making head scratching decision; decisions so easily identifiably as bad choices that they telegraph exactly where the plot is going and leave no real tension about how the story will end.
Overall, If Tomorrow Comes is an okay second book in a series. It does a great job of continuing the spore plague story, taking readers to a believable alien world, and setting up the next book, but it does struggle to add any interesting characters or keep the plot exciting from first page to last. Certainly a novel fans of the series or the author will want to pick up though.
I received this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review. I’d like to thank them for allowing me to receive this review copy and inform everyone that the review you have read is my opinion alone.
My rating is 2.5 stars.
If Tomorrow Comes by Nancy Kress is the follow-up to Tomorrow’s Kin and the second installment in the Yesterday’s Kin Trilogy. Since there isn’t any way to review this book without giving away spoilers for the first book, I have to warn you now not to continue reading if you haven’t finished book one.
A decade ago Earth was changed by the arrival of aliens. Not only did these being give warning of a coming “spores” plague, but they also left behind technological advancements to aid Earth in their coming trials and tribulations. While Earth was still ravaged by the foretold plague, the advanced notice was put to good use including the building of the starship Friendship.
Once completed, this interstellar craft is dispatched from Earth, crewed with a plethora of scientists including Dr. Marianne Jenner, a very familiar face from Tomorrow’s Kin. She and her fellows tasked with this journey to the aliens’ home world of Kindred to lend aid in that world’s own plague outbreak.
What the Friendship finds on arrival is beyond their worst fears: a primitive world without amazing technology or advanced medicine. Truly, Kindred is a planet completely unprepared for the coming spore plague. The hope for it and the crew of the Friendship surviving what is coming near zero!
Now, it goes without saying that Tomorrow’s Kin was a first contact story, involving the normal elements of the meeting and greeting of aliens come to Earth. If Tomorrow Comes is really a continuation of that first contact story except this time the author turned the familiar script on its head, showing people from Earth’s traveling to an alien world and having to learn about a strange society with alien customs and having to deal with their own ingrained biases and prejudices. This the true heart of the narrative even more than the rising tension and frantic action as the countdown to the spore plague ticks ever downward.
Probably the best element of the novel is the writing of Nancy Kress. She explains the science of viruses in a careful, easy-to-understand way. She also does an outstanding job describing a truly alien people, their society, their morality, and juxtaposing those things with the familiar Earth beliefs. Her careful crafting of both a frightening viral plague and a living, breathing alien world the true highlight of the book.
The weakness of the narrative is the characters themselves however. No one here really comes to life, captures a reader’s interest or makes them feel real empathy. Certainly, the fear of the Earthers that they will be returning home to family aged beyond their worst fears due to space travel time differences is understandable and interest, but most science fiction readers will have seen the issue handled more thoroughly and more emotionally in other stories. And while Dr. Jenner is a familiar name from book one, here she gets lost among a host of one dimension faces who keep making head scratching decision; decisions so easily identifiably as bad choices that they telegraph exactly where the plot is going and leave no real tension about how the story will end.
Overall, If Tomorrow Comes is an okay second book in a series. It does a great job of continuing the spore plague story, taking readers to a believable alien world, and setting up the next book, but it does struggle to add any interesting characters or keep the plot exciting from first page to last. Certainly a novel fans of the series or the author will want to pick up though.
I received this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review. I’d like to thank them for allowing me to receive this review copy and inform everyone that the review you have read is my opinion alone.
November 24, 2024
‘If Tomorrow Comes’ by Nancy Kress is a thriller! Wow! I did not have a lot of expectations for this science fiction novel, it being #2 in the Yesterday’s Kin Trilogy, but it is actually better than the first novel in the trilogy, Tomorrow's Kin. I was expecting a plot which serves only to ‘bridge’ the world building in book one to the expected Big Finish ending of book three, ‘Terran Tomorrow’. Instead, ‘If Tomorrow Comes’ is exciting from the first page to the last, never letting up on either the action or suspense!
I recommend readers start with ‘Tomorrow’s Kin’ as I don’t think these books are standalone.
I have copied the book blurb:
”Nancy Kress returns with If Tomorrow Comes, the sequel of ‘Tomorrow's Kin’, part of an all-new hard science fiction trilogy based on a Nebula Award-winning novella
Ten years after the Aliens left Earth, humanity succeeds in building a ship, Friendship, to follow them home to Kindred. Aboard are a crew of scientists, diplomats, and a squad of Rangers to protect them. But when the Friendship arrives, they find nothing they expected. No interplanetary culture, no industrial base—and no cure for the spore disease.
A timeslip in the apparently instantaneous travel between worlds has occurred and far more than ten years have passed.
Once again scientists find themselves in a race against time to save humanity and their kind from a deadly virus while a clock of a different sort runs down on a military solution no less deadly to all. Amid devastation and plague come stories of heroism and sacrifice and of genetic destiny and free choice, with its implicit promise of conscious change.”
There are violent preppers, kidnappings, explosions, an insurrection or two, military fire fights, a feisty thirteen year old and even a commander who is going mad! Survivors of peaceful monocultural World, as it turns out, are like any Earth human society under threat of an oncoming apocalyptic event.
I will be continuing on to the next book.
I recommend readers start with ‘Tomorrow’s Kin’ as I don’t think these books are standalone.
I have copied the book blurb:
”Nancy Kress returns with If Tomorrow Comes, the sequel of ‘Tomorrow's Kin’, part of an all-new hard science fiction trilogy based on a Nebula Award-winning novella
Ten years after the Aliens left Earth, humanity succeeds in building a ship, Friendship, to follow them home to Kindred. Aboard are a crew of scientists, diplomats, and a squad of Rangers to protect them. But when the Friendship arrives, they find nothing they expected. No interplanetary culture, no industrial base—and no cure for the spore disease.
A timeslip in the apparently instantaneous travel between worlds has occurred and far more than ten years have passed.
Once again scientists find themselves in a race against time to save humanity and their kind from a deadly virus while a clock of a different sort runs down on a military solution no less deadly to all. Amid devastation and plague come stories of heroism and sacrifice and of genetic destiny and free choice, with its implicit promise of conscious change.”
There are violent preppers, kidnappings, explosions, an insurrection or two, military fire fights, a feisty thirteen year old and even a commander who is going mad! Survivors of peaceful monocultural World, as it turns out, are like any Earth human society under threat of an oncoming apocalyptic event.
I will be continuing on to the next book.
November 8, 2018
Ahoy me mateys! Grab your grog! Yesterday I reviewed the first book of the series. Here be book 2 of the sixth installment of the 3 Bells trilogy showcase.
I loved book two more than the first book! In this version ye get to read about the alien’s home planet, World, and what happens when a diplomatic mission from Earth arrives there. The most I can give ye without spoilers . . . craziness!
I absolutely loved readin’ about World’s culture and how the humans from Earth are completely wrong about what it would be like. One of the best things is that assumptions that ye make after readin’ book one are turned upside down! I actually adore the alien planet. I have to admit that I would like to visit World and experience it meself.
The focus on this book is culture clash and culture change. It is told through several different perspectives this time. I adored a new character named Leo and the rest of his gang. I couldn’t stand a character named Austin who I think was let off too lightly. We also get to follow Marianne from the last book too. The mix was excellent. There is also a lot of science in this one too but once again the book is mostly character driven.
I have to say that I found the readin’ experience to be so engaging that I stay up into the wee hours of the morn to find out how it ended. I need to know what happens in book three immediately! Good thing I already have it. Onward to the final book. Stay on the lookout tomorrow! Arrrr!
Don’t just take me word for readin’ book 1 (though it should be enough!). Also check out what me crew had to say about this one:
Millie @ milliebotreads – Much thanks to her for introducing me to this series! “Whereas the first book focused a lot on environmental science and political tension, this book centers more around medical science and social tension. There are some similar themes that certainly link the two books together, but nothing felt stale or repeated. If you haven’t yet started this series and any of this sounds interesting to you, I strongly suggest you pick it up!.”
I loved book two more than the first book! In this version ye get to read about the alien’s home planet, World, and what happens when a diplomatic mission from Earth arrives there. The most I can give ye without spoilers . . . craziness!
I absolutely loved readin’ about World’s culture and how the humans from Earth are completely wrong about what it would be like. One of the best things is that assumptions that ye make after readin’ book one are turned upside down! I actually adore the alien planet. I have to admit that I would like to visit World and experience it meself.
The focus on this book is culture clash and culture change. It is told through several different perspectives this time. I adored a new character named Leo and the rest of his gang. I couldn’t stand a character named Austin who I think was let off too lightly. We also get to follow Marianne from the last book too. The mix was excellent. There is also a lot of science in this one too but once again the book is mostly character driven.
I have to say that I found the readin’ experience to be so engaging that I stay up into the wee hours of the morn to find out how it ended. I need to know what happens in book three immediately! Good thing I already have it. Onward to the final book. Stay on the lookout tomorrow! Arrrr!
Don’t just take me word for readin’ book 1 (though it should be enough!). Also check out what me crew had to say about this one:
Millie @ milliebotreads – Much thanks to her for introducing me to this series! “Whereas the first book focused a lot on environmental science and political tension, this book centers more around medical science and social tension. There are some similar themes that certainly link the two books together, but nothing felt stale or repeated. If you haven’t yet started this series and any of this sounds interesting to you, I strongly suggest you pick it up!.”
December 9, 2018
Unfortunately not as good as part 1, more of a re-hash in a different location. Pity. Here's to hoping that part 3 (which will come out in November) will be better.
2.5*
2.5*
September 30, 2021
Yikes zero stars.
This is a terrible book.
Full of liberal racism and cultural appropriation.
Sigh.
First of all, it regurgitates many commonly believed falsehoods in our society: that conservatives want a smaller government. Um no, smaller government would mean abortion was legal, same sex marriage was legal, the understanding that gender isn't binary would be no big deal cause the government can't dictate your gender. What conservatives want is THEIR belief system applied to everyone, regardless of that human beings individual beliefs, which is the fascism this author seems so concerned with. We already have fascism, we have always had it, in fact the modern world is built on it. The West isn't a free or democratic society. We don't practice true or real democracy anymore than supposed communist countries practice communism. The West is capitalist and each country practices its own fucked up versions of capitalism.
Also we do give tithes in the West, we give way more than a fifth of our earned income, the non-wealthy do anyway, which is 99% of folks. It's just that in the modern world the poor give to the wealthy and are in return bullied for it. Rich people don't pay taxes. Worse yet they don't pay fair or living wages, forcing their employees to subsidize their desire to own a business. CEO's don't work 30,000 times harder than their staff. They actually do LESS work and steal the profit that their employees earned. It's feudalism given a new name and we're all so sure it's superior to any other form of government.
Sigh.
We have rampant poverty, homelessness, a prison population crisis and random mass shootings multiple times a week often involving children but, sure Jan, how we do things is the best ever, in the world and history. (heavy sarcasm)
It's one thing to entertain this nonsense bullshit rhetoric in the 90's but these books are being written in the chump era. This book was released in 2018. So it just feels fucking ridiculous.
Our society is so broken that the poor pay for the rich. The rich buy their way into the few opportunities the poor have, as evidenced with the latest college cheating scandal. The richest among us, with the best schools and every opportunity have unintelligent kids. Rather than have those kids compete fairly with poorer kids, rich parents steal poor kids opportunities.
We have folks dying of diabetes and asthma, because they can't afford their meds, while employers are so wealthy they are wasting money sending cars into space. Meanwhile citizens in their own country starve to death, go homeless, without medicine largely because wealthy people steal. Yet when we speak of entitlements it's about poor folks wanting to survive, not rich folks theft.
Also I know white people negate the guilt from their historical bullshit behavior by pretending that their racism and theft ushered in the modern world. It didn't though. The group that globally dominated and destroyed the planet, who's effects we all have to live through, weren't technologically more advanced than the peoples and cultures they encountered. My West African ancestors were enslaved for their knowledge. In addition to teaching Europeans how to grow cash crops, they also taught them about vaccinations and later under heavy colonization they taught them about c-sections. The Aztecs and Mayans had math far advanced from ANY we have today. They had the most accurate calendar ever, much more accurate than our silly calendar which can't be balanced and requires a leap year. Lake Texcoco had floating cities that put Venice to shame.
As Europeans conquered Arabic and North African Islamic cities, they burnt the books and destroyed the advanced knowledge these people had.
It's not a question, we know that the least advanced people took over setting back the development of the modern world, not creating it.
Had they preserved the knowledge of the peoples they destroyed and rather than forcing those people to labor to survive, they might've been able to use their advance knowledge and intelligence to create a better world. This is not the best possible world, it's the least possible. Cause it's been lead for almost 500 years by those among us who know the least and are frightened and unbelievably xenophobic. So xenophobic and greedy that they create racism, to justify their nonsense.
This author pretends like oppression ushered in the modern world and it's white supremacist🤷🏾♀️
Sigh
Sigh
Sigh
Sigh
Sigh
Just so much yikes in this boring ass social experiment based novel.
Fail on every level.
This is a terrible book.
Full of liberal racism and cultural appropriation.
Sigh.
First of all, it regurgitates many commonly believed falsehoods in our society: that conservatives want a smaller government. Um no, smaller government would mean abortion was legal, same sex marriage was legal, the understanding that gender isn't binary would be no big deal cause the government can't dictate your gender. What conservatives want is THEIR belief system applied to everyone, regardless of that human beings individual beliefs, which is the fascism this author seems so concerned with. We already have fascism, we have always had it, in fact the modern world is built on it. The West isn't a free or democratic society. We don't practice true or real democracy anymore than supposed communist countries practice communism. The West is capitalist and each country practices its own fucked up versions of capitalism.
Also we do give tithes in the West, we give way more than a fifth of our earned income, the non-wealthy do anyway, which is 99% of folks. It's just that in the modern world the poor give to the wealthy and are in return bullied for it. Rich people don't pay taxes. Worse yet they don't pay fair or living wages, forcing their employees to subsidize their desire to own a business. CEO's don't work 30,000 times harder than their staff. They actually do LESS work and steal the profit that their employees earned. It's feudalism given a new name and we're all so sure it's superior to any other form of government.
Sigh.
We have rampant poverty, homelessness, a prison population crisis and random mass shootings multiple times a week often involving children but, sure Jan, how we do things is the best ever, in the world and history. (heavy sarcasm)
It's one thing to entertain this nonsense bullshit rhetoric in the 90's but these books are being written in the chump era. This book was released in 2018. So it just feels fucking ridiculous.
Our society is so broken that the poor pay for the rich. The rich buy their way into the few opportunities the poor have, as evidenced with the latest college cheating scandal. The richest among us, with the best schools and every opportunity have unintelligent kids. Rather than have those kids compete fairly with poorer kids, rich parents steal poor kids opportunities.
We have folks dying of diabetes and asthma, because they can't afford their meds, while employers are so wealthy they are wasting money sending cars into space. Meanwhile citizens in their own country starve to death, go homeless, without medicine largely because wealthy people steal. Yet when we speak of entitlements it's about poor folks wanting to survive, not rich folks theft.
Also I know white people negate the guilt from their historical bullshit behavior by pretending that their racism and theft ushered in the modern world. It didn't though. The group that globally dominated and destroyed the planet, who's effects we all have to live through, weren't technologically more advanced than the peoples and cultures they encountered. My West African ancestors were enslaved for their knowledge. In addition to teaching Europeans how to grow cash crops, they also taught them about vaccinations and later under heavy colonization they taught them about c-sections. The Aztecs and Mayans had math far advanced from ANY we have today. They had the most accurate calendar ever, much more accurate than our silly calendar which can't be balanced and requires a leap year. Lake Texcoco had floating cities that put Venice to shame.
As Europeans conquered Arabic and North African Islamic cities, they burnt the books and destroyed the advanced knowledge these people had.
It's not a question, we know that the least advanced people took over setting back the development of the modern world, not creating it.
Had they preserved the knowledge of the peoples they destroyed and rather than forcing those people to labor to survive, they might've been able to use their advance knowledge and intelligence to create a better world. This is not the best possible world, it's the least possible. Cause it's been lead for almost 500 years by those among us who know the least and are frightened and unbelievably xenophobic. So xenophobic and greedy that they create racism, to justify their nonsense.
This author pretends like oppression ushered in the modern world and it's white supremacist🤷🏾♀️
Sigh
Sigh
Sigh
Sigh
Sigh
Just so much yikes in this boring ass social experiment based novel.
Fail on every level.
July 16, 2018
3 1/2 Stars - Liked it but thought it was not as good as Tomorrow's Kin, especially the part comprised of the previously published novella Yesterday's Kin.
If Tomorrow's Kin excels at ideas and imagining how the world of Kindred could have developed its society, but parts of its execution could have been stronger and it was not as engrossing as the previous book in the trilogy. I thought its biggest weakness was featuring such a large cast of characters without providing enough satisfying character development or arcs. However, I did find the planet fascinating even if I would have liked to have learned more about it through observation rather than conversation, and the integration of science was well done.
Full Review on My Website
If Tomorrow's Kin excels at ideas and imagining how the world of Kindred could have developed its society, but parts of its execution could have been stronger and it was not as engrossing as the previous book in the trilogy. I thought its biggest weakness was featuring such a large cast of characters without providing enough satisfying character development or arcs. However, I did find the planet fascinating even if I would have liked to have learned more about it through observation rather than conversation, and the integration of science was well done.
Full Review on My Website
March 11, 2022
Not a terribly outstanding series from Kress. I am not sure where she is going with this. It feels like she switched horses midstream and her point in this saga about Terrains who meet up with their genetic twins from another planet is kind of pointless.
April 11, 2018
The last book suffered from thin characters, and this one focused on them. The plot didn't excite me, and I think the anti-tech tone recent Kress books have taken have hurt them, because she is really good at writing about tech. Will probably read the next one for completeness' sake, but I'm fine waiting.
March 17, 2018
I loved Tomorrow's Kin and I was so excited to read its follow up. This time we spend time on the visitors' planet of World or Kindred and Kress's descriptions of society on that planet are fascinating. Review to follow shortly on For Winter Nights.
December 4, 2017
4.5 stars. This second novel in Kress's trilogy blends genetic and biomedical drama (a Kress specialty) with intense conflict on a distant planet. Very satisfying.
August 4, 2019
All a matrilineal society that lives in harmony with nature needs is a hot male soldier with a gun.
May 14, 2019
Although the book was a bit confusing at first (too many characters to start off with, and a teaser intro that doesn't get resolved for quite a long time), the plot picked up as it went along. Kress has a good vision of how an alternative human society could have developed, and how that society might hold up to a world-threatening crisis. It's also a medical/science thriller, and a story about loyalty, family, prejudice, and hard choices.
June 18, 2018
This review and others posted over at
my blog.
Thank you to Tor for sending me this book for free in exchange for my honest review.
The sequel to Tomorrow's Kin didn’t disappoint. Kress kept it fresh with a new setting and some new characters, but a few familiar faces turn up.
Dr. Jenner joins the crew of the Friendship on the first expedition to Kindred, known as World by the people who inhabit it, the planet the “aliens” came from over a decade ago. Disaster strikes before Dr. Jenner and the rest of the crew can reach World however. Once on the planet, the punches don’t stop coming – rather than the high-tech, advanced society they assumed the people of Kindred possessed, the Terrans find a simplified society and tech even less developed than that of Earth.
This poses a problem for the people of Kindred, as the spore cloud that wreaked so much havoc on Earth is headed there way. Despite using the intelligence of the scientists of Earth when they visited, the people of Kindred have not developed a vaccine to the spores that will most likely destroy most of their population.
Much like the first book, the majority of the story takes place in a lab and revolves around a team trying to develop a vaccine. Unlike the first book, the scientists are dealing with limited tech and resources and find themselves amid a group of hostile natives and “protected” by a small troop of trigger-happy Rangers. The tension is much higher in this book and we get a look at the lifestyle and society of the people of Kindred.
I enjoyed some of the new characters and was annoyed by others and I think this added to the tension that Kress created. Once more, I feel like I shouldn’t say much about what happens in the book. A) You need to read Tomorrow’s Kin first and B) the details are best discovered through reading.
The plot continued to take unexpected turns and I was once again very involved in Dr. Jenner’s lives, as well as some of the other characters. I don’t want to say that not a lot happens in these books, because I’m sure if I broke down the major scenes, a lot happens. But it feels like Kress accomplishes a lot of character development and action within a limited amount of scenes or environments.
Really, I’m not quite sure what I’m saying – surprising none of you. Let me just repeat that I enjoyed this sequel. I think it’s as solid as the first!
I suddenly realized that the prologue left me with some unanswered questions. Either this is something that will resolve itself in the third book, or I definitely missed a detail. If you’ve read this and you know that I’ve missed some explanation, please let me know! Until then, it’s just one more reason to look forward to Terran Tomorrow, which comes out in November (ugh, I have to wait that long!?)
The book ends with a cliffhanger (a…spacehanger?) and I can’t wait to read more. Whereas the first book focused a lot on environmental science and political tension, this book centers more around medical science and social tension. There are some similar themes that certainly link the two books together, but nothing felt stale or repeated. If you haven’t yet started this series and any of this sounds interesting to you, I strongly suggest you pick it up!
Thank you to Tor for sending me this book for free in exchange for my honest review.
The sequel to Tomorrow's Kin didn’t disappoint. Kress kept it fresh with a new setting and some new characters, but a few familiar faces turn up.
Dr. Jenner joins the crew of the Friendship on the first expedition to Kindred, known as World by the people who inhabit it, the planet the “aliens” came from over a decade ago. Disaster strikes before Dr. Jenner and the rest of the crew can reach World however. Once on the planet, the punches don’t stop coming – rather than the high-tech, advanced society they assumed the people of Kindred possessed, the Terrans find a simplified society and tech even less developed than that of Earth.
This poses a problem for the people of Kindred, as the spore cloud that wreaked so much havoc on Earth is headed there way. Despite using the intelligence of the scientists of Earth when they visited, the people of Kindred have not developed a vaccine to the spores that will most likely destroy most of their population.
Much like the first book, the majority of the story takes place in a lab and revolves around a team trying to develop a vaccine. Unlike the first book, the scientists are dealing with limited tech and resources and find themselves amid a group of hostile natives and “protected” by a small troop of trigger-happy Rangers. The tension is much higher in this book and we get a look at the lifestyle and society of the people of Kindred.
I enjoyed some of the new characters and was annoyed by others and I think this added to the tension that Kress created. Once more, I feel like I shouldn’t say much about what happens in the book. A) You need to read Tomorrow’s Kin first and B) the details are best discovered through reading.
The plot continued to take unexpected turns and I was once again very involved in Dr. Jenner’s lives, as well as some of the other characters. I don’t want to say that not a lot happens in these books, because I’m sure if I broke down the major scenes, a lot happens. But it feels like Kress accomplishes a lot of character development and action within a limited amount of scenes or environments.
Really, I’m not quite sure what I’m saying – surprising none of you. Let me just repeat that I enjoyed this sequel. I think it’s as solid as the first!
I suddenly realized that the prologue left me with some unanswered questions. Either this is something that will resolve itself in the third book, or I definitely missed a detail. If you’ve read this and you know that I’ve missed some explanation, please let me know! Until then, it’s just one more reason to look forward to Terran Tomorrow, which comes out in November (ugh, I have to wait that long!?)
The book ends with a cliffhanger (a…spacehanger?) and I can’t wait to read more. Whereas the first book focused a lot on environmental science and political tension, this book centers more around medical science and social tension. There are some similar themes that certainly link the two books together, but nothing felt stale or repeated. If you haven’t yet started this series and any of this sounds interesting to you, I strongly suggest you pick it up!
April 17, 2018
Ok its Nancy Kress, but really, I ended up skimming. Sorta boring. And honestly Nancy, deus ex machina? Hmm...
April 2, 2022
I don’t usually highlight specific GoodReads reviews in my own review, but Britta Bohler is also a great BookTuber, so I feel the need to shout her out. Even if I disagree with her main premise that book two of the “Yesterday’s Kin” trilogy is only a rehash of book one. There’s definitely some repeat plot points, but in the era of COVID, having to work and rework a desperately-needed vaccine rollout doesn’t seem so out of left field. :P Plus, there was a lot of storyline in book one that didn’t have anything to do with the mad-dash creation of a vaccine (much less in book two that moves beyond that.) And yet, I do think this sequel is a little weaker than the first, so I’m docking my rating a little. :/ Hopefully, like with Britta, going by her reviews, the next book will pick up for me again.
This novel takes place over several months, vs the decade of the first one. Picking up where we left off, Earthers have almost completed their work on spaceships, the schematics having generously been gifted to them by alien visitors from book one. Two countries—Russia and the U.S.—set course in the beginning to the world they are now calling Kindred. The Americans don’t actually know that the Russians have also made their way there, and it turns into an explosive inciting incident. Because of plot from book one, the Russians hold the aliens responsible for devastating losses of life, and they are here for revenge. They bomb a few alien cities, they bomb the American ship when it refuses to leave, and then they exit stage left.
The American ship ostensibly came to set up diplomatic relations with the aliens (known for being peaceful and existing under a singular culture, but we Terrans bring some military rangers with us anyway. :P) But once the ship is attacked, half of the occupants are killed. :/ The others take a life boat and crash land onto the planet. There, they discover the newly-minted Kindred in disarray, and not just because they’ve been randomly attacked. The deadly spore cloud from the first book is now coming to their planet, and they haven’t been able to make heads or tails of a vaccine.
We are following a handful of characters, and only one is a repeat from the last book. Dr. Marianne Jenner is back, as a lead geneticist and de-facto diplomat since she’s had some of the most contact with the aliens (also, her son, Noah, elected to leave with the aliens ten years ago. Family reunion time!) Also in the mix: Leo, a sniper from Terra (so slightly different from the rangers but still in their unit); Austin, a 13-year-old Terran whose mom and aunt took him to Kindred when he was three; and Dr. Bourgiba, or Sala, who came with the Terrans as a medic.
I’m fighting with myself the most over this one: the “Kindred” almost seem to be an entirely different culture between books, scientifically speaking. In book one, they have access to far more advanced technological might than we do. In book two, they are a largely agrarian culture without the means or interest in much scientific advancement, and Terrans are suddenly the “technologically superior” culture. Kress has an explanation for this, in that the advanced tech from the first book came from an unknown alien entity, and was left with the Kindred on their planet. But still, it’s a bit of a tonal shift, that the Kindred had the wherewithal to get to Earth and manipulate contact for their own purposes; vs their largely hapless presentation here.
We also aren’t in the POV for any of the Kindred characters, so although we get a lot more insight into their culture, we as readers are still removed from it. Many of the Terrans, whom they brought back with them in book one, now have significant positions of power, which feels more convenient than realistic. I’m also annoyed that the Kindred are highly matriarchal, yet a significant subplot revolves around a stupid love triangle. :P Made worse that the female character in said love triangle is by far the least developed.
The new Terran visitors largely line up by occupation: the scientists want to help synthesize a vaccine, and the military men want to protect them from ever-more-desperate “Kinnies.” (The most antagonistic army man, of course, gives the aliens this derisive nickname.) In general, I found these larger concerns about diplomacy, xenophobia, and human reaction to various stressors to work better than it did in book one. It was more cohesive, and besides I have to give this book props for something. :P Many of our POVs had intriguing backstories or character tics, too.
But this was a less family-oriented novel, too, with Noah and especially his wife and kid being stick figures. :/ That was a disappointing change from the Jenner drama of the last one. Marianne also tidied up some hanging strings, which confused me: it felt like the ships left Earth almost immediately after the conclusion of book one, and yet there was enough time for her partner to die and yadda yadda? A more significant timey-whimey aspect grated at me, too: the spaceships went through a time-loop, so that when they arrived at Kindred it was 14 years later than when they departed Earth. :0 And yet, the Terrans already on Kindred were only ten years older, a la the timespan between the Kindred leaving Earth and the Earthers coming to them? Didn’t they go through the same time loop when they arrived? Shouldn’t they thus be twenty-four years older than when they left Earth? Am I missing something here? Where’s my DeLorean?! :P
I’m also disappointed by the end of the arc for Sala, an Arab Muslim man. Kress definitely did better for his characterization than she did in the last book for the African American woman, Sissy. But the ending felt a bit stereotypical in sacrificing the POC person for the needs of the plot, er, not to give away spoilers. *awkward whistling*
Maybe I’ll even quibble about how the whole spores storyline was sorted in this book, too. Too much quibbling! I still appreciate how Kress handled the important, Terran-centric cultural questions, which I detailed above. I’m still very curious about how the unknown aliens will figure into book three—and on a Jenner-centric note, I’m hoping this will be Marianne’s book with her daughter? Books one and two were largely about her relationships, kinda sorta, with her two sons. And in the background, there’s always been this pining, resentment even, as Marianne latches onto other younger women in her daughter’s place. Hopefully I won’t be too disappointed if this doesn’t lead anywhere, but I hope Elizabeth is a bigger part of book three. We shall see!
This novel takes place over several months, vs the decade of the first one. Picking up where we left off, Earthers have almost completed their work on spaceships, the schematics having generously been gifted to them by alien visitors from book one. Two countries—Russia and the U.S.—set course in the beginning to the world they are now calling Kindred. The Americans don’t actually know that the Russians have also made their way there, and it turns into an explosive inciting incident. Because of plot from book one, the Russians hold the aliens responsible for devastating losses of life, and they are here for revenge. They bomb a few alien cities, they bomb the American ship when it refuses to leave, and then they exit stage left.
The American ship ostensibly came to set up diplomatic relations with the aliens (known for being peaceful and existing under a singular culture, but we Terrans bring some military rangers with us anyway. :P) But once the ship is attacked, half of the occupants are killed. :/ The others take a life boat and crash land onto the planet. There, they discover the newly-minted Kindred in disarray, and not just because they’ve been randomly attacked. The deadly spore cloud from the first book is now coming to their planet, and they haven’t been able to make heads or tails of a vaccine.
We are following a handful of characters, and only one is a repeat from the last book. Dr. Marianne Jenner is back, as a lead geneticist and de-facto diplomat since she’s had some of the most contact with the aliens (also, her son, Noah, elected to leave with the aliens ten years ago. Family reunion time!) Also in the mix: Leo, a sniper from Terra (so slightly different from the rangers but still in their unit); Austin, a 13-year-old Terran whose mom and aunt took him to Kindred when he was three; and Dr. Bourgiba, or Sala, who came with the Terrans as a medic.
I’m fighting with myself the most over this one: the “Kindred” almost seem to be an entirely different culture between books, scientifically speaking. In book one, they have access to far more advanced technological might than we do. In book two, they are a largely agrarian culture without the means or interest in much scientific advancement, and Terrans are suddenly the “technologically superior” culture. Kress has an explanation for this, in that the advanced tech from the first book came from an unknown alien entity, and was left with the Kindred on their planet. But still, it’s a bit of a tonal shift, that the Kindred had the wherewithal to get to Earth and manipulate contact for their own purposes; vs their largely hapless presentation here.
We also aren’t in the POV for any of the Kindred characters, so although we get a lot more insight into their culture, we as readers are still removed from it. Many of the Terrans, whom they brought back with them in book one, now have significant positions of power, which feels more convenient than realistic. I’m also annoyed that the Kindred are highly matriarchal, yet a significant subplot revolves around a stupid love triangle. :P Made worse that the female character in said love triangle is by far the least developed.
The new Terran visitors largely line up by occupation: the scientists want to help synthesize a vaccine, and the military men want to protect them from ever-more-desperate “Kinnies.” (The most antagonistic army man, of course, gives the aliens this derisive nickname.) In general, I found these larger concerns about diplomacy, xenophobia, and human reaction to various stressors to work better than it did in book one. It was more cohesive, and besides I have to give this book props for something. :P Many of our POVs had intriguing backstories or character tics, too.
But this was a less family-oriented novel, too, with Noah and especially his wife and kid being stick figures. :/ That was a disappointing change from the Jenner drama of the last one. Marianne also tidied up some hanging strings, which confused me: it felt like the ships left Earth almost immediately after the conclusion of book one, and yet there was enough time for her partner to die and yadda yadda? A more significant timey-whimey aspect grated at me, too: the spaceships went through a time-loop, so that when they arrived at Kindred it was 14 years later than when they departed Earth. :0 And yet, the Terrans already on Kindred were only ten years older, a la the timespan between the Kindred leaving Earth and the Earthers coming to them? Didn’t they go through the same time loop when they arrived? Shouldn’t they thus be twenty-four years older than when they left Earth? Am I missing something here? Where’s my DeLorean?! :P
I’m also disappointed by the end of the arc for Sala, an Arab Muslim man. Kress definitely did better for his characterization than she did in the last book for the African American woman, Sissy. But the ending felt a bit stereotypical in sacrificing the POC person for the needs of the plot, er, not to give away spoilers. *awkward whistling*
Maybe I’ll even quibble about how the whole spores storyline was sorted in this book, too. Too much quibbling! I still appreciate how Kress handled the important, Terran-centric cultural questions, which I detailed above. I’m still very curious about how the unknown aliens will figure into book three—and on a Jenner-centric note, I’m hoping this will be Marianne’s book with her daughter? Books one and two were largely about her relationships, kinda sorta, with her two sons. And in the background, there’s always been this pining, resentment even, as Marianne latches onto other younger women in her daughter’s place. Hopefully I won’t be too disappointed if this doesn’t lead anywhere, but I hope Elizabeth is a bigger part of book three. We shall see!
June 19, 2021
Lettura piacevole e scorrevole, livello meno discontinuo del precedente. Tanti i punti di vista della narrazione, da cui trasuda l'abilità della Kress a tessere le fila di questa seconda avventura. Manca di alti ma anche di bassi, lettura comunque godibile.
April 15, 2018
The second in a cleverly conceived hard science fiction series that melds satisfying characterization with challenging considerations of the contemporary issues of the environment and xenophobia.
September 13, 2018
Very well done.
January 24, 2020
I read a lot of the reviews, and I think I understand why this book isn't doing better--Kress refuses to give in anywhere in a time when that's what people expect. We have over-the-top Rangers who are nonetheless neither heroes nor villains--so our reviewers see heroes or villains because that is what they want. Some characters play to type, in a time when it is expected for them not to. Some characters do not play to type, and that is either too much or not enough.
Kress mostly walks this line successfully most of the time, but it's not a popular line. However I got a lot out of the story and am glad I read it. I do agree with other reviewers that the characters, while interesting, are not deeply engaging. Seems like most of them are at least partly unsympathetic--part of Kress's efforts to portray them as full and complex people. So, there's a lot of successful storytelling here that still doesn't quite make a thrilling book. Am not sure what to make of this, but I like the challenge of thinking about it.
Kress mostly walks this line successfully most of the time, but it's not a popular line. However I got a lot out of the story and am glad I read it. I do agree with other reviewers that the characters, while interesting, are not deeply engaging. Seems like most of them are at least partly unsympathetic--part of Kress's efforts to portray them as full and complex people. So, there's a lot of successful storytelling here that still doesn't quite make a thrilling book. Am not sure what to make of this, but I like the challenge of thinking about it.
September 6, 2018
Like the first of the Yesterday's Kin books, this book promises more than it delivers. We see Marianne again, this time far away from home, along with a ragtag bunch of surviving Rangers and scientists. What ensues is a race against time while the military dudes strut around with stereotypical bravado, hardheaded stubbornness, and simple stupidity that isn't really argued against by the rest of the group. It's a potluck of tropes.
The story here is interesting but nothing groundbreaking. The introduction of violence and aggression into a co-operative society was uplifting, though.
The real story would have been to see the way the terrans' visit changes the foundations of a society that once focused on sustainability and social responsibility.
Maybe that's book number 3.
The story here is interesting but nothing groundbreaking. The introduction of violence and aggression into a co-operative society was uplifting, though.
The real story would have been to see the way the terrans' visit changes the foundations of a society that once focused on sustainability and social responsibility.
Maybe that's book number 3.
May 20, 2018
If Tomorrow Comes, the second novel in Nancy Kress’ Yesterday’s Kin trilogy, begins about ten years after the conclusion of the first book. Earth has survived the spore cloud, but at great cost - in some regions, notably Russia/Central Asia, as many as 30 percent of the population have died due to mutations that disabled the immunity to the disease in most humans. Some animal species have been decimated, causing ecological chaos. Some humans want to reach out to their cousins on World - now called Kindred by most people - others blame then for the chais and destruction.
In the ten years that have passed, two ships have been build based on the ancient alien plans left by the Kindred - one by the US and other pro-Kindred factions, intended to carry a diplomatic mission, and the other by Russia, which is believed to have been destroyed after a failed attempt to disrupt the building of the US ship.
As the novel opens, just hours before the Friendship is due to depart, an elderly woman tries to contact authorities - she’s discovered something worrisome about her grandson, who is part of the team headed for World. But before she can make her concerns known, the, ship lifts off early, to foil any last minute sabotage attempts. As the focus of the narrative shifts to the voyagers, we the readers know only one thing - one of the men on board has a secret agenda.
The personnel of the Friendship is primarily diplomats and scientists - to open negotiations and, if necessary, assist the Kindred in the creation of a vaccine effective for their biology - and a squad of battle-hardened US Rangers. The journey, using alien technology, is fast and relatively uneventful. What happens when they arrive at World, however, is unexpected and catastrophic.
The first shock is the realisation, from star placements, that they have experienced a time dilation effect of 14 years, something the Kindred had not warned them about. Instead of arriving years before the spore cloud is due to reach Kindred, it is now due in less than three months. Suspicion, especially among the military contingent, is immediate, made worse by the fact that they have difficulty contacting World, and communicating once contact is made. And then disaster. The Russian ship appears above Kindred, fires on the Friendship, and then on the planet itself, destroying all of their major cities.
One shuttle, containing six Rangers and three scientists, reaches safety on Kindred. Where they find a largely agrarian, low-tech society and no viable vaccine. Most of the population has returned to family homesteads in the country where they are preparing to die.
The story that follows is one of repeated cultural clashes, and unexpected meetings of minds, not just between Terrans and Worlders, but between medical scientists and the military, as a desperate fight to save the planet from chaos and destruction begins.
It’s going to be very difficult waiting for volume three.
In the ten years that have passed, two ships have been build based on the ancient alien plans left by the Kindred - one by the US and other pro-Kindred factions, intended to carry a diplomatic mission, and the other by Russia, which is believed to have been destroyed after a failed attempt to disrupt the building of the US ship.
As the novel opens, just hours before the Friendship is due to depart, an elderly woman tries to contact authorities - she’s discovered something worrisome about her grandson, who is part of the team headed for World. But before she can make her concerns known, the, ship lifts off early, to foil any last minute sabotage attempts. As the focus of the narrative shifts to the voyagers, we the readers know only one thing - one of the men on board has a secret agenda.
The personnel of the Friendship is primarily diplomats and scientists - to open negotiations and, if necessary, assist the Kindred in the creation of a vaccine effective for their biology - and a squad of battle-hardened US Rangers. The journey, using alien technology, is fast and relatively uneventful. What happens when they arrive at World, however, is unexpected and catastrophic.
The first shock is the realisation, from star placements, that they have experienced a time dilation effect of 14 years, something the Kindred had not warned them about. Instead of arriving years before the spore cloud is due to reach Kindred, it is now due in less than three months. Suspicion, especially among the military contingent, is immediate, made worse by the fact that they have difficulty contacting World, and communicating once contact is made. And then disaster. The Russian ship appears above Kindred, fires on the Friendship, and then on the planet itself, destroying all of their major cities.
One shuttle, containing six Rangers and three scientists, reaches safety on Kindred. Where they find a largely agrarian, low-tech society and no viable vaccine. Most of the population has returned to family homesteads in the country where they are preparing to die.
The story that follows is one of repeated cultural clashes, and unexpected meetings of minds, not just between Terrans and Worlders, but between medical scientists and the military, as a desperate fight to save the planet from chaos and destruction begins.
It’s going to be very difficult waiting for volume three.
June 3, 2019
Ten years have passed since the events in Tomorrow's Kin, the first book in Nancy Kress's trilogy about the arrival on Earth of the "Denebs." Now, at the outset of the highly anticipated science fiction sequel, If Tomorrow Comes, the United States has finally launched a starship to the Denebs's home world. But it's clear the trip will not go smoothly; after a vague warning in the Prologue, and a succession of shocks soon after takeoff, we're left in little doubt. The twenty-one people on board the Friendship will obviously not have an easy time on the planet they call Kindred. (The Denebs call it World.)
Ten years later, a voyage to the Denebs's home world
There are twenty-one people on board the Friendship. They include a squad of five US Army Rangers, an Army sniper, five US Navy sailors who crew the ship, six scientists including two physicians, and four diplomats led by the US Ambassador to Kindred. Among the scientists is Dr. Marianne Jenner, the protagonist of Tomorrow's Kin. She's the evolutionary biologist who helped develop a human vaccine against the interstellar spore cloud that had done so much damage to Earth's ecology. On Kindred, she hopes to reunite with her estranged son, Noah. Her former prodigal son had attached himself to the Denebs and accompanied them back to their home planet. But our focus is less on Marianne Jenner than on Private Leo Brodie, the sniper attached to the Rangers for the trip. His experience, as much as Jenner's, is central to this tale.
Very quickly, their plans go south. Disaster strikes. And it appears that worse is in store as time goes by. Author Nancy Kress skillfully paces the story, piling one surprise on another. There is less hard science in evidence in If Tomorrow Comes than in its predecessor, but it's there in the background. The novel is a worthy successor to the outstanding first book in this trilogy.
A note of disappointment with this highly anticipated science fiction sequel
At the risk of spoiling the story, I feel bound to note one disappointment. When the Friendship arrives off Kindred, the scientists are surprised to discover that fourteen years have passed because of relativistic time dilation. Allegedly, as one person later says, they've traveled thousands of light years. So, why would anyone with even a rudimentary grasp of relativity be surprised that they've advanced in time far ahead of when they left the Earth? Beats me.
Ten years later, a voyage to the Denebs's home world
There are twenty-one people on board the Friendship. They include a squad of five US Army Rangers, an Army sniper, five US Navy sailors who crew the ship, six scientists including two physicians, and four diplomats led by the US Ambassador to Kindred. Among the scientists is Dr. Marianne Jenner, the protagonist of Tomorrow's Kin. She's the evolutionary biologist who helped develop a human vaccine against the interstellar spore cloud that had done so much damage to Earth's ecology. On Kindred, she hopes to reunite with her estranged son, Noah. Her former prodigal son had attached himself to the Denebs and accompanied them back to their home planet. But our focus is less on Marianne Jenner than on Private Leo Brodie, the sniper attached to the Rangers for the trip. His experience, as much as Jenner's, is central to this tale.
Very quickly, their plans go south. Disaster strikes. And it appears that worse is in store as time goes by. Author Nancy Kress skillfully paces the story, piling one surprise on another. There is less hard science in evidence in If Tomorrow Comes than in its predecessor, but it's there in the background. The novel is a worthy successor to the outstanding first book in this trilogy.
A note of disappointment with this highly anticipated science fiction sequel
At the risk of spoiling the story, I feel bound to note one disappointment. When the Friendship arrives off Kindred, the scientists are surprised to discover that fourteen years have passed because of relativistic time dilation. Allegedly, as one person later says, they've traveled thousands of light years. So, why would anyone with even a rudimentary grasp of relativity be surprised that they've advanced in time far ahead of when they left the Earth? Beats me.
March 6, 2018
When I was given the opportunity to read and review the upcoming release from the Yesterday’s Kin Trilogy I jumped all over it. I loved the first book! I appreciate the complex characters, moral dilemmas, and real science (as far as my liberal arts educated mind can tell) that Ms. Kress uses to weave her story. So I cleared my reading calendar and sat down to see what happen next in If Tomorrow Comes.
If you are or have picked up this book without reading the first in the trilogy I think that you will be alright. I still encourage you to go back and read that first book but I think you will still appreciate this story. It could almost work as a stand-alone title if it wasn’t for the freaking cliffhanger at the end.
I have to confess that while I enjoyed this book I loved it a bit less than the first. Still dealing with great topics but the book got a little bogged down in the middle. I managed to zip through the first hundred pages but after a short break to finish another book (due back at my library) I struggled with the second half a bit. Of course, that could be attributed to interrupted reading time. Every time the story started getting good again I had to set it down.
What I loved about this book; the chance to explore a human society that developed vastly different from humans on earth. Almost an opportunity to see how we could have been without many of the societal hangups we have here on Earth. Of course, being the humans we are we still manage to muck up this other world with our influence. I did appreciate how Kress didn’t make this other human race a utopian society. It had its own share of issues but compared to the current state of our society it sure fell like a vast improvement.
I think what hurt this story the most for me was a character for me to truly connect with. There were several I definitely didn’t care for but there wasn’t really anyone I really rooting for. Perhaps humanity as a whole, but it wasn’t quite enough. The end of the book managed to wrap things up nicely and if I had ended the story a chapter or two early I could have walked away satisfied and ready to move on. But I didn’t and that last chapter reached out an grabbed me and now I anxiously away the next book to see how this trilogy ends. I need to know what happens next and I think you will too!
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
If you are or have picked up this book without reading the first in the trilogy I think that you will be alright. I still encourage you to go back and read that first book but I think you will still appreciate this story. It could almost work as a stand-alone title if it wasn’t for the freaking cliffhanger at the end.
I have to confess that while I enjoyed this book I loved it a bit less than the first. Still dealing with great topics but the book got a little bogged down in the middle. I managed to zip through the first hundred pages but after a short break to finish another book (due back at my library) I struggled with the second half a bit. Of course, that could be attributed to interrupted reading time. Every time the story started getting good again I had to set it down.
What I loved about this book; the chance to explore a human society that developed vastly different from humans on earth. Almost an opportunity to see how we could have been without many of the societal hangups we have here on Earth. Of course, being the humans we are we still manage to muck up this other world with our influence. I did appreciate how Kress didn’t make this other human race a utopian society. It had its own share of issues but compared to the current state of our society it sure fell like a vast improvement.
I think what hurt this story the most for me was a character for me to truly connect with. There were several I definitely didn’t care for but there wasn’t really anyone I really rooting for. Perhaps humanity as a whole, but it wasn’t quite enough. The end of the book managed to wrap things up nicely and if I had ended the story a chapter or two early I could have walked away satisfied and ready to move on. But I didn’t and that last chapter reached out an grabbed me and now I anxiously away the next book to see how this trilogy ends. I need to know what happens next and I think you will too!
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
June 12, 2018
The 2nd volume of this story did not disappoint. Kress' writing is so amazingly tight, I love letting her tell me a story! The story basically starts off where the 1st book left off. Earth humans have the tech to build the Kindred starships, but it's costly. One starship gets built by the American's and they build a team, including Marianne of course, and they set off to Kindred. But someone is aboard who is not all they claim to be, or maybe more than they claim to be, and has motives of their own other than just visiting the Kindred and assisting them with the viral spore cloud headed toward their planet in the next 15 years and could kill everyone. But, the Kindred didn't build these starships, they were gifted the tech from whatever aliens originally took them from Earth 140K years ago. So they didn't know everything about the tech, and did not know that their original voyage to Earth and back to Kindred had a time dilation effect to it of 14 years both ways! And now Earth has built a ship and headed to Kindred and they don't know about the 14 year time displacement either! Plus, Russians! They build their own ship and head to Kindred too, but only for the purposes of revenge. Will the American's make it in time to help the Kindred with the spore cloud disease? What are the Russians going to do? How will the Earth human's be received by the Kindred humans? All is resolved through deft manipulation of the characters both Earth human and Kindred human and we are left with hope at the end, but questions too. What has the virophage done to the brains of the human's on Kindred and the human's returning to Earth? We will find out in volume 3!! Can't come too soon.
March 11, 2019
I felt the same disappointment with this that the Terran explorers would have felt when they arrived at World.I did understand and indeed enjoy that she was doing something different, setting up a completely different utopia, and I am 100% in agreement about the need for bu^ka^tel on our own planet. But this was exactly the same story as Tomorrow's Kin, but with no mysteries, a smaller (and more annoying) cast of characters, and stretching the believability of vaccine research beyond realistic limits, even in science fiction. And the chances of all the useful people and items being within a short bike ride of the totally random ship landing totally wrecked my suspension of disbelief.
June 27, 2019
I'm glad I read this and am looking forward to the third book in the trilogy, but I got a little frustrated by some of the characters in this one. The military aspect in this book was off-putting to me (although perhaps these characters were true to life? I don't know) in a story that takes place on another world (although inhabited with humans). I just didn't see the military part (a small number of soldiers tasked with "protecting" the people from Earth) as credible, frankly. For example, there wouldn't have been more emphasis on trying to understand each other? Or listening to the radio broadcasts or trying to SPEAK to the people of World on the radio themselves to explain what was going on? There also seemed to be a few loose ends that weren't fully explained that I won't go into here.
So, not as enjoyable as the first one but interesting nonetheless. I still like Nancy Kress's books --I hope the third one is the best!
So, not as enjoyable as the first one but interesting nonetheless. I still like Nancy Kress's books --I hope the third one is the best!
September 14, 2020
3.5 stars rounded up, of course. It's Nancy Kress, and she rocks!
If Tomorrow Comes follows up on the Nebula awarding winning Yesterday's Kin, and it finds Dr. Marianne Jenner and a small contingent of scientists, diplomats, and a few soldiers on board of a newly crafted space vessel, constructed by Americans from the plans left behind by the Kindred. The deadly spore cloud has devastated the planet, and the Americans travel to the home world of the Kindred, hoping to craft a vaccine with the aid of the Kindred's superior technology.
Several things go wrong, almost immediately. And nothing remains as it seemed at the outset of the voyage. Instead, Jenner and what remains of the crew must struggle to survive on an agricultural planet bereft of technology, with a deadly spore cloud approaching. The scientists, both human and Kindred, race to create a vaccine. And threats loom all around, some closer than expected.
If Tomorrow Comes follows up on the Nebula awarding winning Yesterday's Kin, and it finds Dr. Marianne Jenner and a small contingent of scientists, diplomats, and a few soldiers on board of a newly crafted space vessel, constructed by Americans from the plans left behind by the Kindred. The deadly spore cloud has devastated the planet, and the Americans travel to the home world of the Kindred, hoping to craft a vaccine with the aid of the Kindred's superior technology.
Several things go wrong, almost immediately. And nothing remains as it seemed at the outset of the voyage. Instead, Jenner and what remains of the crew must struggle to survive on an agricultural planet bereft of technology, with a deadly spore cloud approaching. The scientists, both human and Kindred, race to create a vaccine. And threats loom all around, some closer than expected.
February 16, 2022
I am not actually sure why I saw this through.
As a species, we Humans, Terrans more specifically in the case of the book, are generally an unpleasant one and this book really goes to reinforce my feelings of us.
Instead of turning up on a planet that is known to be peaceful after being shot out of the stars by their own species, good old Terran’s then land and aggressively try to take control through weapons, refuse to follow the rules of the planet and then use the intimidation of weapons to control events around them.
I was going to listen to the third book but if it is anything like this then I’ll only spend 10 hours breathing out smoke from the nostrils and replanning my life to be lived in a bunker with no contact with the world around me, which quite frankly, seems to be falling apart in much the same theme of hatred, fear and anger. I think I’m in need of a Winnie the Pooh story now!
As a species, we Humans, Terrans more specifically in the case of the book, are generally an unpleasant one and this book really goes to reinforce my feelings of us.
Instead of turning up on a planet that is known to be peaceful after being shot out of the stars by their own species, good old Terran’s then land and aggressively try to take control through weapons, refuse to follow the rules of the planet and then use the intimidation of weapons to control events around them.
I was going to listen to the third book but if it is anything like this then I’ll only spend 10 hours breathing out smoke from the nostrils and replanning my life to be lived in a bunker with no contact with the world around me, which quite frankly, seems to be falling apart in much the same theme of hatred, fear and anger. I think I’m in need of a Winnie the Pooh story now!
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