Kethani

by Eric Brown

It takes an alien race to show us our humanity

When a mysterious alien race known as the Kéthani make contact with the people of Earth they bring with them the dubious gift of eternal life. These enigmatic aliens will change the course of the human race forever but also touch people's lives on a personal level, not least in a small town in the English countryside. But do the Kéthani have a hidden agenda and will the human race choose to evolve or turn in on itself in the face of this momentous revelation?

Kéthani is a superbly crafted novel that examines the consequences of first contact with an alien race, and the choices faced by those whose lives are touched by these visitors from the stars. This is moving and powerful science fiction.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, Aliens, Science Fiction Fantasy, Technology, British Literature

ebook

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Eric Brown was a British science fiction author and Guardian critic.

Reviews

[Ethan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a sucker for stories about benevolent aliens (Clarke's Childhood's End is one of my favorites, and I also enjoyed Brown's other novel The Serene Invasion). This one also includes some interesting thoughts on death and the possibility of immortality. There are a few things that didn't work for me, but overall I really enjoyed this one.

I've read some of Brown's other work, and he strikes me as a readable, philosophically interesting SF writer--not quite Le Guin levels of genius, but maybe somewhere more in Robert J. Sawyer territory.

Kéthani starts with a great premise: mysterious aliens arrive on Earth bestowing the gift of literal immortality. As long as you get an alien implant, when you die, your body is taken to the alien homeworld where you are resurrected and given a choice: return to Earth or go among the stars to work with the aliens.

I enjoy the way that Brown tells the story in a series of different narratives, focusing on different members of a group of friends who hang out every Tuesday night at a pub in rural England. The stories are linked by a series of interludes with the same narrator and capped by a prologue and coda at either side. This keeps the book moving without getting bogged down too much in any one character. It also gives Brown a chance to explore different aspects of the aliens' gift of immortality. There are hints about the big picture (wars and murders are way down worldwide), but the focus is more intimately on the effects on the lives of ordinary people. We get glimpses of how people of different religions (Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism) reacted to the coming of the aliens and their gift, as well as how different attitudes about the alien gift affect families and marriages.

We never learn too much about the Kéthani, but I think that works. You need a bit of mystery, and it's heavily hinted that humans are simply not ready to completely understand. This sort of cosmic ineffable sublime is one of my favorite things in SF (why I love Clarke so much, as I imagine does Brown). As one character puts it, "think of everything that's out there that we can't even begin to dream about." Cool, Big Ideas stuff!

Philosophically I think the novel does a good job exploring the ways that fear of death shapes humanity, and some things that might happen if we were to remove that fear.

So what did I NOT like? The writing can occasionally fall into tired tropes: for instance, we learn a lot about the female characters' bodies in the narration but little about the male characters' (Brown is perhaps a bit of a typical male writer here...), and there is a story where a teacher dates one of his students that I just found really skeevy (eventually his fellow teachers find it skeevy, too, but still, I was like, "WTF, Brown?" Gross.)

And maybe this sort of optimism was reasonable when Brown wrote this (published 2008, some parts written earlier), but his prediction that only a small minority of ultra-religious people or cranks would refuse the alien immortality feels a bit quaint here in 2021, at least the US where half my country refuses to get a lifesaving vaccine they can get for free.

His treatment of religion is also a bit clunky at first with dime-a-dozen religious zealots, but comes out a bit more complex later with a fascinating priest character and a Buddhist who somewhat confusingly claims that Buddhism denies objective truth but then also believes in rebirth, but she does get some stuff right about impermanence, I guess.

My deeper philosophical response, though, is that I feel like Brown could have explored more secular rejections of immortality. He seems to assume any sane person would want to be immortal, but I'm not so sure. After all, it may be the fact that our lives end that give them any meaning at all. By analogy, consider how a good story has a beginning, middle, and end. Is a meaningful human life like that?

Maybe there's something natural and right about dying (as in views sometimes called bioconservatism). Is the alien immortality at the end of the day just another pining for permanence that's neither healthy nor meaningful for human beings? Following a deeper strand of Buddhist philosophy (one that the Buddhist character *almost* gets to!), is this sort of fixation on our own continuation itself the root of a lot of suffering? Aside from more mundane issues of boredom and malaise, would you really want to live forever?

Sure, I'd like to take a turn around the stars with the Kéthani for longer than I am likely to live here on Earth, but not forever. And given the fact that the universe itself will not last forever, who are we really fooling? Is the fact that we are a part of the universe coming to contemplate itself for a speck of time and then merging back into that universe, which itself is ultimately impermanent, a strange melancholy that fades into a pacific beauty?

I'm glad that Brown prompted me to these thoughts, all in an intriguing narrative about benevolent aliens. I recommend others looking for a fun philosophical journey to consider reading this (but maybe skip the story about the teacher dating his student... yeesh.)

My blog review! https://examinedworlds.blogspot.com/2...

[Halvor (Raknes) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book. I found the milieu and characters fairly real to life, although I agree with other reviewers that the depth of the characters is much wanting.

The book is basically a bunch of short stories containing the same core fixtures published over a 10-year period in various magazines. This causes the story to loose much of its continuity as it instead amounts to a series of incidents that are more or less adroitly stitched together via the 'interlude' chapters. A bit more engaged redacting would however have spared us the tedious repetitions in every episodic chapter of the awe-inspiring view of the 500 meter tall Onward Station and the token pausing to take in the spectacular view and contemplate its grandeur. It would also have spared the reader a clunky repeat in the last chapter of some key feature of one of the characters (obviously in a serial such repeats are unavoidable).

Although I thought the writing was imaginative and even philosphically buoyant, I must take the following issue with the book:

The author has obviously himself categorically concluded that humanity is beyond redemption and can only be salvaged through intervention from outside. "Outside" would then mean either extraterrestrials or some supernatural being(s) part of a divine hierarchy. He could have gone with the second and had us rescued by some Star Trek-inspired beneficent beings with some random superpowers and otherwise inconsistent characteristics. Any true God intervention doesn't seem to fit with the genre of science fiction on an axiomatic level (I suppose if these authors were capable of imagining more sublime divinities they wouldn't be writing in this genre at all…). Anyway, being himself not particularly spiritually developed, the author cannot perceive that humanity can pull its own resources together to effect a breakthrough into a mature paradigm, so he uses the magical option.

I came across this book at a municipal "free store" here in Oslo, Norway. These places are great in that people can deposit stuff they no longer want and don't want to bother trying to sell, and then others can pick up whatever they fancy to their heart's content. I have picked up a lot of cool books this way. And had it not been for an establishment of this sort I probably would never have gotten to read Eric Brown given that I have decided to live completely without money for the past 14 years. What about libraries, you ask? Sure, I can use them, however, not a single one of Norway's 500+ public libraries stock any of his books!

To sum up, I appreciated the reading experience, perhaps a little less as the story drew towards the ending and its adapted serial nature became a little annoying. Still, if I come across another Eric Brown book, I'm likely to pick it up and read it!

[Tyler Knight · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story itself contained within Kethani is quite good, all things considered. My issue with this book was the rather jarring constant switch of first person perspectives between the main characters. This made it difficult to follow and the character's story arcs were fairly mundane. I almost put this book down a few times, but decided to stick with it. I could see the ending a mile away, and it left open a few unexplained story elements that would have been more interesting than what was provided. All in all, I would say it's worth a read if you have nothing better, but don't expect anything groundbreaking.

[Dianne · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have thrown this book across the room half a dozen times in frustration.

The characters are nothing more than stereotypical cardboard cut-outs with whom I can find no way to sympathize (despite enormous personal tragedies, at times). The prose is uninspiring and falls flat far more often than not. Franky, there are times that I'm flabbergasted with how terrible the writing is. The plot is only rarely engaging. Eric Brown manages to take the most optimisitc, sickeningly sweet view of how humanity evolves under their new alien overlords.

And it's a shame, because the concept -- immortality for everyone who wants it -- is such an interesting one. I wanted to enjoy this book, but it has done nothing except raise my blood-pressure out of anger and bitter disappointment.

[Mieneke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not much of a SF reader. I've always maintained I didn't do SF, until I started reading my husband's Kris Longknife books and loved them. Since then I've been trying to expand my reading and try more SF. After reading Mark's reviews of Eric Brown's books over at Walker of Worlds, I really wanted to try his books and having read Cara's review of Kéthani over at Speculative Book Review, that seemed a good place to start. And if Kéthani is anything to go by, I think I need to read more of Brown's books. It was such an interesting read, that I kept turning pages, despite saying I'd put the book away at the end of the chapter. I was hooked.

Kéthani is a collection and reworking of several interconnected short stories. Only the prologue, interludes, epilogue and one story were specifically written for this book. Yet despite this, the narrative never felt cobbled together, it was cohesive and if it hadn't been mentioned, I wouldn't have guessed. The book doesn't feel very SF-y, since it is more a psychological study of man's reaction to the choice of immortality. The SF seems incidental to this. Something else that contributes to this is that the book feels cosy, for lack of a better word. It's all set in this little village in the English countryside and since many of the stories are set in winter, with snow, cold and roaring hearth fires, this feeling of small-scale cosiness is only reinforced.

Brown provides no direct explanations, no info dumps, we find things out through the narrative. And while each chapter answers some questions, it always raises more. The alien technology is kept deliberately vague and Earth seems to remain relatively low-tech; apart from the implants and the Onward stations, there doesn't seem to be any real alien technology on Earth. In the end most of my practical questions were answered. For example, I kept wondering how Earth hadn't exploded population-wise and whether they were truly immortal. At the end I knew, the answers were there in the stories.

The moral questions raised by Kéthani remain largely unanswered however. We are told how the characters in the book handle them, but this is largely conveyed without any judgement attached. It is left to the reader to form an opinion about the right or wrong of their actions and whether the coming of the Kéthani is ultimately a good thing for humanity. This is what made the book so compelling and thought-provoking. I found my thoughts going back to mull over some of the characters dilemmas and choices even after I'd finished Kéthani. That is the quiet power of this book; at it's core it isn't about aliens, it's about humanity.

Apart from its thought-provoking themes, Kéthani also contains some cracking stories. From a locked-room mystery to a quiet romance, to the heart-rending story of a father and his mortally-ill daughter, they all have something to keep the reader's attention. I absolutely adored this book and I'll be sure to pick up more of Eric Brown's books when I can. I highly recommend this book, even if you're normally not much of an SF reader, the story is a great introduction to SF and to the work of Eric Brown and definitely worth the read.

[Enrique028 · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Vivid, emotional, philosophical, this is a work to feed the mind, heart and soul”

That’s what Stephen Baxter used to describe KETHANI, the latest book by Eric Brown, and I couldn’t have agreed more. If so, I would add “provoking” to the list of adjectives. Perhaps the idea of “immortality” have been used before, perhaps, it isn’t even original within the context of Science Fiction, given that the sole concept of Science Fiction allows for changing any context and exploring or proposing immortality. But, this book, which is more an account of experiences and more so, written much before as short stories and now linked by as many interludes, to allow us to keep a continuity of the story, tells all from the point of view of common folks in a sort of weekly Pub meeting, in a very emotional, sometimes conflicted kind of way. What would you do, given the chance to gain continuous immortality? Forever and ever, no matter how many times you die? Would you give in? There are so many stories and so many questions that you could ask to yourself, just about the rights and wrongs such a “life” changing gift could actually mean. I loved Eric Brown’s pace and simplicity yet clever way of writing when I read HELIX and I must admit that when I read a review of KETHANI and its premise sometime ago I was not drawn into the idea, simply because It sounded mundane. And not Sci Fi at all. Well, it is mundane and surprise, surprise, it is Science Fiction at its best. Its simplicity lies with the everyday characters and everyday situations that its pages tell about. This is not a book about intergalactic conspiracies and governments trying to find a way to save the planet, no. This is a book about all that other people, everyday people going about their routine and all the challenges and fears and convictions they might feel about been Immortal. In a Yorkshire town. In a Pub.

If you ever wonder what the normal folks in films like “The Day after tomorrow” where up to when the Ice Age fell over and the screen time or interest was not there to know about their experiences, then read this book. There are no lasers, no starships and no conspiracies but there is enough to feed the mind, the heart and the soul as Mr Baxter said.

[Ron · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a thoughtful meditation on mortality and its implications for morality, set in a fine first-contact sf novel. Set in the moor country of northern England, it describes the effects of a worldwide gift from unseen aliens of reincarnation technology, and the concomitant gifts of general wellness in the reconstrued bodies and minds and the opportunity to travel the galaxy with the benefactors. That said, the novel never leaves the single county in England, following a group of people through their various encounters with the Kéthani and their gifts. It is episodic; ten short tales are linked by introductions from one of the group (who at one point dies and returns, taking up his old job as a doctor). Fine little book.
And it is a "little" book. Although it weighs in at over 420 pages, each line is about eight words long and the lines are so widely spaced that there are only about 28 to a page (compared to 33-35 for most paperbacks). That brings it in at just a little under a hundred thousand words; one might expect a 400-page book to half that long again. One is buying a lot of empty page here, but the book itself is a fine one.

[Writtenwyrdd · Rating 3 out of 5]

The cover blurb says this book is "a future classic" and I have to say "Meh" to that. This book is interesting and I enjoyed it, but unlike many other books I've read, I have zero interest in ever reading Kethani again. I think that perhaps my opinion is flawed by a liking for the more action-oriented stories rather than this slower-moving tale where very little overtly happens. It's a psychological study more than anything else, a study in first person by a group of people who are alive during the arrival of an alien race, the kethani, who offer man a bootstrap to the stars. The price? They have to accept tech that gives man immortality. They die and are resurrected new and improved by the kethani.

It's interesting how the author deals with the changes the loss of death cause in people. Some deny it, some accept it, some have to face their flaws--but while it's enjoyable, it isn't wonderful to me. I wouldn't call it a classic, and I wouldn't say this is ground that hasn't been trodden many times before in other sf stories. It is, however, a good, solid and enjoyable read.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great read by Eric Brown. He's quickly become one of my favorite authors. It was a little bit of a slow start and I was even thinking about quitting on it but I decided to give it a few more pages and I'm so glad that I did. It's not action packed or anything but just really great and engaging stories... I felt invested in the characters' lives. I don't want to give any of the story away but, it was unexpected and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Ray Smillie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having read this before (October 2018) I enjoyed it as much as first time around. A first contact novel and what happens as a result of this friendly visit, told by several of the characters who are all regulars in a local country pub. The main character tells one of the stories, as well as the opening links for each tale. An uplifting novel with only one unbelievable aspect. No way are they getting a very snowy winter every year (tongue slightly in cheek here).

[Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this strangely uplifting. Some of the criticisms of this first contact novel is how it concentrates on a small village in Yorkshire. That aspect is what makes this tale work. Immortality is now available and it takes the residents of the village to tell us stories of how individuals have been affected by this. A very satisfying read.

Ray Smillie

[Russ Jarvis · Rating 2 out of 5]

The premise and the opening chapter engaged me. The focus on ordinary people of rural Britain would be good. I like books where the protagonist(s) is someone like me (except I'm not British). I appreciated how the concept of being resurrected as often as necessary affected species-long assumptions and supposed limitations. However, I feel about this book like I did after viewing the last episodes of the ABC series "Lost". I felt that I had been provoked to think differently about some things, but the story feels unfinished. There are also hints dropped that are not resolved. Who really are the Kethani? (Who were the good and bad entities on the Lost island?) It doesn't seem to matter to the author but it matters to me. The book works on the level of provoking philosophical/religious speculation, but it fails badly in inspiring human readers toward a better future on earth. Maybe the author is tricking us like the Kethani character tricks the main characters into killing themselves in the last chapter so they can become cosmic evangelists. Maybe he wants to turn us from the hope that physical immortality would be good for human souls.

[Hertzan Chimera · Rating 1 out of 5]

imagine you've just had the great idea to make an alien-invasion film with your mates; you've got no money for script, lighting, special effects, location, wages ... in fact all you've got is 25 years to waste shooting anecdotal footage in your local pub drinking pints of liver-rot and one blurry hand-held shot of an inverted icicle close to the camera overlooking a snow-covered landscape.

that's this book.

432 pages of NOTHING HAPPENS, in a classical narrative sense - it's an un-book, less-than-soap, awful.

[Kirkus · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nooooo, I was fooled by the nice synopsis.

It drags on and on with the different characters soulsearching and I couldnt help but thinking why all this useless speculating? The answer was so simple. At the end the story just fizzles out to nothing.

It tries drama with a sci-fi setting but fails to tell the drama and the the sci-fi sucks.

I feel sorry for readers who enjoyed this.

[Gav · Rating 3 out of 5]

Synopsis

It takes an alien race to show us what humanitiy truly is. This is the irony faced by a group of friends whose lives are changed forever when the mysterious alien race known as the Kethani come to Earth bearing a dubious but amazing gift: immortality.

Analyse/Comments/Thoughts

Kethani is a reality based what if? Quite different for a sci-fi story. Brown meditates, through a series of linked tales, on the affect on immortality on the human race, but its not just immortality we’re offered, it’s the chance to escape Earth and see the stars.

And what does humanity do with this gift? Sit in the pub. A lot. And this is the conflict I’m having with this novel. It’s a small-scale drama with a backdrop of something larger and life changing. I can’t help feeling a little disappointed.

Here’s why. Brown presents a series of interesting voices and takes on the how, even with promise of resurrection on death, we still need routine and we make connections that we hold on to. He examines our feelings around death. And all round does a good job.

But he leaves the aliens, well, alien. They’re almost as mysterious at the start as they are at the end. They have enemies but there is not explanation of who they might be or what the conflict is. They have amazing technology but we only get to see it from the surface.

Though the aliens aren’t the focus of this tale. We are. And Brown chooses a narrow focus with a reason so he can explore the wider implications for a group of friends of the aliens arrival. There is a doctor, a teacher, a priest, dry-stone-waller, in other words a mix of intelligent and insightful views to draw from. And there are some impressive insights about how we grow apart when we don’t try and how death can be a freedom as well as a devastation as well as how religion can or can’t transform to encompass new ideas.

On a technical level there is a couple of annoying traits. Everything seems to take place after a heavy snowfall and descriptions are sometimes repeated and some characters are more fleshed out than others. Some of these problems are routed in the fact that some of the sections have previously been short stories and could have been fixed I think with a little more polishing. This might seem picky but I did get drawn out of the story at a few times because of them.

Summary

I’m left with feeling that there was the potential to do a lot more with the alien material especially as it’s unlikely to have a sequel. But if it did it would have to be a different beast.

Putting aside my want to have more alien insight. Brown shows a skill for examining the human condition and how we look at death in an unconventional sci-fi story. It’s an insightful take that’s well worth reading but it might leave you wanting more, which isn’t really a bad thing, is it?

[Anabelle Bernard Fournier · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy read, well paced. A hopeful look at first contact that is definitely refreshing.

[Osku · Rating 1 out of 5]

Repetitive relationship drama with aliens thrown in.

[Paschalis]

elibrary

[Dane Hurlburt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good buildup, asks some interesting questions, and yet fails to deliver as a narrative by the end. Still worth the read.

[Goodreads Fuller · Rating 5 out of 5]

It doesn't always snow

I live in the area that the book is set. Eric has caught the feel of west yorshire quite nicely. Interesting take for a sci-fi contact book.

[Steve Pillinger · Rating 3 out of 5]

This turned out to be a British literary / thoughtful / philosophical work about alien invasion.

Quite enjoyable, but not really moreish…

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book and the ideas it brings. It isn't perfect but it works for me somehow, though feels a bit thin in places. I've re-read it a couple of times and got to know it a bit more.

It starts off in the real and is grounded there, yet takes you off and away, following the central premise to the novel. Not hard to read or get your head round, it's running with the possibility of coping with years and years of an extended life. To say any more would give the story away and spoil it.

No, it's not perfect and some parts of it work better than others.

[Gabriel · Rating 4 out of 5]

"At first I thought the speed with which the Kéthani's implants became universal was a little bit unlikely. After all, given the overly mysterious nature of the aliens, and the fact that every major religion in the world opposed them, wouldn't people be a bit more reluctant? If you believe in a spiritual afterlife, don't you also believe it's supposed to be better than physical life? But the book changed my mind: I think if physical immortality became a real possibility, doubts would fade pretty quickly after the first resurectees returned. Most people, I think, would look at it as a question of economics rather than spirituality, and would hedge their bets: better the proven afterlife than the supposed one (which, by the way, the Kéthani don't believe in). But that quickly becomes pretty extreme: a decade or two after the Kéthani arrive, people begin committing suicide in order to move on to resurrection and a life in the stars. This makes the Kéthani look pretty ghoulish: couldn't there be another way to get us into space, one that didn't lead to this kind of self-directed violence?"

For the full review, go to:
http://sfgospel.typepad.com/sf_gospel...

[P. Kirby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surprisingly readable for a looong book where nothing much happens.

Aliens have come to Earth and this time, instead of wrecking havoc on Los Angeles or New York, they come bearing a gift. Immortality. For reasons that are never really explained, the Kethani have granted humankind immortality in the form of a implant on the forehead. When a person dies, the implant provides the means by which the person will be reborn, younger, stronger and bestowed with a kind of zen-like peace.

The story centers on a group of pub goers in a small town in England. This is really a collection of stories, originally published individually in various SF magazines, and compiled into a novel. In each story, we see the character grappling with the consequences of immortality.

The problem is that despite the big concept--"How would the gift of immortality change mankind?"--the narrative is fairly superficial and leaves more questions unanswered than answered.

The novel's strength is primarily the likable, engaging characters, who, in the absence of a plot, kept me turning the pages.

[Hugo · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is not - as the blurb would have us believe - a "superbly crafted novel', but a collection of short stories, linked by new material which, in the majority of cases, actually gives away the twist or moral of the story it is meant to be prefacing. I didn't find this to be as philosophically interesting as many have; I actually thought it was trite and superficial in its refusal to explore the Kethani race in any way whatsoever, given that they were supposed to be improving humans, who resolutely remained venal and prejudiced and more concerned with going to the pub than exploring the universe. This is just a hodgepodge collection of short stories that flitter around a theme without once illuminating it, and for every interesting avenue of thought it has another dead end of trite cod-philosophy. As a collection of unambitious and comforting sci-fi, this is merely okay; as a deep and meaningful work of science fiction, it falls far short.

[Scott Overton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A science fiction novel without any science. Except that sounds negative, and it’s the terminology that’s to blame, not the book. Maybe this a case where the term ‘speculative fiction’ really would be better.
Brown never describes the science of the powerful alien race the Kéthani, how they travel throughout the galaxy, revive the dead, or transport them to and from their home world, because the whole point of the novel is how humans react to the gift the Kéthani bring: resurrection and immortality. The book is a series of linked stories of individual characters as each is affected by the Kéthani resurrection process over fifteen years or so. All of the stories are beautifully true to human nature and poignant—some are heartrending. Brown has chosen a clever form with which to explore immortality in all its aspects while introducing the reader to vividly-drawn characters along the way. An engaging, thought-provoking read.

[J. Else · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the concept quite interesting. It was the story of a group of friends and how they are affected by the choice of immortality. This book I thought was very good, and at times I could not put it down. Unfortunetly, it never amounted to much. There was no grand finale or explanation behind the reasons humaity was given the choice of immortality. I was also disappointed that the only religious points of view were crazy extreme Catholics. There was one priest and a "not so good" Buddhist, but overall, I felt that more of a Lutheran view would have been a good path to explore. The individual stories were interesting, but the ending was disappointing without many answers to the entire alien race offering immortality as a whole. But maybe I've just watched too many episodes of V and other sci fi alien oppresion movies...

[B.M. M. Polier · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book to be a really interesting concept, but I was more interested in finding out the reasons behind the aliens choices than the stories of the characters. This may be the fact that this book is a string of short stories only cohesed by the interludes. It also, for no particular reason, bothered me that despite the fact that the book takes place over 15 or 20 years, every story that was told in the book took place in the winter. That really annoyed me for some reason, as if the author was in winter when he wrote all of those and couldn't imagine anything interesting happening during the spring, fall, or summer. Other than that it was a lovely calming read. I was, however, looking for the 'catch' the entire novel and was a little disappointed in the ending because of that.

Definitely worth reading.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent first-contact story set in rural village England. The aliens are never directly involved, but do have the historic impact you'd expect.

And this is the joy of this novel: the multiple tensions Eric Brown plucks and then lets hum through out the novel. Mortality and Immortality, isolationist and galaxy traveller, friendly aliens or world conquerors, life over death over life. I don't want to say more and spoil the pleasure of discovering Brown's story on your own, but suffice it to say this is a refreshing telling of the first contact plot. Are you a fan of (the original) The Day the Earth Stood Still?

[Les · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book that I read not really expecting to like it so much. I'd initially picked it up after reading a couple of other Eric Brown books.

Kethani tells the stories of a mixed group of people and their lives and experiences with an alien species that has come to Earth offering wonderful things. Not least they offer the ability to be "reborn" after death and see the galaxy, etc.

The peoples' stories are wonderful as they grapple with their own dilemmas as to whether or not to receive the gifts from the Kethani. Some battle their deeply held beliefs and wrestle with questions of faith. Good human stories against a large sci-fi backdrop.

A great book.