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The Coldsuit
The war is nearly over, but alien-bred human Ry still must species or family? Ry’s childhood was a lie. They told him that the humans had always worked for the lazuli, and in return, were protected from the horrors beyond the city of Lancer. In reality, all the city’s shield guarded was the truth – the lazuli are aliens. For twenty years, they have been locked in a war with the humans, a war that has almost wiped out both species. When Ry learns the truth, he escapes his old home and leaves everything he has ever known behind. Now, six years later, the war is coming to a head, and he is forced to face his past, including the alien family who raised and cared for him – the family he still loves - when the human forces turn towards the last source of alien the city of Lancer. Ry is going home.
Kindle Edition
Published October 18, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 12, 2021
Read for 2021 SPSFC
Overall Thoughts
This one took me a while to get into, but I’m glad I gave it a good 30% before deciding to read it in full. The central concept is interesting, dealing with aliens who have tried to colonize Earth, and end up raising some humans to think like them from birth so they’re effectively brainwashed. However, there were a couple points where I felt the story wasn’t quite deep enough. First, we never really get a complete description for the aliens, and second, I would have liked a little more finality to the end of the story. In all, it’s a good read, but not one of my personal top ten. Let’s dig in…
Plot
Most of the story takes place about 20-30 years after aliens first invaded, so there is an entire generation of humans who have been raised in families by the aliens. Some have been rescued by humans and deprogrammed, but as the two sides are still actively fighting, those people are still treated with some distrust. The main character is one of these, who escaped an alien city after learning the truth. Most of the plot takes place over a few weeks, where a major assault is taking place to try to swing the final verdict of the war. As usual, there is a lot of politicking and infighting on the human side, which complicates the events. However, I felt the end of the story didn’t really tie things up that well, and the story just sort of stops. I’d liked to have seen a few aspects of the culture differences dug into a bit more. This puts me in mind of Harry Turtledove’s WorldWar Tetralogy, where aliens invade during WWII. Of course, that had four books to develop the two cultures, but still, I wanted just a little more.
Setting
We only see a small part of the US in this story, though there are a couple mentions of other countries and places. It seems like the whole world is busy dealing with these aliens. However my main issue with the worldbuilding is that we never get a clear idea of what the aliens look like or how their culture works. We’re told they have blue skin, they speak in a guttural language, and, as far as I can tell, are smaller, faster, and don’t stand up quite as straight as humans? I felt there was a big piece missing where they could have been fleshed out to show exactly why they’re, well, alien. Are these Star Trek aliens who look human and are just blue, or do they have fins, or gills, or scales? I assume they have the same number of limbs because nothing said they didn’t, but I had a problem picturing them. They are shown with schools, buildings, families, governments, and a similar culture to humans. Was that something assumed, or do they have any different concepts of culture than the humans do? Broadening the aliens could have added some more depth to the story and pulled the reader in more.
Character
There are some interesting questions of morality posed by the characters, for example if you’re in a forced subjugation posing as a family, but the family does really seem to care and look out for you, do you have any responsibility to them? The main character and several others struggle with the issue. Some hard decisions are made as to whether it’s more important to protect Earth as a place where humans live, or to try to understand and reason with an alien species that has nowhere else to go. This is where I would have actually liked the story to go on a little longer. I felt where we are left in the end is a point along that journey, but not one where we’ve really reached a consensus on the question, or even found out if humans will abide by the choices they’ve made.
Score out of 10 (My personal score, not the final contest score)
Temporary score until more books in the contest are read: An interesting story concept, dealing with the morality of colonization vs. extinction, but not quite enough depth to really make the story stick. 4/10.
Overall Thoughts
This one took me a while to get into, but I’m glad I gave it a good 30% before deciding to read it in full. The central concept is interesting, dealing with aliens who have tried to colonize Earth, and end up raising some humans to think like them from birth so they’re effectively brainwashed. However, there were a couple points where I felt the story wasn’t quite deep enough. First, we never really get a complete description for the aliens, and second, I would have liked a little more finality to the end of the story. In all, it’s a good read, but not one of my personal top ten. Let’s dig in…
Plot
Most of the story takes place about 20-30 years after aliens first invaded, so there is an entire generation of humans who have been raised in families by the aliens. Some have been rescued by humans and deprogrammed, but as the two sides are still actively fighting, those people are still treated with some distrust. The main character is one of these, who escaped an alien city after learning the truth. Most of the plot takes place over a few weeks, where a major assault is taking place to try to swing the final verdict of the war. As usual, there is a lot of politicking and infighting on the human side, which complicates the events. However, I felt the end of the story didn’t really tie things up that well, and the story just sort of stops. I’d liked to have seen a few aspects of the culture differences dug into a bit more. This puts me in mind of Harry Turtledove’s WorldWar Tetralogy, where aliens invade during WWII. Of course, that had four books to develop the two cultures, but still, I wanted just a little more.
Setting
We only see a small part of the US in this story, though there are a couple mentions of other countries and places. It seems like the whole world is busy dealing with these aliens. However my main issue with the worldbuilding is that we never get a clear idea of what the aliens look like or how their culture works. We’re told they have blue skin, they speak in a guttural language, and, as far as I can tell, are smaller, faster, and don’t stand up quite as straight as humans? I felt there was a big piece missing where they could have been fleshed out to show exactly why they’re, well, alien. Are these Star Trek aliens who look human and are just blue, or do they have fins, or gills, or scales? I assume they have the same number of limbs because nothing said they didn’t, but I had a problem picturing them. They are shown with schools, buildings, families, governments, and a similar culture to humans. Was that something assumed, or do they have any different concepts of culture than the humans do? Broadening the aliens could have added some more depth to the story and pulled the reader in more.
Character
There are some interesting questions of morality posed by the characters, for example if you’re in a forced subjugation posing as a family, but the family does really seem to care and look out for you, do you have any responsibility to them? The main character and several others struggle with the issue. Some hard decisions are made as to whether it’s more important to protect Earth as a place where humans live, or to try to understand and reason with an alien species that has nowhere else to go. This is where I would have actually liked the story to go on a little longer. I felt where we are left in the end is a point along that journey, but not one where we’ve really reached a consensus on the question, or even found out if humans will abide by the choices they’ve made.
Score out of 10 (My personal score, not the final contest score)
Temporary score until more books in the contest are read: An interesting story concept, dealing with the morality of colonization vs. extinction, but not quite enough depth to really make the story stick. 4/10.
November 13, 2019
A terrific read and surely a must for all sci-fi fans. A great story; thought provoking and emotionally charged. Wright creates a believable world which you are happy to dwell in.
October 28, 2019
An enthralling, fast-paced Sci-fi debut with a strong cast of dynamic characters, all with unique perspectives and motivations. This book is full of characters trying to live with, and find solutions to, a devastating conflict where what is right and wrong is shaped by each character's own experiences, as well as their morality. There are no easy answers to the difficult questions these characters face, but they each fight for what they believe in nonetheless, and it makes for a gripping tale of humanity, family and conflict.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews