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Andromeda #1

Andromeda: El Encuentro: Hard Science Fiction

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A planet in the endless emptiness of space, far from the warmth of any sun. And yet there are people who populate its vast caverns, living, working and loving. Since time immemorial, they have been on course for Andromeda, the neighboring galaxy of the Milky Way. This is the prophecy of the ancients, the one goal that unites them all, their cult.

But then the unthinkable happens: The journey stops because the planet enters the orbit of a mysterious object that can't be seen in any telescope. Scientists doubt its very existence, though they can't give any other explanation as to why the journey to Andromeda has come to an end.

And then the messages start.

Paperback

Published November 27, 2021

414 people are currently reading
115 people want to read

About the author

Brandon Q. Morris

131 books465 followers
Brandon Q. Morris is a physicist and space specialist. He has long been concerned with space issues, both professionally and privately and while he wanted to become an astronaut, he had to stay on Earth for a variety of reasons. He is particularly fascinated by the "what if” and through his books he aims to share compelling hard science fiction stories that could actually happen, and someday may happen. Morris is the author of several best-selling science fiction novels.

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5 stars
157 (24%)
4 stars
236 (37%)
3 stars
157 (24%)
2 stars
61 (9%)
1 star
22 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
Profile Image for Andrew✌️.
334 reviews22 followers
June 19, 2024
This is a novel I found almost by chance. The plot is intriguing: the human race lives inside a planet called Nova, headed towards the Andromeda galaxy. Around this journey a religion was born, whose head is the Church of Science and the main holiday is the Andromeda Festival. The encounter with a probable sentient species and some unexpected events partly connected to it, will bring chaos and challenge the inhabitants of one of the cities of this strange world.

I read this book after finding it among those available on my Kindle, without knowing the author. Being the first book of a trilogy, this story does not delve into the series of events that led to this situation, the journey to Andromeda, or what the "black dust" within this planet is (and its particular characteristics). The structure of society and mutations at the genetic/neural level are also poorly addressed.

From a scientific point of view, being a novel in the hard science fiction genre, I expected more detailed descriptions of science and technology, but instead the author focused a lot on mathematics and physics, especially on concepts and theories that are not very familiar to me.

The story is easy to read, the characters are taken from different areas of society and each chapter focuses on one of them, as they try to understand what is really happening, whether it is an attack by aliens or an involuntary interference. There is no shortage of contrast between scientists and soldiers, each with their own way of interpreting ongoing events and solutions that can aggravate or improve the situation, always keeping the reader on their toes.

As a single story it is interesting and has plenty of twists and turns. This first chapter is almost a detective story, with the reader led to follow all the clues, but I think the series as a whole should be looked at to understand if it will maintain interest until the end.
Profile Image for Andy.
1,318 reviews91 followers
October 6, 2023
Phantasievolle SciFi mit eigenem Schreibstil
40 reviews1 follower
September 3, 2022
Mildly interesting at times, this book just did not do anything for me most of the read. Purporting to be science fiction, with an appealing basis (an earthlike planet used as a generation ship for a massively long journey) just never becomes believable. The author seems to have difficulty turning basic science into the story; intriguing scientific tidbits (like e as the basis of a number system) get molded around silly concepts (like the hand waving explanation of encoding data on a course memory storage grid). Or a single (sacred?) telescope that, despite a presumption of incredible technology to make all this happen, sounds like a backyard toy while also being their only link to their path in space. Really? No backup, no instruments for different spectra, looking in only one direction? Sure, what a great plan for millions of years.

But the main leap is just the scale of planet-as-ship is not handled well in terms of believability. Millions of years in space, yet near the surface is still at livable temperatures; frozen atmosphere and oceans somehow further below the living area (and below -- where? Is this some hollow earth fantasy?) Combine that with awkwardly developed characters, the idea that over millions of years humans are largely unchanged, and a story that really never got much flesh on its bones, and I will not be buying the next installments.
Profile Image for Alex Lennon.
25 reviews
July 23, 2023
Interesting and Unexpected

I really enjoyed reading this work. Hard science fiction is always the best. There is a great deal going on here in the world building which has been left unexplained and intrigues me. In particular the structure of this society and the levels of neurodiversity. I look forward to the next in the trilogy….
Profile Image for Da Ed.
202 reviews3 followers
July 14, 2024
Una idea interesante, pero narrada de forma rara e infantil y protagonizada por personajes muy estúpidos.
Profile Image for Moni2506.
394 reviews
February 1, 2025
„Andromeda - Die Begegnung“ von Brandon Q. Morris ist der erste Teil einer Hard Science Fiction-Reihe, in der es um die Reise der Menschen zur Andromeda-Galaxie geht und einer Begegnung zwischen zwei Spezies. Erschienen ist der Roman im Juni 2021 und als Herausgeber ist HardSF.de angegeben.

Weit entfernt von jeder Sonne reist ein Planet durch das Weltall. Man sollte meinen hier gibt es kein Leben, doch die Menschen leben und bevölkern den Planeten unter Tage. Sie sind schon lange unterwegs, auf dem Weg zu ihrer neuen Heimat der Andromeda-Galaxie. Dies ist die Prophezeiung ihrer Vorfahren und dies ist das Ziel, das die Menschheit eint.
Doch es passiert etwas Unvorhergesehenes: Die Reise stoppt, weil der Planet auf ein Hindernis stößt, dass nicht sichtbar ist, aber eine ungeheure Anziehungskraft ausübt und dann beginnen die Ereignisse, die auf den Besuch fremder Wesen hindeuten.

Ich habe das Jahr mit Science Fiction begonnen, nachdem dieses Genre im letzten Jahr wieder deutlich weniger gelesen wurde. Hard Science Fiction finde ich ein sehr spannendes Genre und ich mag dort die Bücher, die echte wissenschaftliche Theorien als Grundlage haben, die sich aber dennoch irgendwie total absurd anhören, denn wie bitte, kann ein Planet durchs Weltall reisen, aber ich habe es gegoogelt: 2019 wurde ein Planet entdeckt, der nicht um eine Sonne kreist und frei durch den Weltraum fliegt.
Der Einstieg in den Roman ist gut gelungen. Vieles war zwar etwas verwirrend, aber noch in dem Maße, dass ich eher herausfinden wollte, warum die Dinge dort so geregelt sind. Insgesamt konnte ich mir die Welt gut vorstellen.
Es gibt unterschiedliche Perspektiven, die zu Beginn erstmal drei eigene Handlungsstränge darstellen, die sich allerdings im Laufe der Ereignisse immer mehr vermischen. Da wäre zum einen Noa, ein Kaplan, der sich um die Kinder des Planeten kümmert. Bessie, die zu einem Einsatz auf der Oberfläche des Planeten geschickt wird und Hannibal, der sich um Wartungsarbeiten auf dem Planeten kümmert.
Über die unterschiedlichen Perspektiven lernen wir die Gegebenheiten kennen, unter denen die Menschen auf diesem reisenden Planeten leben. Es ist sehr interessant gestaltet, weil die Menschheit für diese Reise mit einem bestimmten Mindset ausgestattet werden mussten und das erforderte auch eine bestimmte Art von Gesellschaft. Diese wird dann mit der Spezies konfrontiert, der sie in diesem ersten Teil begegnen und mit der eine Kommunikation hergestellt werden muss.
Einige der Personen im Buch sind mir im Verlauf der Geschichte sehr ans Herz gewachsen, andere wiederum mochte ich nicht. Noa ist sehr engagiert in Bezug auf die Kinder, die in seiner Obhut aufwachsen. Er ist bereit alles dafür zu tun, um ihre Sicherheit zu gewährleisten. Hannibal scheint autistisch zu sein und hat eine bestimmte Art, wie er mit Situationen umgeht. Seine Freundin Marina kennt er und kann sie gut einschätzen, bei Fremden fällt ihm das schwerer. Bessie ist ein sehr neugieriger Mensch, der sich nur allzu gerne ablenken lässt und dadurch manchmal auch in Gefahr gerät. Douglas war mir nicht ganz so sympathisch. Er ist eher egoistisch eingestellt, was in dieser speziellen Konstellation auf dem reisenden Planeten nicht immer so gut ist. Und es gibt noch weitere Personen, die im Gesamtgefüge der Geschichte eine Rolle spielen.
Zeitweise war mir einiges fast ein bisschen zu lang gezogen, umso überraschter war ich als das Buch plötzlich endete, mitten in der Geschichte. Dennoch ist ein erster wichtiger Strang in diesem Band abgeschlossen worden und die Vorzeichen der Geschichte sind für den zweiten Band etwas anders angelegt als in diesem Teil.
Als Zusatzmaterial gibt es ein Kapitel, dass sich mit der Andromeda-Galaxie, dem Ziel des reisenden Planeten, befasst. Das fand ich super spannend. Es gibt einen ein bisschen mehr Einblick in den Hintergrund, der die Grundlage für diese Geschichte bildet und der Autor verspricht Antworten auf viele Fragen, die ich mir während des Lesens gestellt habe.

Fazit: Ein Auftakt, der zugleich faszinierend und verwirrend ist. Die Neugier, wie alles miteinander zusammenhängt, hat mich durch die Geschichte gezogen, wurde aber in diesem ersten Teil der Geschichte, wo es um die erste Begegnung der beiden Spezies geht, noch nicht beantwortet. Wenn euch ein umherreisender Planet und sein Geheimnis ansprechen, dann probiert es gerne aus.
Profile Image for Kaine.
170 reviews
May 18, 2024
Andromeda: The Encounter is a hard Sci-Fi novel that tells the story of a planet called Nova traveling through space in search of reaching Andromeda, the neighboring galaxy of the Milky Way. Everything goes well until, just before the celebration of "Andromeda Day," an object gets in Nova's way and strange events begin to occur, causing malfunctions in the airlocks and other technological devices caused by a strange dust that infiltrates the computers to try to communicate with the scientists. Andromeda's society lives in caves where they have built cities and inhabited them. The story follows a group of people who get trapped on the planet's surface and with no possibility of entering the caves because all the doors have mysteriously closed. In the end, they manage to enter and discover that everything has been the product of mysterious spinning tops with blue lights. They save these beings from being captured by a scientist, somewhat crazy, and now they have to help them because something is threatening the existence of these beings of light. Also, it seems that some people are losing their sanity and begin to attack everyone. No explanation is given for this, nor for the reason why what prevents the beings of blue light from continuing to expand and exist. Now that everyone is aware that their trajectory towards Andromeda has been diverted (either by that strange object that gets in their way), they cancel the celebrations and set out to deal with all these new problems.

As a book, I think it's decent and quick to read. I like how it combines cosmic intrigue with elements of scientific exploration and discovery. I will definitely finish the trilogy after this. Maybe a 6 or 7/10.
Profile Image for Jana.
145 reviews2 followers
April 25, 2025
In einer fernen Zukunft reisen Menschen in Richtung Andromeda Galaxie, ihr Gefährt ist kein Raumschiff sondern ein Planet, den sie Nova nennen. Wer sich im Eismonduniversum auskennt, wird relativ früh erkennen, dass es sich um den dunklen Planeten Amphitrite handelt, der vor langer Zeit schon erforscht wurde und von dem wir wissen, dass er irgendwann die Andromeda Galaxie erreichen wird, wo die Menschheit auf ein neues zu Hause hofft. Im Leeren Raum zwischen den Galaxien stößt Nova jedoch auf ein unbekanntes Phänomen, das für schwere Probleme sorgt und auf Eindringlinge, die die Menschen nicht verstehen und als Feinde betrachten. Es müssen Lösungen gefunden werden und es besteht Lebensgefahr für einige Bewohner des Planeten.
Mir hat gefallen, wie sich die Gesellschaft auf Nova über die Jahrtausende? verändert hat und was die Evolution bewirkt hat. Cool fand ich, wie schon die Jüngsten lernen, sich in der absoluten Dunkelheit zu orientieren und wie Morris die einzelnen Protagonisten ausgearbeitet hat, jede der Hauptpersonen ist für sich besonders.
Das Ende des ersten Teils empfand ich als etwas unheimlich, weil unerklärliche Dinge mit den Menschen passieren.
Ansonsten mag ich den Schreibstil von Brandon Q Morris sehr und wie er immer wieder Dinge aus früheren Büchern einbezieht.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
347 reviews4 followers
June 20, 2022
Journey to Andromeda is disrupted?!

Humans are travelling to Andromeda on a planet called Nova. They are living below the surface and the majority are unable to see colors. They celebrate Andromeda Day every year as the ultimate destination of their long journey. A religion has built up around this trek. From the age of 6 to 18, the children are separated from their parents and only known as a number. They are taught how to survive by Noa, Miranda and other teachers.
However, just prior to an Andromeda Day celebration, there is a need to service the telescope and an observation is made that could change their future for ever. At the same time, power is lost throughout the city causing no end of problems for a number of people. This story involves the uncovering of what caused the blackout and how they reverse it...
This is a highly entertaining story with good character development, twists and turns, and some stereotypical traits of the scientist and the military/security that save and try and wreck the day respectively.....
Profile Image for Sonea.
60 reviews
May 9, 2024
I honestly am not sure how many stars to give, I guess 3.5 would be most accurate.

I really loved the characters and their interactions.
It is easy to tell that the author does observe and understand human behavior to a greater degree than most modern writers.
They just felt very real to me.
I loved the Neurodivergent main characters, especially Hannibal.

The story is what I am torn a bit. The Idea and world building is great and intriguing.
However, the pacing and introduction of the world sometimes made it difficult to stay engaged in the story.

I do not mind Hard Sci-Fi but it seemed pretty selective.
Many things were left unexplained, leaving me wanting more information.
And then there was this long passage talking about how to communicate on another base number system, that just got dragged out way too far.

All in all I enjoyed the novel and will probably read the next in the series as well.
131 reviews1 follower
November 1, 2022
A little different, but great!

Don’t worry, still an awesome book with plenty of science and fiction. The concept of a planet(or moon) being used as a generational transport is a great base concept. Impute science as a religion. The character development is excellent but what a variety of a cast! I think we each know a few of these people personally. Although not the same pace as other books of his that I have read nonstop, this one still captured my full attention and as soon as I finish this review it will be on to book 2! A highly recommended read!
10 reviews1 follower
April 18, 2022
I feel a little guilty about this review. The author tried hard and his concept of a populated planet headed towards Andromeda is very interesting. Nevertheless, I found it boring and not very exciting. I finished the book and realized with a dull thud, that it ended in mid stream, only to be continued in the next book of the series. Nothing resolved, nothing explained, a real disappointment. I certainly will not read the following books.
57 reviews
June 29, 2022
Good story original story theam

Decent story with good scientific under pinnings for the details, will be interesting where the author takes the story. Story is very character proven, told from different poi vs of view that tend to intersect with each other and influence each other's situations with out knowing it at the time. Sort of like a detective story where the reader is asking why did that happen, then a few halter later you find out one of the other characters had taken actions which created the situation. I found it easy to read and entertaining, but just realize it's part of trilogy so for the full story there are two other books in the series. Enjoy!
1 review
June 5, 2022
The plot was certainly unique - traveling to the Andromeda galaxy on a planet ejected from the Milky Way is a different take on long distance space travel. But the book falls down badly on grammatical mechanics; the prose is lumpy, rather clipped, and somewhat adolescent. It made me wonder if the book was written by a fourteen-year-old, or is that is its intended readership.
27 reviews1 follower
July 6, 2022
Interesting Read

Interesting storyline with good character development. Development of "visitors/attackers" was a little farfetched, and communications methods were a little extreme. Maybe Book 2 will sort this out better.
24 reviews
May 8, 2022
awesome

Great read of hard science. Life can live anywhere as long as we can communicate with it and show respect. Respect flows bidirectional.
73 reviews
August 9, 2022
Hard sci fi

Loved the realness of the story, sci-fi with a touch of reality so to speak. Makes you wish you were there.
1 review
November 4, 2022
Poorly written

Interesting story concept, it is poorly written, Characters are hollow, and tech descriptions are confusing. 1st book ends abruptly to get you to read the next
24 reviews1 follower
December 19, 2022
Intriguing science in a sci fi book

Great read. A little slow at times but the science is interesting. Not expensive. Well worth the read. Enjoy it.
Profile Image for Karen Collyer.
Author 2 books
April 22, 2023
I very quickly became so involved in the story that I didn't want to put it down. It has a novel story line and believable characters. I can't wait to follow on with book 2.
28 reviews
September 1, 2025
Hope book two is a bit better in the “hard sci-fi” as I felt several items were really left hanging as to why it happens (or happened). eg Cloning the bunny and its magical powers to talk and move.
Profile Image for Eduardo.
95 reviews1 follower
January 7, 2023
2 ⭐️. Pues me ha costado acabarlo. El libro no empieza mal, es más, me gusta el formato de los capítulos, que te va contando la historia de forma simultánea a través de sus diferentes personajes. Ha habido algún momento interesante, pero a partir de la mitad del libro deja mucho que desear, no mantiene, al menos para mí, la intriga y las ganas de saber qué está ocurriendo. No leeré los dos siguientes libros de la trilogía.
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