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Shikasta by Doris Lessing
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I also think this was a 3.5 for me, I feel like judging by the actual reading experience and agreement with how themes were explored was a 3, but respect for its creativity and premise was a 4. The idea of writing the old testament as a sci-epic was really cool, and I felt the predicted WWIII strife worked well too for making a commentary on both the late 20th century and is sadly still timely.
However, I didn't enjoy the actual development of the story as much as I feel I should have given the premise. This may be in part due to the dry report structure of much of the book. As well, I feel by insinuating the 'good aliens' engineered people to be good and just have to eliminate and start over when the 'bad aliens' corrupt them with...some sort of genetic badness? Makes the case for moral essentialism in a way I can't get on board with. I feel this book too often handwaved the role of context and environment in human beliefs and behaviour, and the idea of virtue as an innate position itself just isn't for me.
I currently rounded to 4 stars, but might change later as I ruminate on this one.
This is a science fiction novel by Doris Lessing. It is also her first foray into science fiction, which apparently proved to be a disappointment for many of her readers. Sci-fi really isn't my genre and I can't say I completely understood or bought into the story.
The novel is related through compiled historical documents. "Shikasta" refers to a planet which is part of the larger galactic empire of Canopus. Shikasta and it's history share many parallels with Earth. (view spoiler)[This is later revealed to be true. A little confusing: Earth > Rohanda > Shikasta. (hide spoiler)]. A brutal third World War nearly decimated the planet, bringing it close to the point of collapse.
There are some religious overtones, Christian, as well as Muslim and Sufist. Major themes include harmonious coexistence, free will, and determinism. The atmosphere felt bleak to me, but that may change in the later books in the series.