Radiant

Radiant – James Alan Gardner

     I “borrowed” this book from my dad several years ago when he forgot to cancel some automatic shipment thing from a book club. It turns out to be a good thing because this has become one of my favorite books to reread.

     Many years in the future humans have colonized many worlds and discovered diverse others with alien life on them. There is a catch to all this wonderful exploration though: the League of People. The League consists of an unknown number of powerful alien races or “higher beings” that hold everyone to a high moral standard. If a person demonstrates an callousness for sentient life and tries to leave their planet, they are exterminated immediately. It isn’t just warlike species either, even CEOs who do not test their company’s products thoroughly are subject to the League’s rules; there is no appeal or notification, only execution.

     The Technocracy is one of the human societies in this universe. They deplore the use of implants, bioengineering, and gene shuffling to improve on the human design. Their population is ridiculously simple. Most are caught up in their own pleasures and desires, not really caring about the bigger picture beyond seeing their day to day needs. However, the government still needs explorers to chart new planets and discover new life forms. The Explorer Corps is filled with what can be known as the “rejects” of society; the deformed, the mad but functional, those who just don’t fit in, the expendable ones.

     Ma Youn Suu, the main character, belongs to the Explorer Corps. She is on a routine patrol ship with her partner when they get a distress call. “The Balrog,” a teleporting, moss-like alien who is so intelligent it makes humans look like bugs on the evolutionary scale, has appeared from nowhere on a nearby planet and causing the residents to panic. Youn Suu and her partner are sent to the planet to figure out what the Balrog wants. It turns out that what the Balrog wanted was Youn Suu. It bites and benignly rides along as a presence in her blood stream until Youn Suu, her partner, and her mentor can figure out what this alien intelligence wants. Before they can even report back to their headquarters about the state of Youn Suu’s “infection,” there is another distress call they need to answer. All of the settlers of the nearby planet, Muta, sent out a distress call but are no longer answering. as the closest and most expendable members of the Navy, the group goes to find out what they can and find themselves in more trouble than they ever expected.

     I really enjoy this book because of the way the author demonstrates the differences between the various human societies versus the alien societies. Some of the ones that get mentioned could be us in a few years like the Cashleens calling the newspapers, lawyers, or city hall because they are inconvenienced and have to take a different route home. James Alan Gardner explores the various tenets of the Buddhist faith in the way Youn Suu interacts, investigates, and comes to terms with the alien presence that has invaded her body and the way she saves her party members even though it means losing part of what makes her an individual. This book is actually the fifth in a series which I didn't know until I started to write this review. Clearly, they do not need to be read in order since I was able to follow the story easily. If you like exploring unknown planets and super intelligent aliens with their own agenda, this is definitely a good book to find.