Truth of the Divine - Lindsay Ellis

Truth of the Divine

By Lindsay Ellis

  • Release Date: 2021-10-19
  • Genre: Science Fiction
Score: 4
4
From 58 Ratings

Description

USA TODAY BESTSELLER

Truth of the Divine is the latest alternate-history first-contact novel in the Noumena series from the instant New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times bestselling author Lindsay Ellis.


The human race is at a crossroads; we know that we are not alone, but details about the alien presence on Earth are still being withheld from the public. As the political climate grows more unstable, the world is forced to consider the ramifications of granting human rights to nonhuman persons. How do you define “person” in the first place?

Cora Sabino not only serves as the full-time communication intermediary between the alien entity Ampersand and his government chaperones but also shares a mysterious bond with him that is both painful and intimate in ways neither of them could have anticipated. Despite this, Ampersand is still keen on keeping secrets, even from Cora, which backfires on them both when investigative journalist Kaveh Mazandarani, a close colleague of Cora’s unscrupulous estranged father, witnesses far more of Ampersand’s machinations than anyone was meant to see.

Since Cora has no choice but to trust Kaveh, the two must work together to prove to a fearful world that intelligent, conscious beings should be considered persons, no matter how horrifying, powerful, or malicious they may seem. Making this case is hard enough when the public doesn’t know what it’s dealing with—and it will only become harder when a mysterious flash illuminates the sky, marking the arrival of an agent of chaos that will light an already-unstable world on fire.

With a voice completely her own, Lindsay Ellis deepens her realistic exploration of the reality of a planet faced with the presence of extraterrestrial intelligence, probing the essential questions of humanity and decency, and the boundaries of the human mind.

While asking the question of what constitutes a “person,” Ellis also examines what makes a monster.

Reviews

  • Startlingly Believable

    5
    By childishgavliano
    This is a novel that very carefully crafts its narrative and events in ways so believable, you'll look at the news afterwards, half expecting the book's events to be happening. Ellis's excellent writing style is matured here into a vicously explicit and tangible form that shapes every scene, peaceful or violent, into something that always connects your mind with precisely the intended imagery. The action is visceral and terrifying while the scheming is so diabolical that it can sometimes hit too close to home. That being said, some of the parallels to real-world events might be a little on the nose, and can cheapen some scenes from my perspective. Not enough to stifle a 5 star rating, but its worth noting nonetheless. This is a story about living with mental disorders and also about aliens, and every messy, kinky, horrifying detail that goes into both of these things. Reading this at work was somewhat uncomfortable sometimes, but in a good way. Ellis doesn't pull any punches and that's precisely what makes every emotional moment connect. A phenomenal sophmore effort, definitely an author whose merits are proven.
  • Massively Disappointing

    2
    By Ozmama3
    I loved Axioms End so much that I preordered Truth of the Divine. After a strong beginning it devolves into a mess of treatises on modern culture and politics, which may have been interesting if it wasn’t so heavy handed. Worse, it sidelines the two main characters in favor of a new POV who more or less hijacks the rest of the narrative and then with a “bang” is gone. Ampersand, the real star of the series is made impotent and Cora is at best, incoherent. Multiple name changes to the aliens; preachy prose from the author disguised as said aliens and a bazar promotion for Land Rover add up to a confusing mishmash of ideas that contribute little to the over arching theme. This book is more essay than story; more “Fi” than “Sci”. I am sad.
  • Simply Excellent

    5
    By Tom Swift
    A wonderful read, and a great sequel to her first book.