In this sequel to The Sparrow, which won the Arthur C. Clarke prize in Britain, we find that Father Emilio Sandoz, a Jesuit who barely survived his trip to Rakhat where he watched the remains of his expedition massacred by the Jana'ata, and was physically brutalized by Hlavin Kitheri, has lost his faith. Russell uses not only the schism between the Runa and the Ja'anata in this Rakhatian society to explore existential questions of life, but adds more fuel to the fire as we feel Sandoz' internal war with his god. As in the Sparrow we meet new characters that are complex but not quite as memorable as in her first work. While I think this is a great sequel, I personally preferred his first work. The depth and range of the issues that Russell addresses are astonishing, including slavery, abuse, faith, meaning, friendship, and duty, and it didn't hurt that the Jesuits were known to utter a few curses. I enjoyed it and look forward to her next work.
I love her writing, all of her characters and her ideas are well developed. She is a great read! Highly recommended!
Here are a couple of interesting links about the author:
Literati.Net About the Author
Mary Doria Russell Web Site:
Mary
aka 'tobiejonzarelli!
My bio
1 comment:
I really enjoyed The Sparrow, and was glad that I read the sequel, Children of God, so that I could find out what happened to the people I'd grown to care about in The Sparrow. I agree that the sequel was not as good as the first. But still worth reading!
Kristin
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