A Case of Conscience
Ratings16
Average rating3.1
Politics and religion, two of my least favourite things.
There are two parts to this book, the first, set on a paradise planet, a garden of Eden rich in resources and a peaceful race of inhabitants with no concept of good or evil, deals with questions like....
Do you open a planet to human contact ?
Do you plunder said paradise planet of resources so you can make bigger bombs?
Do you open a planet to human contact when the planet in question has no concept of good or evil?
Does a planet with no concept of good or evil actually constitute a living hell for humanity?
The second part is utterly bonkers. One of the aliens from the paradise planet is raised on earth, becomes a celebrity with it's own tv show and almost brings about the total collapse of humanity.
The whole thing ends with an exorcism of an entire planet and now I'm going to have a cup of hot sweet tea and maybe a biscuit.
I must have missed something. A world created by Satan or a world possessed by Satan needing a bit of good exorcism? The rest is just filler.
Tantalizingly good premise:
A scout mission is sent to a planet 50 light years away to make contact with the inhabitants and test the viability of gathering resources. The 4 scientist group find the planet, Lithia, to be a veritable paradise. The aliens living therein are an inviting, moral, civilized race and welcome the earthlings. Father Ramon, one of the scientists, is a Jesuit who cannot come to terms with the fact that this alien race has achieved perfect morality without religion. He believes the entire planet to be a ruse crafted by Satan. He recommends against further contact with the planet.
As you might guess, he is outvoted. A Lithian he has befriended during the journey sends him back to Earth with a Lthian embryo as a goodwill gift. The alien hatches and develops on Earth, but without the moral societal framework of Lithia, he becomes sort of a douchey Tyler Durden who embraces the worst in human behavior. Everything falls apart.
The beginning of this book was terrific and things got really muddled in the middle.