Book Review: Encounter with Tiber by Buzz Aldrin and John Barnes

I was recommended this book because it was about space travel and by a famous astronaut. I hadn't heard about it before, but the premise sounded interesting and figured I'd give it a try. It ended up being pretty good. Here's a short blurb:

Born the year of the Moon landing, Chris Terence spends his life fighting to return humanity to that pinnacle. An engineering student with dreams of spaceflight, he finds upon graduation that the United States no longer has need for astronauts. Years of bureaucratic meddling have reduced the space program to a shell of itself, and it will take the greatest scientific find in history to send humanity skyward once more. After years battling budget hawks, Chris finally gets his chance to walk on the Moon. While there, he finds evidence of an ancient alien civilization, the Tiberians, who visited Earth’s satellite eight thousand years before. Understanding what happened to those long-forgotten travelers will define the lives of Chris and his son, as they fight against all odds to unlock the secrets of the universe.

Read on for my spoiler-free review.

Overall Impression

This was an interesting, fun read that is somewhat like a first contact story, but with a twist- the contact is a recording and the aliens are no longer there. The cast is larger than it needs to be and the plot occasionally slow, but the premise of the story is exciting as a hard science fiction novel.

Plot

The plot is told somewhat like a frame story. We follow a young historian, Clio, as she exits the solar system and is gathering her thoughts to write about her family and the translations she's worked on. These are then the premise for the stories that follow as she is descended from a line of astronauts and heavily involved in the work surrounding the Tiber expedition. Each story forms a major arc that advances time into the present state, though two of the arcs feature the Tiberians and take place many thousands of years ago when they first came to the solar system. There is a bit of info dumping in each arc, particularly the early ones as the authors try to get you up to speed with the scientific and geopolitical nature of Earth and Tiber, but I think it's not too bad and the story evolves from it. 

Characters

There are a surprising number of characters in this novel, almost like what one would expect from an epic fantasy. Fortunately, there is a Dramatis Personae at the start that helps summarize who is who. Furthermore, each arc of the story generally follows one main character- Chris, Zahmekoses, Diehrenn, Jason, with generally 1-3 additional supporting characters. Some of these arcs feature human characters, primarily astronauts, engineers, or scientists, while two arcs feature Tiberians with a similar focus but more alien outlook.

Setting / World Building

Without spoiling too much, it's clear from the title and brief blurb that humanity encounters an alien race, which they term the Tiberians. Unlike a first contact scenario, the encounter is indirect which leads to a lot of speculation and a lot of engineering to uncover their secrets. This plays to one of the strengths of the novel, which is the technical and realistic approach to many issues involving space travel, though it can sometimes feel a little heavy because of that.

Probably the most depressing thing is how realistic human culture looks like. When confronted with the possibility of some great work, it becomes a competition and all caution is thrown to the wind as each nation fights indirectly for getting there first. Interestingly, Tiberian culture, despite being more alien, suffers from the same hubris. Comfort, entertainment, immediate gratification all come first before worrying about such minor things like the future of a planet. There is also a bit of the philanthropic billionaire trope, which is unrealistic in real life but a key plot point early in the story. Overall, it gives a bit of a depressing tint to an otherwise positive story.

Final Thoughts

This was an interesting read. I enjoyed the Tiberian sections of the story quite a lot as it's a bit of a reverse first contact, where we see from their point of view what happens when they reach Earth and find Stone Age humans. The science and engineering concepts were interesting and always a hallmark of hard sci-fi stories. I found the cast too large for the narrower scope of the story (pretty much everyone is given a name, description, job, etc even if they never get any lines of dialogue) and the plot at times slowed down, but it was otherwise an enjoyable story. It makes me wish humanity was more united in its pursuit of knowledge and of a better tomorrow.