What readers think of The Book of Strange New Things, plus links to write your own review.

This was a very interesting premise...Peter Leigh, man of God goes to distant planet to interact and share the Good News with alien beings. It was enjoyable, but for me, it took too long to get to the basic differences between the Oasans (aliens, native to the distant planet) and human beings. It also tends to leave you hanging because we read emails from Peter's wife Bea, about many tragic disasters that are befalling Earth while Peter's away. However, we never get to see what is causing those disasters, what happens to Bea as Peter prepares to return to Earth, or what happens to Grainger, another member of the team integral to the story. I enjoyed reading it, but felt unsatisfied with the ending. Too many questions remain unanswered.

While I am not usually a fan of science fiction, this compelling story held my attention. It was well written and the characters, both human & alien, as well as the planet, felt real.
Living among the aliens, Peter, our main character, is now the 'odd man out', the alien. His human co-workers are loners who have little emotional contact with one another. In the end, Peter, despite the turmoil that planet Earth is undergoing, feels he must leave his 'safe' alien planet & return to Bea, his wife, & unborn baby, because that is what matters most to him.
Michel Faber created a world & led me through it but left me with too many unanswered questions. I kept on wondering, "where is this going?" For this reason, I could not recommend this 500 page book to most readers.

I found it difficult to read and was really not interested in the book in the least. However, I never choose sci-fi. books.
The author lost me when describing a birth. He seemed to have a hard time with description of "no umbilical cord" but had placental exudate on the body. I'll be more alert to the type book I am choosing for review next time.

After thinking about this book for a few days, I am still not sure how I feel about it. I did think the book was very well written, except for the abrupt ending. It seemed like after 500 pages the author got tired and just said, "the end." Perhaps the writer could had given us fewer details about food and functions that added little except length to the story and instead had gone on to a more complete ending. Science fiction is definitely not my choice of reading material, but combining it with God's command to, "teach all nations" certainly provided some food for thought. The imagination of the writer was amazing and his word pictures allowed me to almost see the characters. I thought Peter was a little too preachy and pedantic at times and I'm still not sure how I felt about combining the scriptures into a science fiction novel. Therefore from a literary standpoint, I guess I'd have to say it was an interesting and well-written book. But on the concept, guess my jury is still out. It's not a book I'll be recommending to my book club as we're a little more traditional in our tastes. Perhaps a more intellectual study group would more enjoy dissecting the plausibility of the whole idea of other life forms. I'm not sorry I spent the time to read the book, for it did provoke some questions. It is not however a book I'll be likely to pick up again.

I couldn't get interested in this book. To me it didn't really have a plot; I couldn't figure out if it was suppose to be religious or informative.

I have to say this is my first Science Fiction book where I have to push my way to the end. When I say that there's something really strange about this book, I mean more than that. I had a hard time connecting with any of the characters. Father Peter is extremely hard to empathize with. The first fifty pages were very slow paced and contributed almost nothing to the storyline. The scenes involving sex, masturbation, and wet dreams only proved to throw off the flow of the story. It seemed almost as if those scenes were added simply in an attempt to fall into ¨The Shades of Grey¨ category of Erotic Novels. The end left me unsatisfied; the author leaves many questions unanswered. Strange as it is, I will not recommend to anyone!

This was my first foray into Science Fiction in many years ( Heinlein & Bradbury in the '70s) and my first experience with this author. However, before reading the book, I read a lengthy online excerpt from The Crimson Petal and the White & was intrigued by his bold style & strong characterizations. Additionally, I care about religion, both as background and on a personal level, so I was curious. However, I could not have been more disappointed. I simply could not get into this book! The premise was hard to accept & the characters felt strangely empty. I never really cared about them or their struggles. A book has to be really bad for me to fail to finish it, even if finishing means skimming the final pages or chapters. In this case, after considerable effort, I finally just closed the book. It wasn't worth even skimming to get to the end.