I’m so glad I read this book. It’s a fascinating and slow paced alien invasion story. You follow a group of interconnected characters from St Thomas in the Virgin Islands before and after the arrival of aliens. The aliens say that they are here to share technology and will leave when they complete some kind of research. They also respond to any threat with lethal violence. To me, the unequal retaliation and the way that the aliens disguise their extraction as sharing their “lesson” is what makes the alien invasion a parallel to human colonization. All the terrible things that the aliens do are heightened thanks to their powerful technology, but they are fundamentally the same kinds of atrocities that empires do to people from other cultures throughout history. But also there are genuine benefits they bring to Earth like a cure for cancer or clean energy, which means some people think it’s worth it, especially if the only collateral damage is people from St Thomas. Even the people of St Thomas are divided, and that’s why it’s such a great framing for the novel to follow multiple interconnected characters. You see how they all come into conflict with each other while still caring for each other. There’s also aliens who genuinely care about humans and are trying to help them. There’s a real focus on how faith is challenged, and how grief and politics collide. The world is so well realized and we only really get a peek into it. I’ve heard there is some kind of tie in with the Convergence Saga which I’m very excited to continue with.

I really enjoyed reading this short story anthology. There were a lot of stories that were very experimental, like Peak Day by Suyi Davies Okungbowa and Hallelujah, Here and Elsewhere by francesca ekwuyasi, and I really enjoyed reading them. There were a few stories that didn’t really work for me and were a little hard for me to follow. Those felt like they leaned too much into the lyricism, though maybe I was missing something. My favorite was The Hole in the Middle of the World by Chinelo Onwalu. It was so sharp and balanced being dystopian and hopeful. The story loops in on itself and intentionally confuses the reader until you understand what is happening. I absolutely loved it. I go into anthologies expecting that I won’t love every story, but I like getting to sample a lot of different writings from writers I maybe wouldn’t find otherwise. So this worked well for me overall.

One goal I had this year was to read more nonfiction, especially outside of the types of nonfiction I usually read (mainly memoirs). I’m so glad that I read this book all about beavers. It was recommended to me because of my general interests in conservation, and I learned a ton. It was a little on the denser side for me as someone who primarily reads fiction, but I thought the writing was engaging and the depth of research was so impressive. I liked learning about all the different approaches towards beavers between conservationists, ranchers, the government etc, and I feel like I learned about a whole network of beaver believers out there in the world. I think the author did a great job at using beavers to have a larger conversation about how we view our relationship with nature. I liked that we got to learn about beavers in lots of different places in the Western US, but there was also a focus on Europe too. The only thing that I felt was missing was a bit of research into how beavers are actually invasive in South America. But that was a minor thing, and I’m really glad that I read this book. I know Ben Goldfarb has put out a couple more recent books, so I would be interested to see what he’s been covering lately.