Emprise is the first book in the Trigon Disunity by Michael P. Kube-McDowell. It tells the story of an alternate earth, an earth where something caused a near-catastrophic collapse in the mid-twentieth century. A few decades after the collapse a former astronomer in the United States hears an unusual signal coming from deep space. After verifying its extra-terrestrial origin point and the exact channel needed to hear it he reaches out to some former colleagues in England. They work to verify the signal from their end and then to decipher it in order to determine what is being communicated. Eventually figuring out the message they discover that the senders, an unknown group who have managed to decipher English, are traveling to Earth. All evidence indicates an arrival time of just a few decades at best. The Prime Minister of India decides that this is as good a time as any for a scientific revival and uses it as the impetus for creating and organizing the Pangean Consortium. As part of that he dedicates funding and research to creating a ship that can meet these senders before their actual arrival.
This was an intriguing opening for a science-fiction series. Instead of actually introducing the visitors or aliens the entire story is based around the build up to meeting them. The idea that humanity has to be ready to meet them as equals or close to it anyway. I have to admit that I found it an interesting premise. Watching all of the different reactions of people as they learned about the message from outer space and the mysterious and unknown senders who are traveling to earth was fascinating. I have no idea if the science in the book is accurate but I will say that I felt like the build-up of the science was accurate. It placed a lot of focus on the idea that we don’t always see the answers right away and that sometimes the easiest answer is correct and even sometimes that we need to make sure to check even the obvious because you never know what will actually provide the answer. The way the plot went for humanity to prepare and develop was interesting. Most stories like this focus heavily in places like the United States or England, at least the ones that I have read, but this one places India as the leader in the creation of a worldwide government so that was mildly surprising. To balance the science and politics sides there was also a focus on the characters that were moving the story forward as well. Specifically on the Indian Prime Minister who kind of just took charge of things. We see a lot of him so we get to know him pretty good at times, and the same with his son later on as well. It adds some extra dimensions and layers to the story by altering the focus at times. It doesn’t stay strictly on the development of humanity and the spaceship or just on the development of the Pangean Consortium either but also adds the occasional focus on the interpersonal relationships of people and countries. In my opinion, this creates a well-rounded story with multiple interconnected layers. I am happy giving this book four out of five stars.
This book is a pretty good example of a classic science-fiction novel. If you are the kind of reader who prefers that then I suggest you try this one out. However, if you don’t that is fine to but I hope you will consider it anyway. In terms of age range for readers, I would recommend a primarily adult audience for this book. While there is minimal violence in the book there are a few mature references sprinkled throughout that may make readers uncomfortable. There is not really anything overly explicit though. At best, I would say no readers younger than older teens or young adults and maybe not even them if they are not prepared for that kind of content. Overall, a pretty good book that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. I hope you will consider it as well and as always feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.