Helpful Score: 4
Fans of Communion will be surely disappointed. Whereas Communion presented his initial actual contact with the Greys (Zeta Reticulans, to some) in a rivetingly suspenseful yet objective way, this novel clearly shows how Strieber has gone off the deep end in his obsession with Greys over these many years.
The plot and one-dimensional character development seem to be that of a novice. (Are all his fiction works this bad?) The Grays here are romantically portrayed as the saviors of humanity. The human child who is 'in tune' with them is apparently presented as the ultimate goal--a joining of the best traits of human and greys into a type of hybrid. The government forces who want to find this wonder child are, of course, simplistically portrayed as the bad guys. From what I've read about the Greys, that is exactly what they want 'us' to believe.
Regardless of what Strieber believes, this is just a poorly written story. His personal agenda (i.e indoctrination by the Grays' propaganda) sadly shows too clearly. A lazily written work.
The plot and one-dimensional character development seem to be that of a novice. (Are all his fiction works this bad?) The Grays here are romantically portrayed as the saviors of humanity. The human child who is 'in tune' with them is apparently presented as the ultimate goal--a joining of the best traits of human and greys into a type of hybrid. The government forces who want to find this wonder child are, of course, simplistically portrayed as the bad guys. From what I've read about the Greys, that is exactly what they want 'us' to believe.
Regardless of what Strieber believes, this is just a poorly written story. His personal agenda (i.e indoctrination by the Grays' propaganda) sadly shows too clearly. A lazily written work.
Helpful Score: 1
Great sci-fi novel that kept me reading on vacation!
From Booklist: In 1985, Strieber, then a top horror writer, author of The Wolfen 1978) and The Hunger (1981), had an alien-abduction experience. The book he wrote about it, Communion (1987), was so successful that his output of fiction dwindled in the 1990s as he expanded upon his biggest best-seller. Stillborn sequels to The Hunger emerged in 2001 and 2002, but The Grays is a quantum leap back to his fictional form, powered by his newer, nonfiction obsessions. In it aliens--the grays--have been with humanity for a good, long time, for excellent reasons. They've been helping humanity avoid their mistakes, which destroyed their emotions. Now, after a several-million-years journey, the rest of the grays, for whom those among us were pioneers with a purpose, are nearing Earth. Measures crucial to their success have been set in motion, most important among them, the creation of a human child of supernormal intelligence to receive the grays' advanced knowledge. Trouble is, hints of the child's existence had to be made to humans with authority; hence, the Roswell business. And hence, the development of rival factions within the top-secret military operation that guards the Roswell aliens. Strieber manages the plot built on those premises as a breakneck race to find the child and, depending on which faction the characters belong to, protect or destroy it. It's a terrific read, already blocked out like a screenplay for the major movie now in the works, marred only by a few treacly passages about the wonder of it all. Ray Olson
From Booklist: In 1985, Strieber, then a top horror writer, author of The Wolfen 1978) and The Hunger (1981), had an alien-abduction experience. The book he wrote about it, Communion (1987), was so successful that his output of fiction dwindled in the 1990s as he expanded upon his biggest best-seller. Stillborn sequels to The Hunger emerged in 2001 and 2002, but The Grays is a quantum leap back to his fictional form, powered by his newer, nonfiction obsessions. In it aliens--the grays--have been with humanity for a good, long time, for excellent reasons. They've been helping humanity avoid their mistakes, which destroyed their emotions. Now, after a several-million-years journey, the rest of the grays, for whom those among us were pioneers with a purpose, are nearing Earth. Measures crucial to their success have been set in motion, most important among them, the creation of a human child of supernormal intelligence to receive the grays' advanced knowledge. Trouble is, hints of the child's existence had to be made to humans with authority; hence, the Roswell business. And hence, the development of rival factions within the top-secret military operation that guards the Roswell aliens. Strieber manages the plot built on those premises as a breakneck race to find the child and, depending on which faction the characters belong to, protect or destroy it. It's a terrific read, already blocked out like a screenplay for the major movie now in the works, marred only by a few treacly passages about the wonder of it all. Ray Olson
