Homo Cosmiens: A new beginning to the final ending

Humanity is stunned when a massive alien entity known as The Vessel appears in the sky. A star-spanning artificial intelligence, The Vessel, quickly taps into Earth’s computer systems and begins assimilating all human knowledge, offering in return to answer any question people offer. As some use The Vessel’s offer to better humanity, others employ it to further our destruction. And when global catastrophe threatens to wipe humanity from the globe, what will we do? What will we become in the millennia to follow? And what influence will The Vessel have on that world-to-be?

Homo Cosmiens is an indictment of modern society and how we’ve squandered many of the gifts we were given. But it is also a tribute to the incurable curiosity and potential that defines us, that undeniable desire to question and seek out answers about ourselves and the universe around us. It presents our best and worst through the lens of Homo Cosmiens, the next evolutionary leap in intelligent life, as they attempt to reassemble and understand our culture.

Unfortunately, a lot of intriguing ideas are buried somewhat by a stilted narrative tone that makes the novel feel more like a book report, a thoroughly detailed transcript informing the reader of what has transpired, rather than showing. This muffles the sense of urgency and impending doom during humanity’s decline, though it becomes less of a hindrance during the Cosmiens-centric narrative.

The Cosmiens world, on the other hand, is a capably crafted pseudo-utopia that seems to offer improved alternatives to humanity’s numerous failings, while offering several pointed examples of the dangers of extreme detachment. The Cosmiens world may run perfectly, but it is far from perfect.

Millett succeeds best when posing the tough questions and leaving the reader to ponder them afterward, a hallmark of many promising sci-fi writers, and a fairly admirable effort here.