Synopsis
XIV Samuel Godwin's son Travers, a zealous (and naïve) follower of the Church of Cosmic Unity, has hopes of moving up the ecclesiastic hierarchy. When Sam gets the opportunity to become a lifesoul healer, he jumps at the chance to be able to spread the philosophy of peace, love, and tolerance to ignorant unbelievers. As part of his training, Sam must visit one of the dozens of Heavens -- planets where the entire population has become spiritually liberated -- to fully understand the religion and its highly confidential discipleship procedures. Second-Best Sailor is a polypoid -- a male, squidlike creature whose female counterparts resemble a coral reef. The females, or reefwives, are collectively known as the reefmind, a highly intellectual mass-brain capable of awe-inspiring contemplation. When a fleet of Cosmic Unity missionaries appears near their aquatic planet, they must somehow defend themselves -- or become one with the fascist monoculture.
Pros:
1: The novel introduces many alien species which are not ones which we can both
easily identify with and only begin to imagine. They range from Neanderthals
which were saved from extinction by a benevolence many thousands of years previously
to sentient ponds of water to squid like beings called polypoids and their female
known as reefminds.
2: An enemy, which doesn't see itself as an enemy in the shape of an invading
fleet of ships looking to annex the polypoids homeworld of No-Moon. The enemy fleet
is designated as a memeplex working for and through the Church of Cosmic Unity which
seeks to bring harmony and unity to an infidel planet.
3: The narrative and language used in this novel is unpretentious, clear and crisp.
4: The Church of Cosmic Unity methods in subverting non compliant indigenous species
is exposed as the cancerous malignancy it truly is. It allows the authors unlimited
discrepancy in projecting how a well meaning religion can do countless harm and
how blind those who follow its faulty doctrines allow themselves to live under its
bloody hegemony.
5: Biological fauna and flora is wonderfully imagined and described.
Cons:
1: The idea that the Galaxy is a mind and that the events taking place in and around
the planet No-Moon and the unpopulated planet of Aquafier are somehow just thoughts
belonging to a mind as far superior to us as we are to single celled bacteria didn't
convince me at all.
2: The philosophical aspects though lucidly explained were textbook dry. I felt
it was some sort of an unecessay filler devised to give some characters more depth.
It was dull and the incredulous series of events that lead to the break up of the
Church of Cosmic Unity apotheosis was flimsy and too unreal.
Overall it is an easy going book to read with some religious and
philosophical arguments thrown in about the inner workings of the mind.
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