The Book of Strange New Things: A Novel
I read this book after seeing the Amazon Pilot for a tv series based on it. I'm sad the series wasn't made, I thought the first episode was great - interesting characters, well shot, good use of music. The book itself is weirder than the show; I appreciate how it made me notice the miracle of self-healing bodies.
Peter Leigh, a young and earnest Christian missionary, is sent to the planet Vhain to evangelize to its inhabitants. The novel follows his arrival in a world that is simultaneously alien and eerily familiar, where the locals are fascinated by his faith but the planet itself is undergoing a slow, catastrophic disintegration. As natural disasters tear the landscape apart, Peter’s rigid beliefs are tested by the strange, often unsettling behaviors of the Vhain people and the deteriorating state of his marriage back on Earth. The narrative weaves together themes of faith, science, and the fragility of life, exploring how belief systems hold up—or crumble—when faced with the inexplicable and the inevitable end of a world.
Description adapted from Open Library ↗.