⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Noumenon (Noumenon, Book 1) by Marina J. Lostetter

A non-BDO, BDO book. 🙃

Big Dumb Object (BDO)

In discussion of science fiction, a Big Dumb Object (BDO) is any mysterious object, usually of extraterrestrial or unknown origin and immense power, in a story which generates an intense sense of wonder by its mere existence. Often exhibiting extreme or unusual properties, or a total absence of some expected properties. 

I usually like BDO books. I enjoy the sense of wonder and mystery they provide, and the thrill of discovering something new. And at first, that’s what Noumenon was. A distant star is displaying unusual activity, so a mission is launched to travel to said star to investigate. This caught my interest, as I myself wanted to know what was going on with the star. It’s one of the reasons why I like books such as Rendevouz With Rama and Project Hail Mary so much.

But then the book went in a different direction, a direction I usually don’t like. It became more about the journey than the mission. 

But how could I not like that? Everybody knows that any good journey isn’t about where you’re going, it’s about how you get there.

The reason I don’t like this is because I like having an end goal in sight. I don’t mean this in a sense of knowing how it ends, just knowing what it is that our characters are trying to achieve. Having a clear objective makes it easier for me to mentally get onboard with whatever is happening, because I know it’s happening for a reason. But when a story decides to focus entirely on the journey rather than the destination, I find myself asking the age-old peer review question: Where are you taking me?

But Noumenon took a different approach, it focused entirely on the journey, but only after establishing the purpose of the journey. And it’s because of this established goal that I didn’t mind my focus being diverted elsewhere. In fact, Noumenon focuses so much on the journey that I honestly don’t remember what the discovery ended up being, and in hindsight, I don’t really care, because it’s about the journey. Now, I know that sounds like I’m going in circles, but remember, a characters goal and the overall plot of the story don’t need to be the same thing.

In it’s third act, Noumenon took yet another approach that’s not seen very often. 

One of the most interesting things is the passage of time. This is a multigenerational story being told over hundreds of years. You could say it’s told in a series of vignettes, with each chapter jumping forward several years, often decades, each one being its own self-contained arc influenced by the ones that came before. And while hundreds of years have gone by for the crew, thousands have gone by on Earth. Upon their return, they don’t get the celebration or ticker tape parade that’s usually seen for the return of a long voyage, instead, they’re met with skepticism and indifference by a society that has evolved far beyond even verbal language, and find themselves trying to adapt to an Earth that is now alien to them.

There’s a lot more nuance to this book than what I talked about here, but I wanted to put a focus on how perfectly structured it is.

Noumenon, I tip my hat to you 🎩 You made me appreciate what I normally don’t 👏