Review: Blindsight

Blindsight by Peter Watts
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Blindsight, by Peter Watts, is one of a long line of "first contact" stories. Like many of the books before it, this one concerns mankind discovering that we're not alone in the vastness of space, then sending out a crew to meet our intersteller neighbors for the first time. Here, Siri Keeton and a crew of misfits are selected to head out to intercept an approaching alien vessel. Each of them is a specialist in some way, and all of them stretch the limits of what we think of as "human."

There's a lot of really interesting things happening in Blindsight; it's the sort of dense science fiction that invites repeated readings. While the book is nominally a "first contact" story, it's also an interesting examination of what it means to be human and a challange to traditional notions of consciousness. Can you be intelligent but unaware of yourself as an individual?

Watts packs a lot of interesting material into a mid-length novel. The future-tech he explores feels not only plausible, but likely. So much of our society is evolving towards a hybrid online/offline existence, the idea that some people would opt to remove themselves from the meat world completely to exist solely as digital avatars in an online world seems almost inevitable. Speaking of inevitable: Watts' does an excellent job exploring some of the tension between being the best in your field and retaining your humanity in a world where cybernetics can allow people to experience and interact with the world in ways that our biology makes impossible. How much of your physical body would you be willing to cut out and let go of to stay top in your field?

The writing is tense and, at times, claustrophobic. Siri's narration always tries to hold a certain distance and impartialty, and Watts uses this to great success. As the investigations into the alien craft begin to deepen, the limits of Siri's experiences and awareness help to keep the mood tense and emphasize the vast gulf between what is happening and what is actually understood.

As I mentioned earlier, though, this is a really dense book. There's a lot of science to parse, from a lot of different fields. Watts does a good job providing contextual clues and some basic primers on some of the fields, but I did find myself turning to the Internet for clues at times. This isn't a bad thing, but some readers may find the level of detail a little overwhelming.

Overall, this is a taut, well constructed novel exploring some fascinating topics. The tense, at times deeply unsettling and disturbing, atmosphere, combined with an unusual and interesting take on "first contact" make for a thrilling, if challening, read. This might not be the best choice for a reader looking for light science fiction, but for fans of the genre looking for something with teeth, this is well worth checking out.

View all my reviews