I’m not a huge David Brin fan. I’ve really only read a couple of his books, although I did enjoy them. But when Brin’s newest book, Existence, came out, it looked interesting enough to put on my reading list.. And it did not dissappoint. The book deals with a first contact scenario unlike any other and contains some interesting ideas. Let’s see what happens.

Almost at the same time, a space scavenger (people who go into Earth orbit to retrieve space junk), Gerald,  and a Chinese peasant, Peng Xiang Bin, find interesting stones that turn out to be messages from external civilizations. Instead of transporting people and machines to a small number of places, other civilizations have inserted themselves into these stones and dispersed millions (if not billions) of them throughout the universe. The message they provide (eventually) is not hopeful. The space scavenger’s stone talks about all the other civilizations have collapsed and Earth’s will as well. They are encouraged to build more stones, put in people from Earth and spread the word as well. As one pundit in the book points out, it’s a chain letter. Meanwhile the other stone starts calling the first stone a liar and people are convinced that the whole thing is a hoax.

The story follows a few characters and mainly deals with the stones and the way humanity receives them and deals with them. There is also a couple subplots about uplifted dolphins and a cabal of elite who are plotting to take over the world. Over several years, humanity is forced to deal with the stones and determine what their future will be. Many people are convinced that creating and dispersing the stones is the only thing that humanity can (or should do), but others believe that it truly is a chain letter and one that will eventually kill off humanity if done.

The best character is Tor Povlov. She is a journalist who unwittingly creates a open group of followers (her posse) when she helps stop a terrorist attack, but she gets stuck in a virtual reality like environment while her body is pieced together from the explosion she finds herself in. And then she discovers that she can do just as much good (if not more) from just her mind, her network connections and her posse.

The book is somewhat lacking in characterization and the plotting (and pacing to some extent) is meandering and doesn’t hold together that well. We jump ahead in time several times and each time, several plot points are dropped. We really only get to know a couple characters, but really, only Tor and Gerald are in the book from beginning to end. The rest are dropped along the way. But this isn’t a book you read for the characters or the plot. This is a book you read because the ideas are so compelling, that you want to see what Brin is going to come up with next. The ideas fly fast and furiously and Brin always keeps you wanting more and trying to see what the implications of the latest idea will be. This is a great story despite it’s shortcomings because of the way Brin presents his ideas. Recommended.