Children of God Book

I am so glad I only waited a month between reading parts one and two of this book. It really is just one book split into two parts and I could not leave Emilio for too long suffering the way he was at the end of part one.

Emilio Sandoz is one of those book characters who jumps off the page and out of the book. Whenever he is not front and centre of the story it lacks a certain something. Even the characters in the book notice when he is not in the room. He loses so much and suffers so much that at times I wondered how the author was going to finish him off. I can't say much without spoilers but let's say she still had something up her sleeve and I was perfectly content with the last few pages.

Many of the other characters are memorable too. I loved all of the Jesuit priests with their sardonic humour and their less than perfect attitudes always disguising their real love of humanity and their work. Isaac was a wonderful character too, a child and then a man with high functioning autism who is accepted totally into the society he lives in. His reactions to the world around him are explained beautifully, and make sense of his autistic behaviours.

I enjoyed the space travel with all its boredom for the travellers and its occasional real dangers. I loved the planet and its unusual dwellers. I was happy to see loose ends being tied up all over the place. In fact I loved it all.

A great book following another great book. So happy I read them both:)