Review of THE COLLAPSING WAVE by Doug Johnstone (New Release)

 4 Stars

This is the second book in The Enceladon Trilogy; it takes place six months after the end of The Space Between Us.

Ava is awaiting the verdict in her murder trial while Lennox and Heather are prisoners at New Broom, an American military base in Scotland where their ability to telepathically communicate with the Enceladons is being exploited.  Enceladons are being captured and subjected to barbaric experiments.  When Sandy makes contact, they execute an escape plan which ultimately leads to a confrontation between those who see these beings as a threat and those who understand that they could help create a better future for humanity.

As does the first novel, this one employs a multiple point of view structure.  The perspectives of Lennox, Ava, and Heather are given in alternating chapters.  The view of a fourth character, Oscar Fellowes, the antagonist of The Space Between Us, is also added.  He understands that he was wrong and now wants only to learn from and about the Enceladons, though Ava, Lennox, and Heather are mistrustful of him.

The main villain is General Ryan Carson who is charge of New Broom.  He represents all of the worst of humanity, turning “first contact with an alien species into some pest-control exercise,” and insisting that the Enceladons, whom he considers “an existential threat to humanity,” be called illegals.  Arrogant and drunk with power, he has no concern for the law or anyone’s welfare.  He’s willing to manipulate and ab/use anyone, even an infant, in order to achieve his goal of preventing alien domination.  Incarceration and physical and emotional torture are his tools.  He clearly states his belief that “’Might is right, that’s all there is to it.  Humans were designed to take what we can and exploit it.  It’s kill or be killed, eat or be eaten.’” 

Ironically, it is the Enceladons who behave humanely.  They don’t understand war and are unable to lie.  Ava believes they don’t “comprehend how humanity worked.  They were too innocent, open and caring.”  In many ways, the Enceladons are foils for humans.  Oscar points out that humans fear intelligent creatures:  “’We hate that something else will see humans for the monsters we really are.  Seeing humanity from the outside, what we do to each other and our planet, that’s terrifying.’”  Lennox agrees:  “Humans were nasty, craven, violent and selfish, and the Enceladons brought that into sharp relief.”  But of course the Enceldons are perceived as a threat because “they pointed towards a new way of being, and that was threatening to the status quo.”

In The Space Between Us, the limitations of humans are delineated.  In The Collapsing Wave, this idea reappears.  Oscar thinks, “Energy all around him that he couldn’t see with his pathetic human senses.  Birds navigated by sensing magnetic fields, some fish sent electrical messages, dogs lived in a world of scents.  In one way, it wasn’t surprising the Enceladons had telepathy, just another extension of the animal kingdom’s sensory experience.  And here he was, stuck with his limited human brain, trying to understand it.”    

The novel’s theme is stated clearly.  Lennox realizes that “Reality is not things, it’s the connections between things.”  Sandy emphasizes that “Communication is connection, life is connection.”  And Ava agrees:  “Imagine if everyone knew what everyone else was feeling?  Surely the world would be better, we would have more empathy.”   The implication is that our lack of connection is responsible for the “inequality, violence, poverty, hatred, wars, famine, disease, destruction.  Hate, hate, hate, all the way down to the core of what it is to be human.”  It is wonderful to see when people, like Lennox and Vonnie, do achieve a special connection.  Certainly the Outwithers, camped near New Broom, are drawn to the Enceladons “by some dream, a sense it was vital.”  While they wait, they create “a sense of community.”

There are some weaknesses that irritated me.  I found it difficult to believe that New Broom was built in six months and is “not subject to British or international law”?  If the latter is indeed the case, why is there a court martial and why would Mendoza still have a treason charge hanging over him?  Carson with his lack of redeeming qualities comes across as a cartoon-type villain.  And the thriller-style standoff struck me as too over-the-top, though I understand its entertainment value. 

As I read, I often thought of films I’ve seen and books I’ve read.  E.T. the Extraterrestrial came to mind, but so did The Shape of Water.  When reading about Chloe, I was even reminded of Petra in The Chrysalids by John Wyndham, and I wonder whether Chloe will play a pivotal role in the next book.  I taught The Chrysalids many times when I was a teacher, and if I were still teaching, I think I’d use The Enceladon Trilogy. 

Speculative fiction featuring octopus-like aliens is not my typical genre, but this series is so well-written that I’m definitely a fan.  Action-packed with lots of tension because of almost constant danger for the protagonists, it is entertaining.  But more than that, it is thought-provoking.  It left me agreeing that we do indeed live in “a post-truth world now, full of lies and misinformation,” and thinking about our treatment of “refugees fleeing some kind of climate crisis or invading violence” and how “Human exceptionalism had fucked Earth, it was the reason for climate change, imperialism, wars, slavery, capitalism.” 

Like The Space Between Us, The Collapsing Wave is more about human beings than it is about aliens.