3.75 stars

I really enjoyed the audiobook version of this book, but it’s really hard to rate this as this duology is very obviously one whole story and should probably be read as such. But this first book was interesting enough to read but is not yet super memorable to me. What I did really love is how well done the discussion of internet fame and the use of platforms was, as you can tell Hank has experience with that. So many authors try to make their characters have that background but if you have any experience with platforms like that, it feels fake and forced. This felt very organic. This first contact story also reminded me a lot of the Themis Files series which is another one I really enjoyed. I’m hoping book 2 has more of the sci fi elements.