Probability Sun (The Probability Trilogy Book 2)

It seems to me, that, as a rule, second books in a trilogy are a way of setting up what should be a grand finale. This book is a bit more than that, in that it develops the characters and culture of the Worlders, who planet the Terrans have found by means of old, but far advanced scientific artifacts left behind by what would seem to be a now extinct race. The Terrans have returned and the intent is to take one of the moons that is, in fact, an artifact left behind by the ancient race. Perhaps it could be a weapon to help turn the tide of the ongoing war with the Fallers. Not everyone of the Terrans on the mission know that some of them are there for military reasons, while the others are just continuing their study of the geology, the flora and fauna, and the culture of the Worlders. The Worlders are, by current Terran standards, a very simple race, lacking in any real technology. They do share a collective mind, however, and things are declared real or unreal, by agreement of the collectives. Through her work interacting with the Terrans, one Worlder, Enli, finds herself declared "unreal" by her villagers.She struggles with this as opposed to keeping her belief in the Terrans activities and seeing how real their technology is and suffers for siding with them. She wants her status returned to real and is torn by how to do it.Meanwhile, the Terrans have been exploring the Sacred Mountain, and Enli has seen what is inside. The source of the shared mind is, in fact, an artifact buried in the heart of the mountain, which the Terrans test by changing the settings and discovering that it can be a powerful weapon. One consequence, however, is the the Worlders lose their shared mind and are completely lost without it. Some go mad, some become aimless and Enli, because of her experience with the Terrans, keeps her own mind intact. Meanwhile, the Terrans now know that the "moon" artefact" is, indeed an incredibly powerful weapon, which they decide to steal.With great skill, Kress has created a world, a culture and a belief system that is genius. She easily demonstrates the manner in which the "sophisticated" Terrans can manipulate the, to them, the naive Worlders. Her characters are wonderful and the way she combines the well-meaning intent of the Terrans who are unaware of the military aspect of the mission and the ongoing story of war in space makes this a great read. It is far above what I usually expect from a second book in a trilogy.

The book is one of three written by Nancy Kress in a series about interstellar space travel and alien encounters.The book had a lot of tough scientific terms and facts to try to wrap your head around but the character development and the story line more than made up for struggling through the technical wording. I bought Probability Moon (the first in the series) years ago and loved it. However, when I bought it it was out of print (I love trolling through used book stores). I bought the third book in the series (Probability Space) at another used book store, and then had to wait to find the second book. It was absolutely driving me mad waiting, so I finally bought Probability Sun from Amazon. I enjoyed the series so much that I read through them both in one week.If you love true hard sci-fi and if you love a good alien yarn then this series is for you. Don't miss out on it!

Very well developed characters who aren’t allowed to be an unbelievable stereotype. I read this during the coronavirus isolation event. There are disturbing parallels that Ms Kress obviously couldn’t predict that oddly enough make the real world easier to live in.

I have a little bit of a problem with time dilation working just one way, but otherwise the book is a great read.

Interesting trilogy. Held my attention and was enjoyable to read.

Complex characters. Difficult moral dilemas and an interesting plot. One cannot stop reading, and after the last page, looks for the next.

A good blend of speculative future science, drama, developed characters, and action.

I think that it's a ripoff to have the final volume of the trilogy almost three times the price of the first two!

Good quality and safe delivery

This series was excellent, so entertaining. I searched high and low for the 2 sequels after reading the first one, Probability Moon, and I was so grateful to find them on Amazon at such a great price. A really great reading and shopping experience.