Summary
What humans want from
the Silver Planet is water. What they find is a race of humanoids who
are sentient, but as emotionless and serene as the plants and placid
lakes they tend.
B, captain of the mission, doesn’t believe that the “Silvers” are intelligent, and lets his crew experiment on them. But then he bonds with Imms, who seems different from the others—interested in learning, intrigued by human feelings. And B realizes that capturing, studying, and killing this planet’s natives has done incalculable damage.
When a fire aboard B’s ship kills most of the crew and endangers Imms, B decides to take him back to Earth. But the simplicity of the Silver Planet doesn’t follow them. Imms learns the full spectrum of human emotions, including a love B is frightened to return, and a mistrust of the bureaucracy that wants to treat Imms like a test subject, even if they have to eliminate B to do it.
B, captain of the mission, doesn’t believe that the “Silvers” are intelligent, and lets his crew experiment on them. But then he bonds with Imms, who seems different from the others—interested in learning, intrigued by human feelings. And B realizes that capturing, studying, and killing this planet’s natives has done incalculable damage.
When a fire aboard B’s ship kills most of the crew and endangers Imms, B decides to take him back to Earth. But the simplicity of the Silver Planet doesn’t follow them. Imms learns the full spectrum of human emotions, including a love B is frightened to return, and a mistrust of the bureaucracy that wants to treat Imms like a test subject, even if they have to eliminate B to do it.
Review
Rating: 5 stars!
The Silvers isn't the type of book I usually read. Had it not been written by J.A. Rock, I probably never would have read it. That would've been my loss because like everything else I've read by this author, this book was incredible. I was once again blown away. This was my fifth J.A. Rock book, and I am amazed by how differently written they were, and how each time it was perfect for the main characters.
Some of Rock's books were so much fun to read, and some were more serious and emotional. The Silvers was one of the saddest, definitely the most thought-provoking. I had tears in my eyes for the bigger part of the book, but I didn't mind. I do like to read something with that effect from time to time, and in any case I couldn't mind it even if I tried because this book introduced me to Imms, a sentient being from another planet who could teach the human race a thing or two about humanity. Imms was what I loved most in this book. I doubt I'll ever forget his character.
The story begins on the planet humans called the Silver Planet where a crew from Earth came for its water. There they found a race of humanoids living simple, peaceful lives, and of course humans being humans they couldn't leave them alone; they had to examine them more closely. One crew member spent time with them in their habitat and read them books, and taught them a language they didn't know, but that wasn't enough for them. They went as far as cutting them open alive. The Silvers quickly learned it was best to keep away from the humans, but one was too curious to stay away. Imms. His curiosity was repayed with cruelty. That was when B, the captain of the mission, stepped in to save him, and hide him from the other crew members. From there on B and Imms became closer. They became so close that when an opportunity to bring Imms to Earth presented itself, B grabbed it, and curious to find out what Earth was like, and feeling affection towards B, Imms accepted. There was also the fact that if he had stayed on his home planet he would've been alone and forgotten forever, so the remaining members of the crew and Imms went to Earth, where the second part of the book is set.
Imms on Earth was anxiety-inducing for me. Even if he had been presented to humans as a hero, they wanted to perform tests on him. Many tests. And they were willing to do anything to get him to consent. Spending time in public places wasn't great for him either. At least he lived with B who was assigned to look after him, but even that wasn't too easy as they were both learning how to be in a relationship with each other while dealing with the rest of the world who demanded more and more of Imms, when B's protection of him became less effective. And all that time Imms was discovering human emotions, some of which weren't pleasant experiences. The reason why all this caused me anxiety and why I was so teary-eyed while I was reading The Silvers was because of Imms. He reminded me of a sweet, innocent child, one I wanted to lock away someplace to protect him from the dangerous world. Unfortunately, I couldn't, and things kept getting more complicated and unsafe. There were some parts with the side characters I didn't fully understand. I think it was because Imms didn't understand it. No matter, all I cared about was Imms's safety and happiness. That's why I choose to believe he found those things.
Overall, this was a beautiful piece of fiction, and Imms was a wonderful character, and I seriously doubt I've managed to do this book justice with this review, but at least I tried.
As always, I have to say I look forward to reading more books by this talented author.
***ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.***
Until next time, happy reading!
XOXO,
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