![Dark space background with stars, a nebula, and the curve of a planet at the bottom. A tethered human in a space suit tumbles down the middle of the image. Text reads \"S. I. Guerreiro\" and \"inter alia, book one, terra.\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/InterAliaTerra.jpg?resize=199%2C300&ssl=1\")
By S.L. Guerreiro\n\u00a9 September 2024
\n285 pages
\nASIN: B0DHX8SK25\n
<\/p>By S.L. Guerreiro
\n\u00a9 September 2024
\n285 pages
\nASIN: B0DHX8SK25\n
Inter Alia: Terra<\/em> hooked me from the very first page. Character Alexandra Gauthier, linguist, is called upon to help interpret an alien message received on humanity\u2019s only research station\/orbiting hotel and resort. But almost from the start, things do not go according to plan. Alex and her new-found friends must wing their way through events that spiral out of their control. Not knowing at first which aliens are friendly and which are hostile, Alex decides to trust in an unlikely and unexpected ally, and her life is forever changed.<\/p>\n I could not put this book down. I read the whole thing in a single day. While the storyline is clearly science fiction with plenty of drama and excitement, there is also a huge character-driven element. In contrast to the usual slaughter and killing that happens in some space operas\u2014and to be fair, there is a bit of that here, too\u2014the biggest takeaway from the alien-human interaction in Inter Alia was not what separated the species, but what connected them. Instead of focusing solely on their differences, the story also highlights their similarities, and intersections of compatibility. I found that refreshing and intriguing.<\/p>\n The entire story is told from the first-person perspective of main character Alex, who is grieving the loss of her father, along with many other things connected to that loss. Because of the close POV, we are in Alex\u2019s head, feeling her emotions, her depression, her insecurity, her self-doubt. It brought me closer to her, as if I were intimately connected to her. (Ironically, this closeness felt similar to something that happens in the story \u2013 but no spoilers.) Her connection to other characters Nat, Joanna, and Emerald, only served to enhance my admiration of her. The reasons behind her struggle, the details of her relationship with her father and all the rest, are only slowly revealed through the course of the story. Even though I did see it coming given a few clues here and there in Alex\u2019s thoughts, learning the truth about her father served to heighten the empathy I felt for her when all was revealed. Human emotion, powerful and messy in all its glory, is really an unnamed character in this story, and Alex lays it bare for the reader to explore as she works her way toward healing.<\/p>\n There is also a heavy undercurrent of human social commentary, though none of it is explicit. I recognized at least one or two characters in the story who, though their names had been changed, seemed modeled after prominent individuals in the contemporary Earth social\/political sphere. Author S.L. Guerriero, through her depiction of these personas in her story, makes it plain how she feels about them, and I totally agreed with her assessments. Her inclusion of these elements made the story feel less futuristic and more immediate to Earth today. Bravo!<\/p>\n While most of the major threads are tied up before the end, there are some pretty big open-ended questions that remain, which is understandable, since Inter Alia<\/em> is apparently book one in a coming series. The entire narrative is set up like the first entry in a transcript, a detail which added to the realism of the overall story. But the transcript is not exactly concluded at the end, a detail clearly intended to pave the way for the next book. I can\u2019t imagine where the story will go, but I can certainly see whole worlds (pun definitely intended) of potential for this series, and I am totally here for the rest of it. I look forward to book two, whenever Guerreiro can bring it to us. Her top-notch storytelling and attention to detail throughout the book, this is a captivating tale.<\/p>\n If you love character-driven science fiction, I highly recommend this book for your TBR list.<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By S.L. Guerreiro \u00a9 September 2024 285 pages ASIN: B0DHX8SK25 Inter Alia: Terra hooked me from the very first page. Character Alexandra Gauthier, linguist, is called upon to help interpret an alien message received on humanity\u2019s only research station\/orbiting hotel and resort. But almost from the start, things do not go according to plan. Alex…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8n0kX-1k4","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5684,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/24\/antunas-story\/","url_meta":{"origin":5088,"position":0},"title":"Antuna’s Story","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"March 24, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The Antunite Chronicles, Book 1 By Terry Birdgenaw \u00a9 May 16, 2022, Cyborg Insect Books 190 pages ASIN: B0B1KWFF24 \u00a0 This story was\u2026unique. While it did remind me at times of Adrian Tchaikovsky\u2019s Children of Time series, Antuna\u2019s Story was written more simply, without the deeper sophistication of Tchaikovsky\u2019s storytelling\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"A bee, a roach, and a fly line up on a carved brown staff, while an ant, and a spider wait at the bottom. Background is a deep green shadowy forest thick with foliage. Text says, \"Antuna's Story. The Antunite Chronicles. Terry Birdgenaw.\"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/81Q8Wfl4ITL._SL1500_-197x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":195,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2017\/05\/15\/too-like-the-lightning-by-ada-palmer\/","url_meta":{"origin":5088,"position":1},"title":"Too Like the Lightning, by Ada Palmer","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"May 15, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Tor Books, \u00a9 May 2016 ISBN 9780765378002 Hardcover, 432 pages, $11.42 Several hundred years in the future, Earth\u2014and human civilization\u2014is completely unrecognizable. Religion has been outlawed. Gender pronouns are eradicated, as is a binary gender system. Select criminals are no longer imprisoned. Instead, they are put to work as Servicers\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/TooLikeLightning-198x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":118,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2017\/02\/18\/the-long-way-to-a-small-angry-planet-by-becky-chambers\/","url_meta":{"origin":5088,"position":2},"title":"The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, by Becky Chambers","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"February 18, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"HarperCollins Publishers, LLC, \u00a9 2014 ISBN 9780062444134 Print length 467 pages, $10.81 When Rosemary\u2019s feet leave Mars for the first time, it\u2019s to take a cramped pod shuttle to rendezvous with her new employer, Captain Ashby Santoso, aboard the Wayfarer, a tunneling ship that digs passages through space, shortcuts for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/LongWayCvr.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":394,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2017\/10\/02\/the-traitors-kiss\/","url_meta":{"origin":5088,"position":3},"title":"The Traitor’s Kiss","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"October 2, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"(Traitor\u2019s Trilogy, Book 1) by Erin Beaty Imprint, \u00a92017 ISBN 978-1-250-11794-6 Hardback, 352 pages Sixteen-year-old Sage Fowler would rather live off the land than submit to a traditional arranged marriage, despite her uncle\u2019s wishes. After she is apprenticed as an assistant\u2014and part-time spy\u2014to the head matchmaker, the two of them\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/TraitorsKiss-202x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":740,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2018\/04\/30\/in-search-of-demons\/","url_meta":{"origin":5088,"position":4},"title":"In Search of Demons","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"April 30, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"(Warning: May contain spoilers.) What do you think of when you hear the word \u201cmonster\u201d? Chances are the first thing that comes to mind are creatures like vampires, werewolves, Frankenstein\u2019s creation, ghosts, Godzilla, or some otherworldly beast. Dictionary.com gives a long list of definitions like \u201ca legendary animal combining features\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5088"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5088\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5090,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5088\/revisions\/5090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}