Like faintingviolet, I just finished Children of God, the followup to Mary Doria Russell’s much acclaimed The Sparrow. You can’t talk about Children without talking about the first book. Russell is a paleoanthropologist. Her unique mix of professional training, Judaism, and Christianity led to an impressive work of theology and science fiction in The Sparrow. The novel chronicles an ill-fated trip by Jesuit priests and professionals to a distant planet called Rakhat. Russell herself, who has been a person of faith and an atheist, said the theme of the first book was an […]