Review: A History of What Comes Next (Take Them to the Stars #1)

A History of What Comes Next by Sylvain Neuvel
My rating: 3.75 of 5 stars

Imagine an ancient race of women, never more than three, who are driven by the aspiration to get the humans of planet earth off the planet, to take them to the stars. The Kibsu are generations of women who look very similar in appearance, who possess remarkable abilities (especially mathematical abilities), who are in hiding from a mysterious group of male trackers, and who seek to influence history in order to drive humankind to become spacefaring. To this end, we meet Mi'a/Mia, daughter of Sarah, who is on a mission to get Werner von Braun to join the Americans at the end of WWII, and later to get the Soviets to compete with the Americans. The Kibsu have been around for many centuries and have appeared at crucial moments in history to influence mankind's interest in the stars. But things seem to have taken on greater urgency, as Mia's mother Sarah, and her mother before her, started taking an interest in the carbon dioxide levels on earth. Mia is a reluctant participant in her ancestral goal. The Kibsu achieve their goals in a fashion as violent and bloodthirsty as needed. There is no line they will not cross, and Mia harbors doubts about this. While this seeming urge to win at all costs is innate, Mia is inwardly horrified by the means she finds herself using to get what she needs- von Braun in America. Kibsu must also reproduce, hopefully a single daughter, and Mia finds this a challenge to contemplate, because she's fallen in love with another woman. A woman who can never know the realities of Mia's life.

This is an interesting start to a new series. While aspects of the story were fascinating (love the von Braun angle, the bloody history of the Kibsu on earth, so aspects of the story just didn't gel for me. The trackers, all male and hunting down Kibsu women were so hazy. Where and whence they originate just felt like such a muddle to me. I was far less interested in them than the Kibsu, and they didn't even have a name like the Kibsu do? I am, nevertheless, looking forward to see where Mia's story goes from here and will dive into the next book with interest.

The audiobook, narrated by a diverse cast, was excellent.

I received a digital and paper review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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