If Tomorrow Comes

Yesterday's Kin Trilogy, Book 2

By: Nancy Kress

Narrated by: Marguerite Gavin

Ten years after the aliens left Earth, humanity has succeeded in building a ship, Friendship, in which to follow them home to Kindred. Aboard are a crew of scientists, diplomats, and a squad of Rangers to protect them. But when the Friendship arrives, they find nothing they expected: no interplanetary culture, no industrial base, and no cure for the spore disease.

A timeslip in the apparently instantaneous travel between worlds has occurred, and far more than 10 years have passed.

Once again scientists find themselves in a race against time to save humanity and their kind from a deadly virus while a clock of a different sort runs down on a military solution no less deadly to all. Amid devastation and plague come stories of heroism and sacrifice and of genetic destiny and free choice, with its implicit promise of conscious change.

©2018 Nancy Kress (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Story is boring but moves

I continued this trilogy because I want to give the author a chance. Much of the descriptive words just do not add any excitement to the story. There are very exciting places in some of the chapters but too many open or assumed actions by the characters. Spaces of time glanced over or unexplained story lines. Too much emphasis on the inner thoughts of the characters.
Trying to be a fan.
On to the next book!

Amazing

The only negative feedback was that the narrator sounded a bit stuffed up during a few chapters. But other than awesome.

pretty much good book

starts out slow pretty much a mirror image of the first book except about halfway through it gets really good the first book was good all the way through

New Topics Explored in Science Fiction

Really great sci-fi story with solid characters, Army Rangers, leaders, love, and doctors too, of course. Did you ever wonder about viruses circulating in the Milky Way Galaxy? What if some happened upon the path of your world. These books explore some very plausible ramifications of such an encounter. And also, traveling to other solar systems to bring, or find, vaccines. Highly engaging plot. And, The Best narrator performer, Marguerite Gavin, brings it all to life for you.

As good as the first

Lots of ideas. Good story that resists simple dichotomies of good and bad. Story works through a lot of the grey space of social complexity.

Sequel Has Better Feel and Outcome

If Tomorrow Comes definitely has a more positive outlook and less insurmountable odds than the first book in trilogy. The story is very creative and entertaining hard Sci-fi.

The story just gets better

The new characters and personalities made for a tense and interesting story! I enjoyed it.

Attempt at 2nd contact goes badly

If Tomorrow Comes is Nancy Kress's second offering in the Tomorrow's Kin trilogy. The tale takes up ten years after the first volume ended. Earth has built a spaceship using the alien technology and attempts to establish some sort of diplomatic relationship with Kindred. From the start everything goes sideways. While subjective journey time is instantaneous, fourteen years have elapsed (leading to much rumination about the twenty-eight year round trip issue upon return). At the same time, they are encounter a Russian equivalent there to exact vengeance on Kindred which results in the peaceful group stranded on Kindred with no return. And the spore cloud is only weeks away from arriving Kindred turns out to be far more primitive than advertised with zero progress on a vaccine. Kindred is a pastoral, matrilineal oligarchy technologically about early 20th century (they were simply following instructions to build the spaceship). Things do not go well until they manage to call back the second infected ship which happens to offer a prophylaxis for the spore plague.

Kress manages a complex story using multiple perspectives. The Kindred civilization seems too passive and laid back for long term survival. Their scientific acumen seems at odds with nature pacifist nature with an over emphasis on being 'green.' The military is stereotypical (as were the Russians as well) with an emphasis on 'the mission' to the exclusion of all reason and common sense.

The narration is reasonable, although the opportunity to employ the unique Kindred language as described was waived.

Better than the first

Easy to pick-up since you're acquainted with a few characters and the situation. Finishes 1st

not bad

it was a descent distraction, a few minor inconsistencies in the story line but overall not bad.