Warning: Explicit Christian talk and PG-13 themes.Hey. My name’s Caz Fortel. I’m thirty, good-looking, and a great liar. In fact, that’s my job: to lie to people who steal works of art, and get the goods back. Then one day I get the big call from the FBI: a million bucks, to recover a stolen statue with huge cultural value. Downside: the partner they assign me has an unhealthy interest in Jesus, … interest in Jesus, an interest I’ve tried really hard to erase from my life.
Also, that partner is an alien with four arms and a tremendous sense of smell.
Welcome to 2016.
See, the Panstellar Consociation is the boss now, of all the Earth and everything that goes on in the solar system. Aliens showed up fifteen years ago and made us a deal: join us as a protectorate and we’ll swap you tech secrets, pay you real well. All so they could set up a warp tunnel in orbit.
It’s their statue. They want the whole job kept quiet. Or Earth could be in very, very big trouble.
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The back-cover description of this book grabbed me right away, and the story didn’t disappoint. This is the story of a private art-theft detective, partnered up with an alien to find a stolen sculpture of deep importance to a species known as the Jinn.
The story is set in an alternate present-day, where aliens arrived at the beginning of our century and invited us to become a protectorate in their consociation. Turns out Earth is the perfect location for what they call a Nor-i-nanq (basically a big stargate that ships can fly through).
The story begins on a fairly small scale, but escalates into some very large (and exciting) stakes. This is not to say the earlier parts of the book are un-interesting. I was gripped the whole way through.
For Us Humans is told from a fun first-person point of view. The protagonist, Caz, has a lot of attitude, and this really comes out in the narration.
Caz has a big character arc in this book. Several in fact. A chance encounter with his ex-fiance brings back a lot of memories and a few surprises. In addition to all that, we see that Caz is wrestling with a faith he used to have, but is now all but dead.
The books explores the idea of how Christianity would respond to the arrival of aliens. Many turn away. Caz has a big chip on his shoulder about this. He blames the aliens for the demise of his religion, but why is his alien partner so interested in learning more about Jesus?
The aliens themselves were nicely done. I love how the sense of smell is more important to them than the sense of sight, and this comes out in the way they talk.
I had a ball reading this book. This was my first Steve Rzasa book, but it won’t be my last. I understand from an interview, that the author plans to write a follow-up story in this world. Personally, I’m thrilled to hear that.
For Us Humans is the ultimate nerd book. Its filled with tongue-in-cheek humor and references to sci-fi films, tv shows, and characters. While reading I couldn’t help but underlining my favorite passages and references. There is a lot of humor packed in, but also a lot of depth and meaning. At one point, the main character breaks the fourth wall and it made me laugh out loud… in public… and people stared. Just a warning for you.
There is a lot of action and fast-paced dialog in this book. Between the rapid-fire references, the bar fights, and the gun-wielding aliens, you won’t be able to put this book down. I would recommend this as a must-read for those who love Galaxy Quest, Firefly, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and more.
It should be noted that this is a Christian science fiction book, but could definitely be enjoyed by the general market. Between the two main characters there is a lot of tension, primarily regarding Christianity and the importance of faith. Caz plays the ultimate tough guy–drinking away his worries, spending nights with women who’s names he doesn’t remember, but he wants something more. When he’s partnered with the alien Nil, he has to face the facts that this alien knows more about his own “human” religion than he does. What follows is a conversation about race, species, and religion that encourages us to unite the most divided of us.