I enjoy looking for obscure voices in my genre … fantasy normally. However, I do love some good social science. My Caeteran Tales are largely social science fiction. This book is 100% social science fiction. It takes place on another planet, not for the fun of the hard science that might involve, but for the social dynamics that occur between two similar yet different cultures.

What I adore about this story is the proverbial olive branch that is symbolized by the Walks and the societal change that happens as a result.

I thoroughly appreciate the timeliness and concepts in this story as well as the message it delivers. However, as a professional editor and professional in the publishing industry, I would also be remiss in not mentioning that the structure is not standard and may seem less consumable as a result. Some opportunities for improvement would include a thorough developmental edit followed by a copyedit. A new interior and cover design. Less telling and more showing to allow the story and characters to unfold for the reader. Finally, tuning the voice to allow the POV sections to vary in how they sound to the reader.

I’m removing my normal blocks relating to character, plot, and fantasy elements in this review because I think the summary adequately covers my thoughts. One note I will make about the Magic System / Technology: it’s strange to have SciFi that doesn’t focus on tech. This one simply relies on the reader assuming there is sufficient technology for travel to another planet and that the new planet’s environment will support human life as well as the biology for the Vray. This might be a bigger leap of faith than many SciFi readers would appreciate. As a fantasy reader, it didn’t bother me.

The Walks with the Others is YA as the main characters are the young adults who drive this change. The story is straightforward on the surface, but some of the underlying sociological concepts may not be fully recognized by less mature YA readers.

The fact that the story is so meaningful earns it 3* alone. The completeness of the story arc earns it another .5. My rating on the 5* scale is 3.5, rounded up to 4, purely for the story it conveys.

This is a Young Adult science fiction/fantasy novel about a human colony in the future and the efforts of two boys to establish communication with the other sentient race living on the colony planet, after five hundred years of no success by anybody in that effort.

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Chris McCallister is a lifelong resident of Michigan, a quadriplegic, and a clinical psychologist. The author composed most of this piece in his head during a three-month battle with pneumonia.