Book Review: Ad Limina by Cy Kellett

Ad Limina by Cy Kellett

In a distant future, the first native-born Bishop of Mars is called for his ad limina visit to Rome. Typically, bishops come to Rome once every five years but transit time takes weeks or months from Mars to Earth. Martian Bishop Mark Gastelum has been shepherd of all souls on the Red Planet for nine years before having to leave. Arranging travel is tricky. The dominant political faction, UNAC, has banned undesirable people from traveling on government-run transportation, "undesirable" being what they think of as "hate groups." Catholic views "discriminate" against "group marriages, genetically-modified people, etc." and the tolerant UNAC won't allow such people access. Gastelum books a passage on an independent shipper which takes an indirect route back to Earth. 

The route is made longer when the Fascists, a high-conservative political group headquartered on Ceres, hijacks the vessel because of a spy on board. Gastelum briefly meets the spy though he only figures out he was the spy later. The spy kills himself before docking at Ceres. The bishop, through a lot of circumstances, winds up with a coded message to take back to Earth though he does not know that either. It's just a box of chocolates for the Pope. The Fascists don't find out right away either and Gastelum books a different transport. This time, he has more of a solar system odyssey that reveals the political, scientific, and social atmosphere of the future as imagined by Kellett.

Like a lot of other science fiction, the world Kellett crafts has much in common with our own. He flags up a lot of current problems, like genetically- or surgically-modified humans, fake tolerance in social and political arenas, and cyber-addiction. The bishop gives a Catholic understanding on such issues as the story progresses and he interacts with various people. Gastelum struggles with what to do in certain situations and has plenty of failings. Humanity has hardly been perfected by scientific advancements. Those advancements just present new challenges and new opportunities.

The book is enjoyable. It has some good descriptions of future colonies where people behave very differently from other places but not from other times like ours. Some of our current problems are cranked to eleven, which provides the author a chance to talk about them in a less threatening but still obvious way (like that Star Trek Original Series episodes with the guys who were half-white and half-black). Some bits are a little preachy, but hey, the main character is a bishop. Since I am sympathetic with 99% of his ideas, I enjoyed it.

Recommended.

This book is discussed on A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast #352.