Close to Critical cover

Close to Critical

by Hal Clement

From back cover Ballantine paperback July 1975: CRISIS ON TENEBRA Shrouded in eternal gloom by its own thick atmosphere, Tenebra was a hostile planet... a place of crushing gravity, 370-degree temperatures, a constantly shifting crust and giant drifting raindrops. Unpromising -- yet there was life, intelligent life on Tenebra. For more than 20 years, Earth scientists had studied the natives from an orbiting laboratory... and had even found a way to train and educate a few of them. Then the unexpected happened! A young Earth girl and the son of a powerful, hot-tempered alien diplomat were marooned in a bathyscape, drifting toward the planet's deadly surface. Only the Tenebrans could rescue them!

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Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

  1. Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
  2. Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
  3. What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
  4. If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
  5. Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?