Interesting SciFi held back by stereotypes

Phenomena presents an interesting scientific mystery about the nature of consciousness. Amelia is a great protagonist who combines scientific curiosity and reasoning with genuine empathy for her client, and she takes like-minded listeners along on an exciting journey. Her assistant, an experimental AI, is an intriguing character by itself, but feels a bit underused in the setting. Throughout the story, it is never quite clear whether the phenomena indicate an incredible opportunity for humanity, or possibly the biggest danger our species ever faced, and I enjoyed that ambiguity a lot. The writing is generally on a decent level - moments of stylistic brilliance are rare, but blunders even more so.

The well-researched science-based elements and the occasional philosophical musings are definitely the story's strongest points. Unfortunately, the author explored them less than I had hoped, and at some point, the plot devolves into a long, drawn-out, bog-standard chase scene. It doesn't help that the main antagonist is a stereotypical "evil military" character who likes bossing his subordinates around, enjoys frightening civilians, and fetishizes his prosthetic gun. Even I, as someone with strong pacifist tendencies and a critical view on any military, found this character way overdone and ultimately very boring. The ending felt ethically questionable to me, though that might be a matter of personal preference. None of all that stopped me from enjoying the story, though.

The narrator deserves special recognition for her very convincing rendition of a chirping, non-human language. She generally did a stellar job, my only point of critique is that her male characters all have similar, raspy voices - but she's far from the only narrator with that "problem".

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