I liked this historical novel by Kate Grenville so much better than the first one in the [Colonial Trilogy]. I think partly because she spent most of her time with one character, lovingly showing us the world from his point of view. Partly because I could reconcile with the events of the story so much more easily to, I'm sure. It is important to note that the first two books in the Colonial Trilogy are only loosely connected. They are not chronological and in no way could one be considered a sequel or prequel of the other. 
 Daniel Rooke is a brilliant mathematician who is also a member of His Majesty's forces. He is included on an expedition to establish a penal colony at New South Wales. He is to act as navigator on the journey and astronomer once they arrive. We were introduced to him when he was a child at school, and we follow him through his enlistment, his wounding in a battle in Boston Harbor, recovery and invitation to go to New South Wales. He is socially awkward, but smart enough to know it and to imitate the men around him well enough to get on. His inner life is rich and thoughtful and by the time he arrives in NSW, we know him well. Once settled, he observes not only the heavens, but the native people. Gradually he develops a friendship with some of the natives and begins to learn their language. Learning their language changes his relationship to them to the point where he realizes he can no longer continue to follow the orders of the English Governor of the colony. 
 The story is beautifully written, the characterization of Daniel Rooke is masterful, and the time and place brought to life so skilfully that I was surprised to find myself at the end of the book. 
 Quotes: 
 It was an eerie feeling, looking at stars that Dr. Vickery had never seen, that Dr. Halley had never seen, that Hipparchus and Ptolemy could not have guessed at. Until a thing was seen, could it be said to exist? And if his eye through the telescope were the one that brought a certain star into existence, did not that make him a creator? In the back of his mind, in a place modesty would not allow him fully to visit, was even the possibility that he, Daniel Rooke, could connect the new stars he had found and, as Lacaille had done, give the new constellations names of his own devising. 
 The names of things, if you truly wanted to understand them, were as much about the spaces between the words as they were about the words themselves. Learning a language was not a matter of joining any two points with a line. It was a leap into the other. 
 It was the simplest thing in the world. If an action was wrong, it did not matter whether it succeeded or not, or how many clever steps you took to make sure it failed. If you were part of such an act, you were part of its wrong. You did not have to take up the hatchet or even to walk along with the expedition. 
 If you were part of that machine, you were part of its evil.