The Echo of Light  (Paperback, GJ Jansen Van Vuuren)

He came from the stars not to conquer, but to feel. Kael, an artificial intelligence sent from a distant world, arrives on Earth to learn human emotions. But his mission evolves into something far deeper than observation. As Kael navigates love, grief, nature, depression, and the weight of mortality, he forms an unlikely bond with Elias a grieving gardener whose heart still aches with the loss of his wife. Across the seasons of a quiet town, Kael discovers that emotion is not just data to be studied, but a storm to be weathered, a melody to be heard. Inspired by Bicentennial Man and The Iron Giant, this deeply moving modern tale explores what it truly means to be alive, to hurt, and to hope. The Echo of Light is a story of transformation, of a machine that longs not just to live, but to be Alive.