Semiosis

Semiosis #1

by Sue Burke

In this character driven novel of first contact by debut author Sue Burke, human survival hinges on a bizarre alliance.

Only mutual communication can forge an alliance with the planet's sentient species and prove that mammals are more than tools.

Forced to land on a planet they aren't prepared for, human colonists rely on their limited resources to survive. The planet provides a lush but inexplicable landscape—trees offer edible, addictive fruit one day and poison the next, while the ruins of an alien race are found entwined in the roots of a strange plant. Conflicts between generations arise as they struggle to understand one another and grapple with an unknowable alien intellect.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Audiobook, Aliens, Adult, Fantasy, Book Club

336 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 6, 2018

About the author

I grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, lived briefly in Austin, Texas, y'all, and moved with my husband to Madrid, Spain, in December 1999. Then back to the US, specifically Chicago, in July 2016.

I've worked for fifty years as a journalist, both as a reporter and editor, and I translate from Spanish to English.

I also write poetry, essays, and fiction, especially science fiction.

Reviews

[carol. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I need a good solid hate read in my life, or at least I need to find a book that doesn’t leave me with this much ambivalence. A buddy read with Cillian, she found this one far more displeasing than I. (spoiler: though with reviewing, I edged further into the negative). I, in typical carol. endurance fashion, persevered, and found it to be a very uneven experience.

The premise is straightforward: a group of colonists has landed on Pax, fleeing Earth’s environmental catastrophes and endless wars. They are looking for peace, but to no reader’s surprise, end up on a planet that only seemed hospitable. Only, in the tradition of first colonization stories everywhere, stuff happens. In the first few pages we learn three people have gone missing and are presumed dead. Of that of the fifty people who had left Earth “We had hoped to create a new society in full harmony with nature, but nineteen people had died of accidents and illnesses since we arrived.” (spoiler: without genetic engineering, our humans are going to face a serious bottleneck).

Narrative is broken into seven sections, narrated by seven different people. The first three sections occur almost thirty years apart, encompassing different generations of colony evolution. Unsurprisingly, they read like separate novellas. The first feels like a first landing story, about the hardships of colonization and the history of the group on Earth. The fourth has a strong mystery-thriller plot. The last four sections all take place within two years, beginning 106 years after the colonists landed, and generally are more congruous. The events of the fourth end up shifting the colony’s direction significantly.

The good news about this is that with a variety of human viewpoints, there are some who should be more successful with the reader. Personally, I disliked the happy-go-lucky mentality of Lucille, but it probably ended up being a fitting choice for the events in that section. Characterization was fine but something just feels somewhat uninspired. Perhaps because the characters themselves are ambivalent about what they are facing in their sections. They all have very mixed feelings about what they are facing; few are absolutely convinced their way is right, with the exception of Sylvia, in Section Two.

Burke did plant research, and some of the most awkward moments of the book come from when she’s determined to show it. Not like Peter Watts' Blindsight, who’s nearly every moment is full of neuron-stretching moments, or Adrian Tchaikovsky’ Children of Time where insect biology and evolutionary theory are seamlessly inserted into Portia’s narrative. No, this is terrible:

“I have flowers near Violet’s house. The petals ordinarily produce geraniol, a fragrant alcohol; quickly I switch the output, remove a water molecule and rearrange the chemical bonds, and send out beta-pinene. The stamen usually produces nerol, a citrus scent, and the chemistry is a bit trickier, but I subtract three carbon atoms and four hydrogen atoms, in the process removing and replacing the oxygen atom and it is 2-heptanone. The chemicals are lightweight; even on a cool night like this one, they boil away as fast as I can make them.”

Oh dear. Germane? No. Congruent? No. Does Stevland talk like this, in chemicals, the rest of the story? No. (Although that would have been an interesting angle to take). It’s just so much text, a journalist’s showy, “look at my research, Teacher,” without thinking about the overall purpose, and the effect, which is to seriously break up the pace and tension of a fraught scene. It is dumb. I’ll note that the first section, with the advanced technology of future space-faring Earth feels the most science-light. I think she reserved the research for the plants.

I spent no little time thinking about this book and my reaction to it, wondering what exactly Burke was hoping to achieve. Personally, I was hoping for a story about sentient plants. But Burke glossed over that science and seemed happy making the plant just a sort-of-human (Stevland decides to grow a “humor root”? wth?). I think the core of the books is supposed to be about civilization and what it means to create a society, but that falls short as well. Honestly, the whole Pax concept seems like junior-high level discussion of the founding principles of a society.

I certainly wouldn’t warn anyone off this book, but I would enter into it with very low expectations for people who enjoy in-depth exploration with colonization, botany, or political philosophy. It’s an alright story that attempts to get a little deeper than your average book, but in an inexpert manner. I did best reading one section at a time, treating each as a little novella unto itself. I wonder what would have happened had Burke given it Wells’ Murderbot treatment, and released a series of tight little novellas. Although honestly, it wouldn’t have done as well without major reworking, because it lacks one identifiable character, besides Stevland.

Jennifer's (a botonist) smart analysis of the plant science here.
For a better colonization novella, try Half Way Home.
For plants taking over the world: The Day of the Triffids.

A very long time ago, I read and enjoyed Anne McCaffrey's colonists. Version one is the 'prequel' to the famous dragon novels, when the colonists had their first 'oh shit' experience. Dragonsdawn. Version two, somewhat creepier (aliens use humans as test bunnies): Freedom's Landing.


Table of Contents
Octavo: Year 1–Generation 1
Sylvia: Year 34–Generation 2
Higgins and The Bamboo: Year 63–Generation 3
Tatiana: Year 106–Generation 4
Nye: Year 106–Generation 6
Lucille and Stevland: Year 107–Generation 7
Bartholomew: Year 107–Generation 5

Cillian, I know you didn't recommend it to me! I was just being funny :D

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, imagine eating a bagel. When you're eating, you think, "Now that there is amylose and amylopectin starch entering my system, I should increase transcription of amylase-producing genes so that I can break down these starches into glucose and initiate cellular respiration to turn glucose into ATP to power my cells. Yes! I can feel my ATPase getting ready for action."

Uh, no. I'm pretty sure this isn't what's going through your head (in mine: creamy cream cheese! chewy gluteny toasty!). But the main plant in Semiosis thinks like this, and it is jarringly at odds with what I would consider sentience - which is not (at least for humans) about understanding and orchestrating the biochemical processes in our bodies. The plant physiology is generally correct in this book, but this perspective feels adamantly artificial. For this and other reasons, Semiosis never convinces me that it's anything more than a thought experiment - an articulate and intelligent one, but a thought experiment nonetheless.

As a cranky plant biologist who prefers the company of plants to people, I thought Semiosis would be right up my alley. In some ways, it's an impressive achievement: a defiantly original story of space colonization and terraforming (or rather, of humans being shaped by their new planet), interspecies relationships, and the earnest attempts of one group of beings to hold true to their vision of creating a peaceful new society.

That said, I spent a lot of time muttering under my breath about the science. Semiosis is winning acclaim as a science-y science fiction, but it feels more like a collection of inserted plant facts rather than a cohesive imagining of how sentience could evolve in a plant within an alien environment. The questions that occurred to me as I was reading - basic questions of physiology, evolution, and metabolism that would occur to other plant biologists - largely went unanswered. Such as: [skip the rest of this review if you have no interest in the finer points of plant science]

1) The author casually mentions that the native organisms of planet Pax are RNA-based. This is super cool, as RNA organisms are thought to have predated DNA organisms on Earth. We no longer have any RNA only organisms (that we know of), but we do have viruses that have only RNA, such as HIV - tricky to treat because RNA replication is a much sloppier process than DNA and results in a lot more mutations. RNA organisms would likely be less stable and evolve faster - or have evolved adaptations to make RNA a more stable information molecule. Semiosis does nothing with this detail that seems like it could have major ramifications for Pax organisms.

2) There is no physiological explanation offered for plant sentience. None. Earth plants move molecules around by diffusion and water chains and pressure flow; they're capable of responding to chemical and even electrical signals, but there's nothing approaching a brain or a centralized system that would readily allow for sentience, thought, speech. I get that these are alien plants, but if they share so much of the physiology of earth plants, I want at least an attempted explanation.

3) The plants on Pax are disappointingly earthy. So much could have been done with alien, sentient plants! For example, there's no obvious reason large, photosynthetic, mobile organisms couldn't have evolved on Earth. We have single-celled motile algae like euglena, but nothing much bigger. How fun would it be to come up with a physiologically plausible evolutionary path for, say, facultative photosynthetic cat-like creatures? (Might explain why they like lying around in the sun...) The details of circulation, scaffolding (cellulose? chitin?), epidermal texture (chloroplasts in the hairs?), metabolism, and nutrient acquisition would all have to be worked out. The possibilities on another planet with different physical constraints are so, so intriguing. But no, Pax's plants are pretty much Earth plants with sentience.

4) Minor annoyance: the author uses Earth plant genus names sometimes when she'd be better off making them up. There is no way anyone could confuse a Lycopodium (a club moss that looks like fuzzy green reindeer antlers) with a grass, and that kind of detail yanks me right out of a story.

I knew Semiosis wasn't going to be a character driven book when I started (each chapter features a different character from the next generation), but I was hoping the ideas would make up for them. I think there's plenty to chew on here, but I almost didn't finish this one before it was due back at the library because I was finding the primary literature on plant communication so much more interesting.

[✘✘ Sarah ✘✘ (former Nefarious Breeder of Murderous Crustaceans) · Rating 2 out of 5]

💀 DNF at 42% 💀

Why, despite uncanny, superhuman (and quite heroic) efforts on my part to finish this book, I ended up DNFing the fish out of it and making a quick, life-preserving escape with the help of Edward my ferocious, ballistic missile-like pet snail.



The Let’s Bail Snail™, never leave home without it! Now available at the ridiculously low price of $1,256,559! Please contact Fleet Admiral DaShrimp, our homicidal sales manager, for details.

① Survivalist/apocalyptic type stories me like not very much.
Which is somewhat kind of a smallish problem, since this is somewhat kind of a survivalist/apocalyptic type story. And survivalist/apocalyptic type thingies me like not very much. I rest in my case and stuff.

② Bloody shrimping unlikable characters ‘R Us.
So every loooooonnnnng chapter in this book is told from a different character’s POV (and from a different generation, because why the fish not?). And every single one of them is (choose all that apply):

a) unappealing
b) unsympathetic
c) unpleasant
d) unemotional
e) pretty much any other adjective that begins with “un”
f) all of the above

They are also flat as my now infamous herd of ironing boards, which obviously doesn’t help. All in all, I think you could say I liked none the characters very much at all. Oh, wait. That’s not true! There’s one character whose POV I did enjoy reading! Stevland the sentient bamboo! Yeah, he was pretty cool. Okay, so his name kept making me think of stevia, and I’m not sure how I feel about zero calorie characters, but at least he wasn’t unfriendly as fish, like the rest of this Planet What’s Its Name colleagues, so I guess I can’t complain and stuff.

③ The Snooze Fest.
Pretty much self-explanatory, is it not? Sorry, what? You don’t get it? Let me try and make things a little clearer for you then:



Get it? Good. Clever, clever Barnacles.

➽ And the moral of this If Only The Sentient Beings In This Book Had Been Truly Super Extra Machiavellianly Evil I Might Maybe Perhaps Have Enjoyed It A Little More But They Weren’t So I Didn’t Crappy Non Review(IFTSBITBHBTSEMEIMMPHEIALMBTWSIDCNR™) is: hey, puny humans! Next time you want to invade another realm settle on a new planet, consult with me first. I have extensive experience in the field, and can teach you a thing or two about ruthless colonization living in total peace, love and harmony with the doomed-to-a-slightly-excruciating-death locals and stuff. Just ask Bob, here, he’ll tell you what a friendly, cooperative, non-violent bunch my murderous army children and I are:

[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel was a most pleasant surprise, driving way beyond my character-oriented expectations and diving right into some hardcore generational storytelling on an alien world with an EXTREMELY interesting dominant life form. :)

I really loved the whole pacifist angle and loved how many problems it caused. But on the other hand, it set up a very cool mutualism with the aggressive bamboo.

I recommend this book for all you folks who loved Children of Time, Grass, or any other hard-SF author dealing with awesomely alien worlds with unique problems for colonists. Make no mistake, this IS a generational starship kind of novel. The starship happens to be a planet and it has a lot of nasty challenges, but the premise kept me on the edge of my seat during the entire read.

Oh, and while I said this wasn't designed to be a character-driven novel, I happened to love almost all the characters in it. Especially the naive ones. I knew something bad would happen to them. It always does. :)

But the real treat here? The biology and chemistry!

I might just rank this book into one of my favorites lists. It's been a while since I read some truly serious SF that takes itself seriously.

[Gary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sue Burke’s debut novel Semiosis is an episodic novel that combines contemporary social science fiction with pulp-era adventure. A combination of Colony SF and first contact narrative, it tells the story of successive generations of human settlers – fleeing an earth ravaged by disease, disaster and war – on a planet they call Pax, and their attempts to coexist first with the planet’s sentient plant life, then with an insect-like alien race that had colonized the planet long before. Each section of the novel moves ahead to the next generation of leaders, scientists, explorers, and artisans as they try to better integrate themselves with the natural environment on Pax and develop mutually beneficial relationships with its existing sentient and non-sentient life.
The most alluring aspect of Semiosis is its heady mix of sociology and planetary romance-like adventure. In one episode, an animal husband defends the settlement from predator attacks with the help of a pack of lions; later, a group of explorers are captured and taken to the home of The Glassmakers, a very alien civilization of fellow pilgrims – situations that could easily arise in old cliffhanger serials like Flash Gordon or the “Sword and Planet” romances of Edgar Rice Burroughs, but focused as much on intellectual growth as feats of derring-do. In fact, one of the issues I had with the novel was that it often moved too hastily, when I wanted it to slow down and examine its discoveries or spend more time with characters who exit the narrative abruptly. All in all, Semiosis is a smart and exciting first novel from an author worth keeping an eye on.

[Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 stars. Review first posted on Fantasy Literature:

Semiosis is a science fiction novel with an appealing hook: what if space-faring humanity found a world where plants are intelligent — in some cases arguably more intelligent than humans — and can communicate in their own unique ways? In the latter half of the 21st century, a group of fifty idealistic humans leave Earth, which is beset by a global warming crisis and social problems, to settle another planet far away, which they name Pax. Two problems: first, human nature being what it is, it’s hard to create and maintain a utopian society. And second, the plants on Pax are intelligent and have their own ideas about the proper relationship between plants and their “animals.” It’s a fascinating idea, especially when the narrative shifts to a plant’s point of view.

The first half of Semiosis skips fairly quickly through the years and different generations of humans on Pax. Each generation has its own narrator, who represents the shifting points of view of the human colony. The first generation is particularly confused, as the same type of plants produce fruit that is sometimes poisonous to humans and sometimes not. Nineteen lives are lost, taking the colony down to a mere thirty-one lives, before they begin to adjust to the unexpected reality of intelligent (and sometimes hostile) plant life on Pax.

The ideas Sue Burke explores are provocative: she has pertinent commentaries about human prejudices and fears, group dynamics, and how we interact with each other and with other species based on our preconceptions. The importance of the planet’s ecosystem and a healthy respect for all elements of nature is repeatedly emphasized. I thought the ideas somewhat exceeded Burke’s ability to tell a story. Her writing style is competent, but not particularly inspired.

The snow vines … had realized that we were like the fippokats and used us like them, giving us healthy or poisonous fruit. But the west vine had attacked our fields. It had noticed how we differed from fippokats, that we were farmers, and it had developed a plan that required conspicuous effort on its part. Creative, original ideas and perseverance were signs of intelligence — real intelligence, insightful. It had weighed possible courses of action, then chosen one.

The repeated shifts to new generations, with almost an entirely new cast of characters coming on stage about every forty pages, also made it more difficult for me to connect with the story. But at about the halfway point, Burke stops skipping forward and focuses in on the events that occur about a hundred years after the humans arrive on Pax, as a new and unexpected set of difficulties pops up. One particularly intelligent plant, manipulative but largely benevolent in its nature, becomes a key character. From this point forward, Semiosis gradually grew on me.

In Semiosis, Burke creates an unusual alien world, and combines it with some interesting adventures as well as insights into human (and plant) nature. The story of Pax and the often fraught interactions of different groups continues in the sequel, Interference (where - surprise! - there's a whole new cast of characters ... but a couple of familiar ones).

[Mogsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum https://bibliosanctum.com/2018/02/15/...

Semiosis is a multi-generational story that takes place over the course of many years, following a group of human colonists who have traveled light years from Earth to settle on a planet they dubbed Pax. The first pioneers, made up of mostly young scientists and activists who were saddened by the plight of their polluted and war-torn world, hoped to start over and establish a peaceful society on this newly discovered planet. However, they were wholly unprepared for the alien environment that awaited them, nor did they anticipate Pax’s bizarre flora and fauna and the surprising ways they interacted with their surroundings. Many of the original settlers died within a matter of weeks, but through the hard work and perseverance of the survivors, the colony managed to hang on and grow, giving rise to the next generation.

Still, their difficulties were far from over. Despite the settlers’ lofty goals to live in harmony with the land, Pax’s plants and animals behaved in strange and unpredictable ways, causing the humans to adjust and alter their game plans on the fly. With every new generation also came new challenges, both biological and social, such as the problem of sterility in the population or the disagreements between the older members and the younger ones on how the colony should be run. Society adapted to the planet, and Pax adapted in turn.

As someone fascinated with biology, my favorite aspect of Semiosis was the author’s portrayal of the plant and animal life on Pax. The world-building was phenomenal and extremely convincing, as though I was truly transported to an alien planet, encountering organisms that felt vaguely familiar and yet unlike anything I’d ever seen before. This sensation was at once unsettling and exciting. As fascinating as it was to watch how the zoological and botanical sciences were being applied, it would also be a mistake to assume that the natural rules on Earth would work on Pax—a lesson that the first-generation settlers learned the hard way. For example, many plants on Earth have evolved to form symbiotic relationships with other plants or animals. In the case of a bee flying from blossom to blossom, inadvertently fertilizing flowers by gathering pollen, one could argue that the plant had evolved in a way to “train” the insect into helping it. Semiosis explores this concept, except the story takes it even further. Because Pax is different from Earth, the plants on Pax have developed in some extraordinary ways.

Semiosis also makes a lot of insightful observations about the nature of human behavior and the relationship it has with social systems. Earth colonists came to Pax hoping to create a utopia and avoid the mistakes of humanity’s past. In this perfect world, everyone would be treated and valued as equals, and they would also protect and respect the natural order of life on the planet. They quickly realized their hubris. Pax was simply too different, and despite all the humans’ hard work in their research and preparations, the native life on the planet did not behave in a way they expected. To ensure their own survival, the colonists were forced to rearrange some of their priorities. Nothing is black and white, and that’s what I loved about this book. Even the best laid plans—and the best intentions—could fall apart with the introduction of something completely new and weird and unanticipated. And on Pax, that’s pretty much everything.

Of course, there’s also the matter of the book’s unique structure. Because it is made of a number of narratives told over several generations, Semiosis almost has the feel of a collection of short stories, though they do fit together to form a complete picture of the settlement process on Pax. As with most multi-generational stories, you’re not going to get the chance to know any one character intimately; instead, it’s the colony that takes center stage, and the reader is able to experience its development through the years by following one or two of its members in each generation. Each character has a unique perspective on the challenges the society is facing though, so while the names, faces, and situations will change, the book remains interesting. Still, if you know you are not a fan of multi-generational novels, then I doubt this one will work for you.

Personally, I really enjoyed Semiosis. Admittedly, I hadn’t expected the multi-generation format, but I was pleasantly surprised at the intricate way this story was told, and how deftly Sue Burke managed to pull it all together. It was a joy watching the society on Pax evolve over the years, even when the settlers themselves struggled and dealt with some difficult obstacles and brutal conditions. Overall, I found it to be a very realistic depiction of human colonization on an alien planet, and I also admired many of the characters for trying to uphold their values even in the face of danger and despair. I would highly recommend this book for readers who are interested in a fresh and fun perspective on planetary exploration stories and space colonization sci-fi.

Audiobook Comments: The audiobook edition of Semiosis was performed by Daniel Thomas May and Caitlyn Davies, and between the two of them they covered the half dozen or so perspectives featured in this novel. Considering these constraints, the narrators did very well, utilizing varied accents and inflections to portray the different characters of each generation so that each person felt like they had a distinct and unique voice.

[Kayla Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5* - this was a veeeery slow read for me. I don't know why exactly but it never felt like I was making any progress.. which did not help regarding my enjoyment. Which is unfortunate because I really enjoyed everything else.

The story was very unique and interesting, I especially liked the concept of it being told through different generations. While it was harder to connect to the characters that way (too many short povs for that) it gave a great insight on everything that was going on and it was fascinating to see how the people evolved from generation to generation.

I'm looking forward to reading the sequel and I hope it'll be a little quicker to read.

[Peter Tillman · Rating 5 out of 5]

An impressively thoughtful and original science-fiction novel. As always, please read the header blurb first. 4.5 stars, rounded up. Bravo!

50 colonists flee a future Earth, wracked by warfare and ecologic collapse. They hope to make a fresh start on a new planet far, far away. After 150-some years in hibernation, they awake to find a promising green world below. The landing doesn’t go well: one of the landers crashes, killing 12 settlers and destroying irreplaceable equipment. Another four die from other accidents, and the book opens with three more deaths, settlers poisoned by fruit from a vine-thicket that had been wholesome a few days earlier. The little colony looks very tenuous indeeed….

Plants on Pax can be smart and dominant, it turns out, and are happy to reward animals who help them, and punish those who help their enemies. Pax will not be so peaceful as the settlers hoped.

I’ve gone about as far as I can without serious SPOILERS — but I can’t resist a shout-out to a certain GR pal: a forceful woman named Tatiana becomes the colony’s police chief and then its leader, an office she later shares with a a giant grove of very bossy, rainbow-colored bamboo. I LOVED the fippocats, who believe that life should be fun. Oh, and the local birds bark!

[Allison Hurd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Argh, this was almost so freaking awesome. Instead it was just fine. Lots of cool bits. Lots of parts that annoyed me, but well packaged enough to be quick entertainment.

CONTENT WARNING: (no actual spoilers, just a list of topics) graphic rape, child abuse, torture, body horror, disease, serial killers, murder, animals being hurt/killed.

Things that were awesome

-The world. Exceptionally well realized and diverse. The author did a fantastic job making it feel foreign and yet familiar enough to picture. I loved how different all the sentient forms were, and how the ecology worked.

-The biology in general. There were a few hand-wavy bits, but overall this book is biology-centric. The research was evident and I loved how much it added to the sensory explanations of what everyone was experiencing and how each character viewed it. I don't see that much and I loved it for that.

-The adapting society. Each "chapter" is from a different POV and most of them are from different generations of colonists. It was neat to see how the society changed and how its origin myths adapted over 6 generations.

-The Rainbow Bamboo. I don't want to give it away, but this plant was far and away the one I was rooting for (pun intended, 'BOO all you want.)

Things that pissed me right off

-Sylvia and Higgins. These two chapters almost made me give up. Between the blatant exploitative sexual violence (in the sense that the author was using this as shorthand to tell me how bad things were rather than an honest trauma to be dealt with) and the petulance of both characters, I thought I had made a terrible mistake.

-The parts that weren't researched. So...the botany and chemistry aspects of this book were excellent. But the stuff about humans was pretty obviously not good. For example, in order for the gene pool to remain fresh enough to avoid degenerative effects of inbreeding, the accepted minimum population is 160 humans, assuming all are capable of breeding. Compare with what we're told in this book. Other things that we just skipped over that I know wouldn't work like that at all...see Sylvia's chapter.

-This wasn't the book I was sold. The first 10% this sounds like it's going to be sort of like "The Sparrow" and "Ender's Game"--but just the part about meeting sentient creatures who don't understand humans. I was here for that. I was so excited to see the colonists figure out how to work with/around the native species and the ooky horror of realizing that despite no other noticeable predators, you're not alone and you're being hunted. That feeling was freaking cool. This did not last.

-Some inconsistencies. The author would reference things that changed throughout the book, and I didn't understand why they changed, if they weren't just mistakes. Also, this book changed "tone" a lot. It was a sci fi horror! It was a YA teen revolution! It was a political intrigue! It was first contact! It was humans against the "barbarian cultures!" It was hard to keep the plot in my head.

-Could have been a bit shorter. There were parts that felt really drawn out that didn't tell me anything I wanted to know.

I'm not upset I read it, and the parts that were great were stellar. Unfortunately the parts that weren't great were pretty aggravating. Very torn about this. Likely a 3.5, rounded down because I'd give a ton of caveats if I recommended it to anyone. Also, the audiobook narration was pretty good. The man narrator was excellent. The woman narrator made the annoying parts more annoying as she read everyone like they were a snob or an idiot. Luckily, she did not do most of the reading.

ETA: I read this review by Jennifer, who has a much more in depth understanding of the science behind a story like this. I found it a very good list of considerations and quick explanations to address that aspect of the book.

[Rachel (TheShadesofOrange) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0 Stars
This was a solid science fiction novel that explores evolution and plant life throughout generations. I love these kinds of smart stories. This is what I wanted from Annihilation

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Space colonization, first contact and non-human intelligence feature in this wonderful generational story with lots of crunchy science fictional sociology and biology.

The planet of Pax has had a billion years more evolution than Earth ecosystems. Intelligence abounds, sometimes in unusual places like in plants that can communicate with the rest of their rich ecosystem and manipulate animals for their own ends. This novel tells the stories of descending generations from the very first settlers as humanity adapts to the strange new world of Pax and a very different biological context, with the real question of whether the original goals that the colony was founded with can survive or are even appropriate.

The individual chapters as we move through generations after settlement have different narrators, most of which have compelling voices and interesting stories in their own right. With this sort of structure, that does mean that the author can be pretty horrible to some of her characters though, so be aware of that. One of those voices is actually a non-human and its perspective is really interesting, and adds a lot of context to the discussion of social concepts vs biological imperatives. In a lot of ways this book reminds me of Children of Time which is high praise in my opinion.

[Literally Lesia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Інструкція до мікрохвильовки викликала у мене більше емоцій, ніж ця книжка.

[Silvana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Plants are everywhere and they might also be our overlords. Sue Burke, in her essay, gave apple as an example. Apple trees hope you’ll eat their fruit, then throw away the core with its seeds so apples can expand their range. They originated in central Asia and now get tender loving care in orchards all over the world. In some regions, they even shape the economy and the lives of many people. Mission accomplished.

In this novel, Burke brought us to Pax, a newly colonized planet where a handful of humans faced intelligent plants and various wildlife. The plants - like Earth plants - exist in a continual state of war against their neighbors, competing for nutrients, sunshine and so on. The humans were caught in between whether they liked it or not. This is an amazing first contact story, it will stimulate your sense of wonder. Especially when it comes to the question: who is serving who? It depends on whose perception. (Hell, even my cat thinks I exist to give her food and become her pillow).

Plants know we're watching. Tomatoes change color to let us know they're ready to be eaten (and thus spread their seeds). We humans – and other animals – are actually very easy to control with food. But then, the human colony here, their central tenet was collaboration, cooperation, harmony, unity. How they achieved their goal and their learning curve, is such a joy to read.

That's not all. The novel, with its ideas, is also full with great characters. There are POVs told from different generation, from the "Parents" (first settlers) to their nth generation descendants. I read some generational and/or planet survival stories but this one is my favorite. Each POV was unique and compelling. They had such different personalities and made different decisions and mistakes, but I was equally drawn to every single one. The writing flows effortlessly, it's very readable even during some scientific discourse on plants.

And yet another great thing about Semiosis, it's also one of those novels that made you experience a whole range of emotions. I was scared and wary when reading the first chapter, then I found myself smiling and feeling confident, followed with shock and angry, but then I became contemplative and was full with hope again, chuckling over some silliness (usually involving the native, domesticated animals - I want a fippokat!) and elated during some victorious moments. It's an emotional roller coaster ride that provides a fulsome experience.

A powerful and compelling story yet also smart, refreshing and easy to read. And thank you, Earth plants, for your willingness to share this planet with us.

Some interesting reads:
https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-se...
https://www.theverge.com/2014/8/14/60...
https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/11/15...

[aPriL does feral sometimes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chek-ooo! Kak!

'Semiosis' is an astounding science fiction read. There are so many ideas written into the plot book clubs could extend discussions of the book to two nights! Yet YA readers will have lots of action and suspense to enjoy. Only those readers who dislike generation sagas might be disappointed in the book. However, unlike many sagas, this novel is fast-paced and character-driven.

The author concentrates on a few characters from several generations in the establishment of a human colony on a newly discovered planet full of plant life with varying degrees of sentience. Social drama is the focus rather than the colony's historical development, although the colony's history is also told by the drama and struggles of each generation, narrated in separate chapters by different characters.

Quoted from page 14:

""I was dreaming about children," she said.

We'd talked a lot about children. They'd grow up in this gravity, so they'd be shorter, adapted to their environment, and belong to Pax. Just Pax. Her Ireland and my Mexico wouldn't mean anything to them. I held her tighter.

"Pax will be home."I lay still, knowing that she tended to wake up suddenly and would fall asleep again just as suddenly. In the dark I could see little of the improvised hut that was now our home.

We had not expected paradise. We had expected hardship, danger, and potential failure. We hoped to create a new society in full harmony with nature, but nineteen people had died of accidents and illnesses since we arrived, including three who had died before for no apparent reason."

Octavo, the colony's biologist who is narrating the above excerpt, is very worried.

Quoted from page 34:

""Plants are not that smart." [says a Parent colonist]

"They adapt," [Octavo] said. "They evolve." At the university, we had joked about the ways plants abused insects to make them carry pollen or seeds, but insects were small. On Pax, the snow vines were enormous. Next to them, humans and fippokats were insects, objects to abuse."

Quoted from page 37:

"The snow vines had learned fast, too. They had realized that we are like fippokats and used us like them, giving us healthy or poisonous fruit. But the west vine had attacked our fields. It had noticed how we differed from fippokats, that we are farmers, and it had developed a plan that required conspicuous effort on its part. Creative, original ideas and perseverance were signs of intelligence--real intelligence, insightful. It had weighed possible courses of action, then chosen one."

Play ominous music now. Ok, then. Maybe they can reach an accommodation. People DO make something plants like, besides the having of the ability to irrigate and prune - dead people. We make great fertilizer.

: )

Fippokats are furry green house-cat-sized herbivores who hop like springboks. They are easy to train and they enjoy sitting in human laps to be petted. They are also good to eat. I want one, actually - to pet, not eat!

The "Parents" - the first generation of colonists - mean well, and they do not condone violence, but they are intensely ideological to the point of requiring an obedience to their social ideals over facts, whether those facts be of human or environmental nature.

The second generation of colonists eventually realizes that if the colony is to survive, the colony's politics and principles which are rigidly enforced by the first generation have to be bent to the realities of the environment on the new planet. The second generation also recognizes they all brought unalterable human emotions within themselves from Earth, despite their efforts to reboot social mores.

Then, the plucky human community learns they were not the first space travellers to land on this planet...

Eep!

The "Parents" reminded me of what I have read about the first generation of Communists in the 1920's, or of the revolutionaries of 18th-century French Revolution, blended with the ideas of 20th-century farming communes and later, hippies.

I really liked this book! It is very well-written with extremely interesting world-building. It is graphic in a few scenes, and there is violence and murder. My favorite plant was Stevland (who demonstrated the most personal growth of any character - *snicker*), and my favorite human was Higgins. Of the Glassmaker Queens of course I liked curly-haired See-You best! As far as how I feel about the dastardly orange trees - hissssss, boooo!

[MadProfessah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Semiosis is the first book in a duology by Sue Burke about a small group of around 50 human colonists trying to survive on a planet they call Pax which is populated with exotic fauna and flora, in particular a sentient plant.

The story is told in a series of chapters, each of which serve as independent short stories or novelettes. These are often set a significant distance in the future, centered around subsequent generations, so characters from one chapter can reappear significantly aged in another. Slowly, the outline of the overall arc of the narrative becomes clearer to the reader. As we read, we start to get more and more of the perspective of the most dominant intelligence on the planet, which is Stevland, the sentient rainbow bamboo plant. But he is just the first of several alien intelligences that inhabit Pax.

Semiosis is strikingly original, with prominent sociological, ecological, biological and psychological themes. The colonists left Earth to attempt to recreate a new, utopian Pacifist society (and escape ecological disaster) but it becomes very clear early on that the rigors of survival threaten to upend or warp their intended principles. Humans are humans, and the full range of human foibles, failures and fortitudes are displayed. The author does an outstanding job of moving the story forward rapidly and deftly by focusing on character development, which is surprisingly effective since almost in every chapter, we are basically introduced to a new set of characters and situations, but, happily, in almost every case these are compelling and engaging. (And if the reader isn’t that interested in the current batch, they know that the current chapter will be over relatively soon, so there’ll be a reset into a new part of the story shortly.) The book combines the piquant strengths of a short story collection with the more durable impact and heft of an entire novel.

That Semiosis is able to do all this while simultaneously being funny, suspenseful, romantic, exciting and thoughtful is truly impressive. There’s a shocking amount of chemistry, especially biochemistry in the book, but even if you can’t distinguish between an acetone and an acid, you can still enjoy multiple aspects of the book. It works on very many different levels. Overall, I’d say it’s about a 4.0-4.5-rated read, but I’m rounding up to reward the author for its creativity and effectiveness of implementation. I’m going to start the sequel Interference right away!

[Justine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid 4 star read for me.

This is a first contact, multi-generational planetary settlement story that focuses on the characters and group sociology. I personally love this kind of book, so it was a winner for me right from the start. Such an interesting take this was too, with the sentient local species that engages with the human settlers being a plant. I liked too that while some of the expected patterns of behaviour do play out, there is a realistic commitment to a higher ideal by the settlers that I found refreshing.

People who follow my reviews will know that I am also doing a buddy read at the moment of the behemoth tome, The Big Book of Science Fiction. Coincidentally, the story I read from that book just prior to starting Semiosis was "Where Two Paths Cross" by Russian author Dmitri Bilenkin. That 1973 short story deals similarly with humans making first contact with alien plants far more intelligent than they are accustomed to. It made for an interesting contrast to read that story and the ideas briefly introduced and then to move on to Semiosis and see how Burke picked up, expanded, and took those ideas in incredible ways. I don't know if Burke has actually ever read Bilenkin's story, but as a reader, the two works together made for a great pairing for all kinds of reasons.

Recommended.

[Holly Hearts Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a first contact with aliens story. It begins with a small civilization of about 30 people from earth and they are living on a new planet they call Pax to create a new Utopia. Environmental devastation on Earth is what lead them to go on this mission in the first place. Immediately they begin studying the local animals, the gravity, and plant life. Villagers start dying quickly. They don’t suffer. It’s like they have fallen asleep. After some research they realize it’s the fruit that they have been eating, it went from being edible to suddenly being poisoned. DUN DUN DUUNNN.

The plants are sentient.

This book wasn’t at all what I expected. I went into it thinking it to be a bit of horror and thriller but it’s more like a slice of life on a foreign planet. Every 50 pages or so it would change to a new character in the next family generation. So it was hard to settle into the story and once you get comfortable with the present, it would jump to 20 years later and you’d have to relearn how there living now. Though the Alien ecosystem was fascinating to read, I felt like that entire “plant plot line” gets a bit lost because of the constant swapping of generations.

If you’re looking for a suspenseful killer plant story, this isn’t it. It’s pretty tame. Very character heavy.

[Alina · Rating 4 out of 5]

***Note: I received a copy curtesy of Netgalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge in exchange for an honest review.

Wanting to leave behind numerous conflicts, warfare and ecological disasters, a group of colonists departs Earth, to create a new, better life. They decide to land on another planet than the one they set out to, based on very good readings from their ship, so they arrive on PAX (latin for peace) with few casualties. Here, they try to form a society based on peace and harmony, avoiding conflicts and trying to negotiate and coexist with Pax’s sentient alien life.

Apart from the interesting premises of sentient plants and the intriguing PoV of one of this sentient lifeforms, you have lots more to think about during and after reading this book. If you decide to depart your planet (you are not forced, but DECIDE to leave - would you, really?! even to escape a warring and suicidal society), how do you choose what to take with you? Not only objects (computers, spare parts, medical equipment, industrial appliances), but especially knowledge: medicine, science, history (to know what to avoid) etc. Also, do you disclose to future generations the warfare in human history, trying to teach them how to avoid it, or do you simply erase it from their knowledge, so they don’t know that can exist? Not to mention that nothing guarantees that future generations will value this way of thinking and living and won’t make the same mistakes that seem to hover over humanity..

3.5★ rounded up for the idea and the questions that it aroused in me.

[Veronique · Rating 4 out of 5]

I usually find books that have ‘generational’ narrators, the story jumping several years/decades ahead, a tad difficult to connect. Semiosis was different in the sense that it caught my interest early and didn’t relent. We follow a group of human colonists trying to start anew on a different planet, escaping the excesses and horrors of Earth. However this world of Pax has a very different vegetation, one that first puzzles, but ultimately endangers them. These plants are ‘aware’ and even attaining sentience, manipulating whatever or indeed whoever for survival. How can these two totally disparate parties attain harmony in this ‘ecosystem’? Is it even possible?

Burke offers a very intriguing story, not just the very alien point of view of the Bamboo but also how these humans behave under these circumstances, some repeating the very same mistakes they were trying to escape from. Additionally, each new voice brought something new, not just in terms of perception, each narrator’s characteristics and tone shaping the story, and yet the author meshed it all smoothly.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Burke examines the secret life of plants. Specifically, "what ifs" surrounding sentience. A multi-generational human saga, while the plants have a much longer lifespan. Had a YA feel which for me is a turn off. The sentient plant reminded me of other works in which artificial intelligence attains sentience. Apparently with sentience comes ambition, guilt and a smattering of malevolence. There was some humor associated with the various types of plants and some rivalries with animals. Interesting ideas, mediocre novel.

3.5ish Stars rounded up because I am interested in the sequel.

Listened to audiobook. Narrators Caitlin Davies and Daniel Thomas May were very good.

[Robyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent SF with a focus on biology, in this case the relationship between human colonists on a planet they’ve named Pax, and an intelligent plant. Reminded me - in the best possible way - of Children of Time in the way it invited us into the interior life of Stevland, as the plant comes to be called, and the completely different connection the human build with it.

[Renee Godding · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual Rating: 4.25/5 stars

Not a perfect novel, but exactly the kind of sci-fi I love. Really enjoyed this read.

Full review to come

[Carlex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three and half stars.

(Apologies for my English, I’m trying to improve it, thanks!)

Much of what I comment in this review can be read in the first chapter (and I must note that the cover and synopsis of the book reveals more than this review, if you don't want spoilers don't read it). In short, “Semiosis” explains the colonization of an unknown planet, a planet with a rich ecology. The colonists call it Pax.

The Pacifists, trying to distance from Earth's wars and ecological disasters, organize themselves according to the Pax Constitution that establishes the rules of a non-aggressive democratic society armonious with the nature. But the planet has its own rules, and above all has its own ecology. A very developed ecology, more complex than the one the Earth had in past (and better) times, one ecology in which the living beings have more evolved relationships. For example, semi intelligent animals such as eagles that know how to make fire; or plants that communicate, negotiate and even go to war with each other.

The inhabitants of Pax do not have it easy. A gravity ⅕ higher than on the Earth and a rich ecology of green plants but based on RNA will be very difficult to adapt to. As time goes by, they will lose the technological support that they have been able to bring with them, while at the same time the planet begins to influence them as human beings and also challenges their utopic model of society.

I can not resist to quote one paragraph of the novel:

"We awakened, cold and dizzy, with our muscles, hearts, and digestive systems atrophied from the 158-year hibernation on a tiny spaceship. The computer had brought us into orbit, sent a message to Earth, then administered intravenous drugs.

Two hours later I was in the cramped cabin trying to sip an electrolyte drink when Vera, our astronomer, came flying in from the control module, her tightly curled hair trailing like a black cloud.

"We’re at the wrong star!""

(The computer has found a more habitable planet and has changed the course of the spaceship).

As I said before, the worldbuilding is in my opinion the best of this novel. An exquisite approach, very well thought out. About the story, if you take into account the various characters that appear in the course of time, it is a choral novel. In addition, it must be said that the author manages to dodge the “bucolic trap”, although there are times when the development of the plot is a bit tricky, but the growing symbiosis between the terrans and the ecology justifies it.

Regarding to the story, I have found it at all times interesting, with good moments of intrigue but others a bit predictables. Also, I consider that successive characters along the story are well developed, although the evolution and motivations of a key figure in the plot are not clear enough.

The novel is the first of a duology, but this is a standalone story. So, Semiosis is an enjoyable example of the good science fiction that is being done in recent years, while also it maintains a classic sense of discovery. I recommend it (and you must read it if you want to know the meaning of the title ;-).

Although it is a totally original novel, to get an idea it have evoked me these other readings: “The Dispossessed” by Ursula K. LeGuin, or the also excellent “Dark Eden” by Chris Beckett. This book also made me think about “Bios”, an interesting work by Robert Charles Wilson.

[Dawn F · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. WOW. Terran collonists learning to communicate and survive on an alien planet with the help of sentient plantlife. This is one stunning, engrossing piece of Le Guin-esque work of speculative scifi.

I do agree with others that it took a while for the plot to evolve, but that somehow seems fitting, as this is a generations story. We follow different individuals from different years, with each their specific story and point of view. I liked that way of telling it because even though it is on the surface a story about a community, they are not a homogenous group devoid of conflict. I loved how their different troubles were highly specific to the circumstances under which they lived, and this is the kind of scifi. I loved how there was both light and darkness and grey areas.

All in all an impressive debut.

[Niki Hawkes - The Obsessive Bookseller · Rating 2 out of 5]

Check out my Booktube channel at: The Obsessive Bookseller

[1.5/5 stars] I didn’t enjoy anything about this book.

Not the characters, not the story, not the trajectory, and most particularly not the execution. Nothing worked for me.

First of all, the basic title and premise give away a lot about what to expect in the story itself. The reader ventures in with a pretty good idea of what’s going on already, so right there the sense of discovery I crave in books was mitigated. What’s more, the reader may know, but the characters don’t, which was a classic case of dramatic irony – where the audience is aware of what’s going on, so they feel a couple of steps removed from the drama… and then the characters take forever to figure things out. Because of this I felt disconnected from the very beginning.

Then the disconnection compounded with each new POV. It’s one of those multi-generational novels where just about the time you get acclimated with a new character, there’s a time jump. I enjoyed the stories but didn’t feel particularly invested in any of them. I suppose from an anthropological standpoint it was interesting to see how society both devolved and adjusted over the course of time, but at the end of the day it was all a bit too simple to really keep my interest.

But I kept reading for the draw of the alien flora and fauna of the world.

Yet even that didn’t play out in a way I found satisfying at the end of the day. The best bits were in the first chapter or two where you really got to immerse in the wildness of this new place. But that interesting world building quickly got replaced by societal drama and an alien entity whom I thought more akin to an AI on a spaceship than an actual foreign creation…

The whole thing was disappointing. Nowhere near where I wanted it to be.

I decided I didn’t care enough about experiencing more in this series to continue with the second book, so I looked up spoilers to see how it ended. I’m such a completionist that those who know me will appreciate how extreme that was and take it as a testament on how much I didn’t care for the first book. It’s like all the ingredients were there with moments of good flavoring, but at the end of the day the author was making cake and I wanted pie (that’s a bad metaphor because I will always eagerly accept both cake and pie, but you get my drift).

Recommendations: this was not one of my favorites, but if you like the idea of a more biological & anthropological scifi (usually my favorite type), this may fit the bill. I was surprised to see how many of my fellow reviewers on GR absolutely loved this book, so I’m definitely in the minority here. Also look up trigger warnings before diving in.

Thank you to my Patrons: Filipe, Dave, Frank, Sonja, Staci, Kat, and Katrin! <3

Via The Obsessive Bookseller at www.NikiHawkes.com

Other books you might like:

[Two Envelopes And A Phone · Rating 5 out of 5]

George Carlin had an old joke:

“And now a message from The National Apple Society: Fuck Pears!!”.

Admittedly not very funny all by itself - normally it should be deep into one of Carlin’s routines, where he’s pretending to be some twisted radio show, and it was surrounded by better jokes. But, if there’s deeper fruit for thought here, I guess George was hinting that not only will we disagree on anything, we’ll get hostile and attack each other over anything. Truer than ever? No. Always true, so far.

4.5 stars for this book, that had me glancing nervously - and even a bit respectfully - at every colourful bunch of flowers planted in big stone urns by humans, along even just the stretch of street between the coffee shop where I often read, and home. This common trek for me - this walk I take that allows me to process a book just after I’ve absorbed it - is loaded with plant life, particularly on the right, beyond a big ugly fence where there’s nothing but cemetery. Lots of thriving (competing?) plants covering up the multitude of deceased humans.

4.5 stars, with that little bit chipped off, because Semiosis does play along familiar lines, for a “first-contact/human colonists wrestling with a new world” book. The trick for an author seems to be to come up with as unique a new planet as possible, especially with super-interesting aliens. This is a riveting example of doing that right; the Caesar and Koba situations among the colonists seemed familiar, but the intelligent plant life changed the playing field entirely; real grass here on planet Pax, no oft-trod artificial turf. And how long will that grass allow itself to be trod on, before it has some choice words to say…or applies some deadly poison to the bottom of your shoes….Welcome to Pax!

It’s a wonderful exploration of what sentience could be like if it exists in flora - and it makes me wonder “do we know that it doesn’t?”. And could humans survive, if the jungle could talk, hold a grudge, feel fear, and fight back?

[Stevie Kincade · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was attracted to this book by Gary's review and the premise of a first contact story combined with a generational colony story, two of my absolute favourite SF setups.
In the first chapter the colonists encounter two competing sentient plant based life forms and with all the trepidation and foreshadowing of teens entering a spooky house in a horror flick, choose their botanical side.
The second chapter moves forward a generation and unearths a major cover up. At the end of the second chapter about 3 hours into the audiobook I was absolutely HOOKED. I was finding excuses to walk around at work so I could listen to just a few more minutes, I was in a minor state of shock and doing first pumps at HOW GOOD THIS BOOK WAS.

Unlike most of the other books I've read or listened to lately this was an absolute page turner I devoured in a few days. The pace is incredibly fast with each chapter (about 90 minutes of audio) representing one generation of the colony. At this pace I expected the story to cover hundreds or even thousands of years like "Foundation" but it is actually only the story of the beginnings of the colony.

The original setup is incredibly effective at hooking the reader in, so much so that I was constantly imagining my own story of what was going to happen and where this all was going. It is a credit to author Sue Burke that "Semiosis" stimulated my imagination so thoroughly. It is also somewhat inevitable that the climax couldn't live up to my own expectations.

I'm going to keep this part of the review spoiler free but I will say that while the middle and end of the book weren't a total bummer, I couldn't help but be a bit disappointed that the wrap up was so...conventional when there was potential here for something much more strange and spectacular. Like the giant foot statue in "Lost" I didn't feel all of the enticing bread crumbs were paid off or explained to my satisfaction - even though I enjoyed following them immensely.

The audiobook was fine with chapters from a female perspective narrated by Caitlin Davies and the male chapters narrated by Daniel Thomas May. The one issue I had was that May had to find a voice for the plant intelligence "Steveland" and went with "overacting Shakespearian guest actor on Star Trek" voice. This was OK for most of the book, since a clever plant is a hard voice to come up with. At the end of the novel where the climax is narrated by Steveland for chapters at a time, it got to be over the top and annoying.

I did enjoy the ride "Semiosis" took me on and recommend it to fans of the first contact/space colony genre. It has certainly inspired my first feature length review in QUITE some time. Now to the spoilers:


So I had a few issues with this book. In Chapter 2 we find that the first generation knew about the rainbow bamboo but chose to live in their decrepid camp basically because..."drugs are bad...mmkay". Well..I expected that this was done for a more legitimate reason and that in Chapter 3 (or anywhere else) we were going to flash back and read about the first generation's interaction with Steveland and that this decision was not as stupid as it seemed on the surface. There had to be a reason for the cover up! Instead this first generation who were adventurous enough to want to sail across the galaxy in the first place chose to hide in their tents and cover up the glassmaker city and actively blindfold the 2nd generation. I'm not buying it!

Pour one out for Julian. this death and the revenge murder were absolutely shocking to me and even thought I don't know anything about Julian other that that he was infertile this combined with the cover up of an alien city made me want to join the murderous revolution with Katniss Everdeen or whatever her name was.

A lesser problem but their spaceship has the computing power to get them to a distant sun but not enough to survive even one generation of landing on the planet. their hard drive barely had enough space for a few books. The satellite system was a problem. Got it up and running....oops it doensn't work now...we can't do anything...back to the stone age. OK! Lucky we have all those books...nevermind.

The glassmakers. We don't get any explanation or clues as to how their civilisation fell apart. This is the central mystery surrounding them....and nothing. When they first burned the bamboo I expected a rich history of interaction with evil Steveland that led them to abandon their city and strike out on their own. Some central conflict between Steveland and the glassmakers. Nope. Story goes - they were smart now they are dumb and dying...OK

I feel like a huge opportunity was missed with the character of Steveland, he legitimately could have been one of the greatest SF villains of all time. I was imagining a "black mirror" like scenario where subsequent generations of humans grow more and more dependent on him until cycles of rebellion and Steveland reasserting himself come into play. Eventually the humans think they have him under control but they are actually doing what Steveland wants via the mindfruit.

We are told at the start that Steveland is out for himself, this is followed through with the next generation who reinforce this, then when the pacifists are totally under his branchy thumb, it turns out the humans have been the ones who domesticated Steveland! Happy ending! This was like pointing out Chekov's gun in the first act, reminding us about it in the second and never firing it in the 3rd. I just didn't buy any of this, it almost felt like Burke changed where the story was going half way through. We have this power hungry, manipulative, ego maniacal, spacefaring aspirant plant who wants to have it all - then suddenly feels sad he couldn't make it work with the glassmakers and gets emo he had to kill a few. I really couldn't get on board with the end where the glassmakers are waging war and everyone was so desperate to protect these stinky leeching murderers. Steveland could have been an amazing, powerful villain. Instead he ends up like a lovely old pacifist human.

I think if any one of these 3 points conspiracy/glassmakers/Steveland were nailed it would have been a 5 star story. Maybe I was just disappointed that the whole time it felt like this was going to be a darker story with the rug cleverly pulled out from the reader. Instead in the end the ewoks and the Jedi and the stormtroopers had a big bonfire and sang songs together.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Grateful for this opportunity to create a new society in full harmony with nature, we enter into this covenant, promising one another our mutual trust and support. We will face hardship, danger, and potential failure, but we can aspire to the use of practical wisdom to seek joy, love, beauty, community, and life.“

Within the first few pages this turned into a dangerous endeavor with creepy plants that seemed to be after the small band of colonists. I was very quickly immersed in the storytelling of the first chapter. Consecutive chapters took me a little longer and eventually the story grabbed me. Probably, when a certain plant got involved more deeply.

I had expected a different book, more of a hard SF colony / first contact novel. Instead the book has an episodic set-up, with a new generation of colonists telling their story in each new chapter. Not something I am usually fond of in a novel. Eventually a red thread emerges, connecting the generations. Each generation has their own encounters, developments and problems. Some of the colonists were likable, many of the others not so much.

Burke gives us lessons in sociology, biology, biochemistry and glimpses of possible what-ifs. It‘s a bit of a time-lapse civilization crash course with hippies in a first contact situation with the local flora and fauna. As some other reviewer mentioned already, I don‘t think the number of colonists would be viable longterm. The gene pool seems too small.

At times this made me think of Tchaikovsky‘s Children of Time. The book really came to life for me, when the local flora got a voice and started talking to each other. I wish, some people I know were capable of growing a humour root! Loved the imaginative fauna as well.

“Our future would be another discovery—or, if we understood how we had arrived at where we were, it could be a choice.“

[Hank · Rating 3 out of 5]

How to justify my 3 star rating? The beginning of the book was very rough on my brain. I had an extremely difficult time getting past

1. A space faring civilization, whose A.I. picked the perfect planet yet couldn't compensate for the higher gravity when landing?

2. A space faring civilization who can send 50 people light years away but couldn't spare the weight for an extra food synthesizer? Really the loss of that could have been done in a 100 more believable ways.

3. A 50 person colony? I didn't think that worked genetically but I am a physics/computer geek not biology so maybe?

That was in the first 30 pages so no spoiler tags. Once Burke stopped floundering around trying to set up the obvious world she wanted, the book got much better! Loved the evil sentient plant thing and the beat you over the head symbiosis setup. I really liked how Burke set up the generational tension throughout, very believable both in her book and our reality. I am also, so going to name my next pet Steveland.

It sounds like I really enjoyed it but there was just too much meandering. I tend not to like books that feel like a set of short stories strung together and this is no exception. I needed more transition and more time to attach to the characters. The world and native plants are the MC in Semiosis but Burke didn't really make it awesome enough for me, the whole glassmaker conflict was kind of blah although the ultimate battle was well done.

I think ultimately it just had too much of the pacifist discussion/motivation/philosophy for it to be a vibrant book. I agree with all she wanted to say and I liked the conversion of Steveland but it was too many words, not enough Eagles!