Earthsong

Parkland #2

by Victor Kelleher

The Earth of our distant future has become a strange and frightening place. Now, thousands of years later, two off-worlder humans Anna and Joe, are sent back to this wild and unpopulated planet to try to begin human life all over again. And together with their babbling computer companions Og, Trog and Walter, they set off on a journey of hope.

But what they discover is a world far more confusing, far more powerful, than they'd ever imagined. Rats that seem to reason for themselves? Creatures that communicate in ancient human codes? What is going on?

Following the highly acclaimed Parkland, Earthsong is the second book in a loosely linked trilogy about humanity, responsibility and freedom. Here Victor Kelleher takes those familiar themes and gives us new ways of looking at them, new consequences to grapple with. And the real truth about humankind - its ambitions, its responsibilities, its dreadful mistakes - is here for all to see.

Genres: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Fiction

239 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Victor Kelleher is an Australian author. Victor was born in London and moved to Africa with his parents, at the age of fifteen. He spent the next twenty years travelling and studying in Africa, before moving to New Zealand. Kelleher received a teaching degree in Africa and has taught in Africa, New Zealand and Australia. While in New Zealand, he began writing part time, prompted by homesickness for Africa. He moved to Australia in 1976, with his South African wife, Allison, and taught at the University of New England, in Armidale, New South Wales, before moving to Sydney to write full time. Many of the books he has written have been based on his childhood and his travellings in Africa.

Kelleher has won many awards for his books, such as the Australian Children's Book Award.

Reviews

[Julieanne Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Acclaimed Australian author Victor Kelleher explores themes of apocalypse, human responsibility, survival and freedom in a sinister future scenario where two teens are sent back to repopulate the earth thousands of years from now. As a middle aged woman teen sci fi holds no real attraction for me yet the serendipity of finding this book on a shelf in an old NSW nurses hostel was a fortunate stroke of luck. I really enjoyed it. A genre I need to delve into more!
He writes a good human interest story with enough dramatic tension and thrills to ensure pages are turned quickly and enough philosophy to challenge cherished beliefs about nature and planetary intelligence. Way ahead of his time was Kelleher, this 1995 published book was written before movies like Avatar or The Matrix and before cloning and extra-uteral births were considered a possibility. His vision of the future world is no longer safe or benevolent but rather a highly organised human-animal swarm that thinks as One, not unlike the hive mind of today's internet. The question remains will it act together in concert to preserve humanity or to destroy? Questions that are still relevant today for teen readers.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book to read for the ideas, not so much for the story arc or characters! Interesting premise and mystery.

[Jody Ellis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Victor takes what, at the time of publishing, was still hypothesis and hotly contended theories and turns it into reality. Applied to today, it's probably not far from the truth from what's happening to the planet and also the path humanity would take in the face of extinction.

The use of teenagers was probably to keep in with the target audience but their personalities were of a more mature couple. Walter was just annoying when he lost his ability to talk properly because most of the time I had no idea what he was saying.

The ending was good and tidy and the book overall gave just enough to keep the imagination glowing. Whilst initially I felt I couldn't picture Og and his companion, as the book progressed I managed to evolve them.

It was an enjoyable book, I enjoyed it just as much as when I first read it over a decade ago. I think perhaps it is more suited for the young adult, or even read it to younger children. Adults may struggle with the concepts and characters.

[Tulsi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another story from Victor Kelleher which challenges notions of humanity and personal responsibility. Set in a very distant future where humans has left Earth due to global warming, two humans are sent back to repopulate a newly regenerated Earth. However, Earth is not the same place it was when humans left it generations ago, and when a crash landing damages their computer system, the humans are forced to attempt to survive in this hostile new world which is completely foreign, even though it was the place of birth of their species. Confronting, and surprisingly tender at times despite the subject matter, it's another thought provoking story from Kelleher.

[Nola · Rating 2 out of 5]

The end didn't feel very complete.

The whole 'one voice' thing didn't seem to be solved. If the insects hadn't been behaving as normal insects then how was the forest living anyway? What was spreading the seeds and working on the soil and providing food for smaller animals? Now the insects know all creatures have been spliced and the share common genes, they are going to stop trying to be the strongest and allow themselves to be eaten?

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice easy read quiet a quaint story.