The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz - 4*

[Joy D]

The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz - 4* - My Review

Ambitious utopian book set on the planet Sask-E starting in the year 59006 and continuing to 60610. This is a story told in three separate parts. I particularly enjoyed the first part, featuring a Destry, a member of the Environmental Rescue Team. She is charged with terraforming Sask-E into a world similar to Earth, accompanied by her sidekick Whistle, a sentient moose. They discover a society that has existed for generations hidden in a volcano. The last two parts are each set hundreds of years later and feature different characters carrying on Destry’s legacy.

In this world, animals have developed the ability to think on par with humans and can communicate either through voice or mind-to-text. Artificial intelligence has evolved to the point of incorporation into a wide variety of lifeforms. Lifespans have increased to hundreds of years. The villain of the piece is the corporation, Verdance, the source of funding for the terraforming project which has enslaved the labor force.

Major themes include environmental protection, animal/human rights, social classes, personhood, the perils of capitalism, and corporate ethics (or lack thereof). I wish Destry had continued throughout the entire storyline, as she is the most well-developed of all the characters, but overall, I found it a stimulating and creative exploration of many issues relevant to our world.