Appleseed

3.5 stars

NOMINATED FOR THE 2022 URSULA K. LE GUIN PRIZE FOR FICTION

Appleseed is an overwritten mess of a book, examining our dying world from the perspective of some who witnessed the seeds of its death, its imminent demise, and those who came after. It's certainly an ambitious book, and by the time I was about 2/3rds through the book I was actually starting to appreciate what it was trying to do. It does get there, in the end– but I felt as though it could have easily been half as long, and twice as well-written. Characters are mouthpieces for ideas, themes are overdone to the point they feel forced.

If this is Le Guin-esque, it's more THE WORD FOR WORLD IS FOREST than anything else; an unsubtle work that never hits its stride.