Semiosis

This reads sort of like a series of short stories that all build up on each other as the colonists establish society on a new planet. There's fun and interesting world building (quite literally), but I found myself wishing the book would just hurry up and end throughout significant sections. I generally enjoy character driven stories, but there were just too many characters for me to become attached to or for me to understand.

Halfway through chapter two I really thought I was going to quit, but alas here I am recommending this to folks who are looking for a unique, hard sci-fi. Maybe it's not unique, but for me this seven-generation humans-colonize-a-new-planet story was unexpected and unlike anything I've read. I thought this was going to be about plants (it was killing me) but it really got into the complicated dynamics of the people and their relationships to the native species, about which I was often wondering what are their intentions?! Although I didn't like “Children of Time” I can see this working for those who liked it and vice-versa.

For the first hundred or so pages, this book is an interesting eco-survival thriller about settlers exploring an unfamiliar planet. It's a challenging world with strange plants and animals, but the story becomes truly interesting when they encounter an intelligent plant species.

I very much enjoyed these early chapters of first contact between the humans and the plants, the attempts at communication and the palpable excitement of the humans interacting with something so alien. Big shades of Stanislaw Lem!

A big narrative shift happens when the humans meet the aliens they've long suspected of inhabiting the planet among them. Suddenly it becomes a kind of reverse Xenogenesis story, where the humans first try to make peaceful contact but soon realize they're a danger to humans and themselves, and decide to imprison and control them. At the same time, the intelligent plant becomes a rogue AI type character with a very bossy personality.

A fantastic book, honestly. Very much looking forward to reading the sequel.

Plants are people to!

4/5

un récit mêlant colonisation interplanétaire et nature

Au début du roman nous suivons un groupe de terriens venus coloniser leur nouvelle planète.

Le roman est découpé de telle façon que chaque nouveau chapitre nous emmène un peu + loin dans l'histoire de cette civilisation.
Il y a en tout 7 chapitres et chacun nous est raconté du pdv d'un perso différent issu de la génération suivante. Cela nous permet donc de couvrir une très longue période.

J'avais initialement peur à la lecture du 1e chapitre que l'histoire se cantonne aux prémices de cette colonisation mais comme dis + haut l'autrice nous fait voyager au travers des nombreuses générations qui vont succéder à la 1e et j'ai tout simplement adoré cette vision large de l'histoire.

C'etait bien ficelé en + d'être intéressant car d'une génération à une autre on peut voir l'évolution des mentalités et coutumes.

Parfois même on a pu remarquer tous ces changements au travers de différents personnages “clés” qui sont présents dans plusieurs récits. Au début jeunes et dans la force de l'âge puis au chapitre suivant âgés et sur le point de laisser place aux générations suivantes.

Cela nous donne un pdv intéressant sur la nature de l'homme que l'on découvre et redécouvre au fil du temps.

J'ai vraiment accroché à ce type de narration même si je lui ai trouvé un gros défaut : difficile de s'atttacher aux persos quand ceux la ne restent jamais bien longtemps.

Malgré cela et quelques longueurs j'ai quand même apprécié cette lecture pour le moins originale.

Originale car la nature est au coeur de cette histoire côte à côte avec la colonisation.

Un perso très important dans cette histoire étant une plante (c'est d'ailleurs le perso auquel je me suis le + attaché car il est présent depuis presque le tout début du roman)

On se retrouve donc avec les humains et plantes cohabitant et travaillant ensemble en harmonie afin de survivre et prospérer sur cette planète.
Chacun sur le même plan, à égalité.

Bref je recommande !

A group of humans escapes from earth to start afresh on a wild lush planet. Their intention is peace, yet as we follow along their progress in generational steps, listening to the voices of each generation's current “moderator”, we learn that intentions aren't always easy to upkeep. Especially when you are attempting to form alliances with other sentient beings.

This was great. The novel is like a tabula rasa for civilization. Where lessons of the past are intentionally or unintentioally hidden, giving our protagonists (fauna and flora) the opportunity to relearn conflict resolution, language, collaboration. Within their own specis and also with others. And even plants discover that it is hard to balance emotions with facts.

Bad bad orange trees! :)

I especially liked that the book had enemies but ultimately chose to show that collaboration is always the right path towards a healthy environment.

2019 Goodreads Summer Reading Challenge:
☐ Genre explorer: Read a book from a genre you've never read before. - Hard Science Fiction

The first several chapters were not that appealing to me; I'm glad I gave it ‘one more chance' because the plot got interesting and then all of a sudden I was caught by surprise to see I was near the end of the story.

I see this is a series, I may / may not continue; there's so much else to read.

We're dangerous beasts
domestication can't hurt
behave, eat the fruit.

My footing in the genre of Science Fiction is still a little rocky. I've been trying to stretch outside my comfort zone, and pick up more books that I wouldn't normally read. So when Semiosis came along as a review opportunity, I jumped on it. What caught my eye about Sue Burke's story was the fact that this book isn't just about space colony survivalists, but also about their deep connection with the nature around them. Give me a book about sentient plants, and you have my attention! I'm happy to report that this book really impressed me.

I'll admit, it did take me a whole generation (essentially a chapter) to really settle in to this book. The humble beginnings of the colonists were intriguing, but confusing. I had to learn their day to day workings, their history, and even their speech. However as I read, and as the generations of colonists slowly started to float by, I became fully immersed in this story. Burke does an amazing job of picking the perfect spokesperson from each generation, someone who is right on the inside, to tell the current story. I watched as the people when from barely surviving, to thriving within the ecosystem that had once terrified them. As they learned, I learned, and it made me feel like a part of it all.

Semiosis has so many ethical quandaries to consider. Whether to live with nature, or to force it to conform to humanity is one of the biggest. The colonists slowly learn that giving the intelligence of the world around them the credit that it is due, helps everyone. There is also a fascinating discussion of merging two cultures. When faced with a the prospect of whether to completely destroy one another, or to work together, things are predictably split. I actually loved this portion of the book. It was a bit violent, but also fascinating. To watch two sets of beings who can't understand one another ever so slowly learn to mesh. I was so caught up in the debates of the colonists. It was intriguing to watch them essentially forge a brand new society from the ground up, and try not to make the same mistakes as on Earth. After all, if we don't learn from our mistakes we are doomed to repeat them. Right?

To wrap things up, because I don't know how to really discuss this book without ruining anything, Semiosis was so much more than I expected. Yes, it was a little slow at the beginning. Yes, I had to push through the first chapter to learn how this new world worked. However the multi-generational storytelling really caught me up, and I ultimately finished this book with a smile on my face. It was surreal how obsessed I became with these people as I watched them grow. That's a huge nod to Sue Burke's writing.

3.75 out of 5 stars

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Upon arriving on Pax, a faraway Earth-like planet, human colonists seek to build a peaceful society despite territorial native plants and harsh conditions. The story is told over 100+ years and across several generations of settlers.

I immediately drew parallels between Semiosis and aspects of other recent works of science fiction — the multi-generational narrative of Children of Time, the planet colonizing and community building of Planetfall, and the alien communication angle of Arrival to name a few. As the story moves forward, though, this book forges its own path and becomes wholly original.

Author Sue Burke brings flora to life (both literally and figuratively) in such a skillful way that I was shocked to find that she is not a botanist-turned-novelist. Infusing plants with sentiency and agency adds an eerie quality to this book that was difficult to shake.

Structurally, the beginning sections were much more interesting to me as the time jumps moved us quickly from generation to generation, but things felt stagnant in the final few sections as the focus shifts to one pivotal event instead of years and years of progress. I see the value in altering the plot progression and story beats to keep things fresh, but things slowed down and got stuck focusing on some minutiae that was less appealing to me.

Nevertheless, Semiosis is solid debut novel that nicely executes a high-concept format. It's disquieting, clever, and a change of pace from what I'm used to reading. I would be intrigued to see what sort of future Sue Burke could cultivate for future generations of the Pax commonwealth should a sequel bear fruit.

See this review and others at The Speculative Shelf.

Pros: brilliant world-building, fascinating characters and situation

Cons: some stories were very impersonal

The Commonwealth of Pax started as a group of volunteer colonists leave the horrors of war on Earth to begin a hard life on star HIP 30815f. Almost immediately they discover that the plant life on their new home world has varying degrees of intelligence, and that another alien species left ruins of a magnificent but failed city.

The novel is told from the points of view of one of the first settlers and six descendants, one from each of the following generations. Each generation faces new problems and challenges, from predators, from the plant they've allied with, internal strife, and the rediscovered aliens.

Most of the stories are told with an element of reserve, that allows some of the more unpleasant things that happen to leave little impact on the reader. By the time I got to know each character their segment ended. Though I'm glad that the rape scene was written in a clinical rather than sensationalist manner, on the whole I much preferred the longer stories that allowed me to really immerse myself in the character's lives. Higgens' section especially touched me deeply.

The sentient plants were handled well. I didn't understand a lot of the chemistry involved, but there's explanations for how the plants communicate - with humans and with each other. I loved the bamboo's learning curve, from wanting to domesticate these strange but helpful animals to being a contributing member of their community.

The world-building was excellent, with whole alien ecologies and while plants and animals were given names reminiscent of Earth, it's clear they're VERY different.

During the second story I was shocked at how far the parents had fallen from their own constitution and their use of Earth tactics they claimed to hate. I'd have expected that kind of break to happen much later in the colony's lifespan.

This was a fascinating book.