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 is seamlessly inserted into Portia’s narrative. 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.īurke did plant research, and some of the most awkward moments of the book come from when she’s determined to show it. Perhaps because the characters themselves are ambivalent about what they are facing in their sections. Characterization was fine but something just feels somewhat uninspired. 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. The good news about this is that with a variety of human viewpoints, there are some who should be more successful with the reader. The events of the fourth end up shifting the colony’s direction significantly. The last four sections all take place within two years, beginning 106 years after the colonists landed, and generally are more congruous. The fourth has a strong mystery-thriller plot. The first feels like a first landing story, about the hardships of colonization and the history of the group on Earth. Unsurprisingly, they read like separate novellas.

The first three sections occur almost thirty years apart, encompassing different generations of colony evolution.

Narrative is broken into seven sections, narrated by seven different people. 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). In the first few pages we learn three people have gone missing and are presumed dead. Only, in the tradition of first colonization stories everywhere, stuff happens. They are looking for peace, but to no reader’s surprise, end up on a planet that seemed hospitable. The premise is straightforward: a group of colonists has landed on Pax, fleeing Earth’s environmental catastrophes and endless wars. endurance fashion, persevered, and found it to be a very uneven experience. 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 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.

Semiosis book review