Scan barcode
squirrelsohno's review against another edition
4.0
A long time ago, in a high school far away, I remember coming across EARTHSEED tucked among the broken paperbacks. I never picked it up because it looked like the cover would break if I even touched it. I skipped it over for other greats from the 1980s because my library was that backwards. When I got the chance to read and review this one, though, as well as interview author Pamela Sargent, I jumped at the chance.
EARTHSEED follows fifteen year old Zoheret as she lives and grows on a spaceship run by a computer named Ship. Ship has been parent, caretaker, mentor, and friend since the day she was born, grown from eggs and sperm never to know her real parents along with dozens of other kids. Her destiny – to populate a new planet now that Earth is pretty much caput. But for Zoheret and her friends, things are not as they seem. When the backstabbing starts and the claws come out, it is every kid for him or herself.
I should probably start by saying that this book really gets only 3.5 out of 5 stars. This book succeeds for me mostly on its impressive plot. Zoheret’s story is like LORD OF THE FLIES meets outer space, with kids who backstab for survival, forests full of traps, and a ship pushing its wards to succeed at all costs. It’s a story worth telling, and Sargent does an amazing job of introducing new twists that complicate matters for Zoheret. And I have to give kudos to Sargent for being rather ruthless with her turns in the story. There be death and chaos and blood in this one, folks.
But what this book lacks is something I’ve found to be the norm in books from the 1980s. The writing is dry and stiff, with a cardboard-like consistency to it. Told in third person, I found it excruciatingly hard to connect with Zoheret. Likewise, her shipmates were a revolving door of names, albeit multicultural names – we have Jews, Arabs, Japanese, Chinese, plain old Americans and kids of mixed descent, all born from eggs and sperm whipped together by a machine and grown on the ship. But none of these names have any real personalities. Zoheret herself is relegated to a dry tone and kept at an arm’s length, which can be understandable given that she was raised by a computer, but it’s not great for reading.
As I’ve said, the writing is dry and the characterization isn’t great. Another issue I had that takes it down another half star is the fact that there is no foreshadowing. You find a book like CINDER where the author loads us with heavy foreshadowing that is painfully obvious, but in EARTHSEED we find the opposite. Twists occur without any build up, leaving us dropped into a new situation and caught off guard. I loved the twists, but when you can’t see them coming or rationalize their sudden appearance, you’re going to end up all like, “Did I read that right? Am I an idiot?” But yeah, I loved the twists once I had a chance to read and understand the situation. With some of the twists, especially later on, the twists seem like a tacked on afterthought.
EARTHSEED is a book where I can see a lot of people being on the fence about it. It’s definitely not the same style of book you see from 21st century YA. Still, it has been optioned for film by a Twilight screenwriter/producer/someone Twilight related. And I would definitely be there opening day if this movie were ever produced and released, but to be honest, it feels like 95% of YA books are optioned these days, and only 1% are ever made into movies. This one just doesn’t feel like it will make it far, but I can hope! It would indeed by EPICCCC.
Also, who is the guy on the cover – Manuel? Dmitri? Random other guy? I still can’t figure it out.
VERDICT: Although a bit dry, EARTHSEED is worth a read if only for an epic plot. The science fiction genre is a fave, and this book reminded me why I love it.
EARTHSEED follows fifteen year old Zoheret as she lives and grows on a spaceship run by a computer named Ship. Ship has been parent, caretaker, mentor, and friend since the day she was born, grown from eggs and sperm never to know her real parents along with dozens of other kids. Her destiny – to populate a new planet now that Earth is pretty much caput. But for Zoheret and her friends, things are not as they seem. When the backstabbing starts and the claws come out, it is every kid for him or herself.
I should probably start by saying that this book really gets only 3.5 out of 5 stars. This book succeeds for me mostly on its impressive plot. Zoheret’s story is like LORD OF THE FLIES meets outer space, with kids who backstab for survival, forests full of traps, and a ship pushing its wards to succeed at all costs. It’s a story worth telling, and Sargent does an amazing job of introducing new twists that complicate matters for Zoheret. And I have to give kudos to Sargent for being rather ruthless with her turns in the story. There be death and chaos and blood in this one, folks.
But what this book lacks is something I’ve found to be the norm in books from the 1980s. The writing is dry and stiff, with a cardboard-like consistency to it. Told in third person, I found it excruciatingly hard to connect with Zoheret. Likewise, her shipmates were a revolving door of names, albeit multicultural names – we have Jews, Arabs, Japanese, Chinese, plain old Americans and kids of mixed descent, all born from eggs and sperm whipped together by a machine and grown on the ship. But none of these names have any real personalities. Zoheret herself is relegated to a dry tone and kept at an arm’s length, which can be understandable given that she was raised by a computer, but it’s not great for reading.
As I’ve said, the writing is dry and the characterization isn’t great. Another issue I had that takes it down another half star is the fact that there is no foreshadowing. You find a book like CINDER where the author loads us with heavy foreshadowing that is painfully obvious, but in EARTHSEED we find the opposite. Twists occur without any build up, leaving us dropped into a new situation and caught off guard. I loved the twists, but when you can’t see them coming or rationalize their sudden appearance, you’re going to end up all like, “Did I read that right? Am I an idiot?” But yeah, I loved the twists once I had a chance to read and understand the situation. With some of the twists, especially later on, the twists seem like a tacked on afterthought.
EARTHSEED is a book where I can see a lot of people being on the fence about it. It’s definitely not the same style of book you see from 21st century YA. Still, it has been optioned for film by a Twilight screenwriter/producer/someone Twilight related. And I would definitely be there opening day if this movie were ever produced and released, but to be honest, it feels like 95% of YA books are optioned these days, and only 1% are ever made into movies. This one just doesn’t feel like it will make it far, but I can hope! It would indeed by EPICCCC.
Also, who is the guy on the cover – Manuel? Dmitri? Random other guy? I still can’t figure it out.
VERDICT: Although a bit dry, EARTHSEED is worth a read if only for an epic plot. The science fiction genre is a fave, and this book reminded me why I love it.
sleepgoblin's review against another edition
3.0
I can't finish the at that moment. It's very YA Sci-fi, but there's nothing wrong with it, technically speaking. It's just very "you know something bad is always right around the corner" stressful and I'm apparently more fragile about stress than I realized at the moment.
starknits13's review against another edition
4.0
Really I give it a 3.5 So I thought this book was interesting. Though I’m sure the kids would be more messed up for not being touched and held as babies. It was very interesting seeing how they repeated the same things that “earth” went through
mysticalbluerose's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
krwriter8's review against another edition
4.0
The first third of this book had me hooked, but then the plot started to fall apart in Part 2.
ncrabb's review against another edition
2.0
Not much to write home about, let alone to a group of people who will read this review. The basic premise is the old adage “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” Zoheret and a cadre of associates live inside a ship created by humans centuries earlier to populate the stars. The humans hope their survivors will build better than they did, and it is that hope that creates the ship and populates it with these idealistic teens.
But things go awry when Ship creates a survivor game designed to teach the would-be colonists how to exist without Ship’s overarching influence.
This was a downer that left me cold and unimpressed. I have one more book by this author in the to-read rotation, and it will come up soon. I’ll be fascinated to determine whether that will be a more positive experience than this was.
But things go awry when Ship creates a survivor game designed to teach the would-be colonists how to exist without Ship’s overarching influence.
This was a downer that left me cold and unimpressed. I have one more book by this author in the to-read rotation, and it will come up soon. I’ll be fascinated to determine whether that will be a more positive experience than this was.
eviebookish's review against another edition
4.0
This book was absolutely amazing. It had me hooked and frantically turning pages. Gripping, mature and really entertaining read! Review to come soon!
foreveryoungadult's review against another edition
Graded By: Megan no h
Cover Story: Cheesetastic
BFF Charm: Ehhh?
Swoonworthy Scale: 0
Talky Talk: Mr. Roboto
Bonus Factors: Lord Of The Flies, Spaceship Life, AI Computer
Relationship Status: Great Pre-Hunger Games Friend
Read the full book report here.
Cover Story: Cheesetastic
BFF Charm: Ehhh?
Swoonworthy Scale: 0
Talky Talk: Mr. Roboto
Bonus Factors: Lord Of The Flies, Spaceship Life, AI Computer
Relationship Status: Great Pre-Hunger Games Friend
Read the full book report here.
kevinhendricks's review against another edition
4.0
I remember reading this entire book in a single day in 8th grade. The story captivated me--an intriguing mix of Lord of the Flies and sci-fi. I recently discovered that 25 years after publishing this book, the author turned it into trilogy, so I thought I'd re-read it before hitting up the new ones.
Re-reading is always interesting, but I'd completely forgotten the major plot twists during the second half. It's still pretty good--a lot more teen drama then I remember, but maybe I understood it better then.
Re-reading is always interesting, but I'd completely forgotten the major plot twists during the second half. It's still pretty good--a lot more teen drama then I remember, but maybe I understood it better then.