Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz

5 reviews

scifi_rat's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced
  • Loveable characters? No

2.5

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jodean's review

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adventurous dark hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Newitz has created both my dream world and my worst nightmare. A future of amazing bioengineering capabilities, of any creature being sentient (including public transit??). Also a capitalist hellscape future where most people are "slaved" to a corporation? 
The writing style is the only thing I can't get past. It's not my thing. But the premises were interesting enough that I had to keep reading. 
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shinypurplepants's review against another edition

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medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

Vast in scope, this reminded me a bit of Gregory Maguire's <i>Wicked<\i> series with its arguments about what is good and what is a person.

The description does not do this book justice. This epic takes place on a planet across three "eras" where you get to see how earlier choices affect those that come next. There are dozens of named characters of various species with their own baggage and struggles. I would recommend this for readers that want a world to sink their teeth into.

There is a LOT of world-building that is glossed over in a "as you already know" manner that bothered me but I think would be satisfying to readers that prefer large scope narratives with lots of moving parts.

This was sold to me as a readalike to Becky Chambers and I would not agree with that.
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steph_is_reading's review

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challenging reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I found this book to be inventive but heavyhanded. It explores many themes, such as gender expression, the morality of resource consumption, colonialism, slavery, capitalism, and more. It's a lot, all while being at times quite silly. It made the book less immersive to me and more of a morality exercise. However, near the end I found myself to be surprisingly invested in the outcome, despite my initial reservations. It was worth a read to me, but I caution to approach it with an open mind.
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meat_muffin's review

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adventurous challenging hopeful sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

I am… torn. Was this book well-written? Yes. Was the author very skilled at condensing insanely complicated subjects down to comprehensible concepts? Also yes. But do I kind of feel like flinging myself (and humanity) into the sun after reading it? Also yes.

Listen. It’s a good book! But this has totally ruined my faith in the future of humanity. (They’re not wrong, though! I fully believe this whole thing could come true in a few thousand years. I just… hate that!)
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