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mes0pelagic_fan's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I would have dnf-ed this less than three hours in if not for it being a book club pick, but if you can get past the writing (or audiobook style), then you're in for a meandering multi-century tour of a pretty cool planet though the eyes of some characters I found deeply unlikable and at times downright irritating. the time and POV jumps threw me off, and the overall plot didn't do it for me. I did like the idea of corporate terraforming, and i think some of the themes explored like eco-tourism, urban planning, and other stuff associated with the worldbuilding were really neat, but the themes related to speciesism and 'what does it mean to be a person' really didn't land. the inter-homonid "racism" also really put me off, especially with regards to the relationship between sulphur and misha. by the time we got to their sentient train kid hooking up with a cat journalist I was so non-plussed I didn't even bat an eye. I made some connections between this and Huxley's brave new world, with the deliberate caste-ification of individuals by stunting intelligence to make a "better" society, as well as the eco-tourism idea of rich people being horrified/fascinated by 'natural/primitive' humans and landscapes which inspired me to keep reading just to see what would happen, but it didn't really come to fruition the way I had hoped. overall a mildly interesting read-- but the best part was showing other people snatches of the wildly out-of-pocket sound effects from the audiobook.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content, Animal cruelty, and Excrement
maeverose's review
I was interested in this for the environmentalism focus and because it seemed becky chambers esque but It didn’t grab my attention, and the humor didn’t jive with me (lots of poop jokes). Plus based on other people’s reviews I can tell this book is just way too weird for me.
One thing also bothered me a bit.. I love animals and personally don’t eat meat but this book seems to have a strong anti meat eater take, and I can’t tell if that was the author’s intention or if it’s just because the animals in this world are basically people. It was giving virtue signaling.. The damage that the meat industry does is not an individual’s problem but a problem with those industries. Not everyone can just stop eating meat, either for health or accessibility/financial reasons. Again, I could be reading into something that wasn’t even intended by the author, but I wanted to point it out because it felt a tad too similar to some of the crazy vegan youtubers I used to watch before I realized they were actually assholes.
One thing also bothered me a bit.. I love animals and personally don’t eat meat but this book seems to have a strong anti meat eater take, and I can’t tell if that was the author’s intention or if it’s just because the animals in this world are basically people. It was giving virtue signaling.. The damage that the meat industry does is not an individual’s problem but a problem with those industries. Not everyone can just stop eating meat, either for health or accessibility/financial reasons. Again, I could be reading into something that wasn’t even intended by the author, but I wanted to point it out because it felt a tad too similar to some of the crazy vegan youtubers I used to watch before I realized they were actually assholes.
Also there was a whole thing about the sex life of two moose and reading other people’s reviews apparently a cat and a train also have sex so… no thank you
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Excrement, Sexual content, and Animal death
caseythereader's review against another edition
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Thanks to Tor Books for the free advance copy of this book.
- THE TERRAFORMERS reads like a blend of classic and modern sci-fi: ethical debates about the environment and who counts as human mixed with queerness and anti-capitalism.
- There's a lot going on in this book, but it still struck me as quite leisurely. There are long conversational debates, lots of internal processing. The characters have a lot to chew on, which means you're chewing on it, too.
- It also covers a huge span of time, with each section jumping forward in time and centering a different protagonist (which reminded me a lot of Octavia E. Butler's books). I thought at first that I would miss the characters of the first section, but I quickly fell in love with each new introduction and setting. Flying moose? Sentient trains? Considering accessibility for earthworms? Sign me up!
- THE TERRAFORMERS reads like a blend of classic and modern sci-fi: ethical debates about the environment and who counts as human mixed with queerness and anti-capitalism.
- There's a lot going on in this book, but it still struck me as quite leisurely. There are long conversational debates, lots of internal processing. The characters have a lot to chew on, which means you're chewing on it, too.
- It also covers a huge span of time, with each section jumping forward in time and centering a different protagonist (which reminded me a lot of Octavia E. Butler's books). I thought at first that I would miss the characters of the first section, but I quickly fell in love with each new introduction and setting. Flying moose? Sentient trains? Considering accessibility for earthworms? Sign me up!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Sexual content, Slavery, Alcohol, Animal death, Colonisation, Death, Excrement, and Medical content
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