You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.53 AVERAGE
3.53 AVERAGE
The byline for The Terraformers should be: If vegan Tumblr decided to write sci-fi.
I'm bamboozled by this book. When I look back at the marketing for it, the synopsis, even the cover, I'm still under the impression that there's something in here I'd enjoy. But then I remember the flying moose, the robot-train hook-ups, the flowery genitals, the terrible dialogue, the black-and-white antagonists.
And all I feel is embarrassment and so much, SO MUCH cringe.
What was the point of this book? I'll try and set aside my feelings for a minute and discuss them.
This is a set piece for exploring themes of personhood and governance across species and how those concepts interact with resource management and stewardship of the land (although this latter point basically disappears in the third half). The book also explores how individuals interact in terms of reproduction, gender presentation, and sexuality.
Without going off on a rant my main issues can be boiled down to two points: (1) The execution of the themes, characters, and dialogue is terrible. It reads like fan fiction but where every character has the same speech pattern and no development. (2) The first part of the three parts of the book is the best because. And doing that absolutely tanked my interest when I realised there was no reason to invest in anyone.
This book has put me in the worst reading slump of the past 5 years and I only finished the thing because I'm reading it for a book club where it was regrettably MY pick!
Atrocious, please read anything else.
I'm bamboozled by this book. When I look back at the marketing for it, the synopsis, even the cover, I'm still under the impression that there's something in here I'd enjoy. But then I remember the flying moose, the robot-train hook-ups, the flowery genitals, the terrible dialogue, the black-and-white antagonists.
And all I feel is embarrassment and so much, SO MUCH cringe.
What was the point of this book? I'll try and set aside my feelings for a minute and discuss them.
This is a set piece for exploring themes of personhood and governance across species and how those concepts interact with resource management and stewardship of the land (although this latter point basically disappears in the third half). The book also explores how individuals interact in terms of reproduction, gender presentation, and sexuality.
Without going off on a rant my main issues can be boiled down to two points: (1) The execution of the themes, characters, and dialogue is terrible. It reads like fan fiction but where every character has the same speech pattern and no development. (2) The first part of the three parts of the book is the best because
Spoiler
Newitz kills everyone off after each part!This book has put me in the worst reading slump of the past 5 years and I only finished the thing because I'm reading it for a book club where it was regrettably MY pick!
Atrocious, please read anything else.
Newitz's book is structured like a tree ring, with a core event, and the effects as it ripples down the history of a planet in different ages. And in the way it focuses on ecological survival in the wake of past corporate climate disaster, the POVs shift from human to new species bought into the bargain to survive, to new intelligences created by all the former. The corporations continue to be not even subtly evil across generations, and sometimes, it's nice to be able to have a consistent evil to cheer against, especially in how speciesist and controlling they are to all that are not theirs. There's dives into the ethics of intelligence and creating life, and the capacity of those that are created in turn. Sci fi eco socialism and gender and sexuallity positivity is an unexpected but amazing combination, and would love to see more along these lines.
This was definitely a fun and interesting read. Parts of it were a little slow moving and it was hard to tell when it jumped forward in time but that’s more because the numbers mean nothing to me. It didn’t go in the direction I thought it would and honestly after the treaty it really felt like an ending. Part 3 could’ve been the start of a different book but it was connected to part 1 & 2 and interesting. It was also a bit more of a risqué story with more descriptive sex and violence.
adventurous
dark
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a really interesting book with a lot going on. It’s split into three sections with large time jumps between each section – basically focusing on one generation to the next with some overlap of characters. There are a lot of great characters and the world building is complex. In some ways I would have preferred it if there had been some closure to each section because of how abrupt the time jumps felt. However by the end it becomes clear that the point was to show that real societal change often takes multiple lifetimes to achieve. There’s no simple solutions and no quick fixes.
I did have mixed feelings about how intelligence is used in the book. Everyone on the planet is artificially created including some “animals” and machines/robots that are now sapient and are considered people. Because everyone is created from specific templates, there’s a lot of discussion about intelligence levels. The different design types have “limiters” that control how “intelligent” a person is. I do think the reader is supposed to come away with mixed feeling about it because of how things played out. There are clearly characters who disagree completely with the intelligence system and the limiters, however most don’t go the full step of changing anything for the characters who have been limited in this way.
Overall I thought the author did a good job exploring the various issues and showing the problems that a society can have even in the far future. The intelligence issue isn’t the main issue being solved but it is relevant to the overall themes and is part of the many ways the people of Sask-E have been manipulated and controlled and that freedom comes in multiple forms.
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
For a book that deals with such interesting concepts and that is supposed to be so delightfully quirky, this was just unforgivably and aggressively boring. I mean, the three distinct parts that make up this book were all crammed full of action, but I just couldn't care less about any of the things that were going on.
The cast of characters (including a sentient moose, robots, an angry cyborg cow, a sentient train and naked molerats) should have been wonderful to follow, but I have rarely felt more apathetic about any characters before. And their interactions and banter was so juvenile, I was cringing the entire way through this book.
The only reason this isn't a 1-star read is because I did like some of the environmental issuss that were discussed and this book is also queer as all get out, so at least there's that.
I really wanted to love this story, but I guess it just wasn't the book for me.
The cast of characters (including a sentient moose, robots, an angry cyborg cow, a sentient train and naked molerats) should have been wonderful to follow, but I have rarely felt more apathetic about any characters before. And their interactions and banter was so juvenile, I was cringing the entire way through this book.
The only reason this isn't a 1-star read is because I did like some of the environmental issuss that were discussed and this book is also queer as all get out, so at least there's that.
I really wanted to love this story, but I guess it just wasn't the book for me.
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
The exploration of the social effects of transportation infrastructure in the second part was a high point of the book, but it was far from the only interesting aspect.
Two out of the three parts were plenty. I didn't enjoy the prose or the characterization.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
medium-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:
Complicated
This is a super creative fresh sci-fi story. The world building was amazing. The characters were interesting and imaginative. I dont think I've read a sci-fi book quite like this before.