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aayyashley's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Sim Kern’s Seeds for the Swarm is a gripping cli-fi story that delves unflinchingly into the ethical dilemmas of humans fighting off Gotterdammerungangst, or doomsday despair, in a near-future world racked with daily climate catastrophes and soaring wealth inequality. Kern’s urgency in this story is obvious without being forceful, and the author allows their characters to breathe and actually experience development rather than magically come to correct conclusions. This refreshingly accurate depiction of growth, exemplified through the main character Rylla, counterbalances the near-magical (and incredibly fun) insertions of future technologies that drive much of the plot development. Rylla develops from an idealistic but ignorant naturalist trapped in the Dust— the former southwest US states that are now near-uninhabitable desert wastelands due to climate change— to an empathetic, nuanced defender of diverse life and Earth’s future over the course of the novel. Despite her many shortcomings, Rylla felt very familiar to me personally, as a young person witnessing the everyday destruction of natural wonders in the name of profit and consumption despite the looming threat of climate catastrophe. She very quickly experiences the variety of ways humans have learned to escape, cope with, and/or combat the impending doom, from drug use to religious fervor to militant resistance, and has remarkable sympathy for each. I love that Kern does not shy away from showing us how many of our current day societal scapegoats— drug users, for example, or climate change deniers— are the victims of misinformation, corporate or government schemes, or are merely humans trying to eke out a life despite apocalyptic circumstances rather than inherently bad or weak. Trudging through this world with such an understanding lens does mean that this novel moves moderately slow, especially with its ever-shifting and mysterious antagonists, and the reader adopts some of the same confusion and lack of trust in the story’s characters as Rylla experiences. Even this aspect of the story, though, feels like an intentional nod to Kern’s ultimate message here: there is no shortcut to a better future. Progress is as messy and grey as human nature, and any attempt to simplify or minimize the work needed to improve the conditions we inherit will only result in more mess. And our Earth can’t risk much more mess. Thank you to the author for this very needed tale!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse and Violence
Moderate: Addiction, Death, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Transphobia, Grief, and War
e_flah's review
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Seeds for the Swarm is an engrossing story that follows Rylla as she comes of age during the climate apocalypse. There's a great balance between Rylla's personal growth over the course of the book and the external conflicts of increasing political unrest and mysteries at Wingates University. Rylla's choices exasperated me at times but she was a wonderfully complicated, relatable character that I really enjoyed rooting for. Kern's writing was easy to read. I felt immersed in the story from the very first chapter. There were some slow parts in the story but the writing kept me invested.
The setting of the United States in 2075 is vividly rendered by Kern. The country is split between the Lush states that have ample access to water and the Dust states where desertification has turned the soil to dust and water has to be shipped in. The ways in which life has changed to adapt to environmental catastrophe were both fascinating and horrifying. I liked that even in a bleak future, there's still hope for humanity in Seeds for the Swarm.
Thank you to Netgalley and Stelliform Press for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The setting of the United States in 2075 is vividly rendered by Kern. The country is split between the Lush states that have ample access to water and the Dust states where desertification has turned the soil to dust and water has to be shipped in. The ways in which life has changed to adapt to environmental catastrophe were both fascinating and horrifying. I liked that even in a bleak future, there's still hope for humanity in Seeds for the Swarm.
Thank you to Netgalley and Stelliform Press for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse and Drug use
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Death
meshell's review
adventurous
informative
inspiring
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? It's complicated
4.25
I stayed up until the middle of the night reading Seeds for the Swarm. I feel like it’s one of those books that you can hungrily finish in an afternoon, if it catches your interest as it did mine.
I liked the premise and the themes explored in this YA cli-fi novel. It's highly readable, but occasionally a bit instructive at times. There were only a few points at which I felt the educational aspect was a bit heavy handed, but I didn’t feel like they distracted me too much from the story.
Rylla, is the main protagonist, she’s a “Dust State” dwelling person (“a dustie”) on the cusp of adulthood. The story begins with water recycling issues, and sets the stage for a dry, dirty, and dismal potential future. Rylla wants to go to university to hopefully escape or improve her circumstances but poverty may not allow for it - she’s looking at working for the very oil refineries she’s against. But after staging a one-woman protest, she goes viral (albeit not for the reason she would have wanted) and as a result, is invited to the kind of “Lush State” university she was dreaming of, all expenses paid.
I enjoyed the exploration of “Dust state” vs “Lush State,” and it wasn't cut and dry as to who the villains and heroes were. I did not know where this story was going to go when starting out. There were several imperfect unlikeable characters, which worked quite well for this novel, there were moments of mutual awkwardness and misunderstanding, where the Lush State wasn’t entirely a woke paradise, and the Dustie wasn’t always the backwards bumpkin. I would have liked to get to know some of the other characters better, but perhaps that will be something for future books.
There are several opportunities to reexamine your initial assumptions about a character or a group, and I think that was done very well too.
I found the handling of addiction a bit disappointing, considering the futuristic setting, and the technological advancements the Lush State potentially had at its disposal - it felt a bit too willpower and shame based for this so-called advanced society - but I did like the somewhat attempt at a community responsibility model.
Loved the queer rep, it felt genuine and not just haphazardly placed.
Criticisms aside, there are a lot of interesting ideas presented here, the story is solid and inventive, and has a lot of adventurous reading potential. I am eager to read the next book in the series and find out what happens to Rylla and the rest of the crew in the rest of the trilogy.
I got to read this as a Digital ARC thanks to Netgalley and Stelliform Press.
I liked the premise and the themes explored in this YA cli-fi novel. It's highly readable, but occasionally a bit instructive at times. There were only a few points at which I felt the educational aspect was a bit heavy handed, but I didn’t feel like they distracted me too much from the story.
Rylla, is the main protagonist, she’s a “Dust State” dwelling person (“a dustie”) on the cusp of adulthood. The story begins with water recycling issues, and sets the stage for a dry, dirty, and dismal potential future. Rylla wants to go to university to hopefully escape or improve her circumstances but poverty may not allow for it - she’s looking at working for the very oil refineries she’s against. But after staging a one-woman protest, she goes viral (albeit not for the reason she would have wanted) and as a result, is invited to the kind of “Lush State” university she was dreaming of, all expenses paid.
I enjoyed the exploration of “Dust state” vs “Lush State,” and it wasn't cut and dry as to who the villains and heroes were. I did not know where this story was going to go when starting out. There were several imperfect unlikeable characters, which worked quite well for this novel, there were moments of mutual awkwardness and misunderstanding, where the Lush State wasn’t entirely a woke paradise, and the Dustie wasn’t always the backwards bumpkin. I would have liked to get to know some of the other characters better, but perhaps that will be something for future books.
There are several opportunities to reexamine your initial assumptions about a character or a group, and I think that was done very well too.
I found the handling of addiction a bit disappointing, considering the futuristic setting, and the technological advancements the Lush State potentially had at its disposal - it felt a bit too willpower and shame based for this so-called advanced society - but I did like the somewhat attempt at a community responsibility model.
Loved the queer rep, it felt genuine and not just haphazardly placed.
Criticisms aside, there are a lot of interesting ideas presented here, the story is solid and inventive, and has a lot of adventurous reading potential. I am eager to read the next book in the series and find out what happens to Rylla and the rest of the crew in the rest of the trilogy.
I got to read this as a Digital ARC thanks to Netgalley and Stelliform Press.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction and Classism
Minor: Deadnaming, Genocide, Violence, and War
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