Reviews

Phytosphere by Scott Mackay

sparklingreader's review against another edition

4.0

It is five hundred years in the future. Humankind has expanded into the solar system, building colonies on the moon, Mars and elsewhere. But along with human expansion, others outside our system are also growing. And they want Earth.

The alien Tarsalans at first, negotiated with humans for Earth, but that didn’t work. So they decided on passive aggression and a dark green shroud enveloped Earth, killing plant life. Chaos erupts and food becomes scarce. There are only two scientists who may be able to help. One has the ear of the President. He is brilliant, rich, and charismatic. The other, his brother, though also brilliant, is a down-on-his-luck recovering alcoholic. Which one would you put your faith in?

Mr. Mackay has written a thought-provoking, entertaining tale. While I was reading, I kept seeing scenes from various movies in my mind – Armageddon, any “disaster-of-the-week” film, Terminator, Independence Day, and several others. This is not a bad thing since I enjoyed all these movies, as I did this book. It just pointed out similarities between some scenes and characters and ones I had already come to like. There was action, chaos, adventure, desperate measure being taken, and a kick-ass soccer mom who shows everyone how to be strong and what a woman will do to protect her family.

Mackay’s world building is perfect, his characters believable and his story-telling entertaining. If you like hard science fiction, this is definitely one to add to your library.