{"id":28,"date":"2023-04-02T08:18:04","date_gmt":"2023-04-02T08:18:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hikingonpluto.com\/?p=28"},"modified":"2023-09-27T05:11:22","modified_gmt":"2023-09-27T05:11:22","slug":"sue-burke-semiosis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hikingonpluto.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/02\/sue-burke-semiosis\/","title":{"rendered":"Sue Burke: Semiosis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Could you have any shared values with a plant?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n

Semiosis is an original first contact novel in the sense that it describes first contact with a plant species. The immediate parallel jumping to mind is Wyndham’s “Day of the Triffids” [10 Best SF books<\/a>] \u2013 but there humans confront plants on Earth proper, and there\u2019s never any real communication, only deadly struggle for resources. In Semiosis, humans of the noblest intentions arrive to an alien planet, wishing to fit in the existing habitat, and to live in peace with all indigenous life forms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One could criticise Semiosis for being too idealised: not only are the humans better principled and better behaved than any human group seen since the beginning of times, but most of the flora and fauna of the alien planet Pax (a fitting name) comes across as friendly and constructive. Depending on the reader\u2019s stance on evolution by cooperation vs competition, and whether they have sympathies for Hobbes\u2019 anthropological pessimism, this could be irritating – or enthralling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, there are antagonists in the novel, both human and alien, and there is enough grisly fighting, especially in the second part of the book, to keep it from turning into an over-sweet utopia. Humans themselves clash and conflict. The pace of the book is never too slow \u2013 while there is attention to detail, the plot progresses at fairly great strides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the biggest strengths of the book is the original proposition itself. There are many first contact novels, some of them among the best SF ever written, such as Orson Scott Card\u2019s “Ender\u2019s Game” series [10 best SF books<\/a>]. Semiosis may not measure up to Speaker for the Dead in terms of detail and credibility of describing an alien race, intricacy of characters or depth of philosophy, but it is above average in at least the first two respects. There are moments of wonder when we get into the plant protagonist\u2019s bark, and we experience the world as plants experience it \u2013 the absolute significance and unpredictability of water supply; the instinctive knowledge of all things chemical; the physical well-being of growth and repose from growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The (human) characters are another strong point of the book. One individual from each generation acts as narrator \u2013 which provides for slightly differing points of view, though there is enough continuity of main principles and action to keep the plot a coherent whole. Some of the narrators are truly relatable \u2013 for example my personal favourite, Higgins, lion trainer and vocational birth father, a very perceptive and emotional person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In terms of weaknesses, the novel could have done with more reworking and maturing \u2013 it has all the colour and energy of a debut novel, but at times feels repetitive, remains superficial when thoughtful exploring would be a great benefit, and takes shortcuts with the plot that feel unsound. Notwithstanding, it is a book very well worth your time, and it\u2019s also fun reading (two qualities that don\u2019t always coincide). A second part was published in 2019, which I\u2019m planning to read one day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Could you have any shared values with a plant? Semiosis is an original first contact novel in the sense that it describes first contact with a plant species. The immediate parallel jumping to mind is Wyndham’s “Day of the Triffids” [10 Best SF books] \u2013 but there humans confront plants on Earth proper, and there\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":308,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[58,59,62,60,26,61],"class_list":["post-28","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bookreviews","tag-biology","tag-female-writer","tag-good-read","tag-planet","tag-sf","tag-space-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hikingonpluto.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hikingonpluto.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hikingonpluto.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hikingonpluto.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hikingonpluto.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.hikingonpluto.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":311,"href":"https:\/\/www.hikingonpluto.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28\/revisions\/311"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hikingonpluto.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hikingonpluto.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hikingonpluto.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hikingonpluto.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}