Semiosis
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4.3 • 47 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
‘This is top class SF, intelligent and engaging, and I loved every minute of it’
Adrian Tchaikovsky, award-winning author of Children of Time
Escaping conflict on Earth, an idealistic group of settlers arrive on a distant planet – Pax – with plans for a perfect society.
The world they discover is rich with life, but this is not the Eden they were hoping for. The plants on Pax are smart – smart enough to domesticate, and even slaughter, its many extraordinary animals.
To survive, the colonists realize that they must strike bargains of their own. But if they are to make Pax their home, they must go further, searching for a way to communicate and coexist with these utterly alien intelligences.
Reviews
‘Sue Burke blends science with adventure and fascinating characters, as a human colony desperately seeks to join the ecosystem of an alien world.’
David Brin, award-winning author of THE POSTMAN
‘Original, gripping and gloriously unpredictable’
Mira Grant, New York Times bestselling author of PARASITE
‘Intelligent, riveting and ultimately uplifting, SEMIOSIS asks big questions and gives satisfying answers’
Emma Newman, award-winning author of PLANETFALL
‘A fantastic SF debut . . . SEMIOSIS will remain relevant for years to come’
Prof. Daniel Chamovitz, award-winning author of WHAT A PLANT KNOWS and Director of the Manna Center for Plant Biosciences at Tel Aviv University
About the author
Sue Burke spent many years working as a reporter and editor for a variety of newspapers and magazines. A Clarion workshop alumnus, Burke has published more than thirty short stories in addition to working extensively as a literary translator. She now lives in Chicago.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Translator Burke takes new science and drives it to the logical extreme for her impressive debut novel, a classic multigenerational story of space exploration and colonization. When scientists on a colonizing mission veer off course and land on the distant planet of Pax, they run up against the sentient native flora. Intrigue and secrets divide the generations, and the efforts to commune with the plants on Pax take on a cultish quality. Communication is at the heart of the story: debates among the human colonists, the intricacies of plant communication, and the challenge of reaching across the species divide. Burke's writing is as lush as the environment of Pax; her characters show considerable depth, and she unflinchingly captures the horrors of space exploration. She has rendered an alien planet in beautiful, believable detail. Fans of space adventure will eagerly await Burke's future books.
Customer Reviews
Clever without being geeky
Beautifully written and with loads of really clever science that would have bored me stupid in another writer's hands but flowed like a poem in this one.