Semiosis

If it’s hard to make readers side with spiders, what about plants?

The planet on which an unlucky group of humans are stranded in Semiosis is indeed home to sentient plants that see humans as just another resource. But this isn’t some Day of The Triffids monster tale. The plants can’t move anything like humans can, which, in the hands of a lesser author, might make for quite a static, boring story.

Burke demonstrates her boundless imagination by taking the reader into the "mind" of the plant, seeing the world, its threats, and resources in a completely different and plant-like… show more.

The moment I read about Semiosis on the internet, I had to read it.

The story is about a group of humans who left Earth to start a pacifist society on a new planet they call Pax. Life on Pax is hard at first, but eventually, they build a good life for themselves. What makes Semiosis unique is that intelligent plants inhabit Pax.

Now, I don’t mean intelligent walking plant creatures. I’ve seen those before. Rather, imagine sentient trees and crops. Even better, the author tries hard to put herself in the, uh, shoes of these plants and gives us… show more.

This book lingered on my mind long after I flipped the last page. This book is a multi-generational account of an ex-colony in a world that makes one question the definition of sentience.

I enjoyed the use of the wide cast to study the folly of overly optimistic galactic colonization and the cost of establishing a new and peaceful society, all in the shadow of an intelligence that the characters take decades to begin to understand. Some parts are disturbing but always in service of the theme.

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys methodically paced narratives that make… show more.

If you like Ursula K. Le Guin’s short story about a forest planet, “Vaster Than Empires and More Slow,” you might love my fellow Wisconsin-native Sue Burke’s novel Semiosis. (Haven’t read Le Guin’s story? Add it to your list! It’s a gem.) At the heart of Semiosis is the question: ‘what if humans colonized a world that was already inhabited by intelligent life – and that lifeform was vegetal?’ The word “semiosis” refers to the production of meaning, so it’s fitting that in this generational starship novel, Burke digs into biology and chemistry to speculate on how humans might… show more.