The Terraformers

I was pretty excited for this book when I requested an arc, but then I saw many negative reviews and kept wondering if I should read it or not. It didn't help that my health isn't cooperating with reading much these days, and if not for the audiobook that Macmillan Audio sent me, this might have been languishing on my kindle shelf forever. But some good weather out, and me listening to the audio on my walks really made for a very unexpected and interesting experience.

I don't wanna give away too much about the book but I have to say that the concepts and themes the author tries to talk about here are very intriguing, and somewhat relatable too. The story might be taking place tens of thousands of years in the future on a terraformed planet called Sask-E, but all the discussions about biodiversity, keeping carbon footprints low, working together with all the species on the planet, the ethics of bioengineering humanoids and talking animals and robots and more but also limiting their rights and controlling their actions, the forever clash between democracy vs complete corporatization - they all are very much in line with the kinds of issues we are facing today on our planet and it felt fascinating to read them from a secondary world perspective.

And it was so amazing to meet so many interesting characters including multiple species of humans - both augmented and decanted - and many different animals with different levels of forced intelligences. But the bonds and friendships they shared with each other as well as the dedication they had to preserve their way of life on Sask-E as well as make it better for other persons was admirable. The only problem was that the book takes place in three parts, each with a time gap of thousands of years, and hardly any characters remains from one part to the other. So we always feel a bit dissatisfied because we never get a full picture of these wonderful characters' lives and what more they did in their lives. But it was also lovely to see the impacts they had on future generations centuries later, especially someone like Destry as well as the idea of creating the flying trains.

The production of this audiobook also definitely helped in keeping my interest. There are many sounds as per the context in the story, as well as music perfectly encapsulating what the characters are feeling. It's really a great audio, very well narrated by Emily Lawrence. Because no other cast is mentioned, I assume she did all the voices including the robots and animals and it's a phenomenal job.

While I did mention my dissatisfaction with not getting enough of the characters, I think it works well with the ideas in the book. It's about how individual people might contribute for a bigger movement and influence generations to come, but it's not always their names that stay behind but what they did. It's optimistic in its approach but also cautious, reminding us how easy it is to go with the flow and the status quo without fighting until it's too late. This book may not be for everyone, but I really enjoyed it a lot. If you've enjoyed Ruthanna Emrys's A Half-Built Garden, I'm sure you'll like this too - they are very different books right from their setting, but the ideas and optimism in them are very similar and I'm excited to explore more sci-fi books like this in the future.

I did not hate it, but it never lost its timidity to either invest time in the world forming (literally) or the characters and it seems a bit flat on both. With these kind of books where science, ecology, social sciences, economic sciences collide you choose to go into the potentially alienating 700 page route that allows you to flesh things out, or split it into three books. With this book we got it all condensed in an earnest “do goodness” that fell a bit flat. Douglas Adams, in one page, with the Cow coming to the table selling their best parts to restaurant patrons achieved far more moral discussion in my mind that 30 pages on bioengineering sentient cows but not “using” them for milk.

This one was a little tough for me to get through and is my least favorite book from this author so far. That said, I didn't think it was a bad book, just maybe not for me, and maybe it would have been a better trilogy than a book. The story was certainly ambitious, maybe too ambitious, as it encompassed thousands of years and generations of people and really had three distinct stories within it. I liked quite a few of the characters and loved the imagination behind the world.

A rounded-up 2.5 stars. DNF at around 70%. Ultimately this is a silly book. Granted, it attempts to touch on some deep issues about personhood, and paints a clear picture of a dystopian future, however it get continually bogged down in nonsensical details.

The first third of the book is interesting, however the middle third gets bogged down in the details of planning a mass-transit system, which, while academically interesting, is not really what I expect from a story covering tens of thousands of years of terraforming. Granted this is meant to be tempered by various inter-personal relationships, however none of these really felt real or consequential. In addition, some of the details of the books just seemed flat-out silly - so much so that I wonder if it was actually meant to be humorous (something that completely passed me by if so). Leaving aside the image of flying moose (I just can't picture that in a way that doesn't look ridiculous - and why would you choose moose?!), the point at which there was serious discussion about how to allow a worm to board a train was the one where I mentally threw the book across the room.

Given that other people have marked this as 5 stars, I can well believe that I have overlooked something fundamental, however I am struggling to see what that can be.

I have very mixed feelings about The Terraformers. The last section/timeline of the book would have made an excellent novella and was definitely my favorite part. However the middle section seemed to be a rather dull attempt at a Becky Chambers novel. The first section was somewhat in between the the other two so I feel like 3 stars is the most fitting.

I am glad I read the book and liked the sci-fi behind it. However I don't think it is one I'd read again as it was a tad boring and hard to get through (except for the last section).

I was blown away by the world-building, future casting, and innovative ideas in this story. The first third of the book is absolutely incredible, and creating huge expectations for the rest of the story. While the last two-thirds didn’t quite maintain that same level of impact I was hoping for, I’m still very glad this book exists and that I read it.

My library loan ran out at about 70% and I'm okay with it. I was struggling to keep going. The whole terraforming using modified “normal” systems was kinda neat, but all the characters and events felt flat and kinda boring.

I'm still getting used to authors using they as a singular in writing (I'm fine in casual convo but writing throws me off), but the inconsistentness of having characters sometimes share their pronouns and sometimes not was a little jarring.

As I said, just flat, there were so many characters even before the first time jump that I really didn't get invested in any, and nobody really got developed.

I'm sure it's a great story but I recommend passing.