Semiosis

Semiosis is a fascinating take on space colonization, intelligence, and language. The multi-generational story starts with the founding of a small human colony on an alien world where, as they soon discover, plants have evolved intelligence and use animals for tools. Needless to say, things don't work out the way the colonists intended, and their descendants find ways to adapt to a world where they can't forget that they're only one part of the ecosystem -- and not a necessary part, either. And the plants have their own ideas!

Each chapter picks up a character from a different generation. Burke gives them all distinct voices and attitudes, and while each looks back at the previous narrator from this new perspective, their stories are their own.

I found the middle chapters the most interesting. At this point the colony has established itself, and all the founders have died off, leaving only those who grew up on Pax don't have memories of the life they left behind on Earth. These chapters get into how the plants communicate with each other, what kind of worldview sapient bamboo might have, and how the bamboo and the humans figure out how to communicate with each other and negotiate how to share a city and the surrounding area.

The bamboo primarily communicates with other plants through chemical transfer via roots -- much like plants in the real world do, only a lot more complex -- and over long distances by encoding messages in pollen grains. Neither strategy is going to help it talk to humans.

I was reminded at times of Robert Charles Wilson's BIOS and Ursula Le Guin's early novel Planet of Exile. The latter in particular, since both involve human colonists several generations down the line in a one-city colony, incomplete adaptation to local biochemistry, trying to warn people of danger that they dismiss as smaller than it is (oh, they never attack in groups that big!), and an extended siege against the colony in the later chapters. It's kind of weird that I read this book so soon after that one.

(Cross-posted from my website)

I just read Semiosis and Interference by Sue Burke and REALLY liked them much more than I was expecting to. I don’t know that I’ve ever encountered books quite like them. The physical science is a little vague and soft but the biological science is really cool (and totally inspired by all that stuff you’ve read about how the roots and fungus in an acre of forest have more chemical connections than the human brain has synapses). The first book is like a series of short stories, set on a planet where the plants are sentient (and some are sapient) and the human colonists form a symbiotic relationship with them over the course of 100 years or so. Also, lots of pacifist political philosophy (if that doesn’t intrigue you, it will probably seem heavy handed, as an anarcho-pacifist myself, I quite enjoyed this aspect). Funny enough, I probably would have passed these over after reading the synopsis, but ChatGPT talked me into reading them after I gave it a list of my interests and personal sentiments and it was 100% right.

What if intelligent alien life was plant-based? The settlers of Pax are ready to create a new life, when they discover the plants of their new home might be less than friendly. The group tried to escape war on Earth, have they landed in a different kind of battleground?

I loved the concept behind Semiosis. Each section follows a member of a different generation of settlers, allowing jumps in time, perspective and culture, as well as evolution. It explores how plants evolve to take advantage of animals and in return become useful. In biology this is called mutualism and it's mentioned a lot.

It did over-explain some things and didn't leave much space for coming to your own conclusions. I suppose it's understandable that not every reader is going to come at this book with any botany knowledge, but I found it irritating at times.

Stevland is a sentient bamboo. It sounds a bit ridiculous but he was my favourite character. He put me in mind of an artificial intelligence, his consciousness spread over a wide area and not always sure how to act human, because he's clearly not. But he understands that he needs service animals to survive and humans are just so useful.

At times I lost interest but because it follows different generations, it would perk up again. Also I cannot believe what the orange trees did! I became so invested in the lives of the plants, it obviously did that part well.

It's also a study of how human society evolves, how beliefs are created and social structures are put in place over time. They do a great job of keeping their pacifism going at least, I was worried at the start it would be a book solely about war.