A race for survival among the stars... Humanity's last survivors escaped earth's ruins to find a new home. But when they find it, can their desperation overcome its dangers?
WHO WILL INHERIT THIS NEW EARTH?
The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age—a world terraformed and prepared for human life.
But all is not right in this new Eden. In the long years since the planet was abandoned, the work of its architects has borne disastrous fruit. The planet is not waiting for them, pristine and unoccupied. New masters have turned it from a refuge into mankind's worst nightmare.
Now two civilizations are on a collision course, both testing the boundaries of what they will do to survive. …
A race for survival among the stars... Humanity's last survivors escaped earth's ruins to find a new home. But when they find it, can their desperation overcome its dangers?
WHO WILL INHERIT THIS NEW EARTH?
The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age—a world terraformed and prepared for human life.
But all is not right in this new Eden. In the long years since the planet was abandoned, the work of its architects has borne disastrous fruit. The planet is not waiting for them, pristine and unoccupied. New masters have turned it from a refuge into mankind's worst nightmare.
Now two civilizations are on a collision course, both testing the boundaries of what they will do to survive. As the fate of humanity hangs in the balance, who are the true heirs of this new Earth?
Someone wrote, the book reminded them of Star Trek, in a good way. And yeah, I get it now! I guess book 2 has to be different (won't spoiler, but book 1 brings... closure) - but will definitely check it out.
Someone wrote, the book reminded them of Star Trek, in a good way. And yeah, I get it now! I guess book 2 has to be different (won't spoiler, but book 1 brings... closure) - but will definitely check it out.
It is fundamentally unholy that a book about giant, sentient spiders interacting with the desperate last act of humanity be such a beautifully hopeful book. Bless this heresy.
This book is more Star Trek than Star Trek. It embodies the ideals of infinite diversity in infinite combinations in a way that struck me to my heart. It stretches our minds to consider the most alien and for many people the most feared animals as having the capacity to be people, with just a little help. In all of his work, Adrian Tchaikovsky is a bull in the china shop of our delicate distinctions and artificial barriers between "thing" and "not thing".
This book is more Star Trek than Star Trek. It embodies the ideals of infinite diversity in infinite combinations in a way that struck me to my heart. It stretches our minds to consider the most alien and for many people the most feared animals as having the capacity to be people, with just a little help. In all of his work, Adrian Tchaikovsky is a bull in the china shop of our delicate distinctions and artificial barriers between "thing" and "not thing".
I think it was mostly the writing style that bothered me. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly but it felt like a lot of the author stepping back from the story and saying “and this happened because reason but of course Character A doesn’t know this” instead of explaining things through the narrative/characters.
It felt like some things just happened without any explanation or reason simply to advance the plot (or make up for the lack of plot).
I understand that sci-fi requires a certain suspension of disbelief but some things were just too silly. Like ant computers—come on!?
I think it was mostly the writing style that bothered me. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly but it felt like a lot of the author stepping back from the story and saying “and this happened because reason but of course Character A doesn’t know this” instead of explaining things through the narrative/characters.
It felt like some things just happened without any explanation or reason simply to advance the plot (or make up for the lack of plot).
I understand that sci-fi requires a certain suspension of disbelief but some things were just too silly. Like ant computers—come on!?
I love jumping spiders, so this book is like a dream come true for me. The book deals with various transhumanist ideas, particularly increasing the intelligence of non-human animals, uploading a human mind into an AI, and reaching for immortality via technology. It handles these ideas in a very even-handed way, and is not pushing any kind of ideological agenda. It's a very enjoyable read that works well as a fun adventure but also gives you a lot to chew on. Highly recommended.
I love jumping spiders, so this book is like a dream come true for me. The book deals with various transhumanist ideas, particularly increasing the intelligence of non-human animals, uploading a human mind into an AI, and reaching for immortality via technology. It handles these ideas in a very even-handed way, and is not pushing any kind of ideological agenda. It's a very enjoyable read that works well as a fun adventure but also gives you a lot to chew on. Highly recommended.
This was a great book and I see why it has won awards and is generally regarded in a positive light. While the characters are basic, they are nonetheless interesting and the plot is straightforward enough to keep the focus on the setting. The setting is excellent and the way the two societies, one human, one spider, is explored is clever. I enjoyed both viewpoints and wish we had gotten more time after they merged together, but maybe that is a story for the second novel? I look forward to reading the other novels in this series and finding out.
It's been way too long since I have had a novel grab me from the very first chapter. The plot spins out from a premise that never seems completely outlandish, where humans in suspension pods try to reestablish on a distant terraformed earth. The plot is somewhat like Battlestar Galactica, except there's only one Cylon and Earth is full of deadly arthropods.
The book is brilliantly structured, alternating between a human and a non-human protagonist. Spoiler: man was the true monster all along.
It's been way too long since I have had a novel grab me from the very first chapter. The plot spins out from a premise that never seems completely outlandish, where humans in suspension pods try to reestablish on a distant terraformed earth. The plot is somewhat like Battlestar Galactica, except there's only one Cylon and Earth is full of deadly arthropods.
The book is brilliantly structured, alternating between a human and a non-human protagonist. Spoiler: man was the true monster all along.
Spiders undergo enhanced evolution, building an extraordinary new civilisation. Meanwhile the last of humanity searches for a new home, bringing its destructive tendencies with it. Impressive & audacious vision, but lacks engaging characters.
Sentient spiders as protagonists?? As soon as I heard that, I knew I had to read a book with a premise that whacky. That and, it’s by Tchaikovsky, whose misery-fest-of-a-book Cage of Souls was absolutely delightful in a way that only tortured souls like myself can understand. And who has the zoology chops to pull off a book like this, to help you actually get into the perspective of totally other life forms.
So anyways: yes: spiders. I know. But listen, really. He really masterfully thought through what a civilization would be like, its different levels as it advances through the ages, and how they would communicate differently, think differently, and form different gender roles and different hierarchies in their society because of their underlying biology and evolution. Masterful is the only word for it.
And I found myself actually caring about these (believe it or not!) spider characters. And …
Sentient spiders as protagonists?? As soon as I heard that, I knew I had to read a book with a premise that whacky. That and, it’s by Tchaikovsky, whose misery-fest-of-a-book Cage of Souls was absolutely delightful in a way that only tortured souls like myself can understand. And who has the zoology chops to pull off a book like this, to help you actually get into the perspective of totally other life forms.
So anyways: yes: spiders. I know. But listen, really. He really masterfully thought through what a civilization would be like, its different levels as it advances through the ages, and how they would communicate differently, think differently, and form different gender roles and different hierarchies in their society because of their underlying biology and evolution. Masterful is the only word for it.
And I found myself actually caring about these (believe it or not!) spider characters. And you just might too.
There are also some interesting plot things going on with the humans, who are seriously messed up in the head, I have to say. Different megalomaniacs and brilliant people starved of sunlight and anything good and natural for generations on these worldships, and their society descending into barbarism…and a few of their leaders making themselves live forever with cryosleep…developing a mythos and cult around them…wow. Quite interesting. Merging organic consciousness with artificial intelligence…really great stuff in here.
Please don’t let the spiders turn you off. Give it a try, honestly, because Adrian Tchaikovsky is in my opinion one of the most brilliant worldbuilding minds in science fiction out there today. He’s an global treasure, an expert in zoology, and he will teach you way more about animals and evolution than you’ll learn in any other science fiction book. Same can be said for Cage of Souls, which also had some interesting ideas about evolution. Tchaikovsky is a seriously underrated author. For my taste at least.
I should mention that I think his characters are perhaps not for everyone. They are frequently miserable souls, bewildered, uncertain, tortured, surrounded by sociopaths and narcissists and various other assorted chocolates insane people on all sides…the protagonists’ nobility lies in them being relatively normal and not being terrible people compared to those around them. They’re just trying to survive, mostly. But they’re also intelligent. Thank God for protagonists that don’t advance the plot through being morons! Thank you. So yes, his protagonists really work for me.
I don’t know how it is that I never managed to give this a review at the time that I read it a few months ago! Funny how that works sometimes: when I’m blazing through a book to get to the finish line because it’s so good, then after I get there, I take a break from thinking about it. But then later in following weeks, it comes back for me to think about.
For this book, it’s the spiders I think about a lot, all the challenges they overcome (it’s really like their civilization itself is a hero that you want to triumph). And I think particularly about their interesting cities, which are basically skyscrapers built on massive trees, with huge vast webs connecting them. Their tech tree evolves so much differently than ours; they never invented the wheel but they got to radios and lasers way faster than we did.
I really can’t wait to read the rest of this series. There’s the fate of the human race hanging in the balance. This isn’t much of a spoiler really, more like just the premise of the whole dang trilogy, but basically the humans have run out of options and the one planet that’s looking good and inhabitable is also the one with the giant spider civilization. Spoilers ahead but: in the first book they have a brief encounter; basically it’s a horror scene for the humans. It’s great. In the second book it looks like there’s going to be a lot more interaction between the two civilizations and I can’t wait to see what happens. And/or explore other planets/colonies as well, not sure if that’s coming.
Amazing, depressing and uplifting at the same time
5 stars
Great book, a take on a thought experiment for intelligent life that doesn't take anthropological shortcuts and a humanity that isn't able to learn from mistakes
Great book, a take on a thought experiment for intelligent life that doesn't take anthropological shortcuts and a humanity that isn't able to learn from mistakes
Amazing, depressing and uplifting at the same time
5 stars
Great book, a take on a thought experiment for intelligent life that doesn't take anthropological shortcuts and a humanity that isn't able to learn from mistakes
Great book, a take on a thought experiment for intelligent life that doesn't take anthropological shortcuts and a humanity that isn't able to learn from mistakes
