Semiosis (Semiosis Duology, #1)

(em português → sol2070.in/2024/10/livro-semiosis-sue-burke/ )

It's been harder to read science fiction, for some reason. Or rather, it's not been easy to find books I like in the genre. In the last few weeks, I've abandoned three well-recommended ones. So “Semiosis” (2018, 336 pgs.), by Sue Burke, was a find.

The story covers the first century of a small human settlement on the planet Pax, roughly the year 2200, after the complete collapse of civilization and the environment on Earth. The plan is a reboot of humanity, with values that don't point towards compromising the environment and self-destruction. Pax has a biosphere similar to Earth's — already with vegetation and animals — but as it is a billion years older, its members have evolved in an unexpected way. The species with the most sophisticated intelligence and communication is a plant, and humans have to learn to deal with it, among other factors, such as loss of technology, population decline and environmental hostility.

It's a gripping, conflict-ridden story that also reflects fundamental questions about ethics, society and non-human sentience. It has small flaws, which can even be seen as qualities. The depth of the scientific dive into world creation is ideal — any more than that and it would be too hard sci-fi for me. However, people with a more rigorous scientific bent may be disappointed by some of the details, since the focus is on human and non-human relationships.

It's the first volume of a duology that will be completed with “Interference” (2019), already in my reading queue.

An interesting novel set over several human generations on a world where a colony of humans has become dependent on an intelligent plant to provide them with the required nutrients. In return, the humans 'serve' the plant by protecting it from other predators and helping it to spread when required. An unusual novel presenting a plant as a form of intelligence, possibly superior to man.

The plant's intelligence isn't evident at the start when the colony begins. But the biologist in the colony begins to suspect that the plants on the newly colonized planet, Pax, are intelligent when one plant tries to kill them while another 'protects' them. The way herbivores behave also give a clue as to whom is the dominant species on the planet. As the colony slowly grow under the plant's protection, conflict breaks out over whether to move the colony to yet another plant that may have attempted to 'bribe' them with gifts and the offer of more protection.

Partway through the book, the point of view shifts from the humans to the plant, which can now communicate with the humans with more than just scents and tasty fruit. The plant can see using numerous light sensitive cells and write messages with dye-sensitive ones. The plant also talks with other plants through the language of chemistry. The plant and humans now coexists, although tensions remain over who dominates and whether domination or mutual coexistence is the more desired outcome.

For the book is also about the colony trying to find a new way of life after the conflicts that have affect Earth and cause the colonist to flee to a new planet. This would be challenged when yet another alien species is discovered on the planet and the colonists and plant have to decide how to deal with them: with cooperation or with conflict.

By the end of the book, a new balance has been achieved by aliens, humans and plant: but who knows how long it can last and how it may handle any new crisis in the future.

This is definitely a science/plot-driven hard science fiction book, and therefore, probably not everybody's cup of tea; but if you enjoy generation-spanning colonization stories like Tchaikovsky's Children of Time, and philosophical questions about the nature of free will and symbiosis like Tepper's Raising the Stones, then you'll probably enjoy this book a lot. As I happen to have two botany degrees I really enjoyed the premise, which is that plants on an alien planet can develop a type of intelligence. The story follows the crew and descendants of a colony ship who settle on a new planet they call Pax, determined to form a new, peaceful, and empathic society. However, plants are the dominant species on this new planet and the colony will face very harsh conditions until they can find a way to coexist with the local plant life.

The novel skips viewpoints from person to person down through the starting generations of the colonists, showing the changes and development of the colony and how they attempt to adapt to this strange new environment and ecosystem.

While the premise of plants as the dominant life form in the ecosystem is very interesting, I found it a little unfortunate the author had the colonists give all the local plants earth-names, since it seemed like a missed opportunity to emphasize their differences. Although I'm also not a fan of books full of completely foreign invented words, I think I'd maybe have preferred names that were similar but not quite the same, e.g. implying iris-like but not immediately conjuring all the earth qualities of actual irises. Maybe just because I studied botany, my memory associates so many details with a specific name like irises, bamboo, etc that I was unsure which bits were relevant and which not. Are they called iris because of their appearance, or because of their levels of toxicity, or because of the way they reproduce, or...? Another reviewer, Jennifer, raised a more detailed lists of biology questions that were raised in her mind, which is a great list, though I'd also add that other than one passing reference the role of a mycorrhizal fungus-like organism was not mentioned at all, whereas it would be safe to assume that if they were anything like earth plants, as their earth names suggest, they would already have been in intimate symbiotic relationships with fungi and this could have added a very interesting additional layer to the plot.

However, I assume the author hasn't actually studied botany in depth and just did sufficient research for the story, which is still very interesting and a rare perspective on an alien plant world that I did appreciate with a little suspension of disbelief. I see there's a sequel to the book out already so I'll definitely be picking that one up also!

This book was an unexpected gem. It was at once realistic and also very alien, it didn't shy away from being weird or predicting broad generational consequences for a group of humans trying to thrive in an ecology they didn't evolve in.

The book is very direct and straight forward. Partially because the generational scale precludes having one set of main characters, instead focusing on specific individuals in the history of this colony. It feels a lot like Asimov's Foundation series that way - effective, if a bit sparse, prose covering long stretches of history (although Semiosis is closer to 100 years on a single planet, rather than 10,000 across the galaxy).

It also has a bit of Star Trek vibe, which I loved, because the group of humans is so dedicated to peaceful coexistence, study, and survival through adherence to principles. It is a very positive view of a human future despite the exodus from a violent Earth, and it's just so much more fun to read about this group being molded by their new home to live in peace instead of battling to remake it in the image of Earth.

The author also really nails the plant perspective in the novel too. I won't get too deeply into detail, because that's the pleasure of reading this story, but the author never shies away from covering how the plants think, intertwine and communicate in a very satisfying way.

My only criticism is that it's too short, and in some ways it ended right as things were at their most interesting. However, it was a logical stopping point and really the whole story was so jam-packed with payoff that I might just be being greedy. I'm looking forward to reading the sequel.