Interference (Semiosis Duology, #2)

I enjoyed this sequel to Semiosis, though not quite as much as the first book, but I'm still eagerly awaiting the third in the now-trilogy. Continuing the story of Pax and the Pacifist settler colony and their mutual society with Glassmakers and Stevland, it's in much the same vein as the first, but now with the added twist that survivors from the original Earth (population now much reduced due to ecological disasters, wars, and biological weapons) are sending an expedition to Pax to reestablish contact with the colony. This book contains viewpoints from both perspectives.

I enjoyed most of the same things I liked about the previous book, but I liked less that there seemed to be a lot of unanswered questions and things left hanging or unanswered. The end conflict also seemed very chaotic and hard to follow. All questions that might be resolved in book 3 but it made book 2 somewhat less satisfying than the first. Raised many interesting questions to look forward to in the third book however!

Maybe not quite as beautiful and lyrical as Semiosis, this sequel is nonetheless a triumph. It’s just as filled with hardship, struggle and conflict, and just as packed with interesting alien ideas and details.

The ending did conclude, but there was plenty left for future sequels.

Mild spoilers follow —

The only thing that bugged me about this book was why steveland chose to hide himself from the earth humans. It felt like it caused more strife than anything, and led directly to one of the more dramatic events depicted. I also thought the humans were awfully xenophobic, some of them, for scientists sent to study an alien planet. The conclusion seemed to be that everyone on Pax thought they ran the place, with the possible exception of the pax humans. It was interesting to me that the idea that the rainbow bamboo came to pax with the glass makers was brought up, but never confirmed or denied.