Paperback, 336 pages
English language
Published Nov. 3, 2015 by Ace/Roc.
One secret withheld to protect humanity’s future might be its undoing…
Renata Ghali believed in Lee Suh-Mi’s vision of a world far beyond Earth, calling to humanity. A planet promising to reveal the truth about our place in the cosmos, untainted by overpopulation, pollution, and war. Ren believed in that vision enough to give up everything to follow Suh-Mi into the unknown.
More than twenty-two years have passed since Ren and the rest of the faithful braved the starry abyss and established a colony at the base of an enigmatic alien structure where Suh-Mi has since resided, alone. All that time, Ren has worked hard as the colony’s 3-D printer engineer, creating the tools necessary for human survival in an alien environment, and harboring a devastating secret.
Ren continues to perpetuate the lie forming the foundation of the colony for the good of her fellow colonists, despite the personal cost. …
One secret withheld to protect humanity’s future might be its undoing…
Renata Ghali believed in Lee Suh-Mi’s vision of a world far beyond Earth, calling to humanity. A planet promising to reveal the truth about our place in the cosmos, untainted by overpopulation, pollution, and war. Ren believed in that vision enough to give up everything to follow Suh-Mi into the unknown.
More than twenty-two years have passed since Ren and the rest of the faithful braved the starry abyss and established a colony at the base of an enigmatic alien structure where Suh-Mi has since resided, alone. All that time, Ren has worked hard as the colony’s 3-D printer engineer, creating the tools necessary for human survival in an alien environment, and harboring a devastating secret.
Ren continues to perpetuate the lie forming the foundation of the colony for the good of her fellow colonists, despite the personal cost. Then a stranger appears, far too young to have been part of the first planetfall, a man who bears a remarkable resemblance to Suh-Mi.
The truth Ren has concealed since planetfall can no longer be hidden. And its revelation might tear the colony apart…
omg this is a gem, and I've slept on it for ten years!
Planetfall is a scifi novel about space exploration, community, betrayal, and mental illness, in no particular order. It's superbly written, and the characters are deep and complex, and the gradual unpacking of the narrative is masterful.
Close whatever you're reading this on and go read Planetfall!
boring endless self-centered monologue of the cliché-like main personage with overcoming personal problems. unnecessary gay love all over the place that fails to look real or bring context to the story. short and impotent descriptions that completely fail to make you imagine the setting… idk, this novell has it all, it's as boring as modern sci-fi can get :-(
Story a bit dull. But world building is good. Nice concepts. Already find the second book much better even though i'm just a quarter through.
An enigma wrapped in mystery under the shadow of a devastating lie.
Planetfall and After Atlas have been on my wishlist for a while. I was hesitant to start them because of mixed signals about skipping the first book.
After reading a couple of chapters from Planetfall, I was enthralled and immediately added the rest of the series to my to-read list.
This big not entirely dumb object first encounter novel focuses on the human reactions to the mystery rather than the technological challenges of space flight and colonization.
The planet is challenging enough to provide for elegant descriptions of the technologies developed to adapt, however it is not the source of tension.
I enjoyed the interaction between Ren's perspective as a person trying to hide their mental illness while continuing to function in society and the big lie that threatens to tear the colony apart.
3.5/4 stars. On a re-read, the rating for this one dropped for me. I think when I read it the first time I was really starved for some SF with some decent character work that wasn't sexist or racist. :')
My favorite part is the character of Ren and her journey. She has conflict that really lives on its own, separate from the plot, so she feels fully realized. Her mental health struggle, her unlikeability, her cowardice, etc. are all a strong part of the story for me.
I also still like the ending, even though I can see how it's easily divisive. It reminds me of the weirdness of Annihilation, which is not a winner for everyone either.
Newman really tried, but I found many of the descriptions of tech and setting beyond me. I have a hard time picturing SF as authors describe it in general, so this …
3.5/4 stars. On a re-read, the rating for this one dropped for me. I think when I read it the first time I was really starved for some SF with some decent character work that wasn't sexist or racist. :')
My favorite part is the character of Ren and her journey. She has conflict that really lives on its own, separate from the plot, so she feels fully realized. Her mental health struggle, her unlikeability, her cowardice, etc. are all a strong part of the story for me.
I also still like the ending, even though I can see how it's easily divisive. It reminds me of the weirdness of Annihilation, which is not a winner for everyone either.
Newman really tried, but I found many of the descriptions of tech and setting beyond me. I have a hard time picturing SF as authors describe it in general, so this is no different. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't, but there's a lot of it here, so it's noticeable.
I also found it too slow on a re-read, though it's hard to tell if that's because I'd read it before and knew generally what would happen. Maybe it'd be stronger as a novella, or just a shorter novel. You kind of go in circles in Ren's head for a while which is pretty exhausting.
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4.5 stars. Not what I thought it would be, more of a personal journey in a sci-fi setting. Really moving ending.
I thoroughly enjoyed 90% of this book, but the ending felt a bit rushed and/or confusing. The rest more than makes up for it, though. It's a fascinating read where all the pieces of the plot and the world assemble slowly but beautifully - once I got out of the "wait what I don't understand exactly what they're referring to here" and let myself being transported by the rhythm of the reveals, this was a brilliant book and I loved it.
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