The Terraformers

by Annalee Newitz

Paperback, 368 pages

en-Latn-US language

Published Jan. 1, 2023 by Orbit.

ISBN:: 978-0-356-52086-5

From science fiction visionary Annalee Newitz comes The Terraformers, a sweeping, uplifting, and illuminating exploration of the future.

Destry's life is dedicated to terraforming Sask-E. As part of the Environmental Rescue Team, she cares for the planet and its burgeoning eco-systems as her parents and their parents did before her.

But the bright, clean future they're building comes under threat when Destry discovers a city full of people that shouldn’t exist, hidden inside a massive volcano.

As she uncovers more about their past, Destry begins to question the mission she's devoted her life to, and must make a choice that will reverberate through Sask-E's future for generations to come.

A science fiction epic for our times and a love letter to our future, The Terraformers will take you on a journey spanning thousands of years and exploring the triumphs, strife, and hope that find us wherever …

From science fiction visionary Annalee Newitz comes The Terraformers, a sweeping, uplifting, and illuminating exploration of the future.

Destry's life is dedicated to terraforming Sask-E. As part of the Environmental Rescue Team, she cares for the planet and its burgeoning eco-systems as her parents and their parents did before her.

But the bright, clean future they're building comes under threat when Destry discovers a city full of people that shouldn’t exist, hidden inside a massive volcano.

As she uncovers more about their past, Destry begins to question the mission she's devoted her life to, and must make a choice that will reverberate through Sask-E's future for generations to come.

"Brilliantly thoughtful, prescient, and gripping.”—Martha Wells, author of The Murderbot Diaries

4 editions

interlibraryprone reviewed The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz

It's space fantasy trying to use science words to look like sci-fi

1 star

I like climate utopias, so wanted to like this. The pacing and time jumps sucked. The attempts at "Cree futurism" felt inauthentic and inappropriate from a settler that didn't seem connected to Cree culture. I had a hard time buying the idea of moose as mounts, and a lot of the wordbuilding just didn't feel thought through.

I read it as part of QueeReads Montreal. A friend asked me what I thought of the intersex representation, and it confused me. The book doesn't have intersex representation. The Archaeans in the book are genetically engineered to have mixed sex characteristics. This isn't intersex representation - if it's normal for a given (sub)species, it's just how that (sub)species is. Intersex means having naturally occurring sex traits that are different from what is expected for your species.

So much of the attempts at looking like hard sci-fi were cringe. How do …

So much of the attempts at looking like hard sci-fi were cringe. How do they have glass plating that lets you see inside a volcano? How are metal robot submarines navigating inside volcano magma? This stuff would have gone over so much better if the writing embraced being space fantasy rather than trying to pass it off as hard sci-fi.

qboq reviewed The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz

I wanted to love this book but it is flawed

3 stars

This is one of the books that I forced myself to finish. I normally would not do that as my reading list is too big.

I loved the world building. The author has some really imaginative ideas on life and living cities. The story consists of three parts, each with its own set of characters. However, after the first part, the story starts plodding along and some parts feel really forced.

This book was written in such a way that it can only be dated in the early 2020s. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but I wonder whether it will still be read in 20 years or so.

Dav Ito (they/them) reviewed The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz

If you're looking for a book that divests you from reality, don't read this book

5 stars

Newitz paints a world that is simultaneously deliciously and painfully woke. I started reading this book hoping for some light science fiction entertainment, and I was fantastically disappointed.

This book is not another example of how prophetic science fiction is, because so many of the issues are already happening. Now.

From corporate indentured servitude to gender as a spectrum to consent in kink... this book has got it.

If you're looking for a light read that won't suck you in and drown you in the pages, then you should probably look elsewhere.

Newitz paints a world that is simultaneously deliciously and painfully woke. I started reading this book hoping for some light science fiction entertainment, and I was fantastically disappointed.

This book is not another example of how prophetic science fiction is, because so many of the issues are already happening. Now.

From corporate indentured servitude to gender as a spectrum to consent in kink... this book has got it.

If you're looking for a light read that won't suck you in and drown you in the pages, then you should probably look elsewhere.

Phil in SF reviewed The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz

Mixed feelings

4 stars

Content warning Mild spoilers

Very interesting world building. Sentient flying trains. A great bargain that includes all sorts of creatures as people. It's very thought provoking.

But the story and characters drag a lot at times. For instance, the second section follows data gatherers as they figure out where to put public transportation on the world of Sask-E. But since they're essentially surveyors, it's not that exciting and mostly the characters spend all their time talking.

And while i see what the author is doing with the sex scenes, it's a lot like watching porn I'm not into. Very mechanical and not at all titillating. So those come off as dry too.

Anyway, other folks may enjoy the parts i disliked. They weren't bad. They just didn't resonate with me.