Book Review
May. 3rd, 2026 10:42 pmSemiosis
by Sue Burke
This is the first novel in a sci-fi trilogy about people colonizing an alien planet and their first contact with intelligent aliens. A group of humans leave a war-torn and environmentally depleted Earth to find a new home. They eventually land on a planet they christen Pax, in honor of their desire to live in peace and in harmony with their new environment. As they struggle to domesticate food crops and acclimate to their new home, they slowly begin to realize that the vines are sentient. When the move to a city left behind by the earlier visitors to Pax, they learn that the bamboo-like pant that grows around the city is not only sentient, but intelligent. Over generations, they develop a mutually beneficial relationship with the bamboo and eventually accept it as a full member of their community. Eventually, the humans also encounter the remnants of the earlier visitors and must figure out how to relate to them as well.
Semiosis is incredibly fascinating. I found Burke's concept of what an intelligent plant would be like very compelling, as well as her ideas of how it would relate to humans. Each chapter in the book is told from the perspective of a different character, mostly moving forward through each successive generation. Thus there is a focus on the development of the human-bamboo relationship and the settler society rather than individual character development. It gave me a lot to think about around what it really means to live in harmony with the natural world. It's very reminiscent of Le Guin's work in a lot of ways.
by Sue Burke
This is the first novel in a sci-fi trilogy about people colonizing an alien planet and their first contact with intelligent aliens. A group of humans leave a war-torn and environmentally depleted Earth to find a new home. They eventually land on a planet they christen Pax, in honor of their desire to live in peace and in harmony with their new environment. As they struggle to domesticate food crops and acclimate to their new home, they slowly begin to realize that the vines are sentient. When the move to a city left behind by the earlier visitors to Pax, they learn that the bamboo-like pant that grows around the city is not only sentient, but intelligent. Over generations, they develop a mutually beneficial relationship with the bamboo and eventually accept it as a full member of their community. Eventually, the humans also encounter the remnants of the earlier visitors and must figure out how to relate to them as well.
Semiosis is incredibly fascinating. I found Burke's concept of what an intelligent plant would be like very compelling, as well as her ideas of how it would relate to humans. Each chapter in the book is told from the perspective of a different character, mostly moving forward through each successive generation. Thus there is a focus on the development of the human-bamboo relationship and the settler society rather than individual character development. It gave me a lot to think about around what it really means to live in harmony with the natural world. It's very reminiscent of Le Guin's work in a lot of ways.
