Hey Bookworm friends, it’s been a few months since I last shared a book for the “Old Review Dust-Off“. It’s a series where I re-share my old reviews of books I think deserve more attention. The last one I did was for When We Were Birds. If you’re reading this I invite you to leave a link from an old review of yours and I’ll show it some love! Today’s review I’m re-sharing is for The Terraformers.
I’ll be linking up this post with @athomealot’s Book Worms Monthly. It’s a monthly linky event where we can share our bookish content, up to 4 posts per month. Reviews, reading lists, interviews…Anything book-related is allowed. Come join in on the fun!
About The Terraformers
Author: Annalee Newitz
Genre(s): Science Fiction, Eco-Fiction
Publisher: Tor Books
Format Read: Physical
Year Published: 2023
Source: Library Borrow
Standalone
Cover Artist: Raphael Lacoste
Synopsis
Destry is an Environmental Rescue Team ranger working on the planet Sask-E, during the final stages of Terraforming. Verdance, the company that owns Sask-E, is about to start selling land. When Destry and her team unexpectedly find a secretive group of people living inside the volcano, her world is flipped upside down. This discovery sets up a domino effect that changes the history of Sask-E for better or worse.
Pace: Medium, Idea Driven
Tone: Adventurous, Reflective
Mini-Review
In this world, people have created The Great Bargain: in which various animal species were given the status of ‘personhood’ in order to manage the land more democratically. This is a great example of how The Terraformers is a “big sci-fi concepts” kind of book rather than a character-focused sort of book.
While the characters are fun and creative, there is not a big focus on individual development. We don’t even follow the same characters throughout the whole book. There are three parts and they’re divided by centuries. Each part is focused on showing the progression of the world as a whole, and how the communities, politics, and even the land have progressed with time.
It was fascinating, filled with humour and so very weird. Exhibit A:
“Your head had to be buried deep in your ass to say a flying, talking moose with a weird gang of aeronaut drone friends wasn’t smart enough to be a person.”
You read that right. a talking. flying. moose. 💚
Despite the zany quirks, this book also dealt with a lot of heavy topics and it was by turns depressing and hopeful. I appreciated how it deftly dealt with such a variety of topics: from post-humanism to gender, from plate tectonics to slavery (How can a corporation owning a whole planet be anything but exploitative?)
Lastly, another quote that resonated with me:
“Maybe the battles are more exciting. They make for better superhero stories…But the revolution is actually happening in the boring details, like how you manage housing and water, or who is allowed to speak.”
Final Thoughts & Rating
I read it slowly, to fully appreciate the ideas it was putting forward; it made me think, and I would easily call it one of my favourite sci-fi books.
Please note that when I wrote this review I was not using the CAWPILE rating method. I’ll attempt to rate the categories as best as my memory allows given I read this in 2023 (For reference I gave it 5 stars on GR).
| CAWPILE | Rating (0-10) |
|---|---|
| Characters | 8 |
| Atmosphere | 9 |
| Writing Style | 10 |
| Plot | 9 |
| Intrigue | 10 |
| Logic | 9 |
| Enjoyment | 10 |
Representation
Nonbinary, Queernormative world
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Colonization, Violence
Moderate: War, Death, Sexual Content
Minor (Mention): Death of a parent,
Animal death, Injury/Injury detail
Let’s chat in the comments!
Does this book sound like one you might enjoy? Feel free to share the links for a review you think needs more love so I can check it out!
I never got around to reading this, but you’ve completely sold me. I love the idea of sentient animals as part of a society, and I’ve always wanted to try this author. Lovely review!
Thank you Tammy, I am so glad my review made you want to try this book. I think it’s so unique and has such cool ideas in it. I also recently read a short story by the author in the same world and I just think I would read anything set in this world because it has so much potential of things to explore!
Good review. I’m still on the fence as to whether it sounds like something for me, but maybe one to look for at the library and try.
Good idea to share old reviews, especially for books we think deserve more love. One such for me is this one:
http://dragonrambles.com/2023/01/29/the-dawnhounds/
yeah fair enough, well if you’re ever in the mood to read something unique and perhaps outside of your comfort zone, It’s worth a try from the library, good idea :)!!
Yes, sometimes I wish old reviews of books I feel are underrated got more attention so I’m hoping to sometimes do that 🙂 Thanks for sharing a link, I’ll go check it out right away!
This sounds very different to what I usually read but in a good way as I can’t wait to see how the animals getting ‘personhood works out. I also think seeing the world at three separate points in time sounds eye opening. And Sci fi is the genre that I most need to check out more.
Yeah there are just so many concepts here that I found fascinating and fun to explore. It’s wacky in just the right way but also thoughtful. 🙂