Semiosis Audiobook By Sue Burke cover art

Semiosis

A novel of first contact

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Semiosis

By: Sue Burke
Narrated by: Caitlin Davies, Daniel Thomas May
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About this listen

‘Up there with the best of Le Guin in terms of beautiful, engrossing, brilliantly imagined sci-fi’
VULTURE

‘SEMIOSIS combines the world-building of Avatar with the alien wonder of Arrival, and the sheer humanity of Atwood. An essential work for our time’
STEPHEN BAXTER

NOMINATED FOR THE ARTHUR C. CLARKE AWARD

Escaping conflict on Earth, an idealistic group of settlers arrive on a distant planet – Pax – with plans for a perfect society.

The world they discover is rich with life, but this is not the Eden they were hoping for. The plants on Pax are smart – smart enough to domesticate, and even slaughter, its many extraordinary animals.

To survive, the colonists realize that they must strike bargains of their own. But if they are to make Pax their home, they must go further, searching for a way to communicate and coexist with these utterly alien intelligences.

©2018 Sue Burke (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers Adventure Fantasy First Contact Genetic Engineering Hard Science Fiction Science Fiction Space Exploration
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Critic reviews

BEST BOOKS OF 2018 – THRILLIST, VULTURE, THE VERGE, CHICAGO REVIEW OF BOOKS, NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
LOCUS RECOMMENDED READING LIST 2018

‘This is top class SF, intelligent and engaging and I loved every moment of it’
Adrian Tchaikovsky, award-winning author of CHILDREN OF TIME

‘Sue Burke blends science with adventure and fascinating characters, as a human colony desperately seeks to join the ecosystem of an alien world.’
David Brin, award-winning author of THE POSTMAN

‘A magnetic meditation on biochemistry and humanity’
LOCUS

‘A clever, fascinating, fun and unique debut’
KIRKUS
All stars
Most relevant  
Interesting view on alien intelligence and just something slightly different for a change.
I see some find it very dark but I did not. The story grows out from that. I would assume being colonists on an alien planet trying simply to survive would be harrowing at times and rewarding at others. The book simply describes that and it's effects on people.
The narration was good and did not get in the way of some novel ideas on alien intelligence and human interaction with it.
Take a chance. Read the book. I am glad I did.
What can I really say more than I really enjoyed the book.

Interesting concept and simply a good read

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The book starts with a relatively interesting sci-fi pitch and it looks like the author has something to say, but it just takes a while. But then it becomes less sci-fi and more of a chatgpt-grade soap opera. It just keeps going nowhere at a mind numbingly slow pace, and then it suddenly ends. Credits roll.

I can't imagine anybody reading this 10 years down the line, except maybe by mistake.

Quickly devolves into boring slugfest

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Struggled to finish the book as the main characters keep changing, generation after generation, each living in a society as hopeless and dark as the one before.

Dark, slow and violent

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