Julie • bujo.books's Reviews > The Terraformers

Thank you so much to Tor Books and Netgalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Told in three parts, we follow people on the planet of Sask-E in the far-flung future. We have conquered the universe and bioengineering, making it possible to imbue robots, animals, and humanoids with human-level intelligence and consciousness. Anyone with consciousness is considered a "person," though some are created with artificial limiters on their speech, making others view them as less of a person than them. In this story, three generations do their part in making Sask-E a free place to live for all types of people.

Newitz's The Future of Another Timeline is one of my favorite books, so I jumped at the opportunity to read this one early. As with Timeline, I was astonished by the amount of imagination here and how different this society is from our own. Our characters include humans, cows, moose, and even trains, all of which have a natural lifespan of hundreds of years. Cities and buildings can be grown by things called trellises. Life of the current day is so far in the past that it is mythology. However, there are several things that are not new to the reader - video games, fights for autonomy from indigenous communities, clubs, and control of communication lines from those in power. Newitz again brings their expertise as a historian of urban centers to use as they show how this planet develops over time under different corporate regimes. Different sets of characters each have their own battles to fight - literal battles to legal ones - to fight the corruption the world faces. This novel is dedicated to keeping balance in the environment amidst development, ensuring that urban centers are there to serve the public, and being staunchly against eugenics. I would have liked to see more development from our characters, but this story is more about the big ideas. With fun protagonists and a hopeful message, The Terraformers is a great story about our impact on the environment and each other.

Overall, I really enjoyed the themes and worldbuilding in this scifi story. I'd recommend this to fans of Becky Chambers, but who want to see more worldbuilding!