SCIENCE FICTION: ALEX GOOD
Semiosis By Sue Burke (Tor, $36.99, 336 pages)
It’s sometimes been said that the most well-adapted form of life on Earth is grass (or Poaceae). Covering everything from lawns to wheat fields to savannahs, grass is dominant both because it’s hardy and because people invest much time, money and effort in taking care of it.
Could grass have been planning this global takeover all along? “Semiosis,” the fascinating debut novel from Sue Burke, makes you wonder.
The story begins with a small group of settlers arriving on a habitable planet they name Pax. The life forms native to Pax are exotic, but comparable to life on Earth, with one of the big differences being that plant life is sentient. In particular, a colourful form of bamboo dubbed Stevland is revealed to be highly intelligent.
As the settler community adapts to life on Pax they enter into a co-operative relationship with Stevland, which leads to some interesting observations on the building of complex social systems from the ground up and the dangers of trying to direct the process of evolution. Senlin Ascends By Josiah Bancroft (Orbit, $20.99, 448 pages)
This new edition of “Senlin Ascends” marks the major release of a book self-published several years ago.
Readers should be impressed, as this is fantasy storytelling of a high order. The first volume of the “Books of Babel,” “Senlin Ascends” introduces readers to the giant structure that gives the series its name. An unworldly provincial schoolteacher, Thomas Senlin, has brought his beautiful new wife Marya to the famous Tower of Babel for their honeymoon. Almost immediately, Marya goes missing, and Senlin is forced to climb the tower in pursuit. The basic idea, building on various literary archetypes, is that each level of the tower is an entire city unto itself known as a “ringdom,” with its own unique political system and bizarre cultural practices. This gives the book an episodic flavour, with Senlin facing a series of trials, from the comic to the terrifying, as he ascends toward a kind of redemption.