annieb123's review against another edition
4.0
Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.
A Half-Built Garden is an intelligent and compelling SF first contact near-future novel by Ruthanna Emrys. Released 26th July 2022 by Macmillan on their Tor Forge imprint, it's 352 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.
This is a beautifully written story, slow moving, with gravitas. I was engaged quite literally from the first page. Alien first contact stories are a favorite and this is a good one. It's set in 2083 and humans have finally banded together (more or less) to banish the corporations to isolated outposts and are in a desperate race to save Earth and maintain habitability. The aliens show up to convince what's left of humanity to abandon Earth before a catastrophe renders it a lost cause.
The first person protagonist/narrator is sympathetically written, intelligent, queer, compassionate, and three dimensional. There's a lot of content in the book extrapolating out from corporate oligarchy, corruption, greed, and the nature of power and the effect that has on our climate and habitat. At the same time, it's very much a story about parenthood and identity and the fact that diapers have to be changed and babies insist on being fed even if you're just a few minutes from first contact with alien lifeforms. Some of the mentions of parenting moments gave a whiff of whimsy, some of them, I felt, broke up the narrative thread a bit and yanked me out of my suspension of disbelief.
There is a very human story here, wrapped in a breathtakingly creative world building which made me pause at several points in amazement. Ms. Emrys is a gifted storyteller and this is a well written story.
Four stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
A Half-Built Garden is an intelligent and compelling SF first contact near-future novel by Ruthanna Emrys. Released 26th July 2022 by Macmillan on their Tor Forge imprint, it's 352 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.
This is a beautifully written story, slow moving, with gravitas. I was engaged quite literally from the first page. Alien first contact stories are a favorite and this is a good one. It's set in 2083 and humans have finally banded together (more or less) to banish the corporations to isolated outposts and are in a desperate race to save Earth and maintain habitability. The aliens show up to convince what's left of humanity to abandon Earth before a catastrophe renders it a lost cause.
The first person protagonist/narrator is sympathetically written, intelligent, queer, compassionate, and three dimensional. There's a lot of content in the book extrapolating out from corporate oligarchy, corruption, greed, and the nature of power and the effect that has on our climate and habitat. At the same time, it's very much a story about parenthood and identity and the fact that diapers have to be changed and babies insist on being fed even if you're just a few minutes from first contact with alien lifeforms. Some of the mentions of parenting moments gave a whiff of whimsy, some of them, I felt, broke up the narrative thread a bit and yanked me out of my suspension of disbelief.
There is a very human story here, wrapped in a breathtakingly creative world building which made me pause at several points in amazement. Ms. Emrys is a gifted storyteller and this is a well written story.
Four stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
benzetsu's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
riverlethe's review against another edition
1.0
DNF @ 10%. It felt like much longer. I really wanted to like this book (non traditional family structures! Community networks! Village parenting! Sustainable ecological practices! Xenodiplomacy!) but it just didn’t work for me. Is the author actually a parent or do they just revere parenting? Because “think of how many hostile negotiations would be disarmed if we all brought our infants and had to halt for diaper changes in the middle” is a statement I’m pretty sure no normal parent would make, for many, many logistical reasons. Kids are not magical merit badges you compare with other parents, they’re other human beings with needs. This felt like someone drank too much Quiverfull kool-aid, doesn’t see children as separate beings, and wanted to drive it home in a sci-fi novel.
sashahc's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I just finished “A Half-Built Garden,” a self-described “diaper-punk” near future first contact #book by Ruthanna Emrys. It owes a very deep debt to Octavia Butler’s “Lilith’s Brood.” It also has the poly queer collective utopian feel of Starhawk’s “Fifth Sacred Thing.” And the micro-democracy and information sharing of Malka Older’s “Infomocracy.” And the cross-cultural gender identity politics of Melissa Scott’s “Shadow Man.” It’s deeply anti-capitalist, full of parents balancing child care and nursing with alien diplomacy, and very Jewish.
An excellent holiday weekend read.
An excellent holiday weekend read.
intothevolcano's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
sillypunk's review against another edition
2.0
Not fun: https://blogendorff.com/2023/07/24/book-review-a-half-built-garden/
acyphus's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
zoer77's review against another edition
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0