Reviews with content warning for Transphobia - A Half-Built Garden

Absolutely loved this book, so Jewish in both values and in actual representation and makes me feel like maybe things will be okay in the world one day.

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redwoodm's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

New favorite book. A new take on the Lilith’s Brood story by Octavia Butler. Absolutely loved that series, and absolutely loved this book.

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maeverose's review against another edition

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slow-paced

2.5

TL;DR: I liked the themes and representation much more than the plot or execution. It was too dense for me, as well as too long. I struggled to understand the political negotiations, which make up the majority of the book. The tech/worldbuilding was never fully explained. It ended up boring me, unfortunately.

This book definitely isn’t for everyone. It’s largely political negotiations and navigating each other’s different cultures, which I can definitely see some people loving, but for me it was boring and often confusing. I really struggled with the political language throughout. I liked the leftist take, but the language made it hard for me to understand, and I felt like I was missing a lot. The technology and worldbuilding wasn’t really clearly explained. I grasped it better as the book went on, but I’m still not confident I fully understood it. I did enjoy the topics, the exploration of gender identity and expression (though I do think that was overdone a bit, especially with the Asterions, and that’s coming from a genderqueer person), the different ways of parenting, the Ringer’s culture. I liked the inclusion of queer and disabled people, as well as a jewish protagonist. However there were no obvious people of color. Nobody’s skin color or race is ever mentioned, that I noticed.

One thing I surprisingly (being a childfree genderqueer person) loved was the representation of motherhood in this book. To see people casually breastfeeding without judgment during a first contact meeting with aliens was so refreshing. Sci fi has historically been such a male dominated genre full of misogyny that its really is nice to have a book like this for a change. I also really liked the non traditional family dynamic, with co-parenting and queer parents.

I wanted to love this book based on the synopsis and my newfound love for cozy sci fi, but unfortunately it wasn’t quite what I wanted. Still a good book, just didn’t work for me.

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hwesta's review

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adventurous hopeful reflective

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I loved this book.

It's set a couple generations into the future, where watershed networks have formed to try and take care of and heal the earth, pushing back on the power of nation states and corporations. It opens with aliens arriving and saying "I'm so glad we arrived before you destroyed yourselves, time to leave!" and humanity, or at least the narrator, saying "but we just started fixing it!" And a book ensues, full of politics and people and aliens and different perspectives and hope.

It's also unapologetically queer and polyamorous and Jewish.

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kylieqrada's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful 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? Yes

4.0

This book is something else. If I had to compare it to anything, I guess the Earthseed duology by Octavia Butler comes to mind in that it almost reads like a manifesto for a post-apocalyptic Earth. But it's also like super warm and cozy in a way? You really have to read it.

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mandkips's review

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challenging hopeful 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? Yes

3.0

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ouroredux's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

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horrorandscience's review

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adventurous inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

A Half-Built Garden is a timely novel where, in the not so distant future, humanity first comes into contact with aliens. It’s been years since Earth was finally able to somewhat bring themselves back from near extinction due to climate change. The Dandelion Networks are grassroots programs around the world that have worked hard to bring the Earth back to homeostasis. It’s not perfect, but the harder they work, the better the Earth will get.

The aliens have come to save humanity. Judy, who works at the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, believes Earth is capable of sustaining humanity. This leads to an adventure combining two very different cultures in order to come to an understanding—Earth doesn’t need saving, because it’s already saved.

I can’t stress how important this novel is. It is bleak, I won’t lie, but it is also tinged with hope. The Dandelion Network was considered the rebels. The corporations still exist, but TDN realized they didn’t need their help, and worked on their own to save Earth. This is important. Corporations are more than willing to throw their home away for money, but there are plenty of people left behind who want to save the only planet they’ve ever known.

From my understanding, this isn’t a series. The novel ended in a way that was both an end, and left it open for a possible sequel or spin off. I’d love to see more from this world. There was so much to it, and there are so many avenues that can be explored in the future.

Thank you to Tordotcom and NetGalley for the chance to read this advanced review copy. All opinions are my own.

CW for colonization, transphobia, religious bigotry, and suicidal thoughts

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