A review by sashahc
A Half-Built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys

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.