Enjoyable but grim
3 stars
Broadly speaking, I enjoyed this book - it would get 3.75/5 if I was allowed partial stars (it's not enough to warrant rounding up to a 4 though). It fits into both science fiction and post-apocalyptic, so ticks the box for both of my book clubs. It's a bit grimmer that I would like - there are some violent (including sexual violence) scenes thrown in with no build-up or warning, but I guess that might be realistic in the world the book is set in. Sentient plants is an interesting concept, and this plays out in a different way to Day of the Triffids (where we don't get any indication of what the plants think).
The biology side was good, with the exception of the population dynamics. There are a few issues here:
- At the beginning, there are only 30(?) survivors. That might not be enough to ensure long-term viability β¦
Broadly speaking, I enjoyed this book - it would get 3.75/5 if I was allowed partial stars (it's not enough to warrant rounding up to a 4 though). It fits into both science fiction and post-apocalyptic, so ticks the box for both of my book clubs. It's a bit grimmer that I would like - there are some violent (including sexual violence) scenes thrown in with no build-up or warning, but I guess that might be realistic in the world the book is set in. Sentient plants is an interesting concept, and this plays out in a different way to Day of the Triffids (where we don't get any indication of what the plants think).
The biology side was good, with the exception of the population dynamics. There are a few issues here:
- At the beginning, there are only 30(?) survivors. That might not be enough to ensure long-term viability - especially as there appear to be high infertility and mortality rates.
- The population grows pretty rapidly in a few generations - from dozens to hundreds. Each woman would need to be having more than 2 children just to keep the population steady, and that's before we discount the ones who can't conceive (or don't want to - though I suspect you'd be ostracised for such a view in this setting).
- There's one male character who is positively encouraged to have children with lots of different women, because he has 'good genes' (not sure how they work this out, given that they seem to have lost most of their technology). This is a REALLY bad idea in a small population - even on Earth clinics limit how much sperm you can donate to avoid people ending up with close relatives as a partner (bad from a biological and psychological perspective).
Overall, a decent book, but I don't think I will be picking up the sequels (it's down as a duology, but it's being expanded to 3 books in 2024 according to the author's website).
