"Interference" by Sue Burke is a masterful continuation of the Semiosis series, delving deeper into the complexities of coexistence between humans and alien flora. Burke’s world-building is unparalleled, seamlessly weaving socio-political intricacies with the mysteries of an alien world. Her narrative explores the profound implications of communication, colonization, and evolution, challenging readers to reconsider the nature of intelligence and coexistence. A captivating blend of hard science fiction and deep philosophical ponderings. Highly recommended.

When I requested this book, I didn't realise that it was the second book of a duology (the first book being Semiosis) and the story evolves from the first contact with aliens/alien world exploration theme to more of a hunted/hunter and' who can you trust' plot which was pretty interesting.
The writing was great as expected and the creatures and sentient plants that Sue Burke dreams up are fun and bizarre as it gets!
Pretty great sci fi novel :)

I'm sad to say that this was a bit of a disappointment, especially since I believe this series ends here as a duology; I loved Semiosis, and was excited that there would be a follow up, but this book is really messy. Plot threads begin and go nowhere, ideas are introduced and not developed, events happen that are never explained - it's very frustrating. The most interesting of the new concepts are brushed aside, and almost all of the characters are unlikable. Maybe Burke was in a rush to get it done? I wish she'd taken more time, if so.

Again we are back on the wonderous world of Pax in this thoughtprovoking sequel to Semiosis. Well-written and insightful.

The small colony of humans on the planet Pax, who left Earth a couple of hundred years earlier, have established a cooperative relationship with at least some of the sentient plant life on Pax, as well as a group of nomadic aliens called the Glassmakers, as related in Semiosis. Their technology now is more Stone Age than Information Age (Pax is deficient in metals). So it’s out of the question to return to or even communicate with Earth, which is 55 light years away. But Earth hasn’t forgotten about Pax.

In this sequel, Interference (2019), a scientific expedition of thirty people from Earth makes plans to travel to Pax to see what has become of the colony there. Different members of the expedition have varying reasons for going, ranging from scientific curiosity to a desire to escape the culture of Earth, where women are confined to submissive, secondary roles. But Karola has an especially compelling reason to escape Earth: she’s discovered that she’s a secret clone of a now-dead woman who is so hated on Earth for her crimes against humanity that men create clones of her for the sole purpose of psychologically torturing this woman in effigy, so to speak, until the clone dies. Karola is willing to do anything to get on the expedition to Pax and so escape the fate that the Earth government has in store for her … and she does.

It’s an intriguing beginning, but Karola has only a minor role in the rest of Interference, as author Sue Burke’s focus shifts to the broader question of how the arrival of the new group from Earth affects the inhabitants of Pax, and vice versa. Many misunderstandings ensue, as well as some understandings. Stevland, the highly intelligent rainbow bamboo plant who helps govern the Pax colony, considers whether to let the Earth visitors know of his existence, and how to arrange to send his seeds to Earth when the visitors leave. Meanwhile, the Earth group has its own in-fighting and drama to deal with.

Interference explores the relationships between various beings — plant, humans, and Glassmakers — but does so on a fairly high level. With the exception of its much-later epilogue (which opens the door for a third book that, according to Burke, may or may not get written), Interference doesn’t jump between different time periods and generations in the same way that Semiosis did, but Burke still frequently switches between different characters’ points of view. As a result, it’s difficult to feel particularly attached to any of the characters, with the exception of Stevland.

The SEMIOSIS DUOLOGY creates an intriguingly alien planet, and one does get a good feel for the many unfamiliar dangers that humans might face on such a strange world, as well as the difficulties that are created when people (or aliens) with different motivations, cultures and worldviews collide. Though there are some exciting scenes, the book felt overly long. I felt like it took forever to finish Interference. As I noted in my review of Semiosis, I find Sue Burke’s prose to be merely serviceable, and I didn’t see any noticeable improvement in Interference. Fans of Semiosis will likely be happy with this sequel, but if you weren’t enthusiastic about that book, Interference isn’t likely to change your mind.

I am a member of the American Library Association Reading List Award Committee. This title was suggested for the 2020 list. It was not nominated for the award. The complete list of winners and shortlisted titles is at <a href="https://rusaupdate.org/2020/01/2020-reading-list-years-best-in-genre-fiction-for-adult-readers/">

<i>Semiosis</i> is gold standard sci-fi, up there with <i>Fire Upon the Deep</i> and <i>Embassytown</i> in my personal canon of mind-blowingly cool aliens. <i>Interference</i> is an excellent follow-up that clinches Sue Burke as one of my favorite sci-fi authors.

As before, there are multiple first-person narrators telling the story of second contact. Earth sends a mission to check up on the Pax pioneers and they arrive 210 years after the Pacifists landed.

This time around, the span of time of the main story is more compressed than in <i>Semiosis</i>. The three-species alliance still holds, the fledgling settlement is no longer on the brink of extinction, and Pax has its own culture, very distinct from Earth’s. But the Earthlings’ arrival shows that Pax is still fragile, particularly since the Earthlings have their own agendas.

The ending makes me want this to be a trilogy, so fingers crossed. I still want to know what happens next, and that’s why I read in the first place.

I had trouble to remember the book title, whilst reading this. In my head I was reading Inheritance. You have to deal with what you were given, good or bad. That holds true for Karola from Earth as much as for the people on Pax.

I made an effort to finish Semiosis, because I liked the world-building so much. I wasn‘t a fan of the pacing or the tone. So I went into this with some trepidation. And it took me longer than usual to read the first two chapters. At which point I was pretty much done and could have gladly stopped reading.

I came to dislike the almost infantile tone of the communication between the characters and their internal thoughts. Why did they all sound as if they were a bit simple? No complex thought processes or critical thinking seemed to be present.

In Chapter 3 the new explorers from Earth arrived on Pax. Great opportunity to give the reader an external view of that society. I did not like the execution at all. The characters were not believable and bordered on caricatures. They had the emotional maturity and mental capacities of gnats. I almost DNFd right there and then!

Curiosity kept me going. I enjoyed chapters 4 and 5 a lot more. The chapter with Queen Thunderclap gave some nice insights into the societal structure of the glassmakers.

Chapter 5 was fun for its action and Stevland, my favourite character, finally showing up again a little more prominently.

The author shines when she goes into the scientific aspects of her story. Society, biology, cultural understanding and interaction. Writing believable, realistic characters is most definitely not her strength.

One of the biggest missed chances of this novel in my opinion is further exploration of Karola‘s character. And of the coral plain. I would really liked to have dived into that ecosystem more deeply.

Chapter 6, finally, was a Stevland chapter. And the longest chapter of the book. I liked it, but it also confused me. The story didn‘t gell for me, there were things that did not make sense.

The last chapter was was fun and the epilogue left the reader with interest in more.

Bottom line, it was allover the place. Some parts I actively disliked, sometimes I was bored, sometimes it was fun and I was fascinated. As a whole it was not a gripping read. I might pick up something else by the author, but she will not become an instant buy.

I received this free e-copy from the publisher/author via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review, thank you!

Interference by Sue Burke
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The sequel to Semiosis starts out fantastically. I loved the amount of worldbuilding that had gone into this future Earth and the kinds of people they would be putting on a spaceship to interfere with Pax.

Ya gotta love the vagarities of human ignorance. It doesn't matter what we do or what we try, we always seem to f*** everything up.

So here we have an invasive species (us) doing what we do ALL OVER AGAIN on Pax. At least Steveland and the other locals have had an opportunity to get along for quite some time by now.

As we get to know both sides and watch the lies and the germs spread, I started getting a sinking feeling. All this downward spirals happened instead of a nice (possibly twisty) fantastic uptick with a sometimes wise Steveland. I discovered I had to start reading the book as if it was a commentary.

That isn't bad, of course. We all should see what the consequences should be for our blundering, mindless behavior and see the destructiveness of authoritarians. *shrug*

This is complex, well-thought-out, and subtle. Or sometimes not very subtle at all. That's FINE.

I guess I just wanted more diving into the whole cooperation mythos, more toe-dipping in other intelligences, new ways to make things work in the middle of sooooo much crazy interference.

The rest works on those levels, but I think this novel could have been GREAT. Not just good. But that's just my opinion.

Unfortunately, I had to DNF this around 40% of the way through. I was having trouble staying engaged with the perspective jumping from chapter to chapter. The writing is very solid and the story is conceptually intriguing. I enjoyed the first book in the duology very much, but this one did not land as well for me. It was trending towards 3-stars had I finished it.

Interference by Sue Burke

Interference is the second novel in Sue Burke’s Semiosis Duology. Both novels stand well on their own – they’re set a considerable time apart – but I think you do need to read Semiosis first. This review assumes that you’ve had the pleasure.

Two centuries have passed since human colonists landed on the planet Pax, a world that humans had to share with sentient, intelligent animal life and plant life. A kind of utopia was established in which everyone and everything had to work together for the good of one and for the good of all. An animated world, filled with beauty and danger, watched over by Stevland, a bamboo plant who uses humans and indigenous animals as tools for the good of society. Earth seems a long way away and it is soon almost forgotten. Contact with the home world ceases. And that brings new humans to Pax, scientists who want to know why Pax went silent. Harmony is disrupted as the new humans introduce technology that the human colonists have lost. But perhaps more disturbing that that is the knowledge of Earth that these men and women have carried with them. Both Earth and Pax have shown themselves to be vulnerable.

I absolutely loved Semiosis and it’s a joy to return to the wonderful world of Pax. Life is lived in a small settlement. It’s a rural life, with humans working alongside the local population of Glassmakers (which look a little like praying mantises). There is a real sense of wonder about some of the animals and plant life of Pax. Communication, understanding and cooperation are such important themes. It’s all beautifully and lovingly described, although at times there is violence and sadness. The Glassmakers have customs which are hard for humans to accept. But they must do so. Humans and Glassmakers get along, despite the history of mistrust between them, something that is awoken when the new humans arrive with their racist descriptions of the Glassmakers as insects.

Each of the long chapters is told from the perspective of a different individual, whether an Earth human, a Pax human, a Glassmaker or the extraordinary plant, Stevland. Stevland is such a fascinating concept. My favourite characters, though, are the Glassmakers, who reveal their feelings through smell and are incredibly loyal.

The new humans are less appealing and I must admit that I enjoyed far less the sections spent in their company. Some of them are narrow-minded, ignorant (perhaps even stereotypically so) and embarrassing. They also reveal something about the apocalypse that has robbed Earth of almost all human life.

Interference didn’t grip me as much as Semiosis, possibly I think because of the introduction of these new, flawed humans. This all distracted from the wonder of Pax and the incredible way in which the human colonists have changed in two centuries, with the way, for example, that each generation of colonist distinguishes itself from the others. It was all so new and fascinating in Semiosis, all so positive. Interference is darker. It’s also slow in places – I don’t think that the structure helps. Nevertheless, this is beautiful writing and, with no doubt at all, this duology is extremely intelligent science fiction and Pax, gorgeous Pax, is an absolute joy to explore.

Other review
Semiosis

Another fantastic and entertaining exploration of the frontiers of biology, the nature of sentience, and the limits of interspecies communication. A new mission from Earth lands on Pax, seeking to discover what became of the original colony, but is disappointed to discover that the colonists have only stone age technology, and seem to live a rough and simple life. Meanwhile the colonists must hide the existence of Stevland, while they try to figure out the source of mysterious fires on the edge of their territory. What lies beyond the bamboo forest? What new forms of life might exist, too strange to be recognized by human eyes? While I feel it would be best to start with Semiosis, I would recommend this to fans of the original book. It was a pleasure to return to the world of Pax and to think about new life forms and how Stevland might… expand his/her range!

The perfect sequel to an amazing novel. I'm only disappointed that this is a duology, I want more about Pax! What happens back on Earth? !!!

Semiosis fue una agradable sorpresa cuando la leí en su momento, así que esperaba con interés lo que me ofrecería su continuación, Interference.

La premisa desde la que se parte es el envío de una nueva expedición humana desde la Tierra al planeta Pax. Teniendo en cuenta las distancias, se concibe como una misión de ida y vuelta pero aceptando que los miembros de la tripulación no volverán exactamente a la misma Tierra que dejaron. Razón de más para querer pertenecer a la misión si en nuestro planeta las cosas no están muy bien.
En el primer capítulo nos encontramos con un nada velado homenaje a LeGuin y su «Los que se alejan de Omelas», aunque con una nueva vuelta de tuerca que lo hace aún más complicado de asimilar. La situación en la Tierra es distópica, pero no se examina muy a fondo, sirve como escenario inicial de la obra pero luego el foco cambia hacia Pax.
La interacción entre las distintas especies de Pax sigue conformando la base del desarrollo de la novela de Sue Burke, pero en esta ocasión el elemento que propicia el conflicto es la llegada de los terrestres, humanos como los primeros colonizadores del planeta, pero tan distintos como podríamos imaginar. Ni sus motivaciones ni su conocimiento del entorno son comparables, así que presenciamos una nueva relación con una especie casi alienígena.
El regusto a ciencia ficción clásica sigue presente, con algunas escenas muy simplificadas y diálogos que se podrían haber explotado más. En ocasiones me parecía que la extrañeza inextricable a una relación con otra especie se volvía demasiado maniquea y los conflictos se resolvían de forma apresurada.
El final del libro invita a la reflexión. Tengo ganas de saber cuál es vuestra opinión sobre este libro, que en mí ha provocado sentimientos enfrentados.

Interference by Sue Burke is a very highly recommended science fiction story following colonists on Pax and continuing the story from Semiosis.

"Over two hundred years after the first colonists landed on Pax, a new set of explorers arrives from Earth on what they claim is a temporary scientific mission. But the Earthlings misunderstand the nature of the Pax settlement and its real leader. Even as Stevland attempts to protect his human tools, a more insidious enemy than the Earthlings makes itself known. Stevland is not the apex species on Pax."

This is a totally engaging and fascinating science fiction story. The opening chapters set up the Earth as a disturbing dystopian society and introduce some of the new group of scientists that will be setting out to visit Pax for research. Then we are reintroduced to the planet Pax, a habitable planet fifty-six light years away, where a group of colonists already live. On Pax there is a stable community and a relationship between three species that are now living together as pacifists on the planet. The humans, who were originally colonists from Earth, are living in a community with the Glassmakers, large arthropod-like beings, and Svetland, an intelligent bamboo species. On Pax, both Glassmakers and humans coexist with Svetland, who privately considers them service animals. When the research group arrives, it upsets the balance the community has established. But there is something else afoot that is threatening every species.

I haven't read Semiosis, but I was able to follow the narrative in Interference without a problem and pick up enough clues to fill in anything I missed. (I am buying Semiosis, though, based on how good Interference is.) Svetland narrates much of the book, but chapters are also told from the point-of-view of other characters - Earth humans, Pax humans, Glassmakers, and plants. The characters newly arriving from Earth, started out their mission with conflicts that they bring to Pax, and immediately cause problems. The conflicts and tension the Earth humans introduce are compounded by a new group of humans arriving and an unknown threat.

The wide variety of characters are all interesting and well developed in relationship to the narrative as a whole. The single chapters from the point-of-view of different characters help provide a richness to the story as they furnish insight into what characters are thinking. These chapters add depth and discernment to the plot through the wide variety of opinions and thoughts. The writing is excellent, thoughtful, astute, and intelligent. It highlights how assumptions (on all sides/ from all species) can lead to problems, but also revelations. This is an outstanding novel.


Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Tor/Forge Books.

http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2019/10/interference.html
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3020613502
https://www.librarything.com/work/22717760/book/174543744
https://twitter.com/SheTreadsSoftly/status/1186393591301787649?s=20
Amazon and Barnes&Noble after publication

This book was not for me. I listened to the audio for the first book and I think that made the gruff and pretty much unlikeable characters more bearable - not to mention the long, meandering chapters and huge periods where not too much happens. Once again, we're met up front with characters in a situation we don't understand (Karola is on an Earth that is so unfamiliar, even relative to the previous book, that I was still trying to get my bearings when we cut away and switched to another character on Pax). The writing is dry and bleak, without the kind of glittering description I would want of a foreign world (whether that be Pax or an Earth that distant from my reality). Coupled with selfish, brutish characters, reading the book became a chore rather than a source of enjoyment.

I will say this, though, Burke's imagination is all but boundless - between the conflict, the alien creatures, and the human characters, I have absolutely no doubt of her creativity. I just wish the book was organized differently

I read and loved the first book of the dualogy, Semiosis and if you appreciated it as I did, no doubt that Interference will enthusiasm you.
After a first part (with and incredibly disturbing dystopian reality), the narrative
form is rather similar as in the first book, with various narrators, which offer a wide array of point of view, for a fantastic show don't tell story.
For the first time we benefit from an outside point of view, which is really exciting. The realism of the situation is still wonderfully told, the comprehension of human nature, even a post human one, is awesome, as aliens' psychology is.
Such a story could probably have continued for books and books, but the author manages to propose a very interesting and illuminated ending.
Sue Burke is an author that I'll keep reading for sure!

Ahoy there me mateys!  I received this sci-fi eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Be advised that this be the second book in the series.  While I try to post no spoilers, if ye haven’t read the first and keep reading this log then ye have been forewarned and continue at yer own peril . . .

interference (Sue Burke)

Title: interference

Author: Sue Burke

Publisher: Macmillian-Tor/Forge

Publication Date: TODAY!! (hardback/ebook)

ISBN: 978-1250317841

Source: NetGalley

I loved the first book of this duology so much that I requested book two as soon as I saw it and didn't even read the blurb.  I happily went in blind.  Upon completion, there be no disappointment.  I loved it.  I do suggest ye read book one before tackling this one.

In this book, set over two hundred years after the first, a group from Earth is dispatched to the planet Pax to do a scientific study and to see if contact can be made with the "lost" descendants of the original colony.  This leads to ample conflicts between the two groups due to the misunderstandings and assumptions brought by the Earthers regarding gender, intelligence, politics, etc.  These scientists were extremely narrow-minded and rather stupid (despite their intelligence) to me way of thinking.

That said, the conflicts did make some interesting reading.  This story was more linear then the previous book.  There were still awesome intelligent plant systems and lifeforms.  There were multiple points of view.  What made this book even more fun is that in addition to conflicts on Pax itself, ye also get to see how Earth has changed in the intervening years and I have to admit that it is not for the better.  Even Pax has undergone recent troubling changes that need investigation and have long range consequences. 

The juxtaposition of the two societies make for some lovely comparisons and conversations about how communities should be run and how human personality traits always seem to get in the way of progress.  But these insights don't get in the way of a great story but rather enhance it.  The limitations of biology and function of each species allowed for some fabulous problems that needed to be solved.  The points of view from the different species were excellent in showcasing the various issues.  And who doesn't  adore Stevland?

Basically this book is as good as its predecessor.  It ends with lovely implications but does seem to have wrapped up the series.  I sure hope that this is not the last book by Sue Burke though.  Arrrr!

So lastly . . .

Thank you Macmillian-Tor/Forge!

Goodreads' website has this to say about the novel:

Over two hundred years after the first colonists landed on Pax, a new set of explorers arrives from Earth on what they claim is a temporary scientific mission.

But the Earthlings misunderstand the nature of the Pax settlement and its real leader. Even as Stevland attempts to protect his human tools, a more insidious enemy than the Earthlings makes itself known.

Stevland is not the apex species.

To visit the author’s website go to:

Sue Burke – Author

To buy the novel go to:

interference - Book

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Previous Log Entries for this Author


semiosis - book 1 (On the Horizon - Sci-Fi eArc)

Sue Burke's new science fiction novel Interference is the sequel to her previous book Semiosis. That book introduced us to Pax, a superhabitable Earth-like planet some fifty-six light years away. Human colonizers, fleeing an ecologically and politically ravaged Earth, arrive on Pax; they must learn to get along with the native life forms. These include, most notably, intelligent plants. All the plant species on the planet are sentient to varying degrees; they are often engaged in Darwinian struggles against one another as well as against the animals who feed on them. There are also a number of language-capable animal species too, including the predatory eagles and the scavenging bats. (The colonists give names reminiscent of Earth species to all the life forms they discover, even though their biochemical makeup and descent are quite different). Pax also has a population of large arthropod-like beings known as the Glassmakers; intellectually and culturally, they are at least the equals of Homo sapiens, though their manners and outlooks are unsurprisingly quite different. In Semiosis, the human community learns, over the course of several generations and about a hundred years, that in order to survive they must give up their colonialist/pioneering/conquering mentality, and instead negotiate ongoing relationships with the other species. By the end of the novel, a stable community of human beings and Glassmakers has been established, with both species in effect playing the role of "service animals" for Stevland, the intelligent bamboo species that dominates the portion of the planet on which they live.
Burke draws on recent scientific research that has discovered that, already here on Earth, plants are sentient in the sense that they actively sense and monitor their environment, they are able to learn and remember, they make decisions among possible alternatives, and overall they respond flexibly to the situations in which they find themselves. Plant neurobiology is a real scientific subfield. For more on this, see the recent books by Daniel Chamovitz and by Monica Gagliano. Only animals have cells specialized as neurons, but non-specialized plant cells exhibit the same physiological bases for thought — electrochemical reactions and transmissions from cell to cell — as animal neurons do. Of course, Burke’s intelligent plants on Pax are extrapolated far beyond anything that actually exists on Earth. But such further specialization, on the basis of already-existing biochemical processes, is not wildly implausible. Intelligence in varying degrees is a useful adaptation, evidenced to some extent in all living organisms on Earth, and there is no reason why it could not develop further. On Pax, plants have cells specialized in similar ways to animal neurons {Another science fiction novel that includes speculation on neural cells added to plant architecture is Joan Slonczewski's The Highest Frontier}.
You definitely need to read Semiosis first in order to make sense of Interference. But given that, the sequel at least equals the previous book, and adds layers of richness to Burke's world-building. Interference picks up the story about a hundred years after the end of Semiosis. The human/Glassmaker/bamboo community is largely doing well. Life on Pax is not quite a utopia, but it arguably allows for a greater degree of flourishing than most of the actual social formations we are familiar with here on Earrh. There are all sorts of minor injusticies, power differentials, and petty disputes and jealousies. And there is a lot of work to be done: many advanced technologies have been lost, and metals are generally not available. Nonetheless, the small society on Pax, organized around one single village, offers a lot of room for personal idiosyncrasies. Many things are done collectively, and resources are shared on a mostly equal basis. Everyone has access to food and shelter. People accrue obligations to one another, but there is no money. Glassmaker society is matriarchal and somewhat hierarchical; among the human inhabitants there seems to be gender equality. Humans and Glassmakers together make decisions on a more or less democratic basis, though there is no doubt that Stevland, the intelligent bamboo, has ultimate authority.
But Stevland is not a dictator; it understands that its own well-being is entirely intertwined with that of the two other sentient species, as well as with a wide variety of other plant and animal life with which it remains in communication. The politics of Pax rests upon the biological conditions of commensalism, mutualism, and symbiosis. One of the best things about both novels is the way that Burke imagines such relations arising out of Darwinian competition. Burke’s vision stands in opposition to selfish gene theory, but it is in general accord with more recent theories about the evolution of cooperation, multi-level selection, and ecological webs of multispecies dependencies. Burke does not skimp on the horrors of predation and parasitism; some of the competition among species described in both volumes is violent to the point of extermination. But the novels also insist on the ways that mutual dependencies are also a crucial part of evolution; cooperation itself evolves, and complex forms of life could never come to exist without it. Most importantly, perhaps — at least from a human point of view — is the fact that the multispecies community on Pax maintains a more or less steady state, in terms of energy, ecology, and economics. It does not strive to endlessly expand in the manner of all too many human societies on Earth, ranging from ancient and early modern despotic regimes all the way to contemporary capitalism.
The ground for all this was already established in Semiosis; but Interference pushes things a lot further. The second book has a wider scope than the first. Interference starts on Earth, and we witness a near future involving massive genocide followed by the establishment of an ecofascist regime. This helps us appreciate, by contrast, the positive aspects of life on Pax — despite its dangers, and its lower levels of technology and material well-being. At the start of the novel, Earth has lost contact with Pax; a spaceship is sent there on a scientific mission, to find out what happened as well as to check on the animal and plant life. This allows Burke to avoid the danger that is often attributed to utopian fiction: a portrait of a more or less stable and satisfying social situation can lead to a boring, conflict-free narrative. Instead, we get massive cultural and political conflict, already among the human beings on the spaceship, even before they arrive; and all the more so, once they have arrived, between them and the humans on Pax, not to mention all the other species.
I will avoid spoilers at least to the extent of not recounting any of these conflicts in detail. I will restrict myself to several observations. The book extends the range of sentient species further than had already been done in the first volume. Imperatives of both violent conflict, and grudging or active cooperation, together with instances of both understanding and misunderstanding, continue to ramify in Interference. Burke does not extend her vision of sentient diversity to the extent of radical incommunicability, i.e. the existence of intelligences so different from one another that they are unable to communicate at all. But she does try to imagine how intelligent arthropod (Glassmaker) intellgience might in fact be quite different from ours, and plant intelligence even more so. This is highlighted in Interference by the way that each chapter of the novel has a different narrator: we get Earth humans, Pax humans, Glassmakers, and plants. The ongoing events are described from vastly varying perspectives. Interestingly, it is the human narrators who come out the worst: they range from badly misunderstanding what they experience, to seriously delusional, to outright sociopathic. The Earth humans come out as far worse than the Pax humans, though the latter also show serious limitations. The chapter narrated by a Glassmaker is somewhat more understanding and sensible than any of the human ones; and the chapter narrated by Stevland is the most rational, observant, emotionally balanced, and self-aware of all. We also get, from Stevland's perspective, a powerful sense both of the plant's stable rootedness and rhizomatic proliferation, and of the constriction it feels from being unable to really travel.
In short, Interference gives us an absorbing and exciting story, but it also asks us to think about how things might be otherwise than what we take for granted, both for better and for worse. In particular, it thinks about emotion, intelligence, and the problems of living with others in both a biological and a sociological register. It neither reduces social processes to biology, nor pretends that biology is irrelevant to our own species being (or to those of presumptive other intelligent beings). It extends Darwinian perspectives to the social and intellectual realm — and it does this in ways that are opposed to, and offer a useful counterpoint to, the nastily reductive fictions of’ so-called ‘evolutionary psychology.’ All in all, Interference, like its predecessor, is science fiction at its best.

I thoroughly enjoyed Interference. It was a fascinating read that I couldn't wait to finish. Sort of a murder mystery/scientific exploration/new world novel, this is the sequel to Semiosis--but you don't *need* to have read the first book to understand this one. It provides backstory for Stevland and the colonists but if you haven't read Semiosis (or did so back when it first came out and only sort of remember the details) you'll do just fine with Interference.

The story is told from the perspective of several different characters, though no character repeats a chapter. So you get enough information from a few humans to understand their motivations before the main action is told through Stevland's POV. I was okay with this as Stevland is the most fascinating character anyway. The chapters also jumped around a little in time, but not so much that it left important gaps in information.

In Semiosis there were some really interesting descriptions of how plants experience things (or at least an idea of how they might do so), and Interference *occasionally* had such descriptions but not as often as in the first book which was slightly disappointing. The writing style was still very good though and I quite liked it. It also had like *no* errors which is rare for an ARC.

There were parts where my interest waned slightly, but overall this was an excellent book that was enjoyable to read and I definitely recommend it if you liked the first one, or if you think science fiction plants are awesome. #teamstevland