Semiosis

Fascinating book! At its best it recalls Octavia Butler, particularly the Xenogenesis Trilogy and its exploration of humans living with aliens. Also some elements of Adrian Tchaikovsky, the imagination of non-human intelligence.

Burke's writing style is just a little odd. There's something a bit awkward in her characterizations and plotting. Maybe it's deliberate because it works well to me. It kept me off balance reading the story and the story itself is disquieting, so it should be.

I was particularly impressed that she saw through a disturbing conclusion. The idea that the Glassmakers, or at least most of them, deserved to die. A genocide justified because they were so awful it would be impossible to live with them. Brrr! Creepy idea. But also sort of compelling. She even leans into the awfulness of it by pointing out it wasn't exactly the fault of the Glassmakers entirely, that this group was severely degraded by disease and hunger. If they were humans this story would be monstrous. But they're aliens, and the planet is hostile, and in the end humans did what they had to do to survive an existential threat. Kinda awful, kinda great writing.