INTERFERENCE BY SUE BURKE

Note: While writing this review, I did not have copies of either Interference or Semiosis available to me, so it’s based on my memory of them. Some incidental details may be incorrect. Spoilers for Semiosis follow.

Sue Burke’s debut novel, Semiosis, was a conflicting book for me. I loved the premise - a group of humans land on a distant planet to escape an Earth ravaged by climate change, making first contact with sentient aliens that aren’t animals, but plants - but there were faults here and there that stopped me from enjoying it as much as I should have. While Burke’s writing isn’t groundbreaking by any means, it’s more than serviceable, and that would be perfectly fine if the plot lived up to full potential. Unfortunately, it did not, and I think a lot of that came down to how the story was formatted. Each chapter is from the point of view of a character from the following generation, which while it’s an interesting (and probably the only) way to tell a story that spans a couple of centuries, it left me unable to get terribly attached to any of the characters. While some characters would be referenced or remembered in later chapters, they usually just faded into the background, and there was nothing that made any particular protagonist stand out to me. The obvious exception is Stevland, a grove of sentient rainbow bamboo that is able to communicate with the pacifists (as the humans refer to themselves), and is instrumental to resolving the final conflict.

Stevland is a fascinating character, and learning more about him was what kept me turning pages. You’re unsure of his motives, and I kept swinging back and forth between trusting him or not. I would have loved to have learned more about him in a biological sense, but this is far from a hard science fiction novel. Still, the way Stevland communicates with other plants by producing specific molecules is novel and kept the most curious part of me relatively sated. The other main group of characters is that of the glassmakers, insect-like aliens who communicate through clicks and releasing pheromones. Burke is a Spanish-to-English translator, and clearly is knowledgeable about linguistics. The way the three species learn to mutually understand each other, and coexist, was the other highlight of the novel. Unfortunately, I found that it was a bit anticlimactic - the ending wasn’t the most satisfying for me personally, and there was still so much of this world I wanted to learn more about. It was frustrating!

That’s why I’m happy to say that the sequel, Interference, is definitely a step up from its predecessor, fixing most of its flaws, even if it introduces new ones in the process.

A couple of generations after the ending of Semiosis, the pacifists, glassmakers, and Stevland live in relative peace, working together in a tight-knit community in the restored city the glassmakers originally abandoned. However, their bonds are put to the test when Earthers arrive, wanting to check in with the descendants of the original colonists, and get their own samples. The Earthers are a varied crew, from all sorts of different backgrounds, and right from the start they’re at odds with each other, a power struggle quickly brewing as they argue about the goals of their mission. And the Earthers might not even be the worst threat to the livelihood of the pacifists…

Each chapter (some of which can be rather lengthy!) is from the perspective of a different character once again, but this time, the time frame is only that of a few months. This let me get much more emotionally attached to the characters, and I loved seeing them grow. For example, the first narrator, a young man named Arthur, starts off as entitled and brash, only caring about going on adventures or impressing the girl he likes. But it was genuinely delightful to see his character evolve over the course of the events of the novel, and I liked him quite a bit. Better yet, we get point of view chapters from not just Earthers as well, but glassmakers and Stevland. You also learn a lot more about their cultures in this book, which was extremely welcome. Sadly, while Stevland was hands down the most interesting narrator, his section struggled a bit due to the fact that he is much less limited than the other perspectives. Being an entire grove of bamboo that is many places at once, he can passively observe most of the cast at any point in time, making him almost omniscient in some instances. I felt this hampered the flow of the novel up until that point. However, he was so fun and learning how he thought, how he viewed the other species, and learning his motivations without having to decide to trust him or not just about makes up for it.

We also get to learn more about Earth, which was another welcome addition. Karola’s chapter starts before the expedition leaves for Pax, and shows how oppressive and dystopian our planet has become. Some of the details about the fascist chaos sounded frankly absurd at first - I’d think, there’s no way that would ever happen, but as I became hooked, I was easily able to suspend my disbelief. Each member of the expedition has different reasons for coming to Pax, but the vast majority of them boil down to the same basic motivation - to escape the prison that was their planet. The pacifists are a bit wary of the Earthers, holding the belief that they were awful people who instead of trying to heal their planet, abandoned it carelessly. On the other hand, the Earthers are equally wary of the pacifists, especially once they see how much their culture differs from their own, in ways that make them uncomfortable.

And that, truly, is where the book really shines - in this clashing of cultures. The Earthers, all having come from a planet with an oppressive regime, have difficulty accepting that the pacifists and glassmakers are truly equal. They can’t tear free from the systemic inequality of their homeworld, and assume that one group must be in charge. The novel plays with this a lot, with the Earthers exacerbating underlying tensions between the glassmakers and pacifists. It gets even more complicated when you throw Stevland into the mix, who is assumed to be worshiped by the inhabitants of Pax. It makes the reader re-evaluate how they view the relationships between the characters. Better yet, Burke does a great job of presenting a living, breathing ecosystem. Each species, be it plant or animal, has its own role and exists for a seeming purpose. It’s not just that these species exist because they’re cool to theorize about; but they all interact with each other in believable ways. It reminds me in some very positive ways of Scavengers Reign, an absolutely brilliant tale about humans stranded on a distant planet, where the main character is quite arguably the ecosystem itself.

The ending felt much more satisfying than the one in Semiosis. While you’ll still want to know a lot more about the world - there’s some teasers that were deliciously frustrating - I also felt oddly content if this was the end of the series. I pictured there being a handful of short stories set on Pax, or perhaps even Earth, to help round out the universe, but instead, Burke recently announced a third novel, coming out Autumn 2024. While not what I expected, I am pleasantly surprised and looking forward to it. However, there is one glaring issue I take with the novel, which actually has nothing to do with any of its content. My problem is that the inside flap, and many promotional materials, make it clear that there is going to be an enemy that’s not the Earthers. While they’re foreshadowed very early on, their identity isn’t truly revealed until the last act. Personally, I felt that it would have been better to keep it a surprise, as it became very obvious what the enemy was just from the first chapter alone. If I wasn’t aware of another threat appearing, it would have been much more fun to figure out who (or what) it was naturally. As such, it makes that reveal pretty anticlimactic.

Overall, Interference is a sequel that’s better in just about every way. While it has a few flaws, it was still a very enjoyable read, and I recommend it to all fans of weird first contact stories, and speculative biology. While it falls short of works by, say, Jeff Vandermeer, it’s a valiant effort and worth exploring the world of Pax for yourself. Here’s hoping that the third in the series continues to improve, and we could have a potential must-read.

Final Rating: 8/10