Terra Utopia

by Phil Moore

Terra Utopia
by Phil Moore



Description
A group of interstellar travellers crash land on a strange but beautiful planet seemingly incapable of change – a planet that is conscious and narrating our story. As the surviving crew struggle to adjust to the unpredictable behavior of this strange paradise, the deceased commander of the mission debates with the newborn planet the nature of reality and the meaning of life; while the planet is actively trying kill the survivors and undo causality.

This is a hard Sci-Fi thriller with humour and action and a diverse cast of characters, one of whom is a planet. It is also a philosophical exploration of the meaning of life, death, and nature of consciousness . Plus it has a funny robot.

302 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 18, 2023

About the author

Phil Moore has been writing for decades in various forms. A Songwriter, Screenwriter, Musical Theatre writer and composer, Tech Journalist, Podcaster and Teacher. He is a filmmaker with two feature films and proshoot of a stage musical, which you will find on streaming services. In more recent years his focus has been on writing books, which include Speculative Fiction novels, as well as the comprehensive non-fiction filmmaking tutorial 'F*k Art, Just Tell the Story'.

Reviews

[Sofia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uhmmm I thought I would be reading about how a crew would survive on a foreign planet, but that wasn't really what this book was all about… let me explain, without spoilers, what I mean… we do have a crew arriving/crashing in a foreign planet (at least looks like it), but is not really about surviving, is more like the river always goes to the ocean, and if you read you do understand what I mean…
when I started this book I was loving it, then it just got weirder, and now that I finished it, I don’t know where I stand about it… yeah, the obvious thing is not what is reality, and what is happening is told by unreliable narrators, how deep can we go into despair?

Its still worth give it a try, but it goes much more into speculative fiction mixing to it, religion a lot of magical thinking and a bit of transcendence of the mortal soul and what you end up is this book in a nutshell, Maybe I wasn't really the intended reader for this book.

Thank you NetGalley and BooksGoSocial, for the free ARC and this is my honest opinion.

[Join the Penguin Resistance!]

Although the framework is Science Fiction, the story is far more a Speculative Fiction, more like "Quantum Metaphysics," evaluation of and expansion of Consciousness, Thought Creation.

A small scouting crew use faster-than-light technology to reach Proxima Centauri B, an Earth-similar exoplanet. At least, that is the intention, but an inexplicable crash landing strands them on a livable but very strange planet, with all the ship's electrical components and foodstuffs rendered useless. Then they discover the planet's amazing mutability. The Consciousness manifesting as this unknown and alarming planet acts as the book's unreliable (and somewhat temperamental) Narrator.

[John Kropewnicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was given an advance release copy via NetGallery for this book.

This books is kind of a combination between the Three Body Problem and The Martian.

The plot is a group of 5 astronauts using a FTL drive accidentally end up in a pocket universe and freak out as they try to figure out the rules of their planet.

I fully enjoyed my time reading this, however
I would have preferred harder and deeper science. Also I wish the characters were not acting so clearly a stupid way

Four stars for this: I can fully recommend this as an pleasurable read.

[Jay W · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book! A lot of talk of collective consciousness and the value of time in life, and a really interesting voice. It's sort of kind of from the perspective of a planet, and an expedition of humans crashes on this planet and the planet learns about what it means to have others outside oneself.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid scifi with an interesting premise, nicely executed. This doesn't have the polish that a more experience author might produce, but nicely done nonetheless.

I really appreciate the free copy for review!!

[Jaime N · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn’t too sure when reading the book but the story pulled me in. Leaving Earth to find another world only to end up on a planet that is alive and can commune with the dead. Twists and turns keep the story moving. I would recommend this book.