Zollocco: A Novel of Another Universe

by Cynthia Joyce Clay

Having escaped from a dying Earth to the solar systems Imekapur, a young woman lands on a planet governed by sentient forests. Despite becoming a preistess of the governing forests, she is hounded from planet to planet by the Toelakhan, an interplanetary corporation always at odd with the forests' stewardship of the planets. What the forests teach her could save the Earth, but only if she escapes the Toelakhan.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy

337 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2000

Reviews

[Midu Hadi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this book to read and review from Making Connections:
Link to the book thread
I liked a lot of things about this book:
it was beautifully written
the world building was extensive
the customs of different places which the MC visits were well thought out and explained-my favorite place was the country with two types of governments and the idea of stealing being accepted as a society norm was intriguing
Also loved all of the scenes in the forests, especially Zollocco
I just had one issue with the book and that was its length. After reading 3/4 of the book, the remaining length seemed exhausting
The book makes us think about what we're doing to our world today-if only there was a Zollocco here who'd fight back!

[Michael Fierce · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm sorry. As much as I like Sci-fi and Cryptobotany, this book just wasn't for me. I couldn't tell if it was being intentionally humorous, didn't like the changing POV's, and thought the narration was too unpolished. I couldn't understand how a sentient forest could "speak" words like a contemptuous human, "saying" things like, "Beat it, you smelly old human" and "The human needs to relieve itself. Some ivy wants to place its leaves handy for the human to wipe itself with. Even the water elm thinks this would be a good joke. Humans always seem so embarrassed when they have to scratch their behinds. The human seems to know about the effects the ivy would have on it because it is carefully avoiding the ivy." I'm not sure how a forest could think this, let alone know this.

YEP! that about sums it up for me.

I hope only for the best for this author's career. I would like to make a suggestion to say that if it were me, I would try to emulate other writers who are more accomplished, to help get into the groove of how to say the things you want to say, but with a better structure, less words, and in the beginning of your career, only one point of view, preferably in 3rd person for this sort of book, or 1st person if you mean for the audience to only know things from one person's perspective, I guess.

I'm giving this 2 stars because I love the idea of a space traveller crash landing on a sentient forest planet. It was the conviction of these ideas and the storyline that, for me, didn't work.

It's only fair to say that I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway so, I wasn't sure what to expect from the short synopsis given. I see several others liked it more than I did so maybe other readers will too.

I feel a bit bad for my 2 star review because it's obvious to me that the author and I have some specific interests in common: sci-fi space travel and cryptobotany.

Thank you for the opportunity to read it.

[Alfonso · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you liked the movie Avatar, you’ll love Zollocco. I really liked this novel for many reasons. The heroine is really intelligent. She is suddenly thrown into a completely different universe. She has no idea why or how, but she deals with it. That made it very realistic. Then there are all the different creatures of the forest. Packs of forsythia go on rampages—it’s both funny and scary. The trees of the forest deliberately move around to get the heroine lost. There are land octopuses that climb in trees. The heroine travels because she is being hounded by the interplanetary corporation, and the cities and town she goes to are fantastic. There is a city which is completely submerged for two weeks by the sea every year but the people stay in the buildings and watch the sea from the windows. There is a desert with a single willow tree growing in it and the willow overlooks a pond, but the willow and pond can only be found by certain people at certain times. Zollocco is original and really creative

[Join the Penguin Resistance! · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, I LIKE this book! I hadn’t read science fiction in quite a long time, but was drawn to read and review this novel because of the sentient forests, which appeal to me as an environmentalist. The author is just so skillful at relating the differing points of view-first person in both cases, from the Forest Consciousness and from the human-that these point of view changes are seamless. Yet enough information is given that the reader can immediately empathise and comprehend. Odd as it might seem to some, the Forest and its denizens (not just trees, but moss, reeds, grass, rocks, brooks, etc.) are well-rounded characters, each working toward the goals and benefit of the entirety.

The prose in this novel is delicious, and the approach of viewing the human as “alien,” as she is to The Forest and to the planet, is delightful. So many of humankind’s xenophobic reactions (which manifest in our reality not only as fear and loathing of potential extraterrestrial life, but as hatred and fear of each other) are found in the Consciousness stream of thought of The Forest, and its individual component denizens. Of course humans seem smelly, insecure, unlivable-aren’t these complaints leveled at those who are not “of our kind” even though they are clearly human too? From the viewpoint of The Forest, we can also look back to Earth and witness the destructive potential so barely contained on our planet. Even The Forest consciousness is able to pick up references from the human female’s unconscious mind.

“Zolloco: A Novel of Another Universe” is an absolutely glorious novel. I’m blessed to have discovered it, and intend to read all the author’s other books. I may well return to reading science fiction as a genre choice now-may it all be as wonderful as this novel. I highly recommend it, and not only for lovers of science fiction. Literary fiction enthusiasts will find much here to value as well, as will those who enjoy fantasy, and poetic imagery.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is about a woman who, having escaped from a dying Earth, lands on a planet governed by sentient forests in the solar system Imenkapur. At first, the forest, called Zollocco, doesn’t want her there, but slowly changes its "mind" after realizing that the woman is at least trying to live in harmony with the forest.

She is captured by, and made the property of, the Toelakhan, an interstellar corporation not in agreement with the forests’ stewardship of the planets. She escapes, and runs from planet to planet, meeting other civilizations living in tune with the forests. She is made a priestess of the forests, but the Toelakhan is always one step behind her, wanting their property back.

Included in the book are vignettes about life on an Earth that has become an environmental disaster area. Through some new version of Eminent Domain, houses are flattened and parking lots are torn up to create space to plant trees, because breathing masks are required at all times when one is outside. The ozone layer, even over America, has become very thin. Faneuil Hall in Boston is now on the waterfront, because of global warming. An expedition is made to the flooded, and evacuated, Boston Financial District to gather up all the house plants in all those offices and keep them alive to produce much needed oxygen.

This one is very good. It has a rather strong social message, but it also has an interesting story that will get the reader thinking. It is well worth the time.

[Sean Endress · Rating 1 out of 5]

What started off with a promising premise spun off into nonsense. First of all, the story jumps from one narrator to the next without warning. I think the change in font is supposed to be the indicator, but as far as the Kindle format is concerned there's absolutely nothing consistent about it.

The writing style is equally inconsistent, with occasional high and beautiful peaks but an excessive number of clumsy, childish lows. The voice of the sentient forest is incoherent, and the human hardly has a voice at all (I don't just mean a lack of lines, I mean a complete lack of character.) The plot is both plodding and baffling, as alien concepts are either not explained until well after their introduction or not explained at all.

Ultimately, the whole thing was a tremendous slog and I'm not sorry to put it down at last. My condolences to the author, I can tell it took work to put out there, but it feels like a weak rough draft in dire need of help.

[Graisi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this book when it came out years ago, and recently found my copy while sorting through boxes of old books. I immediately remembered how much I loved it, though I didn't quite remember what it was about. So I read it again and was not disappointed. It's a beautiful novel of nature loving, adventure and thrills in a sci-fi setting.