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Invasive
Once a dedicated pilot, Robin has one final to land a ship of pilgrims on a new world. There her husband can work as a botanist among people who share his faith, her kids can grow up in open spaces, and she can settle down to life as a full-time mom.
When she agreed to the idea, it didn’t sound so bad. But now that she’s pregnant with her third child and light years from home, things go sideways.
The colonists’ nature-worshipping religion hides a system of power and control. The planet was promised to be uninhabited, but something is stalking the colony from deep in the forest. And the colony ship will never lift off again.
When Robin ventures into the forest to find out what threatens her people, she finds the line between peaceful pilgrims and rapacious invaders is thinner than she realized.
When she agreed to the idea, it didn’t sound so bad. But now that she’s pregnant with her third child and light years from home, things go sideways.
The colonists’ nature-worshipping religion hides a system of power and control. The planet was promised to be uninhabited, but something is stalking the colony from deep in the forest. And the colony ship will never lift off again.
When Robin ventures into the forest to find out what threatens her people, she finds the line between peaceful pilgrims and rapacious invaders is thinner than she realized.
298 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 15, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 16, 2026
GIANT CAT CENTAURS WITH A WARRIOR CULTURE CLASH WITH DESPERATE HUMANS ON A LUSH WORLD--
Jenne writes classic science fiction stories, with a fantastic balance of everyday characters, geeky engineering, relatable problems, and hope. What I love is how she's optimistic but realistic.
Her villains are never cardboard cutouts, and her heroes are real people, flawed and persistent, and likable. INVASIVE is her take on a crashed starship, its survivors encountering an alien race so alien that initially they don't recognize them sentient. The tale is told with shifting povs, but Robin is our protagonist: a pregnant starship captain with a botanist husband and kids, who accidentally gets caught up in a puzzle that might save or doom not only her fellow survivors, but also the indigenous people on the planet.
Jenne manages to weave several points of view, including alien ones, quite effectively, to show how people handle impossible choices, and how they fix them. This is hopepunk at its finest. Never saccharine or didactic, just a tale told by survivors who find their way through.
The indigenous people, the Eosians, as the humans call them, have a truly fascinating warrior matriarchial culture, as well looking a bit like giant six-legged cat centaurs. I really loved learning about them.
Ultimately, this is a story about how two very different groups can work it out, despite tragedy and differences. A fantastic story for our current time.
My comparisons would be two of my favorites of all time: Grass by Sherri S Tepper, and Golden Witchbreed, by Mary Gentle. Jenne holds her own in their august company.
Jenne writes classic science fiction stories, with a fantastic balance of everyday characters, geeky engineering, relatable problems, and hope. What I love is how she's optimistic but realistic.
Her villains are never cardboard cutouts, and her heroes are real people, flawed and persistent, and likable. INVASIVE is her take on a crashed starship, its survivors encountering an alien race so alien that initially they don't recognize them sentient. The tale is told with shifting povs, but Robin is our protagonist: a pregnant starship captain with a botanist husband and kids, who accidentally gets caught up in a puzzle that might save or doom not only her fellow survivors, but also the indigenous people on the planet.
Jenne manages to weave several points of view, including alien ones, quite effectively, to show how people handle impossible choices, and how they fix them. This is hopepunk at its finest. Never saccharine or didactic, just a tale told by survivors who find their way through.
The indigenous people, the Eosians, as the humans call them, have a truly fascinating warrior matriarchial culture, as well looking a bit like giant six-legged cat centaurs. I really loved learning about them.
Ultimately, this is a story about how two very different groups can work it out, despite tragedy and differences. A fantastic story for our current time.
My comparisons would be two of my favorites of all time: Grass by Sherri S Tepper, and Golden Witchbreed, by Mary Gentle. Jenne holds her own in their august company.
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May 18, 2026Invasive is a quick read about arrogant humans being the invasive species ready to take over a world, using any convenient dogma to justify it. The story closely follows a family, primarily the mother, who is heavily pregnant with her third child, but the first one she has kept inside her body so she isn't familiar with the pains of pregnancy. Of her two children, one is rather openly ignored while all the parents' attention is focused on the younger child who has special needs. (I kept waiting for the older child to have his moment, but it didn't come.) Invasive has a classic sci-fi feel while also being very character focused--you could even say family focused. The native life of the planet is colorful in multiple ways and will capture the imagination of sci-fi fans. The ecological and sociological themes are very overt and unsurprising from start to finish. Unfortunately, I found the solutions to the various problems all rather easy, and I was disappointed that the outcome (caveat that I won't specify as it's spoilery) seemed to justify or agree with the arrogance of humans dominating as they please.
January 24, 2026
Invasive is the second book in recent times which had artificial wombs as a futuristic invention, and man, I love it!
The story revolves around Robin, a pilot who's taking people belonging to a newly established cult like religion to a new planet where they'll establish a new earth. The religion centres around earth as an entity, a goddess, who wants her followers to make a new earth in her honour since the original earth is more or less destroyed now.
Robin's husband is part of this new faith, though Robin herself doesn't believe in it. But she's ready to go to this new world for the sake of her husband and children, the younger of whom is autistic.
The new planet is home to a sentient alien species, however, something the colonisers knew nothing about. It also has hidden dangers arising from the accidental forest fire Robin started attempting to land the derelict spacecraft that's not going to fly again.
Amidst dangers from the new world and unrest among the colonisers, Robin has to find a way forward for all the aliens and humans to co-exist in peace.
This book! It's short, but it packs a punch. I was enthralled from start to finish, and I adored Robin and Lilly, her autistic daughter. Robin's struggles with being a pilot and parent and now being pregnant again, something totally new to her since the previous children were all gestated outside her body.
The cult like religion and the fanaticism of some of its followers feel very realistic, and despite how it all comes to restoring and respecting nature, the insouciance with which they're ready to destroy the native flora and fauna of the new planet speaks volumes for the kind of people they are.
Robin shines in this book. There's no other word for it. She's very real, very human, and one of the few who wants to do what's right. She doesn't need religion to help her in that.
The aliens were interesting, and despite being non-human, their emotions are as human as anything else. Tsaft's grief for her dead partner is heart rending, and the politics of their society and the obsession with land all resonate with humanity's greed and possessiveness.
Highly recommended to anyone who enjoys Sci Fi.
The story revolves around Robin, a pilot who's taking people belonging to a newly established cult like religion to a new planet where they'll establish a new earth. The religion centres around earth as an entity, a goddess, who wants her followers to make a new earth in her honour since the original earth is more or less destroyed now.
Robin's husband is part of this new faith, though Robin herself doesn't believe in it. But she's ready to go to this new world for the sake of her husband and children, the younger of whom is autistic.
The new planet is home to a sentient alien species, however, something the colonisers knew nothing about. It also has hidden dangers arising from the accidental forest fire Robin started attempting to land the derelict spacecraft that's not going to fly again.
Amidst dangers from the new world and unrest among the colonisers, Robin has to find a way forward for all the aliens and humans to co-exist in peace.
This book! It's short, but it packs a punch. I was enthralled from start to finish, and I adored Robin and Lilly, her autistic daughter. Robin's struggles with being a pilot and parent and now being pregnant again, something totally new to her since the previous children were all gestated outside her body.
The cult like religion and the fanaticism of some of its followers feel very realistic, and despite how it all comes to restoring and respecting nature, the insouciance with which they're ready to destroy the native flora and fauna of the new planet speaks volumes for the kind of people they are.
Robin shines in this book. There's no other word for it. She's very real, very human, and one of the few who wants to do what's right. She doesn't need religion to help her in that.
The aliens were interesting, and despite being non-human, their emotions are as human as anything else. Tsaft's grief for her dead partner is heart rending, and the politics of their society and the obsession with land all resonate with humanity's greed and possessiveness.
Highly recommended to anyone who enjoys Sci Fi.
December 19, 2025
This is my second Jenné book and as usual, she's managed to capture humanity through the lens of science fiction. This is such a beautiful mix of classic first contact with themes of parenthood and ecology. Loved it.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews