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To Each This World
From an Aurora Award-winning author, a new sci-fi novel follows three intrepid humans caught up in a conflict that stretches across time and space.
Biologist Julie E. Czerneda's new standalone science fiction novel, To Each This World follows a desperate mission to reconnect with long lost sleeper ships, sent centuries earlier from Earth to settle distant worlds.
A trio of Humans must work with their mysterious alien allies to rescue any descendants they can find on those worlds. Something is out there, determined to claim the cosmos for itself, and only on Earth will Humans be safe.
Or will they?
The challenge isn't just to communicate with your own kind after generations have passed. It's to understand what isn't your kind at all.
And how far will trust take you, when the truth depends on what you are?
Biologist Julie E. Czerneda's new standalone science fiction novel, To Each This World follows a desperate mission to reconnect with long lost sleeper ships, sent centuries earlier from Earth to settle distant worlds.
A trio of Humans must work with their mysterious alien allies to rescue any descendants they can find on those worlds. Something is out there, determined to claim the cosmos for itself, and only on Earth will Humans be safe.
Or will they?
The challenge isn't just to communicate with your own kind after generations have passed. It's to understand what isn't your kind at all.
And how far will trust take you, when the truth depends on what you are?
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First published November 15, 2022
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About the author
Julie E. Czerneda
101 books754 followersHaving written 25 novels (and counting) published by DAW Books, as well as numerous short stories, and editing several anthologies, in 2022, Julie E. Czerneda was inducted in the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. Her science fiction and fantasy combines her training and love of biology with a boundless curiosity and optimism, winning multiple awards. Julie's recent releases include the standalone novel To Each This World, her first collection Imaginings, and A Shift of Time, part of her Night's Edge fantasy series. For more visit czerneda.com Julie is represented by Sara Megibow of Megibow Literary Agency LLC.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 164 reviews
January 16, 2023
The inhabitants of New Earth, the first Earth colony and home to Earth‘s surviving humanity, formed an alliance with the Kmet, an alien race. They receive news about the location of some of their own colony ships, sent out 200 years previously. Humans and aliens set out to find those colonists. Bad things happen. The true state of the human-alien partnership comes under question during the course of their expedition.
The writing style took some getting used to. Colloquial speech in writing, grammar be damned.
The pacing of this book was too slow, it took me forever to get past the first third of the story. Nearly gave up. There was a lot of idling. But I was also intrigued. Struggled onto the halfway point, still thinking about abandoning it. Muddled on. An low-and-behold, it got good! Great even! The action at the end made me happy. A bit too little, too late though. I appreciate all that world-building and set-up and character development, but I also wish the first half of the book had been half as long!
I cried at the end. Twice! I can‘t give it less than 4 stars, if I cry, right? Despite everything—what a slog.
Henry reminded me of Bren Cameron, just with less dress sense. The sandals were charming though. All of Henry was charming, really. Killian grew on me. And oh my goodness, those PIPs were adorable! And Flip! Loved him. It? Yes, the willy-bits were funny, too. And yes, I would get a sequel, despite the slog. I loved the construction of the portals. More portal mechanics would have been nice.
I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher or author through NetGalley. All opinions are my own and I was not required to give a positive review.
The writing style took some getting used to. Colloquial speech in writing, grammar be damned.
The pacing of this book was too slow, it took me forever to get past the first third of the story. Nearly gave up. There was a lot of idling. But I was also intrigued. Struggled onto the halfway point, still thinking about abandoning it. Muddled on. An low-and-behold, it got good! Great even! The action at the end made me happy. A bit too little, too late though. I appreciate all that world-building and set-up and character development, but I also wish the first half of the book had been half as long!
I cried at the end. Twice! I can‘t give it less than 4 stars, if I cry, right? Despite everything—what a slog.
Henry reminded me of Bren Cameron, just with less dress sense. The sandals were charming though. All of Henry was charming, really. Killian grew on me. And oh my goodness, those PIPs were adorable! And Flip! Loved him. It? Yes, the willy-bits were funny, too. And yes, I would get a sequel, despite the slog. I loved the construction of the portals. More portal mechanics would have been nice.
I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher or author through NetGalley. All opinions are my own and I was not required to give a positive review.
December 1, 2022
A very enjoyable sci-fi read with multiple alien races that truly were strange enough to feel alien. Imaginative technology that opened up so many possibilities. Compelling characters. Overall, a solid sci-fi read. There were a few things that bugged me, dragging it down to 4 stars for me.
SYNOPSIS:
Humanity fled an uninhabitable Earth to a planet called New Earth. Over a century ago humanity sent out 7 sleeper ships to colonize other worlds. After a disaster destroyed all of humanity’s spaceships and space stations, the human race became much more cautious about space travel. Then, the Kmet came. An alien race that came and formed an alliance with humanity. They offered humans advanced technology and access to portals that allow you to travel vast distances in seconds. When humanity used the portals to visit one of the sleeper ships’ worlds, they discovered some threat had wiped out at least one of the human sleeper ships’ colonies. The Kmet warn that any humans on worlds other than New Earth are in danger from a mysterious threat called The Divider. Thus begins a frantic race to find and evacuate any remaining human colonies from the sleeper ships.
Humanity has been allies with the Kmet for decades, but they still struggle to understand them. Now, they’re beginning to wonder if the Kmet can really be trusted. Are they really trying to protect humans from the threat of another alien species? Are they trying to use humans to protect themselves from an alien enemy? Or are they the threat to humanity? One thing’s for sure, if our characters don’t find answers fast, humanity may not be safe anywhere.
THE GOOD:
The aliens in this book really did think, perceive, communicate, and function in ways that are totally alien and different from humans. This is rarely done effectively in sci-fi. Attempts to communicate with, understand, and negotiate with these aliens were truly fascinating, clever, realistic, and very well written.
The advanced technologies, both human and alien, were all inventive, downright bizarre, and very fun to imagine. There were shapeshifting sentient AIs and at least one of them had a great sense of humor. (Who wouldn’t love an AI whose favorite spaceship shape is a cartoonish flying saucer?). Portals that allowed people to travel lightyears instantly, albeit with some potentially nasty space-sickness side effects. Technology that allowed space travelers to communicate with and share their very perceptions with the minds of experts and advisors lightyears away. Specially made doppelganger bodies that space travelers could use to travel without their real body ever leaving home.
The mysteries in the story kept my interest. I was constantly making predictions and spinning theories. The story managed to keep surprising me over and over again. Once I got through the slightly slower start, I was on the edge of my seat until the last page. I love it when a sci-fi book keeps me constantly thinking.
The characters (human, alien, and AI alike) were undoubtedly well written and compelling. Extremely well written dialogue and interpersonal interactions. The characters were all believable and three dimensional. Every single one was so very interesting to read about. All the main characters were diabolically brilliant, sneaky, hilarious, brave, full of heart, and so very capable of making mistakes. They all had to make incredibly hard choices and unavoidably morally gray decisions. There were some decent romances (one straight, one sapphic). I liked them, but they weren’t central to the story.
There were three protagonists and the story jumped around, alternating between following each of them. Two were fantastic strong female characters, one of whom was queer pilot with downright awesome girlfriend and a love of adventure. The other female protagonist was a true explorer: brash, brave, and quick on her feet. The male protagonist was a diplomat and leader with the weight of multiple worlds on his shoulders and an AI best friend (lots of friendship feels there). All three of them were almost terrifyingly impressive and wonderfully imperfect. Each character had flaws and strengths that made sense together, both flowing naturally from their personality.
The competing political factions, priorities, philosophies, even among the humans, added another layer of realism to the world. The best part was that all of the factions and arguments had at least a little bit of a point.
It’s a long book, but it’s also a complete story that probably needed to be long to do it justice. It had a bit of a slow start, but it was all necessary groundwork for when the story really took off. It wasn’t too long before the story picked up and then I was in suspense ‘till the end.
THINGS THAT BUGGED ME:
The dialogue, negotiations, and human-alien interactions were extremely realistic. Most of the book felt very realistic and believable. But, that made the few unrealistic details and events in the book bug me all the more. (I can’t really get into them without spoilers, but most of the details I thought were unrealistic weren’t actually that crucial to the story. There also weren’t very many details I found unrealistic.)
The characters had to make some really tough, ethically dicey calls. There were times where any possible choice was morally gray. This made the story all the more compelling and realistic. There were a few decisions made by one of the main characters that, in my opinion, went a bit too far and undermined that character’s likability. It just got a bit too dark for my taste at times. At the same time, the choices were so complicated and dicey, that I can’t even necessarily say that those choices weren’t the smartest or the least terrible ones available.
For example, I don’t find it realistic that an entire colony of people (with a population of millions) would be totally okay with leaving their pets to die in the apparent imminent disaster. I find it preposterous that not one person refused to evacuate or raised trouble because of it. Especially when, as far as they knew, they had plenty of time to transport themselves and their pets. I also find it too dark to refuse to let people take their pets with them in an evacuation. (To be fair, I’m not sure if the main characters would have had the power to sway New Earth’s ruling body to change their minds about that policy.) This detail wasn’t exactly central to the story or a major focus of that plotline either.
THE ENDING:
Bittersweet ending. No cliffhanger. This is a standalone with everything wrapped up at the end. While everything was wrapped up well, it didn’t feel unrealistically neat and tidy. There were some parts of the ending that only kind of made sense to me. That being said, it was still a satisfying conclusion with fairly satisfactory answers to the story’s many mysteries.
THE VERDICT:
A really good sci-fi read. Not perfect. Or, it might be more apt to say that it wasn’t perfect for me. There were some details that bugged me. There were a few times where the story was a bit too dark for my taste. There were a few times where one of the main characters made decisions that were a bit too morally questionable for the character to stay likable in my eyes. Nevertheless, It was still a good read.
WARNINGS: death
I received a free eARC via NetGalley. I am writing this review completely honestly and voluntarily.
SYNOPSIS:
Humanity fled an uninhabitable Earth to a planet called New Earth. Over a century ago humanity sent out 7 sleeper ships to colonize other worlds. After a disaster destroyed all of humanity’s spaceships and space stations, the human race became much more cautious about space travel. Then, the Kmet came. An alien race that came and formed an alliance with humanity. They offered humans advanced technology and access to portals that allow you to travel vast distances in seconds. When humanity used the portals to visit one of the sleeper ships’ worlds, they discovered some threat had wiped out at least one of the human sleeper ships’ colonies. The Kmet warn that any humans on worlds other than New Earth are in danger from a mysterious threat called The Divider. Thus begins a frantic race to find and evacuate any remaining human colonies from the sleeper ships.
Humanity has been allies with the Kmet for decades, but they still struggle to understand them. Now, they’re beginning to wonder if the Kmet can really be trusted. Are they really trying to protect humans from the threat of another alien species? Are they trying to use humans to protect themselves from an alien enemy? Or are they the threat to humanity? One thing’s for sure, if our characters don’t find answers fast, humanity may not be safe anywhere.
THE GOOD:
The aliens in this book really did think, perceive, communicate, and function in ways that are totally alien and different from humans. This is rarely done effectively in sci-fi. Attempts to communicate with, understand, and negotiate with these aliens were truly fascinating, clever, realistic, and very well written.
The advanced technologies, both human and alien, were all inventive, downright bizarre, and very fun to imagine. There were shapeshifting sentient AIs and at least one of them had a great sense of humor. (Who wouldn’t love an AI whose favorite spaceship shape is a cartoonish flying saucer?). Portals that allowed people to travel lightyears instantly, albeit with some potentially nasty space-sickness side effects. Technology that allowed space travelers to communicate with and share their very perceptions with the minds of experts and advisors lightyears away. Specially made doppelganger bodies that space travelers could use to travel without their real body ever leaving home.
The mysteries in the story kept my interest. I was constantly making predictions and spinning theories. The story managed to keep surprising me over and over again. Once I got through the slightly slower start, I was on the edge of my seat until the last page. I love it when a sci-fi book keeps me constantly thinking.
The characters (human, alien, and AI alike) were undoubtedly well written and compelling. Extremely well written dialogue and interpersonal interactions. The characters were all believable and three dimensional. Every single one was so very interesting to read about. All the main characters were diabolically brilliant, sneaky, hilarious, brave, full of heart, and so very capable of making mistakes. They all had to make incredibly hard choices and unavoidably morally gray decisions. There were some decent romances (one straight, one sapphic). I liked them, but they weren’t central to the story.
There were three protagonists and the story jumped around, alternating between following each of them. Two were fantastic strong female characters, one of whom was queer pilot with downright awesome girlfriend and a love of adventure. The other female protagonist was a true explorer: brash, brave, and quick on her feet. The male protagonist was a diplomat and leader with the weight of multiple worlds on his shoulders and an AI best friend (lots of friendship feels there). All three of them were almost terrifyingly impressive and wonderfully imperfect. Each character had flaws and strengths that made sense together, both flowing naturally from their personality.
The competing political factions, priorities, philosophies, even among the humans, added another layer of realism to the world. The best part was that all of the factions and arguments had at least a little bit of a point.
It’s a long book, but it’s also a complete story that probably needed to be long to do it justice. It had a bit of a slow start, but it was all necessary groundwork for when the story really took off. It wasn’t too long before the story picked up and then I was in suspense ‘till the end.
THINGS THAT BUGGED ME:
The dialogue, negotiations, and human-alien interactions were extremely realistic. Most of the book felt very realistic and believable. But, that made the few unrealistic details and events in the book bug me all the more. (I can’t really get into them without spoilers, but most of the details I thought were unrealistic weren’t actually that crucial to the story. There also weren’t very many details I found unrealistic.)
The characters had to make some really tough, ethically dicey calls. There were times where any possible choice was morally gray. This made the story all the more compelling and realistic. There were a few decisions made by one of the main characters that, in my opinion, went a bit too far and undermined that character’s likability. It just got a bit too dark for my taste at times. At the same time, the choices were so complicated and dicey, that I can’t even necessarily say that those choices weren’t the smartest or the least terrible ones available.
For example, I don’t find it realistic that an entire colony of people (with a population of millions) would be totally okay with leaving their pets to die in the apparent imminent disaster. I find it preposterous that not one person refused to evacuate or raised trouble because of it. Especially when, as far as they knew, they had plenty of time to transport themselves and their pets. I also find it too dark to refuse to let people take their pets with them in an evacuation. (To be fair, I’m not sure if the main characters would have had the power to sway New Earth’s ruling body to change their minds about that policy.) This detail wasn’t exactly central to the story or a major focus of that plotline either.
THE ENDING:
Bittersweet ending. No cliffhanger. This is a standalone with everything wrapped up at the end. While everything was wrapped up well, it didn’t feel unrealistically neat and tidy. There were some parts of the ending that only kind of made sense to me. That being said, it was still a satisfying conclusion with fairly satisfactory answers to the story’s many mysteries.
THE VERDICT:
A really good sci-fi read. Not perfect. Or, it might be more apt to say that it wasn’t perfect for me. There were some details that bugged me. There were a few times where the story was a bit too dark for my taste. There were a few times where one of the main characters made decisions that were a bit too morally questionable for the character to stay likable in my eyes. Nevertheless, It was still a good read.
WARNINGS: death
I received a free eARC via NetGalley. I am writing this review completely honestly and voluntarily.
December 14, 2022
I think it’s never a good sign when I struggle to get through a book, or have to work hard to convince myself to pick it up again after a break. But that's what happened with Julie Czerneda's latest. I had high hopes for this as the plot sounded really interesting:
Humans spread outward through the galaxy after leaving Earth. Some ended up on a planet named New Terra, while a series of other ships were aimed in several directions hoping to establish colonies on different planets. They were never heard from again, while humans thrived on New Terra.
Then, aliens made contact with New Terra, and after negotiations, established a relationship, with one human speaking for Earth, the Arbiter (similar to C.J. Cherryh's paidhi in the "Foreigner" series). The relationship was managed through a treaty with deceptively simple language (this becomes a plot point later). The New Terrans had no desire to travel elsewhere, and the alien Kmet were the only ones with the means, Portals, to move about outer space, and most New Terrans were content with the situation.
When it seemed some of the other ships may have landed on planets and successfully established colonies, the Kmet are adamant these humans must be removed because there was something or someone out there who would strongly, and violently, object to human presence anywhere but New Terra. New Terra mobilizes, and the current Arbiter, Henry, heads out with a human pilot and a kmeth aboard a Kmet portal to rescue the possibly several million humans. But things may not be as clear cut as kmeth have made things out to be on their portals, or with their current or treaty intentions.
So, a tight timeline to rescue a huge number of people in advance of some kind of amorphous danger, intrigue on New Terra between human factions, and an increasingly strained human-alien relationship built on secrets and possibly lies.
It should have been riveting. I wasn’t riveted. In fact, I found myself struggling through the story more than enjoying the narrative. I never got a good handle on the worldbuilding such as
-the working arrangement between kmeth and humans on board the Kmet portals
-the use of human cloned bodies is not explained to my satisfaction at the book's beginning and only really becomes clear as the story progresses,
-the political beliefs amongst the New Terran committee whom the Arbiter reports to
-More critically, l could not build a picture in my mind of the geography, so to speak, or relationship, of New Terra with its surrounding space past its atmosphere. Were there space stations? Killian, the pilot working with Henry, implied there was a human spacer culture and I kept wondering, where is it based?
What I did like:
-the teams of specialists supporting the Arbiter and the pilots. This makes sense as the jobs are complicated, and frequent consultations would be necessary as Henry travelled to the possibly colonized worlds
-the parallel narrative on one of the colonized world as we follow one of the humans, a Seeker, exploring the world. I found Beth to be a compelling character, more so than Henry
-Flip, the polymorphic entity working with Henry, is the best.
So, despite interesting elements, this book didn't really work for me.
Thank you to Netgalley and to DAW for this ARC in exchange for my review.
Humans spread outward through the galaxy after leaving Earth. Some ended up on a planet named New Terra, while a series of other ships were aimed in several directions hoping to establish colonies on different planets. They were never heard from again, while humans thrived on New Terra.
Then, aliens made contact with New Terra, and after negotiations, established a relationship, with one human speaking for Earth, the Arbiter (similar to C.J. Cherryh's paidhi in the "Foreigner" series). The relationship was managed through a treaty with deceptively simple language (this becomes a plot point later). The New Terrans had no desire to travel elsewhere, and the alien Kmet were the only ones with the means, Portals, to move about outer space, and most New Terrans were content with the situation.
When it seemed some of the other ships may have landed on planets and successfully established colonies, the Kmet are adamant these humans must be removed because there was something or someone out there who would strongly, and violently, object to human presence anywhere but New Terra. New Terra mobilizes, and the current Arbiter, Henry, heads out with a human pilot and a kmeth aboard a Kmet portal to rescue the possibly several million humans. But things may not be as clear cut as kmeth have made things out to be on their portals, or with their current or treaty intentions.
So, a tight timeline to rescue a huge number of people in advance of some kind of amorphous danger, intrigue on New Terra between human factions, and an increasingly strained human-alien relationship built on secrets and possibly lies.
It should have been riveting. I wasn’t riveted. In fact, I found myself struggling through the story more than enjoying the narrative. I never got a good handle on the worldbuilding such as
-the working arrangement between kmeth and humans on board the Kmet portals
-the use of human cloned bodies is not explained to my satisfaction at the book's beginning and only really becomes clear as the story progresses,
-the political beliefs amongst the New Terran committee whom the Arbiter reports to
-More critically, l could not build a picture in my mind of the geography, so to speak, or relationship, of New Terra with its surrounding space past its atmosphere. Were there space stations? Killian, the pilot working with Henry, implied there was a human spacer culture and I kept wondering, where is it based?
What I did like:
-the teams of specialists supporting the Arbiter and the pilots. This makes sense as the jobs are complicated, and frequent consultations would be necessary as Henry travelled to the possibly colonized worlds
-the parallel narrative on one of the colonized world as we follow one of the humans, a Seeker, exploring the world. I found Beth to be a compelling character, more so than Henry
-Flip, the polymorphic entity working with Henry, is the best.
So, despite interesting elements, this book didn't really work for me.
Thank you to Netgalley and to DAW for this ARC in exchange for my review.
January 25, 2024
ARC received in exchange for an honest review.
200 years ago, six sleeper ships were sent to colonize distant planets. Now one of their message probes reached the New Earth.
A lot has changed since then. Earth has found alien allies that allow them to use portal technology to gather resources from all around the galaxy. There is only one rule. All humans have to return, no colonizing.
Now that there is proof of human colonies in space, the aliens want them all moved back to Earth or there will be consequences. The arbiter of humanity takes the task upon himself to get everyone "home" and out of this mysterious danger. He will have to overcome cultural divisions that accumulated over generations of separation. But more importantly, he will need to cooperate with the aliens that remain a mystery after 37 years of coexistence.
I really enjoyed the story and how we slowly uncover the mysteries. I enjoyed how it all came together. Maybe the ending could have been less rushed, but I found it very satisfying.
The aliens were properly alien. There was so much to learn about them. I loved how hard the communication between them and humans was. They weren't some super intelligence that right away understood us and could communicate perfectly in our language. There were blunders and miscommunication on both sides.
We have six worlds and six different scenarios. Weird planets, weird cultures. Humans that were shaped in very specific ways by their environment. And even the humans of Earth were already changed by new technologies and certain events. Here I might talk about one negative of this book. The language is a bit hard to read at times. The 'd shortenings were used everywhere. In the case of the colony person's POV, it's obviously on purpose, but maybe it's on purpose for the whole book to suggest humans in the future also talk differently from us?
We have three POVs altogether. One is a character from one of the colonies, Beth. She appears right in the prologue and shows how different life can be in a different environment. Then we have the Arbiter, Henry. I really liked his characterization. He is this likable guy that carries a lot of power on his shoulders. He needs to make some hard decisions and despite seeming always strong to the observers; we see how he is cracking under that pressure. Lastly, we have the pilot, Killian. She is very determined and quite rebellious. I enjoyed her relationship with Henry and I am glad that for once, male and female alone in space can just stay friends.
Another character that should be mentioned is Flip, a synthetic construct. He is often used as a comedic relief but also brings a lot to the conversation about what it means to be a human.
Some parts were a bit slow, but I am not sure if they could have been cut. I think it added some tension seeing characters do some repetitive stuff or having to wait before they can continue with the mission since we know there is a time limit. There is a lot to learn and understand about the new technologies and the aliens. At the beginning it left me a bit confused, but everything gets explained with time.
All in all, I really enjoyed reading this book. I rate it 4,5 but feel that it deserves to be rounded up to 5. It is definitely an impactful book that I won't forget and I will certainly read more from the author.
200 years ago, six sleeper ships were sent to colonize distant planets. Now one of their message probes reached the New Earth.
A lot has changed since then. Earth has found alien allies that allow them to use portal technology to gather resources from all around the galaxy. There is only one rule. All humans have to return, no colonizing.
Now that there is proof of human colonies in space, the aliens want them all moved back to Earth or there will be consequences. The arbiter of humanity takes the task upon himself to get everyone "home" and out of this mysterious danger. He will have to overcome cultural divisions that accumulated over generations of separation. But more importantly, he will need to cooperate with the aliens that remain a mystery after 37 years of coexistence.
I really enjoyed the story and how we slowly uncover the mysteries. I enjoyed how it all came together. Maybe the ending could have been less rushed, but I found it very satisfying.
The aliens were properly alien. There was so much to learn about them. I loved how hard the communication between them and humans was. They weren't some super intelligence that right away understood us and could communicate perfectly in our language. There were blunders and miscommunication on both sides.
We have six worlds and six different scenarios. Weird planets, weird cultures. Humans that were shaped in very specific ways by their environment. And even the humans of Earth were already changed by new technologies and certain events. Here I might talk about one negative of this book. The language is a bit hard to read at times. The 'd shortenings were used everywhere. In the case of the colony person's POV, it's obviously on purpose, but maybe it's on purpose for the whole book to suggest humans in the future also talk differently from us?
We have three POVs altogether. One is a character from one of the colonies, Beth. She appears right in the prologue and shows how different life can be in a different environment. Then we have the Arbiter, Henry. I really liked his characterization. He is this likable guy that carries a lot of power on his shoulders. He needs to make some hard decisions and despite seeming always strong to the observers; we see how he is cracking under that pressure. Lastly, we have the pilot, Killian. She is very determined and quite rebellious. I enjoyed her relationship with Henry and I am glad that for once, male and female alone in space can just stay friends.
Another character that should be mentioned is Flip, a synthetic construct. He is often used as a comedic relief but also brings a lot to the conversation about what it means to be a human.
Some parts were a bit slow, but I am not sure if they could have been cut. I think it added some tension seeing characters do some repetitive stuff or having to wait before they can continue with the mission since we know there is a time limit. There is a lot to learn and understand about the new technologies and the aliens. At the beginning it left me a bit confused, but everything gets explained with time.
All in all, I really enjoyed reading this book. I rate it 4,5 but feel that it deserves to be rounded up to 5. It is definitely an impactful book that I won't forget and I will certainly read more from the author.
October 24, 2022
An amazingly humane hard sci-fi book about soft sciences. This is all about the sociology, the psychology, the linguistics, the anthropology of an alien civilisation. The beginning is slow, putting in place the setting, but once the book starts on the "problem", you can't put it down. This is a slow burn, realistic "mystery". This book is very realistic, if people were more well-intentioned in the future. And I like that possibility, so I was happy to tag along. We don't need psychopaths in charge to have serious problems, misunderstandings are quite enough, just like natural disasters and the unknown.
If you like the idea of discovering an alien civilisation, if you wonder how we would communicate, understand each other, try to exchange... and how all of that could go wrong, then this is a book for you.
It could have been a little shorter, and I had a little trouble getting into the writing style at first, but I found this novel absolutely fascinating. I really enjoyed the message in general, the importance placed on communication and understanding. This was so well explored. Highly recommended!
If you like the idea of discovering an alien civilisation, if you wonder how we would communicate, understand each other, try to exchange... and how all of that could go wrong, then this is a book for you.
It could have been a little shorter, and I had a little trouble getting into the writing style at first, but I found this novel absolutely fascinating. I really enjoyed the message in general, the importance placed on communication and understanding. This was so well explored. Highly recommended!
September 2, 2022
To Each This World
[Blurb goes here]
First, I have to say that this a wondrous adventure.
A few hundred years ago, mankind sent forward arks to colonize new planets. One such ship arrived at New Earth, communications to Original Earth were lost by that time, the only conclusion was that planet Earth, was no more. Following tradition to go beyond what was known, and the desire to move forward, New Earth in turn sends arks across space. After a natural phenomenon destroys their capability to create new arks, killing, maybe thousands in the process, humanity decides that colonizing new worlds is no longer a priority.
Enter an alien race, de Kmet. A race that has the technology to create portals, it seems that they like humans, since one of their portals is in orbit, right above New Earth. The Kmet are hard to understand, and they have clear and strict rules on how to engage with the humans: through an Arbiter. Him, and only him is to be the link between both species. The Arbiter is the representative for all mankind, when addressing the Kmet.
One probe, from a long gone ark, arrives at New Earth, it has coordinates to another planet. It’s the job of the Arbiter to convince the Kmet to open a portal to the new world. No easy task. The Kmet had refused countless times to open a portal to Original Earth, hinting at the fact that humans are all in New Earth, and nowhere else. Also, the Kmet don’t want humans loitering about. If they are granted permission to go mine a planet, all have to come back. So, in other words, colonization is frowned upon by the aliens.
The world building is amazing, and so is the premise, along with the characters.
Now on to the cons. Or con, since there’s only one, albeit, an important one. The prose feels...off, from the start. Sentences in disarray, even chopped up. A very particular style. I was about to finish the book and still could’t get used to it, not even a little.
So, for all that I loved in the story, there was the way it was written: my enjoyment fighting against the annoyance of having to read through quite a few paragraphs, more than once.
In the interest of discovering a beautiful journey, I would say, go for it. Just try and be patient.
Any way, those are my two cents.
Thank you for the free copy!
[Blurb goes here]
First, I have to say that this a wondrous adventure.
A few hundred years ago, mankind sent forward arks to colonize new planets. One such ship arrived at New Earth, communications to Original Earth were lost by that time, the only conclusion was that planet Earth, was no more. Following tradition to go beyond what was known, and the desire to move forward, New Earth in turn sends arks across space. After a natural phenomenon destroys their capability to create new arks, killing, maybe thousands in the process, humanity decides that colonizing new worlds is no longer a priority.
Enter an alien race, de Kmet. A race that has the technology to create portals, it seems that they like humans, since one of their portals is in orbit, right above New Earth. The Kmet are hard to understand, and they have clear and strict rules on how to engage with the humans: through an Arbiter. Him, and only him is to be the link between both species. The Arbiter is the representative for all mankind, when addressing the Kmet.
One probe, from a long gone ark, arrives at New Earth, it has coordinates to another planet. It’s the job of the Arbiter to convince the Kmet to open a portal to the new world. No easy task. The Kmet had refused countless times to open a portal to Original Earth, hinting at the fact that humans are all in New Earth, and nowhere else. Also, the Kmet don’t want humans loitering about. If they are granted permission to go mine a planet, all have to come back. So, in other words, colonization is frowned upon by the aliens.
The world building is amazing, and so is the premise, along with the characters.
Now on to the cons. Or con, since there’s only one, albeit, an important one. The prose feels...off, from the start. Sentences in disarray, even chopped up. A very particular style. I was about to finish the book and still could’t get used to it, not even a little.
So, for all that I loved in the story, there was the way it was written: my enjoyment fighting against the annoyance of having to read through quite a few paragraphs, more than once.
In the interest of discovering a beautiful journey, I would say, go for it. Just try and be patient.
Any way, those are my two cents.
Thank you for the free copy!
November 10, 2022
This book drew me in from start to finish. I'm not going to recap the plot, because I think discovering it by reading is best. But here are some of thing things I really liked:
1) The aliens are VERY alien - as they should be. The communication, culture(s), and everything was fascinating.
2) Flip, and really all of the AIs - great, funny, and interesting characters.
3) The complexity of space travel and the ways humans implemented how they approached it.
4) The mystery of the plot as it was slowly uncovered what was happening, and if there would even be a way to fix anything.
5) The human characters - their personalities and ideas. They were on the whole pretty altruistic - it was an optimistic take on society - but they still had very different opinions and ideas.
I'd recommend this book. It's a stand alone, and is very good science fiction.
1) The aliens are VERY alien - as they should be. The communication, culture(s), and everything was fascinating.
2) Flip, and really all of the AIs - great, funny, and interesting characters.
3) The complexity of space travel and the ways humans implemented how they approached it.
4) The mystery of the plot as it was slowly uncovered what was happening, and if there would even be a way to fix anything.
5) The human characters - their personalities and ideas. They were on the whole pretty altruistic - it was an optimistic take on society - but they still had very different opinions and ideas.
I'd recommend this book. It's a stand alone, and is very good science fiction.
January 21, 2023
4.5 stars. I can see why some might find the writing odd- inner thoughts written in short bursts- or the plot slow in the first part, but I loved the idea of trying to communicate with aliens as an exercise in not really knowing for sure what words truly signify. Loved the characters.
Read
August 16, 2024DNF at 37%
I will not be leaving a star rating for this book because I just couldn't finish it. The idea behind this book is really good, and there is a good story somewhere in there, but to me it's drowned by strange narrative choices, and lackluster characters.
First of all, the writing style put me off from the get go. It's a constant barrage of run-on sentences, or sentence fragments, or stream of consciousness from the viewpoint of whichever character we are following in each chapter. It made my teeth hurt from grinding them in frustration, which in turn made it hard to concentrate and follow the story. I powered through, thinking that I could get used to it if I immersed myself long enough... Alas, it was just as frustrating at 37% into the book as it was on page 1.
My second issue is that I couldn't care less about the characters and their motivations... Or what the story was trying to empathize - namely the relationship between the humans and the Kmeth instead of what I thought would have been the main focus of the story.
I mean, you have a human from Earth suddenly popping to human colonies that had centuries to evolve in isolation. Some of them have created thriving communities on their new worlds. And this human says, "Hey, you need to pack it up and leave right now. Like now! Or something undefined, but definitely bad will happen." Can you imagine the disbelief? The horror? The sheer trauma of such an undertaking on millions of people?
Yet that is barely touched in this book. It happens in the background, while our protagonists deal with Kmeth-Here. I'm sorry, that's not the story I was interested it.
PS: I received an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I will not be leaving a star rating for this book because I just couldn't finish it. The idea behind this book is really good, and there is a good story somewhere in there, but to me it's drowned by strange narrative choices, and lackluster characters.
First of all, the writing style put me off from the get go. It's a constant barrage of run-on sentences, or sentence fragments, or stream of consciousness from the viewpoint of whichever character we are following in each chapter. It made my teeth hurt from grinding them in frustration, which in turn made it hard to concentrate and follow the story. I powered through, thinking that I could get used to it if I immersed myself long enough... Alas, it was just as frustrating at 37% into the book as it was on page 1.
My second issue is that I couldn't care less about the characters and their motivations... Or what the story was trying to empathize - namely the relationship between the humans and the Kmeth instead of what I thought would have been the main focus of the story.
I mean, you have a human from Earth suddenly popping to human colonies that had centuries to evolve in isolation. Some of them have created thriving communities on their new worlds. And this human says, "Hey, you need to pack it up and leave right now. Like now! Or something undefined, but definitely bad will happen." Can you imagine the disbelief? The horror? The sheer trauma of such an undertaking on millions of people?
Yet that is barely touched in this book. It happens in the background, while our protagonists deal with Kmeth-Here. I'm sorry, that's not the story I was interested it.
PS: I received an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
August 27, 2023
To Each This World by Julie E. Czerneda
Rating: 3.75 stars
I have mixed feelings about this book. The first half of the novel was a slog. This might have been due to the peculiar writing style, the glacial pacing, and being dumped head first into alien worlds/ships/portals (???) with too much technobabble. Most of the exciting and really interesting stuff only happens around half-way, and since it's a very fat book, half-way is a long wait. The last half was really good. The world building and technology involved in the story were fairly novel. I loved the characters, especially Flip and Pilot Killian. The aliens and their portals were delightfully alien. Human and alien interactions were intriguing and also a bit amusing. The challenges were solved or dealt with in creative and interesting ways. I nice, solid science fiction novel, if you don't mind a slow start.
Rating: 3.75 stars
I have mixed feelings about this book. The first half of the novel was a slog. This might have been due to the peculiar writing style, the glacial pacing, and being dumped head first into alien worlds/ships/portals (???) with too much technobabble. Most of the exciting and really interesting stuff only happens around half-way, and since it's a very fat book, half-way is a long wait. The last half was really good. The world building and technology involved in the story were fairly novel. I loved the characters, especially Flip and Pilot Killian. The aliens and their portals were delightfully alien. Human and alien interactions were intriguing and also a bit amusing. The challenges were solved or dealt with in creative and interesting ways. I nice, solid science fiction novel, if you don't mind a slow start.
November 1, 2022
Thank you to NetGalley and Astra Publishing House for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I love science fiction that isn't afraid to be ambitious, and this book has that in spades. However, despite being immediately drawn in by the premise, which reminded me so much of Ted Chaing's The Story of Your Life, I struggled with this novel. The prose is grammatically quite strange at times. Some chapters can be quite dense and filled with terms that left me wishing for a glossary to help. Characters seemed to make leaps of logic I couldn't quite follow, and I was often left feeling like I was treading water without a lifejacket until I could grasp onto some plot detail a few chapters later.
It is also very slow moving, at least in the beginning -- things didn't really click until I was about 30% of the way into the book. It didn't help that I was in a bit of a reading slump when I started, so keeping with this book was a challenge. However, once things got going, I was really invested in the plot. The differences between each planet, and the dynamics between Henry, Flip, and Killian kept me hooked.
I loved the incredible detail and nuance that went into developing the Kmeth, which are the alien race working alongside humans on their mission to find and rescue humans scattered on various planets from previous expedition missions out into space. Kmeth-Here, especially, was equally fascinating and menacing in their unpredictability and, for lack of a better term, alien nature.
The pace fell apart for me in the final section of the book, and left me wishing for a longer resolution. I also felt like the Beth-centric chapters were a little disjointed and maybe not needed at all. There was really potential for a 5-star book, for me, hidden underneath a rough execution. I recommend this book if you're up for a bit of a challenge. It is definitely one that will stick with me for a long time.
I love science fiction that isn't afraid to be ambitious, and this book has that in spades. However, despite being immediately drawn in by the premise, which reminded me so much of Ted Chaing's The Story of Your Life, I struggled with this novel. The prose is grammatically quite strange at times. Some chapters can be quite dense and filled with terms that left me wishing for a glossary to help. Characters seemed to make leaps of logic I couldn't quite follow, and I was often left feeling like I was treading water without a lifejacket until I could grasp onto some plot detail a few chapters later.
It is also very slow moving, at least in the beginning -- things didn't really click until I was about 30% of the way into the book. It didn't help that I was in a bit of a reading slump when I started, so keeping with this book was a challenge. However, once things got going, I was really invested in the plot. The differences between each planet, and the dynamics between Henry, Flip, and Killian kept me hooked.
I loved the incredible detail and nuance that went into developing the Kmeth, which are the alien race working alongside humans on their mission to find and rescue humans scattered on various planets from previous expedition missions out into space. Kmeth-Here, especially, was equally fascinating and menacing in their unpredictability and, for lack of a better term, alien nature.
The pace fell apart for me in the final section of the book, and left me wishing for a longer resolution. I also felt like the Beth-centric chapters were a little disjointed and maybe not needed at all. There was really potential for a 5-star book, for me, hidden underneath a rough execution. I recommend this book if you're up for a bit of a challenge. It is definitely one that will stick with me for a long time.
December 17, 2022
I found this a fascinating book. The author has so many novels that I didn't know whether this would have the depth and gravity I look for, but it greatly exceeded my expectations and even my hopes. This is a story of human diaspora, colonization of distant worlds, and first contact. It's told through the viewpoint of three great, well developed, interesting humans. I enjoyed that they are mature adults. Two of them, Henry and Killian, are on a spaceship with a very alien alien, a Kmet, under enormous strain and responsibility as they try to communicate and understand the alien's intentions. The third, Beth, is an explorer on a distant planet having one or more alien populations that they haven't yet encountered. The tension heightens as it becomes increasingly apparent that the Kmet might not be the ally they present as, but a potential threat to all remaining humans. Adding to the uncertainty, Henry's sentient AI shuttle/assistant may or may not be more alien than they knew. Underpinning the whole story is the concept of biological imperative, each species just trying to survive, thrive, and grow. This is a standalone novel which comes to a very satisfying ending, with no unraveled threads given some time to think about it all. Curious to me, but not related to the story, is the author's relentless use of contractions of the word "had", in a way I'm not accustomed. For instance, "He'd boots." is a sentence. I don't know if that terseness is particular to the author, the characters personalities she was trying to convey, or just how everyone uses contractions in that part of Canada. It wasn't detracting in any way, just interesting, and seemed especially appropriate for Beth who always thinks and speaks with extreme brevity. Highly recommend this book!!
November 27, 2022
A new book by my favorite author. I should have finished it a lot sooner. But I found myself reading slower and slower because I didn’t want it to end. Anyone else do that with a book they are really enjoying? And then I zoomed through the final 25% because I had to know what was going on RIGHT NOW! **I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. (And then I bought my own physical copy and Audible copy 🥰)
November 16, 2022
This was such an interesting read! This one is a bit hard for me to review since sci-fi isn’t my typical genre and this book wasn’t particularly for me. That being said, this has a very fascinating storyline and I loved the characters. If you like science fiction, this may be the book for you!
December 30, 2022
The aliens are intriguing and the creativity and uniqueness of this book is astonishing. The three characters are well drawn and multilayered. Could have been a tad shorter, but in general this is a fantastic story with very high stakes.
October 17, 2022
This is one of the most thought-provoking, original books I’ve read in a long while. Beginning with humans who enter their own avatar (called an epitome in the book) to go into space or enter the space portal that is at the center of the novel, to creatures such as the kmet, who are gigantic, sloppy, imperious characters whose mode of thought, communication and motivation are obscure, to the final inhabitants of a distant planet, beings who designed the portals, the characters in the novel push the limits of one’s imagination. The plot is original, its unraveling a mystery, probably not completely solved by the book’s end, and the ideas behind it are mind-stretching. It may be the best job, since Stanislau Lem, of demonstrating that the minds of aliens are likely to be completely unlike our own and difficult, if not impossible for humans to understand.
The plot is riveting. Henry, the Arbiter, whose task is to be the only human who communicates with the kmet, who have introduced space portals that allow travel to other planets to humans and who desire to bond with humans in some way, must determine if the kmet’s aim is benign or dangerous to the humans who remain on New Earth. He and Killian, the portal’s pilot, along with a sort-of computer-generated, shape-shifting companion, must visit six planets where New Earth once sent colonists to collect them and bring them back to New Earth before their planets are destroyed by a mysterious force called The Divider. At every turn, Henry and Killian are in some kind of danger and, lurking below the surface is the question of whether The Divider is really the thing they should fear or the kmet, who are urging them to bring all humans back to New Earth in preparation for some kind of merging of the kmet and humans.
The human characters are well-drawn enough for the reader to care about their fate. The mystery remains until the very end of the book. It’s a truly edge-of-your-seat thriller, but with its striking originality of character and place being at the heart of the book’s attraction. I must admit that there is an irritating tendency for the author to use odd contractions and to leave out articles, which I couldn’t tell if they were inadvertent or just an idiosyncratic way for the characters to think or the narrator to express herself, but I got used to them and they didn’t detract enough from the story to interfere with its ability to captivate me throughout.
If a reader wants to encounter real originality in a science fiction space adventure, this novel will fulfill their needs. I couldn’t put it down. I’d never read a Julie E. Czerneda book before and didn’t know she was such a prolific author until I finished the book and looked her up (I’d skipped the list of her books at the beginning of the novel). I definitely will be reading more of her work.
Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read a pre-publication, uncorrected proof of To Each This World.
The plot is riveting. Henry, the Arbiter, whose task is to be the only human who communicates with the kmet, who have introduced space portals that allow travel to other planets to humans and who desire to bond with humans in some way, must determine if the kmet’s aim is benign or dangerous to the humans who remain on New Earth. He and Killian, the portal’s pilot, along with a sort-of computer-generated, shape-shifting companion, must visit six planets where New Earth once sent colonists to collect them and bring them back to New Earth before their planets are destroyed by a mysterious force called The Divider. At every turn, Henry and Killian are in some kind of danger and, lurking below the surface is the question of whether The Divider is really the thing they should fear or the kmet, who are urging them to bring all humans back to New Earth in preparation for some kind of merging of the kmet and humans.
The human characters are well-drawn enough for the reader to care about their fate. The mystery remains until the very end of the book. It’s a truly edge-of-your-seat thriller, but with its striking originality of character and place being at the heart of the book’s attraction. I must admit that there is an irritating tendency for the author to use odd contractions and to leave out articles, which I couldn’t tell if they were inadvertent or just an idiosyncratic way for the characters to think or the narrator to express herself, but I got used to them and they didn’t detract enough from the story to interfere with its ability to captivate me throughout.
If a reader wants to encounter real originality in a science fiction space adventure, this novel will fulfill their needs. I couldn’t put it down. I’d never read a Julie E. Czerneda book before and didn’t know she was such a prolific author until I finished the book and looked her up (I’d skipped the list of her books at the beginning of the novel). I definitely will be reading more of her work.
Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read a pre-publication, uncorrected proof of To Each This World.
January 17, 2023
I have many books by Julie E. Czerneda, but this is one of her best. It's a stand-alone, which is relatively rare these days; but it wraps up its story in a most satisfying and poignant manner. It's a complex, hard SF tale of aliens, clashing cultures, misunderstood linguistics, implacable alien biology, and above all, one man trying to save the remaining Human population scattered across several planets.
Henry is the Arbiter on the planet of New Earth, in charge of maintaining the negotiated agreement between humans and the Kmet (who, as best as I can make out from the descriptions, are giant alien slugs with flippers). The Kmet have access to wormhole technology called the Portals. There are only two of them, and they swap out their Portals to allow travel to distant systems. Thirty-seven years ago, the first Arbiter negotiated an agreement that brought the so-called Duality into existence: a joint agreement to allow both humans and Kmet to flourish. But two hundred years ago generation ships were sent out from New Earth to settle other systems, and returning probes from those ships are throwing the Kmet into panic. They insist an entity called the "Divider" is going to kill the humans on these other worlds, and the Kmet insist on taking Henry and a pilot, Killian, to those other worlds to evacuate their inhabitants to New Earth.
What follows is a race against time to evacuate the inhabitants of the colony worlds, with their widely varying peoples and cultures, and a deepening mystery regarding the Kmet and their motives behind what they are doing. Since Czerneda is a biologist by training, the solution to that mystery lies in the Kmet's biology, and what happened to their ancestors centuries ago. It's pretty complicated, but she makes it understandable to a layperson.
The gems of this book, though, are the characters. Henry is a dogged, loyal, determined man trying his best to save the people on the colony planets and New Earth. The Portal pilot, Killian, is a grumpy, rough-edged spacer who comes to appreciate Henry and what he can do. But the best character of all is Henry's ship and companion, Flip, a "polymorphic matrix" (read AI, but contained in shapeshifting nanotech goo, given to the humans by the Kmet). Flip goes through hell to keep Henry safe, and at the end has to watch as Henry is stranded on the final colony planet. Henry ends up negotiating with the enormous underground beings who originally made the Portals to return the Kmet to their world of origin, destroy the Portals, and save New Earth.
This is a lovely read with excellent pacing and an emotional ending--the room got quite dusty as I turned the final pages. This is one of the last 2022 books I have read, and one of the best.
Henry is the Arbiter on the planet of New Earth, in charge of maintaining the negotiated agreement between humans and the Kmet (who, as best as I can make out from the descriptions, are giant alien slugs with flippers). The Kmet have access to wormhole technology called the Portals. There are only two of them, and they swap out their Portals to allow travel to distant systems. Thirty-seven years ago, the first Arbiter negotiated an agreement that brought the so-called Duality into existence: a joint agreement to allow both humans and Kmet to flourish. But two hundred years ago generation ships were sent out from New Earth to settle other systems, and returning probes from those ships are throwing the Kmet into panic. They insist an entity called the "Divider" is going to kill the humans on these other worlds, and the Kmet insist on taking Henry and a pilot, Killian, to those other worlds to evacuate their inhabitants to New Earth.
What follows is a race against time to evacuate the inhabitants of the colony worlds, with their widely varying peoples and cultures, and a deepening mystery regarding the Kmet and their motives behind what they are doing. Since Czerneda is a biologist by training, the solution to that mystery lies in the Kmet's biology, and what happened to their ancestors centuries ago. It's pretty complicated, but she makes it understandable to a layperson.
The gems of this book, though, are the characters. Henry is a dogged, loyal, determined man trying his best to save the people on the colony planets and New Earth. The Portal pilot, Killian, is a grumpy, rough-edged spacer who comes to appreciate Henry and what he can do. But the best character of all is Henry's ship and companion, Flip, a "polymorphic matrix" (read AI, but contained in shapeshifting nanotech goo, given to the humans by the Kmet). Flip goes through hell to keep Henry safe, and at the end has to watch as Henry is stranded on the final colony planet. Henry ends up negotiating with the enormous underground beings who originally made the Portals to return the Kmet to their world of origin, destroy the Portals, and save New Earth.
This is a lovely read with excellent pacing and an emotional ending--the room got quite dusty as I turned the final pages. This is one of the last 2022 books I have read, and one of the best.
November 30, 2022
This book was a disappointment, I’m sorry to say. It’s an excellent set-up - the blurb had me very excited - but it’s not handled well in my opinion.
The premise: humanity sent out sleeper ships a few centuries back to find colonies, and (as expected) haven’t heard from them since. In the time since, they’ve made contact with aliens called the Kmet, who possess the ability to travel instantaneously. Understanding the Kmet is difficult, but it’s clear they want some kind of partnership with the humans (what they call “the Duality”) and they’ve formed a cordial arms-length partnership. But then a message arrives from the first of the sleeper ships, telling Earth that they’ve reached their destination and started their colony, and the Humans approach the Kmet to ask if they’d mind giving them a lift to say hello to their long-lost cousins.
The Kmet go into an absolute panic. There is something out there that the Kmet will only call “the Divider.” Only on Earth, protected by the Kmet, can humans be safe, and it is imperative that the colonists are gathered up and brought back to Earth as soon as possible.
Here’s where I think this book fails. Some (not all) of the sleeper ships founded successful, thriving colonies, and they’ve been established for centuries. They’ve developed in isolation; they have their own cultures and customs. These worlds have been their *home* for generations. And suddenly someone shows up from Earth and says “you all have to pack up and leave *right now* on my say-so.” It’s going to be one hell of a challenge to convince them to leave, and an incredibly traumatic experience as well.
Yet this isn’t what the book is about. It’s only barely touched on. What the book is *about* is the Kmet, and trying to understand their motivations and what the threat is. Which is fine, as a story, and interesting enough … but I simply didn’t care because I was aware of all this incredibly massive, generationally traumatic event happening to literally millions of people that’s just … ignored.
It is perhaps unfair to judge a book for what it *isn’t* rather than what it *is*. But in the end the most important question in reviewing a book is “did I enjoy this?” In this case, the answer, sadly, is no.
My blog
The premise: humanity sent out sleeper ships a few centuries back to find colonies, and (as expected) haven’t heard from them since. In the time since, they’ve made contact with aliens called the Kmet, who possess the ability to travel instantaneously. Understanding the Kmet is difficult, but it’s clear they want some kind of partnership with the humans (what they call “the Duality”) and they’ve formed a cordial arms-length partnership. But then a message arrives from the first of the sleeper ships, telling Earth that they’ve reached their destination and started their colony, and the Humans approach the Kmet to ask if they’d mind giving them a lift to say hello to their long-lost cousins.
The Kmet go into an absolute panic. There is something out there that the Kmet will only call “the Divider.” Only on Earth, protected by the Kmet, can humans be safe, and it is imperative that the colonists are gathered up and brought back to Earth as soon as possible.
Here’s where I think this book fails. Some (not all) of the sleeper ships founded successful, thriving colonies, and they’ve been established for centuries. They’ve developed in isolation; they have their own cultures and customs. These worlds have been their *home* for generations. And suddenly someone shows up from Earth and says “you all have to pack up and leave *right now* on my say-so.” It’s going to be one hell of a challenge to convince them to leave, and an incredibly traumatic experience as well.
Yet this isn’t what the book is about. It’s only barely touched on. What the book is *about* is the Kmet, and trying to understand their motivations and what the threat is. Which is fine, as a story, and interesting enough … but I simply didn’t care because I was aware of all this incredibly massive, generationally traumatic event happening to literally millions of people that’s just … ignored.
It is perhaps unfair to judge a book for what it *isn’t* rather than what it *is*. But in the end the most important question in reviewing a book is “did I enjoy this?” In this case, the answer, sadly, is no.
My blog
October 12, 2022
I'll admit, I was a little hesitant when I first picked up To Each This World. I'm unsure if I'm more prone to expect more detailed and complicated prose than was first presented, but I struggled through the first few chapters. To Each This World is written in what seems to be a very informal tone: you have a direct line into each character's thoughts in an almost stream-of-consciousness manner. However, I'm glad to say I stuck it out, as I was hooked shortly after.
To Each This World is a galaxy-spanning adventure to save our (new) world and other worlds. The reader embarks on a journey with the characters to uncover the mysteries of lost colonists from a future Earth, only to find themselves on an emotional journey of discovering what it means to be part of a civilization.
To Each This World is a creatively crafted look into what social structures are, our influences on others, the ease in which we can be oblivious to misunderstandings, and just how simple it is to take our similarities for granted. All of this is wrapped up in an expedition to save humanity in whatever far reaches it resides.
Julie E. Czerneda manages to flesh out an exciting universe full of wonder, hope, and mystery while maintaining the excitement and pace of a race against time. This journey across the stars -- however expansive -- reminds us just how close we are and how a little bit of courage and hope have made us thrive as a species.
It's been a long time since I had a physically manifested emotional reaction to the end of a novel, but this one will go down in memory for a long time. I am excited for anyone to read this book, mainly so they might experience the same sense of renewed hope and wonder for humanity and life.
To Each This World is a galaxy-spanning adventure to save our (new) world and other worlds. The reader embarks on a journey with the characters to uncover the mysteries of lost colonists from a future Earth, only to find themselves on an emotional journey of discovering what it means to be part of a civilization.
To Each This World is a creatively crafted look into what social structures are, our influences on others, the ease in which we can be oblivious to misunderstandings, and just how simple it is to take our similarities for granted. All of this is wrapped up in an expedition to save humanity in whatever far reaches it resides.
Julie E. Czerneda manages to flesh out an exciting universe full of wonder, hope, and mystery while maintaining the excitement and pace of a race against time. This journey across the stars -- however expansive -- reminds us just how close we are and how a little bit of courage and hope have made us thrive as a species.
It's been a long time since I had a physically manifested emotional reaction to the end of a novel, but this one will go down in memory for a long time. I am excited for anyone to read this book, mainly so they might experience the same sense of renewed hope and wonder for humanity and life.
October 13, 2022
Absolutely captivating! I could tell from the get-go that this was written by an intelligent, science minded author who has done her research. The first contact was handled in a fresh way, the characters well developed and realistic. A must read for hard science fiction lovers.
November 28, 2022
Loved this book. It’s so rare to find a fresh premise, and then have it done so well, so richly,
Julie Czernada is truly wonderful. I recommend all her books.
Julie Czernada is truly wonderful. I recommend all her books.
November 26, 2022
To Each This World was a great take on aliens and humans interacting, one which I quite enjoyed! Let us chat about it!
What I Loved:
►The characters! First and foremost, the characters in this story were fabulous. They are dealing with a lot during the story- more than any human beings should have to, really. And the fate of many worlds ends up in their hands, which again, is a lot. But they managed to feel completely human and relatable all while dealing with these tremendous, world-altering tasks. I also loved how they were able to bond with each other and others around them.
►The stakes, like I mentioned, were crazy high. Like, could not be higher, basically. Would the Kmet really be on the side of humans, at the end of the day? Could humanity as a species be wiped out? So many nail-biting scenarios! And it was clear that the author was not afraid to take risks, so I never felt that anyone's safety was guaranteed, at any point.
►Once things got going, I was wholly invested. I'll talk about this more, but while it started off a little on the slower end, things got pretty wild by the midway point, even sooner. And then, I just had to know how things would turn out!
What I Struggled With:
►It just kind of felt long and/or dense at times. It is a longer book, so there is that. But especially at the beginning, I just kind of felt overwhelmed at times, and like maybe it was a bit too long? Regardless, I still really enjoyed the book and this certainly wasn't a dealbreaker.
Bottom Line: Once this story started going, I was completely absorbed in the fate of the characters and world.
You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight
What I Loved:
►The characters! First and foremost, the characters in this story were fabulous. They are dealing with a lot during the story- more than any human beings should have to, really. And the fate of many worlds ends up in their hands, which again, is a lot. But they managed to feel completely human and relatable all while dealing with these tremendous, world-altering tasks. I also loved how they were able to bond with each other and others around them.
►The stakes, like I mentioned, were crazy high. Like, could not be higher, basically. Would the Kmet really be on the side of humans, at the end of the day? Could humanity as a species be wiped out? So many nail-biting scenarios! And it was clear that the author was not afraid to take risks, so I never felt that anyone's safety was guaranteed, at any point.
►Once things got going, I was wholly invested. I'll talk about this more, but while it started off a little on the slower end, things got pretty wild by the midway point, even sooner. And then, I just had to know how things would turn out!
What I Struggled With:
►It just kind of felt long and/or dense at times. It is a longer book, so there is that. But especially at the beginning, I just kind of felt overwhelmed at times, and like maybe it was a bit too long? Regardless, I still really enjoyed the book and this certainly wasn't a dealbreaker.
Bottom Line: Once this story started going, I was completely absorbed in the fate of the characters and world.
You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight
November 30, 2025
Great book - I would give it 4.5 stars if I could. It’s not 5 stars for me (I reserve that for life-changing books) but really great. The setting is sci-fi but it’s really a story about relationships, communication and how to listen and think about what the other person is trying to tell you. Really well done.
November 17, 2022
To Each This World is a hard Sci-Fi novel. A great story filled with political intrigue, mystery, adventure and imaginative world building. A great find and glad I read it.
The main character Henry is the Arbiter, the most important individual on New World. His main responsibility is being the go between Humans and the Alien species called the Kmet. Humans have entered into a pact or Duality, as it is called, between the two species.
The Kmet have given some technology to humans and the use of Portals that allow spaceships to transit long distances in the blink of an eye. However, everything could be in jeopardy when a probe reaches New Earth with a message that a seed ship, sent centuries earlier, has arrived at its destinations and the humans there are prospering.
The Kmet on the Portal is beside itself. It insists that the other humans be rounded up and returned to New Earth before the Divider finds them and destroys them. As the Arbiter, Henry must assist with this task. Yet, he has many questions, and foremost is who the Divider is and why are they dangerous.
This book is one of the most original I have read in a while. I loved that the author presented Aliens as Alien. Nothing like humans and hard to understand, not only in speech but in motive. It felt plausible and the pacing was perfect. Yet, in the end it was the characters and the world building that made it such a good book.
There is just one negative for me, the writing style, which made the story hard to follow at times. I also struggled at first to get invested in the story. However, the characters of Henry and Killian were just so well developed, and I fell in love with them, and it made it up for so much.
Despite my one grip, if you are a Sci-Fi fan and like a more traditional story then this is a book for you. It is well worth being at the top of your TBR list.
I received a free copy in exchange for my honest review. For more of my reviews, and author interviews, see my book blog at www.thespineview.com.
The main character Henry is the Arbiter, the most important individual on New World. His main responsibility is being the go between Humans and the Alien species called the Kmet. Humans have entered into a pact or Duality, as it is called, between the two species.
The Kmet have given some technology to humans and the use of Portals that allow spaceships to transit long distances in the blink of an eye. However, everything could be in jeopardy when a probe reaches New Earth with a message that a seed ship, sent centuries earlier, has arrived at its destinations and the humans there are prospering.
The Kmet on the Portal is beside itself. It insists that the other humans be rounded up and returned to New Earth before the Divider finds them and destroys them. As the Arbiter, Henry must assist with this task. Yet, he has many questions, and foremost is who the Divider is and why are they dangerous.
This book is one of the most original I have read in a while. I loved that the author presented Aliens as Alien. Nothing like humans and hard to understand, not only in speech but in motive. It felt plausible and the pacing was perfect. Yet, in the end it was the characters and the world building that made it such a good book.
There is just one negative for me, the writing style, which made the story hard to follow at times. I also struggled at first to get invested in the story. However, the characters of Henry and Killian were just so well developed, and I fell in love with them, and it made it up for so much.
Despite my one grip, if you are a Sci-Fi fan and like a more traditional story then this is a book for you. It is well worth being at the top of your TBR list.
I received a free copy in exchange for my honest review. For more of my reviews, and author interviews, see my book blog at www.thespineview.com.
September 17, 2022
Overall an enjoyable read with a plot that moved along at a good pace.
Humans on New Earth partner with alien allies to rescue descendants of sleeper ships sent out two hundred years ago from a mysterious threat.
The premise and ending felt reminiscent of a Star Trek episode in the exploration of larger concepts - communicating wth different species, working for the greater good, who and what can you trust - alongside advanced technology with an appreciation for the natural world.
Where it fell flat for me was in mainly in the writing - both prose and how the plot unfolded. A few other reviewers mentioned that the prose was a bit choppy, and there was some unusual use of contractions.
In addition to the prose, there were so many hidden agendas, conspiracy theories, and assumptions being made by the characters without confirmation, that conversations were hard to follow and I never felt like we learned what was really happening.
The last planet visited and the conclusion was a little off in the pacing. The amount of time and detail put into the last planet was substantially more than any of the other worlds, however the ending still felt rushed and I don’t feel like it was fully explained but rather inferred from assumptions made earlier in the novel.
That being said, it was engaging and I enjoyed the experience of reading it. If you are happy to go along for the ride without needing the full picture at the end, it’s worth picking it up.
Thank you to NetGalley and Astra Publishing House for the eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinions about the book.
Humans on New Earth partner with alien allies to rescue descendants of sleeper ships sent out two hundred years ago from a mysterious threat.
The premise and ending felt reminiscent of a Star Trek episode in the exploration of larger concepts - communicating wth different species, working for the greater good, who and what can you trust - alongside advanced technology with an appreciation for the natural world.
Where it fell flat for me was in mainly in the writing - both prose and how the plot unfolded. A few other reviewers mentioned that the prose was a bit choppy, and there was some unusual use of contractions.
In addition to the prose, there were so many hidden agendas, conspiracy theories, and assumptions being made by the characters without confirmation, that conversations were hard to follow and I never felt like we learned what was really happening.
The last planet visited and the conclusion was a little off in the pacing. The amount of time and detail put into the last planet was substantially more than any of the other worlds, however the ending still felt rushed and I don’t feel like it was fully explained but rather inferred from assumptions made earlier in the novel.
That being said, it was engaging and I enjoyed the experience of reading it. If you are happy to go along for the ride without needing the full picture at the end, it’s worth picking it up.
Thank you to NetGalley and Astra Publishing House for the eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinions about the book.
January 9, 2023
I haven't read anything by Julie Czerneda in a long time. I have no idea why. I autobuy books and they sit in my TBR mountain lol. I finally pulled this one off the shelf and I could kick myself for not reading it sooner. It starts off a bit confusing since they speech seems stilted but all quickly resolves itself. Interesting take on humans in space and New Earth and sleeper ships and aliens. I'm still not sure what to think of the Portal Makers and the Kmet. Henry and Killian were awesome as was Flip. I loved the world building and the guessing until the very end.
February 23, 2023
I loved this book! The storyline and worldbuilding were very unique, and I thought the payoff at the end, when you finally understand what's happening and what still needs to happen, was great. This book is hard sci-fi, but focused more on the "squishy" sciences like biology and linguistics. The aliens are incredibly alien rather than "humans with makeup."
I will say, it took me a little bit to get used to the terse writing style, but after a few chapters it was fine.
I will say, it took me a little bit to get used to the terse writing style, but after a few chapters it was fine.
November 30, 2022
Pretty good overall. I don't always like her writing style, and I gave her Species Imperative an average rating, but lots of others did. The author has a good imagination, and puts it good use here. Probably best for hard sci-fi fans.
Thanks very much for the free ARC for review!!
Thanks very much for the free ARC for review!!
August 30, 2024
3.5* rounded up
I listened to the audiobook, and it was a little hard to follow sometimes. I couldn’t always tell whether people were talking or thinking, and some words were mis-pronounced or emphasized wrong ( or at least confusingly). It’s a long and complex book, and it would’ve been better to be able to go back and re-read sections.
That said, I enjoyed the story and characters quite a bit. The pacing was uneven - dragged sometimes and then wrapped up really quickly at the end. But the aliens were very alien, and the AI’s and other tech were interesting and done well. The premise that just because two entities can communicate doesn’t mean they actually understand each other is true on many levels. A good listen and probably a better read.
I listened to the audiobook, and it was a little hard to follow sometimes. I couldn’t always tell whether people were talking or thinking, and some words were mis-pronounced or emphasized wrong ( or at least confusingly). It’s a long and complex book, and it would’ve been better to be able to go back and re-read sections.
That said, I enjoyed the story and characters quite a bit. The pacing was uneven - dragged sometimes and then wrapped up really quickly at the end. But the aliens were very alien, and the AI’s and other tech were interesting and done well. The premise that just because two entities can communicate doesn’t mean they actually understand each other is true on many levels. A good listen and probably a better read.
November 25, 2023
The aliens were well and truly alien which was nice, the tech too. Gives me Arrival vibes.
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