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Seed #2
Farseed
Centuries ago, the people of Earth sent Ship into space. Deep within its core, it carried the seed of humankind…
More than twenty years have passed since Ship left its children, the seed of humanity, on an uninhabited, earthlike planet--a planet they named Home. Zoheret and her companions have started settlements and had children of their own. But, as on board Ship, there was conflict, and soon after their arrival, Zoheret's old nemesis, Ho, left the original settlement to establish his own settlement far away.
When Ho's daughter, fifteen-year-old Nuy, spies three strangers headed toward their settlement, the hostility between the two groups of old shipmates begins anew and threatens to engulf the children of both settlements. Can the divided settlers face the challenges of adapting to their new environment in spite of their conflicts? And if they do, will they lose their humanity in the process?
More than twenty years have passed since Ship left its children, the seed of humanity, on an uninhabited, earthlike planet--a planet they named Home. Zoheret and her companions have started settlements and had children of their own. But, as on board Ship, there was conflict, and soon after their arrival, Zoheret's old nemesis, Ho, left the original settlement to establish his own settlement far away.
When Ho's daughter, fifteen-year-old Nuy, spies three strangers headed toward their settlement, the hostility between the two groups of old shipmates begins anew and threatens to engulf the children of both settlements. Can the divided settlers face the challenges of adapting to their new environment in spite of their conflicts? And if they do, will they lose their humanity in the process?
288 pages, Hardcover
First published March 6, 2007
6 people are currently reading
304 people want to read
About the author
Pamela Sargent
161 books207 followersPamela Sargent has won the Nebula Award, the Locus Award, and has been a finalist for the Hugo Award, the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award, and the Sidewise Award for alternate history. In 2012, she was honored with the Pilgrim Award by the Science Fiction Research Association for lifetime achievement in science fiction scholarship. She is the author of the novels Cloned Lives, The Sudden Star, Watchstar, The Golden Space, The Alien Upstairs, Eye of the Comet, Homesmind, Alien Child, The Shore of Women, Venus of Dreams, Venus of Shadows, Child of Venus, Climb the Wind, and Ruler of the Sky. Her most recent short story collection is Thumbprints, published by Golden Gryphon Press, with an introduction by James Morrow. The Washington Post Book World has called her “one of the genre's best writers.”
In the 1970s, she edited the Women of Wonder series, the first collections of science fiction by women; her other anthologies include Bio-Futures and, with British writer Ian Watson as co-editor, Afterlives. Two anthologies, Women of Wonder, The Classic Years: Science Fiction by Women from the 1940s to the 1970s and Women of Wonder, The Contemporary Years: Science Fiction by Women from the 1970s to the 1990s, were published by Harcourt Brace in 1995; Publishers Weekly called these two books “essential reading for any serious sf fan.” Her most recent anthology is Conqueror Fantastic, out from DAW Books in 2004. Tor Books reissued her 1983 young adult novel Earthseed, selected as a Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association, and a sequel, Farseed, in early 2007. A third volume, Seed Seeker, was published in November of 2010 by Tor. Earthseed has been optioned by Paramount Pictures, with Melissa Rosenberg, scriptwriter for all of the Twilight films, writing the script and producing through her Tall Girls Productions.
A collection, Puss in D.C. and Other Stories, is out; her novel Season of the Cats is out in hardcover and will be available in paperback from Wildside Press. The Shore of Women has been optioned for development as a TV series by Super Deluxe Films, part of Turner Broadcasting.
Pamela Sargent lives in Albany, New York.
In the 1970s, she edited the Women of Wonder series, the first collections of science fiction by women; her other anthologies include Bio-Futures and, with British writer Ian Watson as co-editor, Afterlives. Two anthologies, Women of Wonder, The Classic Years: Science Fiction by Women from the 1940s to the 1970s and Women of Wonder, The Contemporary Years: Science Fiction by Women from the 1970s to the 1990s, were published by Harcourt Brace in 1995; Publishers Weekly called these two books “essential reading for any serious sf fan.” Her most recent anthology is Conqueror Fantastic, out from DAW Books in 2004. Tor Books reissued her 1983 young adult novel Earthseed, selected as a Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association, and a sequel, Farseed, in early 2007. A third volume, Seed Seeker, was published in November of 2010 by Tor. Earthseed has been optioned by Paramount Pictures, with Melissa Rosenberg, scriptwriter for all of the Twilight films, writing the script and producing through her Tall Girls Productions.
A collection, Puss in D.C. and Other Stories, is out; her novel Season of the Cats is out in hardcover and will be available in paperback from Wildside Press. The Shore of Women has been optioned for development as a TV series by Super Deluxe Films, part of Turner Broadcasting.
Pamela Sargent lives in Albany, New York.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
March 20, 2016
The second book in the trilogy and no where near as good as the first book Earthseed. One amazing fact I just discovered is that there is a 23 year gap between the writing of the two books! Wow! (I hope Patrick Rothfuss does not know about this. It might give him ideas). Anyway this particular book was so slow I nearly fell asleep and I doubt very much that I will be looking out for the next one.
May 16, 2019
I read Earthseed a while ago and almost started Farseed but it seemed almost a bit leaning toward the Lord of the Flies and I'm more into science fiction than the the whole psychology of survival of potentially degenerate societies. I finally picked it up to read and almost read it through at one sitting. This is definitely a book that you have to read carefully.
As a part of the trilogy it has its position and usually number two can tend to take a dip. This novel is not all that bad and I would have given it the highest marks if there hadn't been that whole section where the main character seems compelled or maybe forced to repeat herself numerous times while everyone should be packing up and moving on before someone gets killed.
The story itself is quite compelling in the sense that we have Nuy the daughter of Ho (from the first book) fighting against the will of her father in an almost naive manner at the beginning. This leads to the death of a stranger she's befriended with the hope of improving the lifestyle of her settlement. In the previous novel Ho had taken his people off away from the other settlers to see more of the new world and to get away from the other people they felt were so disagreeable. Since then some sort of virus has wiped out many of them and Ho blames it on the other settlers since the infection occured after he had sent people to trade with them. For ten years they have remained isolated from the others and have lived a hard life.
Ho is described as being near to madness half the time and it seems predictable that he won't be welcoming Nuy's new friend with open arms, but she has hopes that trade with the other settlers will make life easier for her and the other youths in their camp. When things go bad it leaves one of the three travelers dead and the other two are unable to return to their settlement.
The remainder of the book is the quest of the other settlers to find the missing three and the story of their own self imposed isolation from the new world itself as they try to live in their own little bubble of life that mirrors what they know of Earth. I'm not partial to the--we've blown everyone back to the stone-age type of books and this really is more a survivalist fiction to be honest; but elements of it tend to slide in the direction of civilization taking backward steps.
One redeeming feature of the book for me is that it's also a story of evolution within that framework of backward steps and this whole novel is a building block to get to the final book which I had recently obtained and that was the main reason to push to read this one. This is the story of Nuy mostly as she tries to survive and perhaps even make right the horrendous outcome of her mistake. I love character driven stories and Nuy is one complex character for a savage.
As usual Pamela Sargents characters are all well drawn and finely tuned and the conflicts are plenty and as I mentioned the real one quibble I have is that at the most exciting part we have the main character over dramatically explaining herself too many times and a corresponding breakdown in leadership that tends to muck around for a whole chapter and I could have done without that.
Otherwise this is a great addition to my library of everything Sargent. I would recommend this to Young Adults and lovers of SFF and of course anyone who has read the first book Earthseed.
J.L. Dobias
As a part of the trilogy it has its position and usually number two can tend to take a dip. This novel is not all that bad and I would have given it the highest marks if there hadn't been that whole section where the main character seems compelled or maybe forced to repeat herself numerous times while everyone should be packing up and moving on before someone gets killed.
The story itself is quite compelling in the sense that we have Nuy the daughter of Ho (from the first book) fighting against the will of her father in an almost naive manner at the beginning. This leads to the death of a stranger she's befriended with the hope of improving the lifestyle of her settlement. In the previous novel Ho had taken his people off away from the other settlers to see more of the new world and to get away from the other people they felt were so disagreeable. Since then some sort of virus has wiped out many of them and Ho blames it on the other settlers since the infection occured after he had sent people to trade with them. For ten years they have remained isolated from the others and have lived a hard life.
Ho is described as being near to madness half the time and it seems predictable that he won't be welcoming Nuy's new friend with open arms, but she has hopes that trade with the other settlers will make life easier for her and the other youths in their camp. When things go bad it leaves one of the three travelers dead and the other two are unable to return to their settlement.
The remainder of the book is the quest of the other settlers to find the missing three and the story of their own self imposed isolation from the new world itself as they try to live in their own little bubble of life that mirrors what they know of Earth. I'm not partial to the--we've blown everyone back to the stone-age type of books and this really is more a survivalist fiction to be honest; but elements of it tend to slide in the direction of civilization taking backward steps.
One redeeming feature of the book for me is that it's also a story of evolution within that framework of backward steps and this whole novel is a building block to get to the final book which I had recently obtained and that was the main reason to push to read this one. This is the story of Nuy mostly as she tries to survive and perhaps even make right the horrendous outcome of her mistake. I love character driven stories and Nuy is one complex character for a savage.
As usual Pamela Sargents characters are all well drawn and finely tuned and the conflicts are plenty and as I mentioned the real one quibble I have is that at the most exciting part we have the main character over dramatically explaining herself too many times and a corresponding breakdown in leadership that tends to muck around for a whole chapter and I could have done without that.
Otherwise this is a great addition to my library of everything Sargent. I would recommend this to Young Adults and lovers of SFF and of course anyone who has read the first book Earthseed.
J.L. Dobias
September 11, 2013
This book is about people from Earth on an alien planet. They were delivered there by the artificial intelligence that pilots an asteroid converted to an interstellar space ship.
Some stuff happens to some characters, or whatever. There's tribal rivalry and people kill each other. I can't tell you how mind-numbingly insignificant it all feels, compared to the grandeur of the first book.
In the end, it turns out that the young generation of humans born on this alien planet have absorbed some native DNA which has given them superpowers or something. It doesn't make any biological sense, but by this point in the book, I was just glad it was all over.
Sargent seems to have stolen all her science fiction ideas, in the first book, from Arthur C. Clarke's book The Fountains of Paradise.
In this book, she's on her own, in a whole new world, with infinite possibilities. The result feels empty and violent.
I was most disappointed by the lack of imagination applied to the alien life forms. There are alien grasses that are yellow instead of green. They have rat-like creatures called rits, which are never anatomically described at all. There are giant snail shells left over from some extinct species. I guess that's kind of cool. But that's, what, 3 species, on a whole planet? Isn't the alien biosphere the ONLY damn interesting thing to explore on an alien world?!
Sargent wastes a whole book on human relationships, strife, and killing people?!
Just awful. If I wanted to read that shit, I'd get a history book.
Some stuff happens to some characters, or whatever. There's tribal rivalry and people kill each other. I can't tell you how mind-numbingly insignificant it all feels, compared to the grandeur of the first book.
In the end, it turns out that the young generation of humans born on this alien planet have absorbed some native DNA which has given them superpowers or something. It doesn't make any biological sense, but by this point in the book, I was just glad it was all over.
Sargent seems to have stolen all her science fiction ideas, in the first book, from Arthur C. Clarke's book The Fountains of Paradise.
In this book, she's on her own, in a whole new world, with infinite possibilities. The result feels empty and violent.
I was most disappointed by the lack of imagination applied to the alien life forms. There are alien grasses that are yellow instead of green. They have rat-like creatures called rits, which are never anatomically described at all. There are giant snail shells left over from some extinct species. I guess that's kind of cool. But that's, what, 3 species, on a whole planet? Isn't the alien biosphere the ONLY damn interesting thing to explore on an alien world?!
Sargent wastes a whole book on human relationships, strife, and killing people?!
Just awful. If I wanted to read that shit, I'd get a history book.
September 17, 2023
I want to like Sargent better. But everything I read by her is lacking. This one is lacking in good writing, tbh. For example, everyone just happens to overhear exactly what they need to, even though they shouldn't even be encountering each other in this great world? And speaking of the world, I have very little sense of what it's like. Steppe or plains, sort of.
The covers are silly, too, esp. the one I read in which the girl, presumably Kuy, wears nail polish. The paint isn't even mentioned, and of course there's no nail polish or, really, other ornamentation. Kuy would be scrawnier, too. But I can't blame Sargent for the cover; that would be some marketer wanting to capitalize on Hunger Games. Way too much Lord of the Flies for me, without the insightful characterizations.
Anyway, overall it's pretty lame. But the premise of the trilogy as a whole interests me, and I am interested in the "stand-alone sequel" enough to read the archived copy on openlibrary.org, so I guess I'll round up to 3 stars.
The covers are silly, too, esp. the one I read in which the girl, presumably Kuy, wears nail polish. The paint isn't even mentioned, and of course there's no nail polish or, really, other ornamentation. Kuy would be scrawnier, too. But I can't blame Sargent for the cover; that would be some marketer wanting to capitalize on Hunger Games. Way too much Lord of the Flies for me, without the insightful characterizations.
Anyway, overall it's pretty lame. But the premise of the trilogy as a whole interests me, and I am interested in the "stand-alone sequel" enough to read the archived copy on openlibrary.org, so I guess I'll round up to 3 stars.
May 12, 2025
I must have loved the first book in this trilogy to put the second and third books on my wishlist, but that was before the Pandemic of 2020 hit. This second book just didn't impress me. The characters seem so underwhelming and uninteresting to me even though it was only told through two viewpoints. The speed of the plot was uneven and I just didn't connect to what was going on. I think that's because it felt like there was a big time jump from the first book to this one.
July 26, 2012
Audiobook from Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Narrated by Amy Rubinate
Length: just under 9 hours
Farseed is the second book in the Seed Trilogy, the follow- up to Earthseed. I enjoyed Earthseed (my review) and looked forward to the continuation of the story.
Sadly, Farseed was not nearly as good as its predecessor. Where Earthseed was a book about a spaceship raising kids, preparing them to "seed" other worlds, Farseed was a book about frontier life. The story takes place approximately 30 years after the events in Earthseed. The youth and young adults from Earthseed were left by ship on their world ("Home") and started making their mark on the world. At the end of Earthseed, we saw that a few of the settlers went off on their own to settle in a different region from the main group. Farseed introduces the children of the settlers in addition to the main characters from Earthseed. The bulk of the plot centers on the differences between the two settlement groups. The splinter group, being smaller, has barely survived and has grown to be paranoid about the threat from the original group. When members from the original settlement group try to reach out, the result is fighting between the groups. The daughter of the leader of the splinter group, as one who reached out to the main group, is outcast from her group and serves as the focal point for most of the narrative. Sadly, the narrative is mostly drawn-out descriptions of survival. Gone are the ethical questions from the first book. Gone are the intriguing topics such as how a ship can raise humans. All that's left is a story showing how paranoid the splinter group has become.
There is a small bit of intrigue that comes approximately 2/3 of the way into the book when it is revealed that some of the children from the splinter group aren't quite human. They have skills that surpass normal human skills and a medical scan shows some altered DNA. Further, none of the children from the main group exhibits these traits. Sadly, this wasn't expanded upon in Farseed. It was left as a point of intrigue that went undeveloped. I presume it will come into play in the third book in the trilogy (Seed Seeker), but I don't intend to read it.
Amy Rubinate performed the narration for Farseed, just as she did for Earthseed. As with Earthseed, she did a great job with the book. Her voices were different enough to be able to identify characters and she brought a human edge to the few parts where the ship "spoke." She was able to bring the listener into the story...she just had poor source material this time.
Farseed was a major letdown and was drawn out enough that I fell asleep while listening. I suspect that the length of time that Pamela Sargent took between writing the books (24 years) was a contributing factor. The spark that was in Earthseed wasn't re-captured in Farseed. There wasn't enough to move the plot forward and whet my interest to continue with the series. I do recommend that people read Earthseed and pass on this one.
Narrated by Amy Rubinate
Length: just under 9 hours
Farseed is the second book in the Seed Trilogy, the follow- up to Earthseed. I enjoyed Earthseed (my review) and looked forward to the continuation of the story.
Sadly, Farseed was not nearly as good as its predecessor. Where Earthseed was a book about a spaceship raising kids, preparing them to "seed" other worlds, Farseed was a book about frontier life. The story takes place approximately 30 years after the events in Earthseed. The youth and young adults from Earthseed were left by ship on their world ("Home") and started making their mark on the world. At the end of Earthseed, we saw that a few of the settlers went off on their own to settle in a different region from the main group. Farseed introduces the children of the settlers in addition to the main characters from Earthseed. The bulk of the plot centers on the differences between the two settlement groups. The splinter group, being smaller, has barely survived and has grown to be paranoid about the threat from the original group. When members from the original settlement group try to reach out, the result is fighting between the groups. The daughter of the leader of the splinter group, as one who reached out to the main group, is outcast from her group and serves as the focal point for most of the narrative. Sadly, the narrative is mostly drawn-out descriptions of survival. Gone are the ethical questions from the first book. Gone are the intriguing topics such as how a ship can raise humans. All that's left is a story showing how paranoid the splinter group has become.
There is a small bit of intrigue that comes approximately 2/3 of the way into the book when it is revealed that some of the children from the splinter group aren't quite human. They have skills that surpass normal human skills and a medical scan shows some altered DNA. Further, none of the children from the main group exhibits these traits. Sadly, this wasn't expanded upon in Farseed. It was left as a point of intrigue that went undeveloped. I presume it will come into play in the third book in the trilogy (Seed Seeker), but I don't intend to read it.
Amy Rubinate performed the narration for Farseed, just as she did for Earthseed. As with Earthseed, she did a great job with the book. Her voices were different enough to be able to identify characters and she brought a human edge to the few parts where the ship "spoke." She was able to bring the listener into the story...she just had poor source material this time.
Farseed was a major letdown and was drawn out enough that I fell asleep while listening. I suspect that the length of time that Pamela Sargent took between writing the books (24 years) was a contributing factor. The spark that was in Earthseed wasn't re-captured in Farseed. There wasn't enough to move the plot forward and whet my interest to continue with the series. I do recommend that people read Earthseed and pass on this one.
March 27, 2018
A great follow up to the first. I read the first one in high school and fell in love. 20+ years later I felt it was time to read the squeal. While the topics and writing level isn't enough to sustain an adult reader, this is a great book for juvenile readers that covers the topics of society, fellowship, and community. The first book was a lot more science fiction than this one.
August 4, 2023
A interesting story.
February 17, 2013
Where in Earthseed, the first installment to the Seed series by Pamela Sargent, captured my attention pretty much from the get go, Farseed, book two took a while for me to get into.
Farseed by Pamela Sargent takes place twenty years from where Earthseed had left off. Ship is still out in space trying to locate more habitable planets for humans, and the original characters from book one are and somewhat wiser.
Although characters that we’ve come to know and love from the first installment are present in Farseed, book two focuses on the next generation. The children of the original survivors. A group of three original members decide to leave their town to seek out the other tribe that has broken off from them when they first arrived. It had been almost a decade ago since they had last traded with them and seen anyone from that tribe.
What they had hoped would be a simple task turns out to be the complete opposite of what they expected and they end up missing. A young group of the next generation decide to bring forward their proposal to venture out and find out what happened to the missing members. With a well thought out plan, not only do these three get the support they are looking for, but there are others who want to volunteer and join them in their quest. Among them are, Zoheret, the unforgettable heroine in book one, Earthseed. Zoheret steps down from her position as leader to join her daughter, Leila, and her friends to search for her fellow tribe mates and friends.
But Zoheret’s Northern tribe is not the only one with an agenda. Ho’s daughter, Nuy, chances upon the three Northern adults and agrees to take one of them to see her father, Ho. But it seems Ho is still up to his old ways, and his mind is not as stable as it used to be. Violence seems to be Ho’s only agenda…and after fearing that his daughter has brought death to their door, he casts her out from her home and tribe, to fend for herself in the wild. It is then thaa Nuy decides to find the other two Northerners and head back home with them to the North.
But when paths cross, and the lives of family and loved ones are on the line, who’s side will Nuy be on?
What I really enjoyed when reading Farseed by Pamela Sargent was seeing who ended up mating with who. After finishing Earthseed some time ago, I always thought back and wondered what happened to this band of characters, and if the people I hoped would get together…did. Farseed does answer these questions, and we are even introduced to the offspring of these couplings.
As I said earlier, it took me quite a while to get into this book. There really wasn’t much going on in the first bit of the book. I found myself losing interest rather quickly, which was disappointing considering how much I really enjoyed Earthseed! We do get to see Ship in this book, but whether or not Ship decides to make an official appearance is something you’ll have to find out for yourself.
Once the book started to pick up though, it was a fantastic and exciting read! There was always the fear that the characters you’re rooting for end up being discovered and harmed, or that someone somewhere will come out and say that it was their plan all along to lead them on and take them to their impending doom. It was an exciting guessing game of what would happen next, and because of that, I really enjoyed reading it. I know I personally was curious about what happened to the traitorous Ho. I liked that we were given a background of what happened to both tribes in the twenty years that passed, and it felt as though we never really left the story. Author, Pamela Sargent, does a great job of mixing the past and the present together.
What I’m really intrigued about now is what will happen in book 3? We are introduced to the very significant difference between the offspring in Zoheret’s colony and Ho’s tribe. How will that play out? What will it all lead to? I’m curious to see if those that are believed to be dead are really dead, or if they will come back in a soap opera type setting and arise from the “dead”? So many questions!
Fans of book one will be excited to delve back into this world created by Pamela Sargent, and be re-introduced to old characters and introduced to the new ones. Although it is a slow and steady ride in the beginning, it is well worth the wait to be able to be immersed into the action and adventure found inside.
Farseed by Pamela Sargent takes place twenty years from where Earthseed had left off. Ship is still out in space trying to locate more habitable planets for humans, and the original characters from book one are and somewhat wiser.
Although characters that we’ve come to know and love from the first installment are present in Farseed, book two focuses on the next generation. The children of the original survivors. A group of three original members decide to leave their town to seek out the other tribe that has broken off from them when they first arrived. It had been almost a decade ago since they had last traded with them and seen anyone from that tribe.
What they had hoped would be a simple task turns out to be the complete opposite of what they expected and they end up missing. A young group of the next generation decide to bring forward their proposal to venture out and find out what happened to the missing members. With a well thought out plan, not only do these three get the support they are looking for, but there are others who want to volunteer and join them in their quest. Among them are, Zoheret, the unforgettable heroine in book one, Earthseed. Zoheret steps down from her position as leader to join her daughter, Leila, and her friends to search for her fellow tribe mates and friends.
But Zoheret’s Northern tribe is not the only one with an agenda. Ho’s daughter, Nuy, chances upon the three Northern adults and agrees to take one of them to see her father, Ho. But it seems Ho is still up to his old ways, and his mind is not as stable as it used to be. Violence seems to be Ho’s only agenda…and after fearing that his daughter has brought death to their door, he casts her out from her home and tribe, to fend for herself in the wild. It is then thaa Nuy decides to find the other two Northerners and head back home with them to the North.
But when paths cross, and the lives of family and loved ones are on the line, who’s side will Nuy be on?
What I really enjoyed when reading Farseed by Pamela Sargent was seeing who ended up mating with who. After finishing Earthseed some time ago, I always thought back and wondered what happened to this band of characters, and if the people I hoped would get together…did. Farseed does answer these questions, and we are even introduced to the offspring of these couplings.
As I said earlier, it took me quite a while to get into this book. There really wasn’t much going on in the first bit of the book. I found myself losing interest rather quickly, which was disappointing considering how much I really enjoyed Earthseed! We do get to see Ship in this book, but whether or not Ship decides to make an official appearance is something you’ll have to find out for yourself.
Once the book started to pick up though, it was a fantastic and exciting read! There was always the fear that the characters you’re rooting for end up being discovered and harmed, or that someone somewhere will come out and say that it was their plan all along to lead them on and take them to their impending doom. It was an exciting guessing game of what would happen next, and because of that, I really enjoyed reading it. I know I personally was curious about what happened to the traitorous Ho. I liked that we were given a background of what happened to both tribes in the twenty years that passed, and it felt as though we never really left the story. Author, Pamela Sargent, does a great job of mixing the past and the present together.
What I’m really intrigued about now is what will happen in book 3? We are introduced to the very significant difference between the offspring in Zoheret’s colony and Ho’s tribe. How will that play out? What will it all lead to? I’m curious to see if those that are believed to be dead are really dead, or if they will come back in a soap opera type setting and arise from the “dead”? So many questions!
Fans of book one will be excited to delve back into this world created by Pamela Sargent, and be re-introduced to old characters and introduced to the new ones. Although it is a slow and steady ride in the beginning, it is well worth the wait to be able to be immersed into the action and adventure found inside.
February 17, 2013
Where in Earthseed, the first installment to the Seed series by Pamela Sargent, captured my attention pretty much from the get go, Farseed, book two took a while for me to get into.
Farseed by Pamela Sargent takes place twenty years from where Earthseed had left off. Ship is still out in space trying to locate more habitable planets for humans, and the original characters from book one are and somewhat wiser.
Although characters that we’ve come to know and love from the first installment are present in Farseed, book two focuses on the next generation. The children of the original survivors. A group of three original members decide to leave their town to seek out the other tribe that has broken off from them when they first arrived. It had been almost a decade ago since they had last traded with them and seen anyone from that tribe.
What they had hoped would be a simple task turns out to be the complete opposite of what they expected and they end up missing. A young group of the next generation decide to bring forward their proposal to venture out and find out what happened to the missing members. With a well thought out plan, not only do these three get the support they are looking for, but there are others who want to volunteer and join them in their quest. Among them are, Zoheret, the unforgettable heroine in book one, Earthseed. Zoheret steps down from her position as leader to join her daughter, Leila, and her friends to search for her fellow tribe mates and friends.
But Zoheret’s Northern tribe is not the only one with an agenda. Ho’s daughter, Nuy, chances upon the three Northern adults and agrees to take one of them to see her father, Ho. But it seems Ho is still up to his old ways, and his mind is not as stable as it used to be. Violence seems to be Ho’s only agenda…and after fearing that his daughter has brought death to their door, he casts her out from her home and tribe, to fend for herself in the wild. It is then thaa Nuy decides to find the other two Northerners and head back home with them to the North.
But when paths cross, and the lives of family and loved ones are on the line, who’s side will Nuy be on?
What I really enjoyed when reading Farseed by Pamela Sargent was seeing who ended up mating with who. After finishing Earthseed some time ago, I always thought back and wondered what happened to this band of characters, and if the people I hoped would get together…did. Farseed does answer these questions, and we are even introduced to the offspring of these couplings.
As I said earlier, it took me quite a while to get into this book. There really wasn’t much going on in the first bit of the book. I found myself losing interest rather quickly, which was disappointing considering how much I really enjoyed Earthseed! We do get to see Ship in this book, but whether or not Ship decides to make an official appearance is something you’ll have to find out for yourself.
Once the book started to pick up though, it was a fantastic and exciting read! There was always the fear that the characters you’re rooting for end up being discovered and harmed, or that someone somewhere will come out and say that it was their plan all along to lead them on and take them to their impending doom. It was an exciting guessing game of what would happen next, and because of that, I really enjoyed reading it. I know I personally was curious about what happened to the traitorous Ho. I liked that we were given a background of what happened to both tribes in the twenty years that passed, and it felt as though we never really left the story. Author, Pamela Sargent, does a great job of mixing the past and the present together.
What I’m really intrigued about now is what will happen in book 3? We are introduced to the very significant difference between the offspring in Zoheret’s colony and Ho’s tribe. How will that play out? What will it all lead to? I’m curious to see if those that are believed to be dead are really dead, or if they will come back in a soap opera type setting and arise from the “dead”? So many questions!
Fans of book one will be excited to delve back into this world created by Pamela Sargent, and be re-introduced to old characters and introduced to the new ones. Although it is a slow and steady ride in the beginning, it is well worth the wait to be able to be immersed into the action and adventure found inside.
Farseed by Pamela Sargent takes place twenty years from where Earthseed had left off. Ship is still out in space trying to locate more habitable planets for humans, and the original characters from book one are and somewhat wiser.
Although characters that we’ve come to know and love from the first installment are present in Farseed, book two focuses on the next generation. The children of the original survivors. A group of three original members decide to leave their town to seek out the other tribe that has broken off from them when they first arrived. It had been almost a decade ago since they had last traded with them and seen anyone from that tribe.
What they had hoped would be a simple task turns out to be the complete opposite of what they expected and they end up missing. A young group of the next generation decide to bring forward their proposal to venture out and find out what happened to the missing members. With a well thought out plan, not only do these three get the support they are looking for, but there are others who want to volunteer and join them in their quest. Among them are, Zoheret, the unforgettable heroine in book one, Earthseed. Zoheret steps down from her position as leader to join her daughter, Leila, and her friends to search for her fellow tribe mates and friends.
But Zoheret’s Northern tribe is not the only one with an agenda. Ho’s daughter, Nuy, chances upon the three Northern adults and agrees to take one of them to see her father, Ho. But it seems Ho is still up to his old ways, and his mind is not as stable as it used to be. Violence seems to be Ho’s only agenda…and after fearing that his daughter has brought death to their door, he casts her out from her home and tribe, to fend for herself in the wild. It is then thaa Nuy decides to find the other two Northerners and head back home with them to the North.
But when paths cross, and the lives of family and loved ones are on the line, who’s side will Nuy be on?
What I really enjoyed when reading Farseed by Pamela Sargent was seeing who ended up mating with who. After finishing Earthseed some time ago, I always thought back and wondered what happened to this band of characters, and if the people I hoped would get together…did. Farseed does answer these questions, and we are even introduced to the offspring of these couplings.
As I said earlier, it took me quite a while to get into this book. There really wasn’t much going on in the first bit of the book. I found myself losing interest rather quickly, which was disappointing considering how much I really enjoyed Earthseed! We do get to see Ship in this book, but whether or not Ship decides to make an official appearance is something you’ll have to find out for yourself.
Once the book started to pick up though, it was a fantastic and exciting read! There was always the fear that the characters you’re rooting for end up being discovered and harmed, or that someone somewhere will come out and say that it was their plan all along to lead them on and take them to their impending doom. It was an exciting guessing game of what would happen next, and because of that, I really enjoyed reading it. I know I personally was curious about what happened to the traitorous Ho. I liked that we were given a background of what happened to both tribes in the twenty years that passed, and it felt as though we never really left the story. Author, Pamela Sargent, does a great job of mixing the past and the present together.
What I’m really intrigued about now is what will happen in book 3? We are introduced to the very significant difference between the offspring in Zoheret’s colony and Ho’s tribe. How will that play out? What will it all lead to? I’m curious to see if those that are believed to be dead are really dead, or if they will come back in a soap opera type setting and arise from the “dead”? So many questions!
Fans of book one will be excited to delve back into this world created by Pamela Sargent, and be re-introduced to old characters and introduced to the new ones. Although it is a slow and steady ride in the beginning, it is well worth the wait to be able to be immersed into the action and adventure found inside.
July 13, 2010
Ship left a colony of humans on Home – another Earth-like planet. The initial settlement eventually split into two, with Ho’s group going to live in some caves near the sea. For awhile the two settlements continue to meet to trade, but as Ho’s settlement shrinks and he becomes more insane all contact between the two groups ceases. Several years later, three individuals from Zoheret and Aleksandr’s settlement are sent to investigate the lapse in communication. Nuy, Ho’s daughter, encounters one of the outsiders first and brings him back to meet her father. Ho is so crazy by that time that he murders the outsider as soon as he sets eyes on him. Fearing his daughter may have been infected by the outsiders, he casts her out as well. Nuy flees from her father’s rage and manages to find the two other outsiders. One of them is injured and she helps care for him until he is healthy enough to travel. After many months Nuy and her companions decide to try to return to their settlement. In the meantime, however, Zoheret has led another expedition into the area to discover what has become of her and Ho’s people. Ho attacks their encampments and it is only through Nuy’s assistance that they are able to defeat Ho’s small, but determined force.
I read Earthseed many years ago when I was in middle school, and it was one of my favorite books. I longed for a sequel, and now, many years later, Pamela Sargent has responded with Farseed. Unfortunately, there’s just not that much content (see above). The people in the settlements have stagnated – one settlement is afraid to embrace Home, and the other has been battered and decimated by illnesses and storms and poor nutrition. The most interesting thing is that the children in Ho’s settlement have adapted genetically to Home (in just one generation) – they’ve become something other than human. And this never gets fully explored. Home itself isn’t fully explored. Its differences from Earth are never truly articulated, and the colonists themselves know little about their new planet. So there are multiple journeys, multiple battles, and not much happens to progress either our or their knowledge. I finished this, but I was rather disappointed.
I read Earthseed many years ago when I was in middle school, and it was one of my favorite books. I longed for a sequel, and now, many years later, Pamela Sargent has responded with Farseed. Unfortunately, there’s just not that much content (see above). The people in the settlements have stagnated – one settlement is afraid to embrace Home, and the other has been battered and decimated by illnesses and storms and poor nutrition. The most interesting thing is that the children in Ho’s settlement have adapted genetically to Home (in just one generation) – they’ve become something other than human. And this never gets fully explored. Home itself isn’t fully explored. Its differences from Earth are never truly articulated, and the colonists themselves know little about their new planet. So there are multiple journeys, multiple battles, and not much happens to progress either our or their knowledge. I finished this, but I was rather disappointed.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 8, 2013
This is the second in the Seed Trilogy. The first is Earthseed. We pick up this installment several years later and are following the second generation since they were "seeded" on the new planet, Home. We still have the characters from the second book. The main character, Zoheret, from the last book still plays a major part, but plays a secondary character to her daughter, Leila. And although I thought the secondary characters from the last book was too much undefined, that was not the case in this book.
I did have problems with the flow of this book. We begin with a prologue with a snippet of what happened last in "ship's" mind. The ship is still out there thinking of the kids it left behind. Next we are suddenly with a trio who are trying to find out what happened to the fringe group that separated from them. The reason this was a bit jarring is because you didn't realize that so much time had transpired so quickly from the first book. This isn't a big problem, but I found myself, with each section, trying to figure out what period in time this was happening. It only really jumped a little in time so we knew what happened while other things went on. Perhaps it was just me that had this particular problem, but the sections didn't quite flow to one another until the end.
I give this book 3 stars. It still has plenty of adventure and I have to say that I enjoyed the character of Nuy (the species they may transform into) quite interesting. We only get hints of where this might take us, but I'm curious to see what will happen in their future. The first book, Earthseed is slated by paramount to become a movie.
I did have problems with the flow of this book. We begin with a prologue with a snippet of what happened last in "ship's" mind. The ship is still out there thinking of the kids it left behind. Next we are suddenly with a trio who are trying to find out what happened to the fringe group that separated from them. The reason this was a bit jarring is because you didn't realize that so much time had transpired so quickly from the first book. This isn't a big problem, but I found myself, with each section, trying to figure out what period in time this was happening. It only really jumped a little in time so we knew what happened while other things went on. Perhaps it was just me that had this particular problem, but the sections didn't quite flow to one another until the end.
I give this book 3 stars. It still has plenty of adventure and I have to say that I enjoyed the character of Nuy (the species they may transform into) quite interesting. We only get hints of where this might take us, but I'm curious to see what will happen in their future. The first book, Earthseed is slated by paramount to become a movie.
October 22, 2013
In the second book of Pamela Sargent’s Seed Trilogy, Ship has finally found a suitable world on which to deposit the seed of humanity it has been carrying. This group of youngsters was literally born on Ship from genetic material that it carried, and was raised by Ship for the express purpose of colonizing a planet.
During their voyage, it was Zoheret who displayed the best leadership skills, and it is she that becomes leader of the new colony on the planet they have named Home. And it was Ho who displayed the best ability to cause trouble, which he wastes no time in doing on Home as well. Soon after the colony is formed, Ho and a group of those loyal to him strike off on their own and form their own settlement several days journey away.
And time passes: a couple of decades in fact. Zoheret’s group prospers and grows, while Ho’s group suffers several setbacks. His people are always on the verge of starving and, thanks to Ho, blame the main colony for their hardships. Zoheret’s group do what they can, sending trading parties with food and supplies, but it becomes more and more difficult to treat with Ho’s group until finally three traders go out and do not return.
Read the full review at Audiobook-Heaven
During their voyage, it was Zoheret who displayed the best leadership skills, and it is she that becomes leader of the new colony on the planet they have named Home. And it was Ho who displayed the best ability to cause trouble, which he wastes no time in doing on Home as well. Soon after the colony is formed, Ho and a group of those loyal to him strike off on their own and form their own settlement several days journey away.
And time passes: a couple of decades in fact. Zoheret’s group prospers and grows, while Ho’s group suffers several setbacks. His people are always on the verge of starving and, thanks to Ho, blame the main colony for their hardships. Zoheret’s group do what they can, sending trading parties with food and supplies, but it becomes more and more difficult to treat with Ho’s group until finally three traders go out and do not return.
Read the full review at Audiobook-Heaven
August 31, 2012
Farseed is one of those books that took me a while to start enjoying. I won the book through a Goodreads giveaway initially had the thought that it would be terrible because it was another a teen book. And I'll be honest, it is very obviously a book directed a teens. The reading comprehension level is definitely not any higher than that - in fact, my 6 year old could read it and understand what is going on for the most part. However, it is also a very good book and makes up for the lack of depth by creating an interesting story and setting.
Farseed is the 2nd book in a series - a fact that I didn't discover until halfway through. I don't see any reason why this book couldn't stand alone as I never once felt confused or felt that I was lacking any back story. Pamela Sargent did a god job of creating a complete story despite being part of a series.
I think what ended up allowing me to give this book 4 stars is that the overall concept is delicious - humans sent a ship into the universe with progeny in order to "seed" other habitable worlds. Pretty awesome backstory.
Overall I thought it was a good book for what it was and teens especially would gobble it up!
Farseed is the 2nd book in a series - a fact that I didn't discover until halfway through. I don't see any reason why this book couldn't stand alone as I never once felt confused or felt that I was lacking any back story. Pamela Sargent did a god job of creating a complete story despite being part of a series.
I think what ended up allowing me to give this book 4 stars is that the overall concept is delicious - humans sent a ship into the universe with progeny in order to "seed" other habitable worlds. Pretty awesome backstory.
Overall I thought it was a good book for what it was and teens especially would gobble it up!
March 10, 2013
Very boring.
The idea is a good one. Earth is dead. Some of the humans created Ship to carry human "seeds" to another inhabitable planet. Ship did that. Now it has been decades since Ship left the colonizers on Home. Ho took a group of people off and now his daughter, Nuy, is wondering if her father's way is really the best way. When she encounters three people who come from the main settlement she tries to lead one back to her father with disastrous consequences. Now she is on the run with the other two members of the main settlement.
Meanwhile, the teenagers of the main settlement want answers. They want to know what happened to their parents who went off to search for Ho. With the help of Zohoret, they set off a rescue expedition. They are surprised by the hostility they encounter.
This book was mainly about what it might be like to colonize a new planet. The characters had little emotion and all seemed very flat. Any personality got lost in the explanations about life on the new planet.
If I wasn't reading it for a review, I probably would've stopped. I haven't read the first book and I don't plan on reading the third book.
The idea is a good one. Earth is dead. Some of the humans created Ship to carry human "seeds" to another inhabitable planet. Ship did that. Now it has been decades since Ship left the colonizers on Home. Ho took a group of people off and now his daughter, Nuy, is wondering if her father's way is really the best way. When she encounters three people who come from the main settlement she tries to lead one back to her father with disastrous consequences. Now she is on the run with the other two members of the main settlement.
Meanwhile, the teenagers of the main settlement want answers. They want to know what happened to their parents who went off to search for Ho. With the help of Zohoret, they set off a rescue expedition. They are surprised by the hostility they encounter.
This book was mainly about what it might be like to colonize a new planet. The characters had little emotion and all seemed very flat. Any personality got lost in the explanations about life on the new planet.
If I wasn't reading it for a review, I probably would've stopped. I haven't read the first book and I don't plan on reading the third book.
January 15, 2013
Farseed is slow, and much of the book seems to dissect lifestyles, beliefs and evolutionary differences between two peoples. Once a true “problem” is present to the plot, things do get a bit interesting. That being said, Sargent doesn’t end the book in a satisfying way. In fact, I was fairly confused by why various people did the things they did, and believed what they believed and some of the evolutionary differences were hard to believe given a paltry thirty year gap for them to arise. I didn’t feel any true resolution. It’s unfortunate, because Sargent writes YA the way I like it to be written: confident and thoughtful. However, Farseed just doesn’t deliver. It falls into the typical second book trap. It’s a lot of filler, not much happens, and a lack of true character motivation or plot resolution might leave a sour taste behind.
Read my full review here:
http://www.bookwormblues.net/2013/01/...
Read my full review here:
http://www.bookwormblues.net/2013/01/...
May 13, 2012
I had a hard time with this one. Perhaps I should not have picked it up just after reading Earthseed?
This one seemed so bogged down in politics, and I finished the book still unsure of what Ho's motivations were. I just did not get him or why anyone would follow him. I cheered for Nuy, but many of her successes seemed based on luck. I also found myself disliking most of the residents of the main settlement and, in my mind, saw the settlement people vs the river people as class warfare that was so unbalanced, there could only be one ending.
My library does not own the third one, so I am going to wait for awhile and see if I can pick it up somewhere, but I want to allow some time to pass before jumping back in and see if that makes a difference.
Note: I did love this cover!
This one seemed so bogged down in politics, and I finished the book still unsure of what Ho's motivations were. I just did not get him or why anyone would follow him. I cheered for Nuy, but many of her successes seemed based on luck. I also found myself disliking most of the residents of the main settlement and, in my mind, saw the settlement people vs the river people as class warfare that was so unbalanced, there could only be one ending.
My library does not own the third one, so I am going to wait for awhile and see if I can pick it up somewhere, but I want to allow some time to pass before jumping back in and see if that makes a difference.
Note: I did love this cover!
October 30, 2008
This is a sequal to Earthseed, one of my favorite books as a teen. Lo and behold, there is a sequal that I didn't know about (which isn't my fault, it took her 20 years to write it! It just came out last year.). While there isn't as much draw in the second one, because it continued the story in part of the characters I fell in love with in the first one, I enjoyed it. The book takes place 20 some years after Ship leaves the young people on their new planet--they now have children and their childre are growing up. It was interesting to see what she did with it and I'm excited to see a third book is planned--I just hope she doesn't take another 20 years to get it out!
January 15, 2014
Wavering on my star rating here - this is a very well-crafted story, and I liked it and admired the writing, but I did not find it gripping.
I think part of my problem may be that I didn't read Earthseed, the prequel. As a result, I didn't fully understand who the characters were. The dialogue with Ship is a rather intriguing way to bring new readers up to speed, but it's also a bit distancing.
That said, I found both Nuy and Leila believable, admirable young women, and I thought both plot and world were excellently worked out. Strong SF with an intriguing setting, but it felt a little distant to me.
I think part of my problem may be that I didn't read Earthseed, the prequel. As a result, I didn't fully understand who the characters were. The dialogue with Ship is a rather intriguing way to bring new readers up to speed, but it's also a bit distancing.
That said, I found both Nuy and Leila believable, admirable young women, and I thought both plot and world were excellently worked out. Strong SF with an intriguing setting, but it felt a little distant to me.
August 24, 2012
Won from a Goodreads giveaway
This book could have been a lot better. The change of the point of view of the two main female protagonists wasn't very fluid; some parts of the book were just rather boring, and the book shouldn't have had as much unnecessary politics in it. There was a few too many characters in the book to all keep track of, and I found myself drawn to some characters over the others, because some were more life-like and felt more real for me.
However, I did enjoy reading the book, and the plot was intriguing and kept me reading, even if it did take a while.
This book could have been a lot better. The change of the point of view of the two main female protagonists wasn't very fluid; some parts of the book were just rather boring, and the book shouldn't have had as much unnecessary politics in it. There was a few too many characters in the book to all keep track of, and I found myself drawn to some characters over the others, because some were more life-like and felt more real for me.
However, I did enjoy reading the book, and the plot was intriguing and kept me reading, even if it did take a while.
July 24, 2010
Set on the planet that the kids from the first book in this series, Earthseed, colonized, this picks up a generation later. It's just as interesting philosophically, but there's major problems with the plot and pacing and structure which made this a frustrating read, even though I was interested in several characters and really wanted to know what would happen. The problem is mainly in trying to tell several storylines, from several points of view, together, and not doing it well.
December 25, 2012
book 2 in the seed trilogy. An interesting dark ya set about 20 years after some people are dropped off on a colony planet. Mostly it is about the conflict between a splinter group that is slowly dying out and the settled group which is needing to be unsettled some. There could be a lot more here and it could have been less obviously written for YA - but the characters are good. I especially like having the characters really see the other group as alien. More like a 3.5 out of 5.
December 30, 2009
Though I loved Earthseed, I felt like this one was an inadequate sequel. We know that the two groups are going to meet, but the book spent entirely too much time leading up to the confrontation.
February 15, 2013
The long-awaited 2007 sequel to the 1983 novel Earthseed. Meh. It devolved into an odd drama that lacked a real protagonist.
January 13, 2014
I had trouble finishing it, near the end it was very predictable and I just skimmed that last 40 pages or so. I will read the last book in the trilogy now that I'm 2/3 in.
April 14, 2014
Not quite as good as the first, but still better than a lot of YA that's out there right now.
September 12, 2016
This is a 3.5 star book in my opinion :)
March 29, 2013
Unsatisfying end :(
May 13, 2017
Dnf. Want to pick this up again at some stage, just not in the mood for it right now.
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