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A review by mishlist
Alien Earth by Megan Lindholm
5.0
In this future world, humans have fled Earth, rescued by aliens and now ruled by the Conservancy, strive to minimise themselves (physically becoming smaller) and live in "harmony". It's a sort of oppression for thise who recognise it, with humans "adjusted" when they show signs of deviating from their education.
One of the most beautiful parts of 'Alien Earth' is how Lindholm examines what it is to be human - what it means to want something against the context of the society we grow up in; what it's like to be in nature and just be in general; what makes us humans when what we know is taken away from us. Those last bits of the book where John and Connie think that they are stranded on Earth, and have given in to what they have always struggled with? That pure embrace of who and what they are? Stunning.
There's so much to unpack because there are so many big ideas. Tug wonders if intelligent creatures always seek out conflict, and in the end destroy themselves because of it - and this makes me wonder how John and Connie's new Earth will go, and if humanity on Earth can be any different the second time around. There's a whole thread about stories and poems and creativity that humans possess and whether it can be mimicked or understood by other species - and for Evangeline, part of these stories from Raef's imagination show her a different way to live and relate to others, which gives me hope about the universality of emotions and vulnerability. There's a parallel thought about knowledge and whether it sets you free when you know more than you did before - does that make you more or less free now that your bounds have expanded, and you might see what you missed before, or lack now?
There's so much in here, and I expect much more on a second read.