Pennterra

Interesting ideas, with intent towards Sense of Wonder and What If. But one of the primary themes was awkward and overdone, and some of the writing was awkward, too. Also, I particularly don't like what happened to one young girl character.

In fact, the author assumes that humans will readily revert to old sexist roles & behaviors and I don't like that at all... the book is meant to be hopeful so let's keep letting all the women be people, let the girls play sports, let the boys cook, etc.

I don't particularly recommend it. I can see why some readers claim to love it... but I think what they love is the idea; they want to be a member of the Quaker colonists making a new life on Pennterra.

Btw, I have to admit that it took me far too long show more to figure out how they came up with a name for the planet. But it is obvious in hindsight.... show less

This is an odd book. It's definitely not for everyone due to some sexual content that I'm not going to go into detail about (see other reviews for more information). But the environmental and religious aspect of the story are both compelling and well-done. Both seem quite timely, despite the book being over 30 years old. The overall themes reminded me of Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough's Petaybee series, but with more alien aliens and much stronger writing.

A group of Quaker settlers deal with friendly but incomprehensible aliens, an alien ecology that they must adapt to rather than conquer and another colony of less thoughtful humans. This book is largely a meditation on ecology with some interesting aliens with interesting sexual practices thrown in. I always find Moffett's characters engaging and this book was no exception.

Interessante, thought-provocating Lektüre: Ein zunächst einmal eher standardmäßiges Setting - nach einer großen Katastrophe etabliert sich eine Kolonie auf einem anderen Planeten - entwickelt sich zu einer Auseinandersetzung mit unterschiedlichen Lebensentwürfen und Weltsichten. Die ursprüngliche Kolonie besteht aus (nicht mehr religiösen) Quäkern, die sich mit den Geboten der einheimischen Lebewesen, der empathischen Hross, arrangiert haben - keine Maschinen, ein begrenzter Ort, nur Erhalt, aber nicht Wachstum der Siedlung - und deren Nähe suchen. Ein weiteres Siedlerschiff landet, mit einer Gruppe, die sich den Planeten untertan machen möchte, und die Warnungen vor der Katastrophe ignoriert. Im Konflikt zwischen beiden show more Gruppen wird es wichtig, die fremdartige, nicht-evolutionäre Biologie des Planeten zu verstehen. show less