Semiosis: A Novel

Sue Burke

Feb 2018 · Semiosis Book 1 · Macmillan Audio · Narrated by Caitlin Davies and Daniel Thomas May

About this audiobook

"Narrators Daniel Thomas May and Caitlin Davies breathe life into the large cast of Burke's debut science fiction...both excel at utilizing accents, inflections, and personality traits to quickly build characterizations. The unusual cadence and inflections used for the aliens work to captivating effect." — AudioFile Magazine

In Semiosis, debut author Sue Burke's character driven audiobook of first contact, human survival hinges on an bizarre alliance.

Only mutual communication can forge an alliance with the planet's sentient species and prove that mammals are more than tools.

Forced to land on a planet they aren't prepared for, human colonists rely on their limited resources to survive. The planet provides a lush but inexplicable landscape—trees offer edible, addictive fruit one day and poison the next, while the ruins of an alien race are found entwined in the roots of a strange plant. Conflicts between generations arise as they struggle to understand one another and grapple with an unknowable alien intellect.

Ratings and reviews

Great premisse, but very uninteresting from 2/3 on. The narrators can be annoying when voicing characters, specially Steveland, who speaks a lot. The story has many, many flaws which draw away from the suspension of disbelief. Sometimes it focus too much on hard science just to convey how characters communicate, but with no solid ground. When science is needed for plausibility, it's neglected. I will remember the first and second chapters as incredibly promising, but the rest I'll surely forget.

Amazing narration takes a fantastic story and brings it that much further.

Smart and fun.

About the author

SUE BURKE has worked as a reporter and editor for a variety of newspapers and magazines. She is a Clarion workshop alumnus and has published over thirty short stories. Burke also worked extensively as a literary translator, and while living in Madrid, Spain, she headed the long-running Madrid Writer’s Critique Group. She now lives in Chicago. Semiosis is her first novel.