‘Up there with the best of Le Guin in terms of beautiful, engrossing, brilliantly thought sci-fi’

VULTURE

‘SEMIOSIS combines the world-building of Avatar using the alien wonder of Arrival, and the sheer mankind of Atwood. An essential work for our period’

STEPHEN BAXTER

NOMINATED FOR THE ARTHUR C. CLARKE AWARD

Escaping conflict on Earth, an idealistic band of settlers arrive on the distant planet – Pax – with programs for a perfect society.

The world they discover is rich with life, but this is not the Eden they were hoping for. The plants on Pax are smart – intelligent enough to domesticate, as well as slaughter, its many extraordinary animals.

To survive, the colonists recognize that they need to strike bargains of their very own. But if they’re to make Pax their home, they must proceed further, searching for a way to communicate and coexist with these absolutely alien intelligences.