About the Book 

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?

288 pages (paperback)
Published by Tor
Author’s webpage

This book was sent for me to review by the publisher.

You can purchase a copy of this book by clicking on the following links:  Farseed (Seed Trilogy), Farseed (Seed Trilogy)

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I seem to be reading this series in the wrong order. A few years ago I read the third book, Seed Seeker. Now I’m reading the second book, Farseed. I’m sure in a few months I’ll probably read the first book. Then I’ll ponder how ridiculous I was to read a series backwards and reread the whole thing in the right order, gaining new insights as I go.

The interesting thing about this series is that it doesn’t really seem to matter overly much what order you read the books in. There is a sizeable gap between each book, and Farseed, just like Seed Seeker, does a good job at recapping what has happened in the previous book(s) so people new to the series might not find themselves unfamiliar with what is happening.

That being said, the blurb on the cover says that this series might be the new Hunger Games, and I’m sure that will attract plenty of readers. They’ll see that and think, “hmm… Hunger Games on another planet. That’s just cool.” And probably pick it up. There are a few similarities. First, this is a young adult series, with some pretty adult themes, like the Hunger Games. Secondly, Sargent doesn’t shy away from inserting plenty of politics into her YA books, trusting that her readers, regardless of their age, will be able to absorb what is happening. Third, the main protagonist is a strong willed young woman in an unfortunate situation.

I tend to struggle with YA books. One of the main reasons for this is because I feel like a lot of young adult authors have an unfortunate tendency to talk down to their audience, probably without knowing it. I have to hand it to Sargent; she doesn’t do that. Even though this is a young adult series, she is comfortable with her complex science, politics and ideas and she’s confident that her readers, regardless of their age, will be able to absorb what she is presenting. This self-assured style of writing is both refreshing and somewhat rejuvenating. It’s the kind of YA writing I can wrap my head around. I also think that this confident style will help the series appeal to a wide array of readers, from adults to young adults alike.

Farseed deals with frontier life, and settlement. This book takes place about thirty years after Ship has left off a bunch of people to “seed” or colonize another earthlike planet. Different groups went different ways, and each evolved in separate fashions befitting the lives they made for themselves and their descendants. While I thought Sargent did a wonderful job at showing how the decisions thirty years ago affected different groups of individuals, and how they cope with the trials presented them, this might seem tedious to a lot of readers. While there is some action, and in the latter half there is a bit of intrigue, Farseed might leave some readers wanting a bit more in the way of action and plot progression. In fact, Farseed might feel a bit like the unfortunate “placeholder” that many second books become.

There are a few aspects of Farseed that might turn off some readers. For example, much of the book involves long descriptions of methods of survival and beliefs from the two different groups that Sargent features. These descriptions, while interesting, are fairly long and do take up much of the book. Some readers might find them exhausting. Secondly, Sargent goes into a lot of detail about how different the two main groups are. While this is interesting, its also long and drawn out and makes a fairly short book feel like it’s dragging quite a bit. While Sargent does go into detail and seems to think of everything that could possibly change with the colonists she’s describing, there really isn’t much else there. If you appreciate that kind of thing, you’ll love Farseed, though I think younger readers might find the book has a hard time keeping their attention.

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.

2/5 stars