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psyckers's review against another edition
4.0
An excellent novel where a group of key animals and plants are teamed up to survive the rigors of space travel, to establish a colony on Mars.
The author has manifested delightful and colourful characters from the group of flaura and fauna, making a compelling story of competing interests and survival in the harshest climates of all.
The author has manifested delightful and colourful characters from the group of flaura and fauna, making a compelling story of competing interests and survival in the harshest climates of all.
kcfromaustcrime's review against another edition
5.0
Started reading this novella (133 pages or thereabouts) and really did, for the shortest time, wonder what on earth I'd started. THE STONE WĒTĀ isn't your normal enviro-thriller, oh boy is it not your normal enviro-thriller.
"With governments denying climate science, scientists from affected countries and organisations are forced to traffic data to ensure the preservation of research that could in turn preserve the world". From Antartica to the Chihuahuan Desert, to the International Space Station, a fragile network forms. A web of knowledge. Secret. But not secret enough."
A web made up of female scientists, all operating under a series of (once you work it out) clever pseudonyms, cooperating to try to save the data that is so vital to understanding the range and impacts of the climate crisis. An author with a PhD in Science Communication, Cade has developed a short, sharp, impactful thriller that maybe a few years ago would have been veering towards science fiction, but is definitely in urgent and immediate threat dystopian territory now.
The initial "what the" moment for this reader was all to do with direction, and understanding the premise - who these people are / why the pseudonyms / what's the mission here? Despite patches of circularity of storyline (after all, all the women here are involved in the same attempt), there was something utterly compelling about this story that just kept me reading. (And awake well into subsequent nights thinking about some of the points being made).
Balancing a careful line somewhere between a dark, bleak future, and hope and inspiration, this reader found THE STONE WĒTĀ utterly compelling.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/stone-weta-octavia-cade
"With governments denying climate science, scientists from affected countries and organisations are forced to traffic data to ensure the preservation of research that could in turn preserve the world". From Antartica to the Chihuahuan Desert, to the International Space Station, a fragile network forms. A web of knowledge. Secret. But not secret enough."
A web made up of female scientists, all operating under a series of (once you work it out) clever pseudonyms, cooperating to try to save the data that is so vital to understanding the range and impacts of the climate crisis. An author with a PhD in Science Communication, Cade has developed a short, sharp, impactful thriller that maybe a few years ago would have been veering towards science fiction, but is definitely in urgent and immediate threat dystopian territory now.
The initial "what the" moment for this reader was all to do with direction, and understanding the premise - who these people are / why the pseudonyms / what's the mission here? Despite patches of circularity of storyline (after all, all the women here are involved in the same attempt), there was something utterly compelling about this story that just kept me reading. (And awake well into subsequent nights thinking about some of the points being made).
Balancing a careful line somewhere between a dark, bleak future, and hope and inspiration, this reader found THE STONE WĒTĀ utterly compelling.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/stone-weta-octavia-cade
maurobio's review against another edition
5.0
Nice blending of near-future science fiction/climate fiction by a great New Zealand author. Highly recommended reading!
bookaneer's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars. I read two stories from Octavia Cade before ('We Feed the Bears of Fire and Ice' and 'Gone to Earth') and ended up nominating one for the Hugos so I was stoked when I found out she wrote a novella based from a short story with the same title (http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/cade_08_17/) AND another cli-fi one, nonetheless. The Stone Weta was in my TBR since the last WorldCon (she is a Kiwi author) and I have been trying to nominate it for book of the month in various group polls but always failed. I decided to read it by myself and as expected I loved it so much.
Women in STEM is always a fave subject of mine and here we have a diverse cast of them from various nationalities. Each women had their distinct personalities, reflected by their choice of code names, usually an organism with unique survival capabilities. The Stone Weta is just one of many.
The book is rather contemplative for a thriller. I found myself stopping a few times since the ordeals faced by these climate scientists were that endearing. Different background, network, support system, but facing the same opponent. From the tree tops and deserts to a spaceship to Mars, this is a story of a resistance. If you want a nice cli-fi and not that into Kim Stanley Robinson, then you might want to try this one.
Women in STEM is always a fave subject of mine and here we have a diverse cast of them from various nationalities. Each women had their distinct personalities, reflected by their choice of code names, usually an organism with unique survival capabilities. The Stone Weta is just one of many.
The book is rather contemplative for a thriller. I found myself stopping a few times since the ordeals faced by these climate scientists were that endearing. Different background, network, support system, but facing the same opponent. From the tree tops and deserts to a spaceship to Mars, this is a story of a resistance. If you want a nice cli-fi and not that into Kim Stanley Robinson, then you might want to try this one.
captaincymru's review against another edition
reflective
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
oleksandr's review
4.0
This is a cli-fi novella based on the short story by the same author, which can be found HERE. I read is as a part of monthly reading for May 2021 at SFF Hot from Printers: New Releases group.
This is a collection of short pieces (cannot say stories, for they are more glimpses than tales) about a group of women scientists, who gather and hide data regarding environmental degradation from some enemy (supposedly multinational corps), who doesn’t want them public. Each scientist gets her chapter. We don’t know their names, only nom-de-guerre they choose – usually from some animal or insect or plant, all of which live in an inhospitable terrain. For example, [b:The Stone Wētā|51888547|The Stone Wētā|Octavia Cade|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1582925493l/51888547._SY75_.jpg|76404188], for which the book is titled is Hemideina maori or the mountain stone wētā, a large, flightless, nocturnal orthopteran endemic to New Zealand. As a note at the start of the story states: When the world freezes about it, becomes a stretch of snow and ice and darkness, the stone weta freezes solid in its bolthole. Eighty-two percent of the water in its body turns to ice; the weta is climate in a single body, it is a continent broken off and geology made flesh.
Each text starts with a quote about a plant/animal, chosen as nom-de-guerre, then there is some glimpse of how she lives/works, intertwined with a few more excerpts about that being and a reader sees how a person is linked to her nickname. This is done extremely well, at least for people who enjoy documentaries about nature. For this the book worth the praise!
What I haven’t liked was the plot and ideas behind it. Scientists hiding data so the data aren’t destroyed by corporations (which also kill scientists) actually do a corps’ job for them – don’t make data public. It is done arguably to protect people, who gathered data, but if corps kill even on suspicion alone, one should either wait till natural death comes or agree to sacrifice few to save many (I highly doubt that data remain relevant as years go by). I’d assumed an analog to Wikileaks, or found a person, who is suffering from a terminal disease to announce data through them if anonymity is paramount.
Also the choice of ‘only women’ team is based on "No matter the country, no matter its professed stance, women tended to be overlooked more than men. Part of the background, all the grains of sand in a desert." While I agree that what is stated is true, the next step – grouping up environmental scientists for me breaks the point. I mean, yes, on average women run 100m slower than men, but if you take women Olympic runners, they will (in 99% cases) overrun any average person disregarding their gender. Same руку – if I am an evil corp, which murders people to keep secrets, I’ll have environmental scientists under close observation disregarding their gender.
This is a collection of short pieces (cannot say stories, for they are more glimpses than tales) about a group of women scientists, who gather and hide data regarding environmental degradation from some enemy (supposedly multinational corps), who doesn’t want them public. Each scientist gets her chapter. We don’t know their names, only nom-de-guerre they choose – usually from some animal or insect or plant, all of which live in an inhospitable terrain. For example, [b:The Stone Wētā|51888547|The Stone Wētā|Octavia Cade|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1582925493l/51888547._SY75_.jpg|76404188], for which the book is titled is Hemideina maori or the mountain stone wētā, a large, flightless, nocturnal orthopteran endemic to New Zealand. As a note at the start of the story states: When the world freezes about it, becomes a stretch of snow and ice and darkness, the stone weta freezes solid in its bolthole. Eighty-two percent of the water in its body turns to ice; the weta is climate in a single body, it is a continent broken off and geology made flesh.
Each text starts with a quote about a plant/animal, chosen as nom-de-guerre, then there is some glimpse of how she lives/works, intertwined with a few more excerpts about that being and a reader sees how a person is linked to her nickname. This is done extremely well, at least for people who enjoy documentaries about nature. For this the book worth the praise!
What I haven’t liked was the plot and ideas behind it. Scientists hiding data so the data aren’t destroyed by corporations (which also kill scientists) actually do a corps’ job for them – don’t make data public. It is done arguably to protect people, who gathered data, but if corps kill even on suspicion alone, one should either wait till natural death comes or agree to sacrifice few to save many (I highly doubt that data remain relevant as years go by). I’d assumed an analog to Wikileaks, or found a person, who is suffering from a terminal disease to announce data through them if anonymity is paramount.
Also the choice of ‘only women’ team is based on "No matter the country, no matter its professed stance, women tended to be overlooked more than men. Part of the background, all the grains of sand in a desert." While I agree that what is stated is true, the next step – grouping up environmental scientists for me breaks the point. I mean, yes, on average women run 100m slower than men, but if you take women Olympic runners, they will (in 99% cases) overrun any average person disregarding their gender. Same руку – if I am an evil corp, which murders people to keep secrets, I’ll have environmental scientists under close observation disregarding their gender.
cameliarose's review
2.0
Spoiler Alert!
I am sorry. I feel guilty for giving the book 2 star. I had high hope for The Stone Wētā. Ecology, climate change and feminism are among my favorite topics in books. I do like the snippets of animals and plants, and the link between these animals/plants and the characters symbolized by them. I also like the fact that the book features women from Sub-Saharan Africa and Pacific Islands, as these two areas are among the places that will take the hardest hit by the climate change.
My biggest problem is the plot. The story is set in the near future when human race send their first spaceship to colonize Mars, so it can't be earlier than 2070 if I am super optimistic. Since the author also says by then Tuvalu has submerged, the damage of climate change must have been too obvious for any government to deny, therefore the main plot--governments denying climate science therefore scientists from affected countries and organizations are forced to traffic data to ensure the preservation of research that could in turn preserve the world--does not stand. Governments have a thousand ways to deny scientific research if they want to. If by then the climate change has become such a taboo word albeit an island country has disappeared from the view, then the world must have already descended to total chaos, but the author does not say so. Am I too optimistic? Or, the scientists preserving data plot should be read as a metaphor? I don't doubt the importance of data integrity and the danger of scientific data being tampered, nor do I not believe that scientists and work could be forced to "disappear" under real world circumstances, but the author has not convinced me with her internal logic.
And to store data in flash drives and bury them underground is such a laughable idea that it is better suited in a fantasy novel. The plot is made worse by the fragmented writing.
I am sorry. I feel guilty for giving the book 2 star. I had high hope for The Stone Wētā. Ecology, climate change and feminism are among my favorite topics in books. I do like the snippets of animals and plants, and the link between these animals/plants and the characters symbolized by them. I also like the fact that the book features women from Sub-Saharan Africa and Pacific Islands, as these two areas are among the places that will take the hardest hit by the climate change.
Spoiler
My biggest problem is the plot. The story is set in the near future when human race send their first spaceship to colonize Mars, so it can't be earlier than 2070 if I am super optimistic. Since the author also says by then Tuvalu has submerged, the damage of climate change must have been too obvious for any government to deny, therefore the main plot--governments denying climate science therefore scientists from affected countries and organizations are forced to traffic data to ensure the preservation of research that could in turn preserve the world--does not stand. Governments have a thousand ways to deny scientific research if they want to. If by then the climate change has become such a taboo word albeit an island country has disappeared from the view, then the world must have already descended to total chaos, but the author does not say so. Am I too optimistic? Or, the scientists preserving data plot should be read as a metaphor? I don't doubt the importance of data integrity and the danger of scientific data being tampered, nor do I not believe that scientists and work could be forced to "disappear" under real world circumstances, but the author has not convinced me with her internal logic.
And to store data in flash drives and bury them underground is such a laughable idea that it is better suited in a fantasy novel. The plot is made worse by the fragmented writing.
anna_hepworth's review against another edition
challenging
5.0
This is such a beautiful, clever book. Such an intricate story, painted more with what isn't rather than is said. Almost none of the characters are referred to by name; certainly none of the viewpoint characters are. All are characterised by an organism relevant to their research and/or their location, and parallels are drawn between their behaviour and the organism.
I love that both climate research and biological research get mentioned here.
Cade has also managed to weave in some pointed commentary about misogyny and racism, and who gets missed in the intersection between the two.
I love that both climate research and biological research get mentioned here.
Cade has also managed to weave in some pointed commentary about misogyny and racism, and who gets missed in the intersection between the two.
sean_oelkers's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0