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livianm's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.75
jmattx's review
4.0
A fun read. Neat story idea around a world without trees and finding a way to start again and DNA mixing and such like. Characters are interesting and the story moves at a good pace. It is one of a series so it ends without a clear resolution.
xan_van_rooyen's review against another edition
3.0
Okay, this was kinda weird.
I enjoyed the narration a lot but the story seemed to be trying to do too much maybe ?
This reminded me of Bacigalupi's Shipbreaker in some ways except that Shipbreaker's worldbuilding was exceptional and all too terrifyingly real. The worldbuilding in Rootless wasn't enough for me. Things just weren't fully explained. Like how is all animal life, except locusts, gone but humans are still around even though there are no plants. None. Not a single other living thing !?
My favourite character was Alpha and I kinda wish this book had been about her rather.
Still, an enjoyable listen to help me while away lockdown hours.
I enjoyed the narration a lot but the story seemed to be trying to do too much maybe ?
This reminded me of Bacigalupi's Shipbreaker in some ways except that Shipbreaker's worldbuilding was exceptional and all too terrifyingly real. The worldbuilding in Rootless wasn't enough for me. Things just weren't fully explained. Like how is all animal life, except locusts, gone but humans are still around even though there are no plants. None. Not a single other living thing !?
My favourite character was Alpha and I kinda wish this book had been about her rather.
Still, an enjoyable listen to help me while away lockdown hours.
banana_hutch's review against another edition
3.0
This book was not quite what I expected, but I liked it all the same. It is an incredibly complex story, but told through the eyes of an illiterate 17 year old boy who lives in a violent future, which makes everything seem a lot more simple than it is.
There are a few eye-roll inducing predictable moments, but overall, this is an incredibly interesting book. I'd have liked a bit more backstory on how the world came to be the way it is, but hopefully that backstory is forthcoming in future books.
I'll definitely read the next one when it comes out!
There are a few eye-roll inducing predictable moments, but overall, this is an incredibly interesting book. I'd have liked a bit more backstory on how the world came to be the way it is, but hopefully that backstory is forthcoming in future books.
I'll definitely read the next one when it comes out!
kyinpublic's review against another edition
4.0
I really did enjoy reading this book. The book ends on a cliff hanger leaves you wanting the next to come as soon as possible
jillann's review
3.0
Another dystopian teen novel, this one with the interesting premise that there are no trees left. Our young protagonist, Banyan, builds trees for wealthy clients out of scrap metal, led lights, etc. He quickly sets off in search of his father and rumours of a living tree.
reader_fictions's review
3.0
3.5 Stars
As happens from time to time, I've read a book that is wonderful, but that does not work perfectly for the kind of reader that I am. Rootless by Chris Howard is a true dystopian/post-apocalyptic novel set in a nightmare landscape. The writing is beautiful and the characters are unique. I definitely like Rootless and I'm very impressed by Howard's debut, but I'm too easily confused by science for it to be the perfect book for me.
First off, I want to praise Chris Howard's writing to the skies. The writing is beautiful, perfectly matched to Banyan and to the world itself. Howard manages to establish that Banyan speaks in dialect with the use of words like "reckon," but keeps it to a minimum. Thus, he clearly gets across the sound of the characters without making Rootless any less readable. Dialect done wrong is a miserable reading experience, and I think Howard takes a marvelous approach.
Howard builds from a pretty standard dystopian formula with the evil corporation GenTech, but the world itself is like nothing I've ever read before. The world has gone to seed in just about every way possible. Trees and animal life (except for humans and locusts) have died out. The only remaining food source is a genetically modified corn that the locusts cannot eat, which means the locusts have to settle for the only remaining dietary option: people. Man-eating bugs are pretty much my worst nightmare. There are also pirates, and a whole lot of other unscrupulous, cutthroat folks. In Rootless, characters really do suffer, and it's not all about the romance; people die in nasty ways, just as they should in a good post-apocalyptic.
Banyan works as a tree builder. What's a tree builder?, you might ask. Well, since the trees are gone, the landscape's a tad empty. Rich folks will pay to have trees built on their landscape. Banyan, as his father taught him, crafts trees out of metal. This is a very strange concept, but one that puts such a stark mental image of this world into my head. His cast of characters is just as memorably strange as the trees built out of metal.
As I mentioned previously, the world in Rootless is one in which countless things have gone wrong. Genetic modification of foodstuffs lead to stronger locusts, which lead to no trees. A lack of trees presents its own problems. The moon also came closer to the earth, which messed with the ocean. All of the non-human animals are gone. Everything that's left is controlled by a corporation, the only institution capable of making food without cannibalism. All of this was just way too much for me to process, and I spent a lot of time confused, trying to figure out why something happened and what repercussions it would have on society.
From interviews I've seen, I'm sure Howard has done his research and put tons of thought into everything, but he lost me. Actually, I had a similar problem with The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi, which is beloved of many people who understand science much better than I do. To tell you the hard truth, I was at best a mid-B range student in high school science. I know just enough to get things really wrong and muddled. Readers with more science background or less inclined to puzzle over things endlessly will likely not have this issue. Also, since Rootless is told from a first person perspective, the world building will likely become more clear as Banyan learns more.
Oh, one last thing, Howard is a HUGE Star Wars fan. It's all over his inspiration board on Pinterest, for example. His love of Star Wars really shines through. There are some very cleverly done references, which I, having been raised from a young age to be obsessed with the original trilogy (the only one that exists in my brain), loved. Watch out for those, Star Wars fans!
I highly recommend Rootless to readers who enjoy harder science fiction with a focus on world building and storytelling. Fans of Paolo Bacigalupi and Star Wars should especially take note.
As happens from time to time, I've read a book that is wonderful, but that does not work perfectly for the kind of reader that I am. Rootless by Chris Howard is a true dystopian/post-apocalyptic novel set in a nightmare landscape. The writing is beautiful and the characters are unique. I definitely like Rootless and I'm very impressed by Howard's debut, but I'm too easily confused by science for it to be the perfect book for me.
First off, I want to praise Chris Howard's writing to the skies. The writing is beautiful, perfectly matched to Banyan and to the world itself. Howard manages to establish that Banyan speaks in dialect with the use of words like "reckon," but keeps it to a minimum. Thus, he clearly gets across the sound of the characters without making Rootless any less readable. Dialect done wrong is a miserable reading experience, and I think Howard takes a marvelous approach.
Howard builds from a pretty standard dystopian formula with the evil corporation GenTech, but the world itself is like nothing I've ever read before. The world has gone to seed in just about every way possible. Trees and animal life (except for humans and locusts) have died out. The only remaining food source is a genetically modified corn that the locusts cannot eat, which means the locusts have to settle for the only remaining dietary option: people. Man-eating bugs are pretty much my worst nightmare. There are also pirates, and a whole lot of other unscrupulous, cutthroat folks. In Rootless, characters really do suffer, and it's not all about the romance; people die in nasty ways, just as they should in a good post-apocalyptic.
Banyan works as a tree builder. What's a tree builder?, you might ask. Well, since the trees are gone, the landscape's a tad empty. Rich folks will pay to have trees built on their landscape. Banyan, as his father taught him, crafts trees out of metal. This is a very strange concept, but one that puts such a stark mental image of this world into my head. His cast of characters is just as memorably strange as the trees built out of metal.
As I mentioned previously, the world in Rootless is one in which countless things have gone wrong. Genetic modification of foodstuffs lead to stronger locusts, which lead to no trees. A lack of trees presents its own problems. The moon also came closer to the earth, which messed with the ocean. All of the non-human animals are gone. Everything that's left is controlled by a corporation, the only institution capable of making food without cannibalism. All of this was just way too much for me to process, and I spent a lot of time confused, trying to figure out why something happened and what repercussions it would have on society.
From interviews I've seen, I'm sure Howard has done his research and put tons of thought into everything, but he lost me. Actually, I had a similar problem with The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi, which is beloved of many people who understand science much better than I do. To tell you the hard truth, I was at best a mid-B range student in high school science. I know just enough to get things really wrong and muddled. Readers with more science background or less inclined to puzzle over things endlessly will likely not have this issue. Also, since Rootless is told from a first person perspective, the world building will likely become more clear as Banyan learns more.
Oh, one last thing, Howard is a HUGE Star Wars fan. It's all over his inspiration board on Pinterest, for example. His love of Star Wars really shines through. There are some very cleverly done references, which I, having been raised from a young age to be obsessed with the original trilogy (the only one that exists in my brain), loved. Watch out for those, Star Wars fans!
I highly recommend Rootless to readers who enjoy harder science fiction with a focus on world building and storytelling. Fans of Paolo Bacigalupi and Star Wars should especially take note.
lizbizfizz's review
3.0
Cover: I'll be honest, the only reason I read this book is because the cover caught my eye in a bookstore a few months ago and I have been thinking about it since. I even had to request it from another library system since my county didn't have it. In person, it's a shiny and exciting cover; A+.
There's a lot going on in this book, so I won't try to cover everything. Our setting is a far-future land where all species of plant and animal life have been destroyed by locusts, except humans and a genetically modified corn plant created and controlled by a corporation. People survive on popcorn and corn fuel. Banyan, our main character, is a tree builder -- because there are no trees left, rich people pay him to create tree sculptures out of scrap metal and whatever else he can scrounge up. Banyan soon discovers some people who may be able to lead him to some real trees and his missing father.
I'll start with what I really enjoyed about this book. It's narrated by Banyan, and he has a strong and unique voice that immediately transported me into the story. The language is very descriptive and stylized:
"I looked out at the sparse shapes of the city -- the filthy steel domes and bunkers, the crumbling concrete remains. The wind was picking up and it came screeching around the buildings, whipping the dust into a shotgun spray. I pulled my goggles down, buried my nose in a rag, but the rich freaks were caught off guard and they choked on their pampered lungs."
What I didn't like so much is that I couldn't really connect emotionally with the characters. This might be due to the fact that Banyan isn't all that in touch with his emotions, but in the end I just didn't care that much about anyone. Banyan also doesn't seem to think for himself very much until the very end, and I felt like things and people were happening to him much more than he took any action himself -- but by the time he finally did step up a little, it was too late for me to care.
I also thought there were too many characters and plot elements crammed into one book. People sort of wander in and out of the story in a sometimes confusing way, and I felt zero sparks where there's supposed to be a romance. I won't mention what it is, but the plot takes a sharp left turn out of nowhere at the end and veers into the absurd. Also, while the GMO cautionary tale was an interesting idea, I would have liked more explanation about the science of this world. I just don't see how humans could possibly sustain their species in the absence of all other plant or animal life except one type of corn. I guess maybe I like my speculative fiction to have a little more basis in reality.
I Recommend This Book To: environmentalists with a high tolerance for sentence fragments and whirlwind plots; speculative fiction enthusiasts with soft spots for absurdity.
There's a lot going on in this book, so I won't try to cover everything. Our setting is a far-future land where all species of plant and animal life have been destroyed by locusts, except humans and a genetically modified corn plant created and controlled by a corporation. People survive on popcorn and corn fuel. Banyan, our main character, is a tree builder -- because there are no trees left, rich people pay him to create tree sculptures out of scrap metal and whatever else he can scrounge up. Banyan soon discovers some people who may be able to lead him to some real trees and his missing father.
I'll start with what I really enjoyed about this book. It's narrated by Banyan, and he has a strong and unique voice that immediately transported me into the story. The language is very descriptive and stylized:
"I looked out at the sparse shapes of the city -- the filthy steel domes and bunkers, the crumbling concrete remains. The wind was picking up and it came screeching around the buildings, whipping the dust into a shotgun spray. I pulled my goggles down, buried my nose in a rag, but the rich freaks were caught off guard and they choked on their pampered lungs."
What I didn't like so much is that I couldn't really connect emotionally with the characters. This might be due to the fact that Banyan isn't all that in touch with his emotions, but in the end I just didn't care that much about anyone. Banyan also doesn't seem to think for himself very much until the very end, and I felt like things and people were happening to him much more than he took any action himself -- but by the time he finally did step up a little, it was too late for me to care.
I also thought there were too many characters and plot elements crammed into one book. People sort of wander in and out of the story in a sometimes confusing way, and I felt zero sparks where there's supposed to be a romance. I won't mention what it is, but the plot takes a sharp left turn out of nowhere at the end and veers into the absurd. Also, while the GMO cautionary tale was an interesting idea, I would have liked more explanation about the science of this world. I just don't see how humans could possibly sustain their species in the absence of all other plant or animal life except one type of corn. I guess maybe I like my speculative fiction to have a little more basis in reality.
I Recommend This Book To: environmentalists with a high tolerance for sentence fragments and whirlwind plots; speculative fiction enthusiasts with soft spots for absurdity.
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