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susanearlam's review
Earthly Bodies has been out for just over a month and I'm thrilled with the response.
This book taught me a lot and Rebecca is still very much with me. I wonder what she would think about our world and state of affairs in the current moment. I know I keep spotting headlines that echo what happens in the book, but I think this is common for speculative fiction authors. Sometimes real life just needs a nudge too.
Thank you, to my readers.
And if you haven't seen the book trailer yet, that is here https://youtu.be/wp4OJONtg2c
This book taught me a lot and Rebecca is still very much with me. I wonder what she would think about our world and state of affairs in the current moment. I know I keep spotting headlines that echo what happens in the book, but I think this is common for speculative fiction authors. Sometimes real life just needs a nudge too.
Thank you, to my readers.
And if you haven't seen the book trailer yet, that is here https://youtu.be/wp4OJONtg2c
alittlemixofvix's review
4.0
This book started slow but definitely built up the mystery of what could happen, then when events started happening on the ship I couldn’t put the book down. I would class this as a sci-fi horror and the whole evolution side is interesting reading.
I connected with the main characters, especially Rebecca, and there were more than a few parts that hit me in the feels. I was dubious about the MAGIE (Mindful, Able, Genderless, Inter-operable Entities) at first, but they definitely grew on me. The scenery and settings are described perfectly and I could imagine every little detail and felt like I was really there with them. I was hooked as the story unravels the scary but believable plot and I have no idea what I would have done if I was in that situation.
The things that stopped me giving 5 stars were the section with the renaissance painter Giuseppe (I understand why this was in here for the history, but I just didn’t connect to him as a character), and I wanted a little bit more explanation about things at the end – what it actually means going forward (can’t say more without spoilers).
Thoroughly enjoyable and I can’t wait for Susan to release another novel.
*I received a complimentary copy of the e-book from BookSirens and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.
I connected with the main characters, especially Rebecca, and there were more than a few parts that hit me in the feels. I was dubious about the MAGIE (Mindful, Able, Genderless, Inter-operable Entities) at first, but they definitely grew on me. The scenery and settings are described perfectly and I could imagine every little detail and felt like I was really there with them. I was hooked as the story unravels the scary but believable plot and I have no idea what I would have done if I was in that situation.
The things that stopped me giving 5 stars were the section with the renaissance painter Giuseppe (I understand why this was in here for the history, but I just didn’t connect to him as a character), and I wanted a little bit more explanation about things at the end – what it actually means going forward (can’t say more without spoilers).
Thoroughly enjoyable and I can’t wait for Susan to release another novel.
*I received a complimentary copy of the e-book from BookSirens and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.
fernforest's review
4.0
✨ 3.5 ~ 4
Let me take a second to acknowledge the cover art. *Sigh*. Lovely.
Okay, now lets jump into it.
Earthly Bodies is an eco-horror that tenderly explores human interaction with nature. (Can I pause here and reiterate that it's an eco-horror?! I really enjoyed this aspect).
Earthly Bodies introduces a variety of characters, world elements (like the MAGIE: Mindful, Able, Genderless, Inter-operable Entities), and underlying themes. Susan Earlam brings forward interesting ideas, and for 377 pages, there is a lot to unpack.
Earlam took me away from a tired, consumed Earth, and out into space. Sliding into a sleep pod, invited individuals are carried into space for a fresh start. And although this is no small journey…it seems not everything can be planned for.
Earthly Bodies is eerie and thought-provoking. Spanning over a variety of time periods, I enjoyed the opportunity to see the story unfold from several character perspectives. Switching from first and third person, Earlam added an additional layer to how I got to know each of the characters.
During the beginning though, I found it difficult to connect to characters. There was a lot of information about their past, and although valuable, I felt it could have been interwoven with the story in other ways. Just after the halfway point, I found the pace picked up and the storyline started to unfold nicely, making it harder to put down.
I enjoyed the array of information/facts that Earlam presented. It could have been overwhelming, but Earlam did a nice job of incorporating the information. It added to the storyline, divulging good details.
With stimulating ideas, I found Earthly Bodies to be an overall good read. However, the ending did feel a bit rushed and yearned for more. And No matter, it was a fun read!
Content Warnings ⚠️: Suicide, Death, Graphic descriptions of blood and other violence
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an ARC. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily because books are cool.
Let me take a second to acknowledge the cover art. *Sigh*. Lovely.
Okay, now lets jump into it.
Earthly Bodies is an eco-horror that tenderly explores human interaction with nature. (Can I pause here and reiterate that it's an eco-horror?! I really enjoyed this aspect).
“Plants can adapt to anything, humans cannot."
Earthly Bodies introduces a variety of characters, world elements (like the MAGIE: Mindful, Able, Genderless, Inter-operable Entities), and underlying themes. Susan Earlam brings forward interesting ideas, and for 377 pages, there is a lot to unpack.
Earlam took me away from a tired, consumed Earth, and out into space. Sliding into a sleep pod, invited individuals are carried into space for a fresh start. And although this is no small journey…it seems not everything can be planned for.
“…We were all in such a rush to get off Earth…”
Earthly Bodies is eerie and thought-provoking. Spanning over a variety of time periods, I enjoyed the opportunity to see the story unfold from several character perspectives. Switching from first and third person, Earlam added an additional layer to how I got to know each of the characters.
During the beginning though, I found it difficult to connect to characters. There was a lot of information about their past, and although valuable, I felt it could have been interwoven with the story in other ways. Just after the halfway point, I found the pace picked up and the storyline started to unfold nicely, making it harder to put down.
I enjoyed the array of information/facts that Earlam presented. It could have been overwhelming, but Earlam did a nice job of incorporating the information. It added to the storyline, divulging good details.
With stimulating ideas, I found Earthly Bodies to be an overall good read. However, the ending did feel a bit rushed and yearned for more. And
Spoiler
is it a bad thing that I might've, slightly, have hoped for a darker ending? Okay - so I'm not really sure if this is a spoiler, but just in case.Content Warnings ⚠️: Suicide, Death, Graphic descriptions of blood and other violence
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an ARC. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily because books are cool.
coffeeinthenebula's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
coletten's review
5.0
I loved the creeping dread of this book. A sci-if/horror combo that’ll stick with me. I loved the characters and the way the story unfolds.
readinginvelvet's review
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
dividedbytime's review
4.0
✨ 3.5 ~ 4
Let me take a second to acknowledge the cover art. *Sigh*. Lovely.
Okay, now lets jump into it.
Earthly Bodies is an eco-horror that tenderly explores human interaction with nature. (Can I pause here and reiterate that it's an eco-horror?! I really enjoyed this aspect).
Earthly Bodies introduces a variety of characters, world elements (like the MAGIE: Mindful, Able, Genderless, Inter-operable Entities), and underlying themes. Susan Earlam brings forward interesting ideas, and for 377 pages, there is a lot to unpack.
Earlam took me away from a tired, consumed Earth, and out into space. Sliding into a sleep pod, invited individuals are carried into space for a fresh start. And although this is no small journey…it seems not everything can be planned for.
Earthly Bodies is eerie and thought-provoking. Spanning over a variety of time periods, I enjoyed the opportunity to see the story unfold from several character perspectives. Switching from first and third person, Earlam added an additional layer to how I got to know each of the characters.
During the beginning though, I found it difficult to connect to characters. There was a lot of information about their past, and although valuable, I felt it could have been interwoven with the story in other ways. Just after the halfway point, I found the pace picked up and the storyline started to unfold nicely, making it harder to put down.
I enjoyed the array of information/facts that Earlam presented. It could have been overwhelming, but Earlam did a nice job of incorporating the information. It added to the storyline, divulging good details.
With stimulating ideas, I found Earthly Bodies to be an overall good read. However, the ending did feel a bit rushed and yearned for more. And No matter, it was a fun read!
Content Warnings ⚠️: Suicide, Death, Graphic descriptions of blood and other violence
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an ARC. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily because books are cool.
Let me take a second to acknowledge the cover art. *Sigh*. Lovely.
Okay, now lets jump into it.
Earthly Bodies is an eco-horror that tenderly explores human interaction with nature. (Can I pause here and reiterate that it's an eco-horror?! I really enjoyed this aspect).
“Plants can adapt to anything, humans cannot."
Earthly Bodies introduces a variety of characters, world elements (like the MAGIE: Mindful, Able, Genderless, Inter-operable Entities), and underlying themes. Susan Earlam brings forward interesting ideas, and for 377 pages, there is a lot to unpack.
Earlam took me away from a tired, consumed Earth, and out into space. Sliding into a sleep pod, invited individuals are carried into space for a fresh start. And although this is no small journey…it seems not everything can be planned for.
“…We were all in such a rush to get off Earth…”
Earthly Bodies is eerie and thought-provoking. Spanning over a variety of time periods, I enjoyed the opportunity to see the story unfold from several character perspectives. Switching from first and third person, Earlam added an additional layer to how I got to know each of the characters.
During the beginning though, I found it difficult to connect to characters. There was a lot of information about their past, and although valuable, I felt it could have been interwoven with the story in other ways. Just after the halfway point, I found the pace picked up and the storyline started to unfold nicely, making it harder to put down.
I enjoyed the array of information/facts that Earlam presented. It could have been overwhelming, but Earlam did a nice job of incorporating the information. It added to the storyline, divulging good details.
With stimulating ideas, I found Earthly Bodies to be an overall good read. However, the ending did feel a bit rushed and yearned for more. And
Spoiler
is it a bad thing that I might've, slightly, have hoped for a darker ending? Okay - so I'm not really sure if this is a spoiler, but just in case.Content Warnings ⚠️: Suicide, Death, Graphic descriptions of blood and other violence
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an ARC. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily because books are cool.
bybookandbone's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
3.5
Earthly Bodies is a good book, don't get me wrong. I love the concept and many of the characters. It just needed a tad more editing, especially towards the end.
The timeline doesn't really make sense and is hard to follow.
Overall, I did enjoy it but the last 15% brought it down to 3.5 stars instead of 4.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
The timeline doesn't really make sense and is hard to follow.
Overall, I did enjoy it but the last 15% brought it down to 3.5 stars instead of 4.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror
michellehogmire's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
Review originally published here, at Reedsy Discovery: https://reedsy.com/discovery/book/earthly-bodies-susan-earlam#review
Giuseppe Arcimboldo was a sixteenth century Italian painter, who was born and died in Milan. While he painted traditional court portraits of rich royals, he's most remembered for his fascinatingly strange still-life human heads: instead of painting flesh, Arcimboldo depicted fruits, vegetables, flowers, and other inanimate objects--arranged to look like a person. These paintings are simultaneously grotesque and whimsical, with political commentary on the wealthy and symbolic gestures lurking in Arcimboldo's artistic choices and placements.
Arcimboldo is also an important character in Susan Earlam's feminist eco-horror/body horror dystopian novel Earthly Bodies--an epic tale of climate disaster and infection outbreak that spans from Arcimboldo's time to the future. Earthly Bodies is a carefully composed nonlinear narrative, which mostly follows a cast of characters who've set out on a humanity-saving space mission. Unfortunately, people aren't the only life form on the ship: a new species is growing in the vessel's murky depths, and it's evolving fast.
In 2058, Earth is quickly falling apart and becoming less and less habitable. Rebecca, a recent widow, decides to leave her old life behind and accept an invitation to start over. She, along with other specially selected humans and a group of robots called MAGIE, will head to space and attempt to ensure the survival of the human species elsewhere. Unbeknownst to the passengers is the shady figure behind this plan: a disgraced tech entrepreneur who faked his own death. A Royal Air Force time traveler and a mysterious psychoanalyzing head geneticist are also along for the ride. As the characters bond and cycle between periods of sleep in pods containing an ominous fluid, the mission starts to go very wrong. People start getting sick, especially men, and the disease seems to be spreading fast. Plus, there's some kind of strange mushroom fungus growing up through the floors. The passengers need to stay healthy if they want to be able to repopulate, but what if what's going on inside the ship is too dangerous and powerful to stop?
Earthly Bodies starts as a slow-burn, descriptive speculative fiction narrative, but then the book explodes into a frightening, tense, and entertainingly disgusting climax of body modification and contagion. And, just like Arcimboldo's paintings, there's some serious social commentary underpinning all the unnerving imagery. Although the outbreak spreads and works in a network similar to the technology of the internet, it's an entirely biological phenomenon. In Susan Earlam's world, the presence of more advanced forms of artificial intelligence isn't the threat to humanity: instead, it's a seemingly unstoppable force of nature. If humans want to survive, they'll have to figure out a balance--how to bond with nature and respect it, instead of continuing to engage in devastating destruction.
ivvtheral's review against another edition
4.0
I will begin this by disclosing I have never read a lot of horror. Literary fiction, speculative fic and fantasy tend to be my comfort zones. One experience with a book about trees that come alive and drive you insane was enough to many the genre something I avoided as a teenager. Recently, I’ve come to appreciate the genre more (thanks to the sudden surge of grimdark content in my TBR list) and thought I’d give this a go.
first impressions;
- There’s a lot of jargon to get used to very quickly, but it’s miles easier to understand than the type used in Maze Runner. I got used to it very quickly and I didn’t find it to be much of a roadblock to being drawn into the story Earlam was telling.
- The prose is delivered without superfluous use of adjectives. It’s blunt and straight to the point. It’s been a while since I’ve read something without the flowery writing that can be quite common in fantasy and its sub-genres, but I actually ended up enjoying the no-nonsense approach to story-telling.
- Rebecca is an interesting character. Her initial motives are sometimes clear, other times mysterious. Her thoughts are played close to the chest, but the glimpses we get of them as a reader is enough to form a very distinct view of her as a character.
- Earlam’s worldbuilding is really well done. Despite the jargon and having to get used to the style of prose, the way the worldbuilding is weaved into the narrative is very clever and enthralling.
- Different Time Periods™ hits different. I don’t make the rules, but I do love Renaissance art.
other thoughts
- Prior to being offered this ARC, I had never come across Susan Earlam’s work. I’m glad I had this opportunity to be introduced to it because she’s definitely the type of writer I will enjoy seeing more work from in future.
- Oscar was a difficult POV for me to warm up to. I’m not sure why I felt so disconnected from him while I was reading, as opposed to the POVs of Annabel, Rebecca, Frankie, Issy and Giuseppe.
- Giuseppe’s characterization made me feel very happy (art history is a passion of mine) and then absolutely devastated. I cried a little. Well, a lot. I recommend having tissues nearby.
- The intersection of history, science and dystopia in Earthly Bodies is especially compelling given current world events. 2020 was rough, but I’d say it’s much better than Earlam’s 2058.
- Despite my initial reservations about horror in general, Earthly Bodies has allowed me to appreciate it in a new way.
- If you enjoy horror, psychological horror/thrillers, and feminist fiction, you’ll enjoy Earthly Bodies and Earlam’s take on our (seemingly near) future.
favourite character: Issy
favourite quote: The city had offered Issy a place to be herself, until the towering buildings had begun to crumble. The councils had neglected thousands of structures with one hand while building new ones with the other. People were hooked into a world they thought they needed, that needed them.
Rating: 4/5
I received this Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. All opinions are my own and I have received no compensation in any way, shape or form.
first impressions;
- There’s a lot of jargon to get used to very quickly, but it’s miles easier to understand than the type used in Maze Runner. I got used to it very quickly and I didn’t find it to be much of a roadblock to being drawn into the story Earlam was telling.
- The prose is delivered without superfluous use of adjectives. It’s blunt and straight to the point. It’s been a while since I’ve read something without the flowery writing that can be quite common in fantasy and its sub-genres, but I actually ended up enjoying the no-nonsense approach to story-telling.
- Rebecca is an interesting character. Her initial motives are sometimes clear, other times mysterious. Her thoughts are played close to the chest, but the glimpses we get of them as a reader is enough to form a very distinct view of her as a character.
- Earlam’s worldbuilding is really well done. Despite the jargon and having to get used to the style of prose, the way the worldbuilding is weaved into the narrative is very clever and enthralling.
- Different Time Periods™ hits different. I don’t make the rules, but I do love Renaissance art.
other thoughts
- Prior to being offered this ARC, I had never come across Susan Earlam’s work. I’m glad I had this opportunity to be introduced to it because she’s definitely the type of writer I will enjoy seeing more work from in future.
- Oscar was a difficult POV for me to warm up to. I’m not sure why I felt so disconnected from him while I was reading, as opposed to the POVs of Annabel, Rebecca, Frankie, Issy and Giuseppe.
- Giuseppe’s characterization made me feel very happy (art history is a passion of mine) and then absolutely devastated. I cried a little. Well, a lot. I recommend having tissues nearby.
- The intersection of history, science and dystopia in Earthly Bodies is especially compelling given current world events. 2020 was rough, but I’d say it’s much better than Earlam’s 2058.
- Despite my initial reservations about horror in general, Earthly Bodies has allowed me to appreciate it in a new way.
- If you enjoy horror, psychological horror/thrillers, and feminist fiction, you’ll enjoy Earthly Bodies and Earlam’s take on our (seemingly near) future.
favourite character: Issy
favourite quote: The city had offered Issy a place to be herself, until the towering buildings had begun to crumble. The councils had neglected thousands of structures with one hand while building new ones with the other. People were hooked into a world they thought they needed, that needed them.
Rating: 4/5
I received this Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. All opinions are my own and I have received no compensation in any way, shape or form.
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