Book Review | Appleseed

Appleseed by Matt Bell is an ambitious, thought-provoking work of eco-fiction that interweaves three interconnected storylines that span across millennia (think something along the lines of Cloud Altas).

1) The first storyline is highly allegorical and centers around two brothers—one a faun, one a human--who plant an apple orchard. However, as the trees grow and bear fruit, the brothers quarrel over what to do with them.

2) The second storyline follows John, a “Volunteer” for a megacorporation called Earthtrust whose farms produce food for majority of the world. However, social unrest breaks out as a growing resistance wants to redistribute Earth’s resources.

3) The third storyline follows C, a Frankensteinian creature who lives a lonely existence as presumably the last living being on Earth. It dedicates its life to scavenging enough biomass so it can be reborn again. However, the latest version of C may have a chance to break the cycle and revive the rest of life on Earth … at the cost of its own immortality.

While, at first glance, these are seemly unrelated stories, they gradually become more interconnected as the book progresses, and I have to say that I found the third storyline the most compelling of the bunch. It was the first storyline about the brothers that was the weakest aspect of the book to me. As a parable, I felt like it could have been easily condensed into a several pages instead of dragging on.

Also, it’s also important to note that this is a very conceptually-driven book. As a result of this, this book does spend a lot of time explaining its world, its ideas, and its technology making this for a bit of a slower read. Bell integrates some really cool and imaginative biotech ideas in there though. For instance, there’s an invention called the “Loom,” a 3-D printer for organic matter and nanobees (yes, you heard me).

Overall, Appleseed is an imaginative, memorable novel that weaves sci-fi with myth while examining our relationship with nature.

Thank you, NetGalley and William Morrow and Custom House, for providing me with an ARC in in exchange for an honest review.

Book Details:

Publication Date : July 13, 2021

Publisher : William Morrow and Custom House

ISBN : 9780063040144

Pages : 480

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