Publishing Information: Paperback; 656 pages
Publisher: Little Brown Book Group; 21 January 2010
ISBN 10: 1841496316
ISBN 13: 9781841496313
Series Book 1 of the Humaniy's Fire series
Copy: Out of Pocket
Reviewer: Tyson
Back of the Book: "The first intelligent species to encounter mankind attacked without warning. Merciless. Relentless. Unstoppable. With little hope of halting the invasion, Earth's last roll of the dice was to dispatch three colony ships, seeds of Earth, to different parts of the galaxy. The human race would live on ...somewhere. 150 years later, the planet Darien hosts a thriving human settlement, which enjoys a peaceful relationship with an indigenous race, the scholarly Uvovo. But there are secrets buried on Darien's forest moon. Secrets that go back to an apocalyptic battle fought between ancient races at the dawn of galactic civilisation. Unknown to its colonists Darien is about to become the focus of an intergalactic power struggle, where the true stakes are beyond their comprehension. And what choices will the Uvovo make when their true nature is revealed and the skies grow dark with the enemy?"
There are a lot of space operas out there and many people are always out on the look out for more. Cobley is best known for a trilogy of fantasy novels and has jumped back into the author's seat with a brand new science fiction series.
When you read the blurb on the back you anticipate that you will catch a glimpse of the desperate struggle of humanity as they withdraw back to Earth and their last desperate act of survival as they launch their only three ark ships. To make sure they are not followed by the enemy each ship makes random jumps into space. Unfortunately, this is not the case. We get a summary of events that led to the need for mankind to leave Earth and then are quickly brought to the planet Darien and the world that humanity has created since they found a planet suitable for habitation.
Seeds of Earth mainly follows one ship and their descendants as they uncover an ancient structure with many secrets. The one thing I enjoyed about the three vessels is that the ships contain geographically similar groups. One ship is distinctly Asian where another is composed mainly with slavic people. It was different and while a minor detail, I liked the concept.
With any space opera there are a multitude of individuals and races to follow. In Seeds of Earth there are also governments and Empires to keep track of. You also have faction and plots. They all intertwine to make for a read that keeps you on your toes. There are a few likable characters as well as many shady ones. Some of the races that we encounter in this first book vary in size and ability, not to mention appearance.
The plot mainly consists of the uncovered secret found on the planet Darien but there are also a lot of other sub plots to keep you busy. To a certain degree, I found there were a few too many but towards the end of the book I could see where they were going and why they were necessary. The other major plot was quite different from what I had expected. There is a huge distrust of Artificial Intelligence by the people of the planet Darien and many of the alien races we encounter. The people that live on Darien have a very good reason for distrusting/disliking AI, they do not use it and have a day celebrating the victory over the AI they had while aboard their ark. The people that remained on Earth use AIs extensively and so do many of the aliens that arrive with Earth's ambassadors. I do not read much science fiction where AIs are considered evil or hostile so it was an interesting development and made for an interesting read.
Seeds of Earth is an good read but failed to capture my imagination or interest. As much as I enjoy space operas this one felt rather mundane. It has a lot of great ideas and characters but not one of them really keep me interested and lying awake reading well past my bed time. It does show some promise with the upcoming books in the series, but I will not be staying with this series. However, it may be some people's liking and should not be discounted.
Plot 7
Characters 8
Style 7
Overall 7/10
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