The Terraformers is the third science fiction novel by Annalee Newitz. I've read both the previous novels (Autonomous and The Future of Another Timeline) and enjoyed them, and I enjoyed The Terraformers even more.
It's set about 60,000 years in the future (more on that later) in an era where there is star travel, intelligent robots, advanced genetic engineering, and ubiquitous networking. People live for hundreds or thousands of years and the term 'people' includes animal species like moose, naked mole rats, cats, and biologically engineered flying trains. Yet the plot of the book revolves around very current issues like preserving the environment and fighting rapacious development corporations.
I'm not sure why Newitz set the book that far in the future. It pushed my willing suspension of disbelief past its limits as it could easily have been set much closer to our present. I finally decided that it didn't matter and ignored it as I was having too much fun. It's a book that made me feel like I was 12 and discovering science fiction for the first time, although my 12-year-old self probably would have had trouble dealing with the interspecies sex and LGBTQ+ characters. None of that gets in the way of the story, which moves along quickly and kept me interested right to the end.
I expect to see The Terraformers on the ballots for next year's major science fiction awards.
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