Mirabile by Janet Kagan

[lightreads]

Stories from a cryptobiologist on the isolated colony world Mirabile. The book explains it thoroughly in the first five pages, so suffice it to say that Annie's job is a bit complicated seeing as how planting a tulip on Mirabile might produce a butterfly, and the butterfly might lay an egg that hatches a wasp.

Another mosaic novel, each piece a snapshot of introducing unstable Earth plant and animal life into the alien ecology of Mirabile. Sweetly transparent, simple, startlingly wholesome. Startling because I liked it; I was thoroughly charmed, actually. Seriously -- Kagan telegraphs every outcome five pages in and dropped an enormous infodump at the beginning by having Annie explain things to a character who couldn't possibly not already know them. And yet I was charmed. Otters that give birth to Odders -- ooh, and Mabob (as in thinga--) for an alien pet. It's one of those times where science actually does look like magic, and that's really cool. (Usually when people say that they're talking about quantum mechanics, and I'm like 'uh no, that just looks like science that you don't understand'.)

Totally a comfort book, sweet but not saccharine.

Comments

[fairestcat]

I always forget how much fun Mirabile is. I reread Hellspark every couple years or so and love it more every time, but for whatever reason I always forget how much I love Mirabile too.

[lightreads.livejournal.com]

I haven't read Hellspark. And apparently she has a Star Trek tie-in, too.

[fairestcat]

Oh, you MUST read Hellspark, it is fabulous. It's the only SF novel I've ever read where the plot centers entirely around the difficulties of Intercultural communications. Which was exactly the concentration of my major in college, so that probably has something to do with how much I utterly adore the book *g*

I keep meaning to pick up a copy of the Star Trek tie-in, even though I pretty much never read them, but I haven't gotten around to finding one yet.