I'm ultimately disappointed. I was expecting more from the bioforming. I appreciate that it dealt with the anti-colonial dimensions of that, but all of the changes were superficial and not thoroughly explored. There are glimpses of dealing with the psychological effects of changing yourself, but it never went anywhere. This was an explicit choice the author made, but it made it less interesting for me. #SFFBookclub
@Quare I agree that the somaforming could have been better used. Changing your body changes the way you know and experience things, the way you relate to other people, beings, and the universe. Exploring that through showing how somaforming altered the characters emotions, perceptions, and relationships with one another in more profound ways than it did could have strengthened the themes about science as a colonial practice. #SFFBookClub
@Quare Like, if on Aecor they had experiences of reflecting light off each other's skin that was irritating or exciting. Or found that their skin reflected light onto their scientific instruments in ways that made them hard to read and meant they had to alter how they used them, for example. Or found that their skin reflected the light from the native creatures in ways their instruments didn't capture. #SFFBookClub
@dzshuniper Or going even further, make some of the humans transform more drastically by taking on the senses of lifeforms they discover, so that the planet is experienced through both human and alien eyes. This could have led to tension in mission priorities between the groups.
Idk, it seems odd to introduce becoming more like the alien to lessen your impact and then avoid all the possible implications. #sffbookclub
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To Be Taught, If Fortunate, spoiler
@Quare I agree that the somaforming could have been better used. Changing your body changes the way you know and experience things, the way you relate to other people, beings, and the universe. Exploring that through showing how somaforming altered the characters emotions, perceptions, and relationships with one another in more profound ways than it did could have strengthened the themes about science as a colonial practice. #SFFBookClub