Yay Earth Day! In celebration of our planet, we’ve put together a list of Earth-relevant literary must-reads.
Check them out!
The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz
It might seem odd to kick off a list about Earth with a book set elsewhere, but hear us out. Destry has dedicated her life to the process of terraforming Sask-E. The act of terraforming is of course defined as to transform (a planet) so as to resemble the earth, especially so that it can support human life. But when Destry discovers a city full of people that shouldn’t exist inside a massive volcano, the core assumptions of terraforming must be challenged. What does it mean for a planet to achieve optimal conditions? Must we incessantly replicate a past in places that do not share it?
The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu
No one will ever make the serious claim that life on Earth is easy. We’ve got problems squared. But one problem we don’t have is the three-body one. We orbit a single sun, and that works pretty well for us, actually. If there were say, three of them… Well. It’d be total civilization reset every time the predestined vectors make us too hot or too cold. So it goes for the Trisolarans. They want what we have: namely, relative safety from the sun, because Earth is pretty cool. They want to take it. They’re on their way.
The Library of the Dead by T. L. Huchu
So we’ve been kind of looking at Earth in the planetary sense for the start of this list, and it’s time for us to drill down and lock in. Ropa is a teenage ghost talker who employs her abilities to eke a living in the mean streets of Edinburgh, Scotland. And mean streets is correct, because something is stalking them and leaving huskified children in its wake. This runs counter to Ropa’s goals of general survival and is just pretty messed up. Cue, the adventure. Enter, the mystery.
Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey
At the time this listicle is written, Earth is home. Optimistically, the reader of this list (you) could be located elsewhere in the far future of ours or someone else’s galaxy, but probably you’re earthbound too. It’s normal to have a complicated relationship with your home, and Sarah Gailey knows that. Maybe we’ll leave Earth someday, but home is still home, so check out Just Like Home, an eerie novel that blends the commonplace and the strange to unsettling effect.
The Kushiel’s Legacy Series by Jacqueline Carey
Carey’s Kushiel’s Legacy is a web of sensually dangerous tales that take place in a location that is almost our familiar Earth. The land of Terre d’Ange that these stories revolve around is approximately located in what we would point to on a map as France. This is the epic saga of a besieged Queen, a warrior-priest, the Prince of Travelers, barbarian warlords, heroic traitors, and a truly Machiavellian villainess, and begins with Kushiel’s Dart, followed by Kushiel’s Chosen and Kushiel’s Avatar. Retelling the start of the series from a different perspective is Cassiel’s Servant.
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