February Wrap-Up

Greetings Members:

We had a very vigorous debate this past Monday. "Meru" divided the group a tad; it was loved by some and disliked by others, and even the moderators differed, with one unable to finish the novel.

What was noticed by all attendees was the obvious bigotry on display by the Alloys towards the humans. Yes, the humans had trashed the planet, but 100 generations had passed since the Alloys took over Earth, and despite the humans being content animals in a gilded planetary cage, they were still, as a species, being blamed for the environmental catastrophe, which we all agreed was prejudice. This bigotry was what prompted one moderator to put the book down unfinished.

In addition, we noticed that while the Alloys were allowed to explore, grow and evolve, humans were being held back, consigned as a species only to Earth, and prevented by evolving. However, it was revealed that the author intended this issue to be a major point of contention within the novel, which was dealt with in the back third of the book.

A great deal of discussion time was also spent on the nature of the "Compact" and whether it was fair to Humanity (jury says NOT), and the idea of a planet, in and of itself, being sentient was ridiculous. It also served as a further reason why humans should not be allowed to explore. But since Alloys only need planets for raw materials and don't need planets to live, grow, and evolve, this only affects humans, further causing prejudice.

There was also the matter of the rather rushed romance, and we agreed that the world-building was top-notch, though there was a bit of a learning curve at the beginning.

One final note: Tim strongly recommended listening to "Meru"; he found it to be really immersive.

See you all in mid-March for "The Mimicking of Known Successes".

-Moderators Jess & Beth-