Hundreds of years in the future on a colonized water world named Blueheart, there are two types of humanity: The Primaries and the Adaptives. The Primaries are humans as developed on Earth. The Adaptives are humans that have been altered by Primaries to live on Blueheart until the planet is ready for terraforming. Among the Adaptives and the Primaries there are those who question whether Blueheart should be terraformed.

"Blueheart" is a story of acceptance, politics, religion, ecology, and forgiveness. Though Alison Sinclair spends more time detailing the biological and socio-political environs of Blueheart than the characters in the book, all of the characters are of depth and empathy comes easily.

One note, the title should be taken as a warning by readers who are seeking comfort and joy from reading: This is not a happy book. It is, however, a very good book. The writing is controlled, intelligent, and emotional. ( )

Blueheart is a water world. It is also one of the rare worlds that can be inhabited by mankind. Unfortunately it is also one of the only known worlds to humanity that had its own preexisting ecological system. This system would have to be destroyed and replaced by a Earth-like ecosystem if humans wish to fully terra-form this planet. The process of terra-forming this planet has created complex ethical issues for the inhabitants of Blueheart, pitting the inhabitants against each other. The biologically adapted peoples of Blueheart wish to leave it as it is, the non adaptives are split, but far outnumber the Adaptives. While all this may sound interesting, it sadly is not.

There is no action in this book. So if you are an action fan definitely do not pick up this book. The book revolves more around the interaction and dialogue between the adapted inhabitants and the non adaptives, as well as Rache Scoles interaction with his native community. Character development is actually well done, but for me personally the characters are lame. The author’s obviously feminist point of view is shown through her characters. All female characters are strong, individualistic, and beholden to no one. The men, not so much. They are all subservient to the females, they are all deeply flawed, which in the book is an acknowledged, and even looked on as normal for the male gender. This type of character development is fine and dandy usually, but when you hand every character the same type-cast it gets old fast.

The book is suppose to be a more personal experience of the fight against terra-forming. Sadly even the decently painted culture of Adaptives doesn’t give a compelling reason to the reader to care either way. In this the author failed to create a world where the reader either wants to terra-form or not. You read it and all you think is “blah”. If it is terra-formed bummer, if not who cares. Had it focused more on native life and not human society it may have had a bigger impact.

Blueheart is a novel that may ring well to people with a more female-like point of view than a mans. Theres lots of useless dialogue, no action, and a wishy washy ending. You are never drawn into the book, the characters, or the world. I’m not saying it’s a bad book… but its not really worth reading.

Favorite Quotes: None... :( ( )

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