A Gift From Earth
A Gift From Earth by Larry Niven
I always like when books are set off Earth, but are still about humans. Those colonies in deep space where different cultures and societies have formed. A different way of life has began, but you’re still dealing with humans. It’s always struck me as a simple and interesting way to tell a dystopian story without having to completely change Earth, or make Earth the bad guy. Just set it elsewhere, with some new rules, and away you go. A Gift From Earth is a great example of that type of story telling.
A Gift from Earth follows the story of Matt Keller, a simple miner who get himself caught up in a battle between the freedom fighters / Eco terrorists (depending what side you’re on) The Son’s of the Earth, and the Implementation Police / Crew who control the dangerous poisonous planet Plateau. The battle intensifies when a robot probe from Earth delivers the colony new technology that could change the balance of power and lifestyle on the planet for good if everyone learns it secret.
It’s an intriguing story from the offset, and one that poses a very nasty, but interesting dilemma. The planet relies on organ farms to extend the lifes of those deemed worthy (something perhaps crucial for such a young world that’s still adjusting to its dangerous terrain) with the organs taken as punishment from the criminal element. Therefore, in theory, the planet should be at peace as that’s quite the deterrent, but the organ farms always seem to be full.
What makes it even more interesting is that the Son’s of Earth aren’t strictly fighting to get rid of the organ farms, one is, but the rest are more interested in the division of power on the planet. So, there’s a big moral (not for me, fuck organ farms) question being basically used by both sides to maintain or grab power going on, all while the colonist of the planet just go about their daily lives.
In the middle of this battle is Matt who honestly just wanted to have sex with a cute girl and somehow found himself in this fight for the planets soul. He has history as his uncle who he idolised fought against the Crew, but still, this was never meant to be his fight. And when it turns out that Matt has special powers too!!! well, the Son’s of the Earth want him to fight their fight even more.
I really enjoyed this one. There’s a lot of world building with the ramrobots, mining worms, flying cars and organ harvesting, not to mention the implementation of those organs. I liked learning about the planet and the culture born from it. The whole by the Mist Demons thing. The Hospital. The way the houses were grown. It’s clear that a lot of thought went into developing this complex world, which made the whole psychic powers thing even more of a captivating curve ball.
The characters were all great too. Matt as the reluctant hero. Jesus Pietro trying to keep order and investigate while also wanting to use harsher punishment. Harry Kane (not him) leading the Son’s of the Earths. Polly… can’t say to much more about her without giving stuff away. Everyone was interesting, everyone had a point of view, and in my opinion, pretty much every single one of them was going about things the wrong way, which is what gave the story an edge and made it feel realistic despite the far away setting.
If people have power, they will want to keep it. If something exists that benefits you, whether it’s right or wrong, you’re not going to want to see it destroyed. The book takes basic principles and creates an interesting and dark world out of them, and for that, it is definitely worth a read.
