Up there with the best of Le Guin in terms of beautiful, engrossing, brilliantly imagined sci-fiVULTURESEMIOSIS combines the world-building of Avatar with the alien wonder of Arrival, and the sheer humanity of Atwood. An essential work for our timeSTEPHEN BAXTERNOMINATED FOR THE ARTHUR C. CLARKE AWARDEscaping conflict on Earth, an idealistic group of settlers arrive on a distant planet Pax with plans for a perfect society.The world they discover is rich with life, but this is not the Eden they were hoping for. The plants on Pax are smart smart enough to domesticate, and even slaughter, its many extraordinary animals.To survive, the colonists realize that they must strike bargains of their own. But if they are to make Pax their home, they must go further, searching for a way to communicate and coexist with these utterly alien intelligences.