Explore our new BookBrowse Community Forum!

Book Summary and Reviews of Appleseed by Matt Bell

Appleseed by Matt Bell

Appleseed

by Matt Bell

  • Critics' Consensus:
  • Readers' Rating:
  • Published:
  • Jul 2021, 480 pages
  • Rate this book

  • Buy This Book

About this book

Book Summary

In the vein of Neal Stephenson and Jeff VanderMeer, an epic speculative novel from Young Lions Fiction Award–finalist Matt Bell, a breakout book that explores climate change, manifest destiny, humanity's unchecked exploitation of natural resources, and the small but powerful magic contained within every single apple.

In eighteenth-century Ohio, two brothers travel into the wooded frontier, planting apple orchards from which they plan to profit in the years to come. As they remake the wilderness in their own image, planning for a future of settlement and civilization, the long-held bonds and secrets between the two will be tested, fractured and broken—and possibly healed.

Fifty years from now, in the second half of the twenty-first century, climate change has ravaged the Earth. Having invested early in genetic engineering and food science, one company now owns all the world's resources. But a growing resistance is working to redistribute both land and power—and in a pivotal moment for the future of humanity, one of the company's original founders will return to headquarters, intending to destroy what he helped build.

A thousand years in the future, North America is covered by a massive sheet of ice. One lonely sentient being inhabits a tech station on top of the glacier—and in a daring and seemingly impossible quest, sets out to follow a homing beacon across the continent in the hopes of discovering the last remnant of civilization.

Hugely ambitious in scope and theme, Appleseed is the breakout novel from a writer "as self-assured as he is audacious" (NPR) who "may well have invented the pulse-pounding novel of ideas" (Jess Walter). Part speculative epic, part tech thriller, part reinvented fairy tale, Appleseed is an unforgettable meditation on climate change; corporate, civic, and familial responsibility; manifest destiny; and the myths and legends that sustain us all.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

"Bell delivers a stirring take on climate change, complicity, and human connection...This is an excellent addition to the climate apocalypse subgenre, and the way it grapples with humanity's dramatic influence on the planet feels fresh and bracing." - Publishers Weekly

"[E]pic...A flawed but admirably big-thinking attempt to make readers rethink climate and climate fiction" - Kirkus Reviews

"The reason you've never read a book like Appleseed is that there's never been a book like Appleseed. The scary thing, though, is this is a world you might recognize. This premise, this content, this form, this language—only Matt Bell could have given us this novel." - Stephen Graham Jones, author of The Only Good Indians

"This is a fiercely original book—at once intimate and epic, visceral and philosophical—that sent me scurrying for adjectives, for precedents, for cover. Matt Bell commands the page with bold, vigorous prose and may well have invented the pulse-pounding novel of ideas." - Jess Walter

"Appleseed is a work of incandescent imagination, at once an eco-horror story about human greed and a regenerative new myth. I loved the soaring possibilities seeded throughout this wild novel, which pushes its readers to imagine 'new ways of dwelling' in and with non-human nature. Bell's book is a chrysalis inside of which I could feel my mind changing, preparing for new flights." - Karen Russell

This information about Appleseed was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

Write your own reviewwrite your own review

Lesley F. (San Diego, CA)

Appleseed
In his acknowledgements, author Matt Bell thanks Michael Pollan, author of The Botany of Desire, for his recounting of the legend of Johnny Appleseed which sparked this imaginative post-apocalyptic story. I have read that book and understand the thanks Bell gave. It planted a seed! Haha... If you liked Margaret Atwood's Oryck, Crake and MaddAdam, you'll love this. If you liked Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, you'll love this. In the tradition of Animal Farm and Brave New World, Appleseed suggests a dystopic possibility for our future. Three different stories evolve, one in eighteenth-century Ohio, one in the second half of the 21st century, and one a thousand years from now. What have we done and what are we doing as a legacy for the future of the Earth? It takes all three stories to recount the ways we can mess this up. Seeds of truth are here as well. What a really timely story.

Kay D. (Strongsville, OH)

Appleseed - An Amazing Read
I thought I would like this book. Then, after starting it, I thought I was wrong. After more reading, I knew I was wrong. I loved this book. Extraordinary and original.

An amazing read that compelled me to keep reading and experiencing the awesomeness. Thought provoking. Frightening. Hopeful. Hopeless. Futuristic yet bound strongly to the past. A bit of magic, a bit of mysticism, a bit of reality. Linking everything to man's (or woman's) interventions in nature (and the earth) and exposing the bad with the intended good.

I highly recommend reading the back cover book description to help place the storylines and then read away. Probably not for everyone, but for those with inquiring minds who love good writing, this is a great read.

Gary R. (Bolingbrook, IL)

The beginning,what's to come,the end!
Well this really wasn't an easy read and probably not for everyone. That said i enjoyed this book. In my opinion it was three stories in one. The beginning is about nature vs.man the what's to come is corporate greed and misguided beliefs and what they lead to,the end is just that buried beneath tons of ice. Matt Bell wrote a warning of what's to come if we continue on the track we're on! I don't want to be preach just my take. Enjoyed this book. Thanks BookBrowse, always find a new author!

Ruth H. (Sebring, FL)

The World Unknown
Very imaginative, yet possible? This book really made me think about the current issues we face today, i.e. global warming, reduced natural resources, etc. What happens now causes consequences for the future. I really enjoyed the story line and yes, it is fiction! This is a great read for fantasy lovers and Science Fictioners. Liked how the chapters are split up yet they intertwine with each other. Nathaniel and Chapman's ventures are most interesting, also C432/433! I could not put the book down because I had to know what happened next. Though a large book, stick with it, is is so worth it!! Nice job, Matt Bell!

Loren B. (Appleton, WI)

Amazing
I absolutely loved this book ! I found it to be very thought provoking with the message delivered in a very lyrical, non-preachy manner. Highly recommended to anyone concerned with the fate of our world.

Susan L. (Midlothian, VA)

Climate change
It talks about our past and present and weaves strands of myth, science fiction, ecological warnings for North America.

...7 more reader reviews

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Author Information

Matt Bell

Matt Bell is the author of the novels Scrapper and In the House upon the Dirt between the Lake and the Woods, as well as the short story collection A Tree or a Person or a Wall, a non-fiction book about the classic video game Baldur's Gate II, and several other titles. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Tin House, Conjunctions, Fairy Tale Review, American Short Fiction, and many other publications. A native of Michigan, he teaches creative writing at Arizona State University.

More Author Information

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

More Recommendations

Readers Also Browsed . . .

more literary fiction...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Graveyard Shift
    Graveyard Shift
    by M. L. Rio
    Following the success of her debut novel, If We Were Villains, M. L. Rio's latest book is the quasi-...
  • Book Jacket: The Sisters K
    The Sisters K
    by Maureen Sun
    The Kim sisters—Minah, Sarah, and Esther—have just learned their father is dying of ...
  • Book Jacket: Linguaphile
    Linguaphile
    by Julie Sedivy
    From an infant's first attempts to connect with the world around them to the final words shared with...
  • Book Jacket
    The Rest of You
    by Maame Blue
    At the start of Maame Blue's The Rest of You, Whitney Appiah, a Ghanaian Londoner, is ringing in her...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Pony Confidential
    by Christina Lynch

    In this whimsical mystery, a grumpy pony must clear his beloved human's name from a murder accusation.

Who Said...

In war there are no unwounded soldiers

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

F the M

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.