My $.02: Book Review - Darwin's Radio

There are a few different breeds of science fiction. There are space journeys, there are far future visions, there are evil aliens. Mostly, they are just regular genres, only with "in space" or "in the future" pinned on to the end.

Then there are the books that are visions of the near future, books that look at current science and simply introduce a small "what if" statement onto something. When done correctly, these are often more interesting, and definitely more believable than the tales of space adventuring and whatnot.

This is where Darwin's Radio falls. The book is based on the premise that there are areas of our DNA that contain encodings from viruses long forgotten, and that under certain conditions, these encodings can become active and produce the viruses. Naturally, this occurs (because if it was just a book about a theory someone made up, you wouldn't read it), and the resultant virus appears to be causing miscarriages. As might be expected, there is widespread panic, the government becomes maybe too involved, and hilarity ensues. Okay, there's not so much hilarity, but you get the idea.

I've never read anything by Bear before, but his work is disturbingly good. There were things I didn't care for. He's a little heavy handed with the foreshadowing, and there's a hint of mysticism that I felt was a little out of place in a work that seemed so rooted in science. All of that aside, however, he has a skill for taking what might have been a standard sci-fi topic and introducing very real characters dealing with it. His ability to cover the politics as well as the emotional costs of such an epidemic is what really made this so engaging, and simultaneously what made it so disturbing.

I'm not going to go into details as I try to avoid spoilers around here, but I would recommend picking this one up. Apparently, it has spawned sequels, but I need something else in between. Not unlike Kiss Me, Judas, the idea of more both excites me and makes me a little weary. I need something light to cleanse the palate first.

Maybe I'll finally get around to that pamphlet, "Great Jewish Sports Figures".