This one belongs on the list. Fractured, dangerous characters, imaginative science, plot ante-ups. Written in 1985, it covers micro-sentience much more refreshingly than Brain Plague would fifteen years later. Added treats for me were the familiar settings – La Jolla, Livermore, Salinas, Highway 5 south, Irvine, the San Luis Reservoir, Carmel, and even ending up in Wales. I thought the science was wonderful, but I’m not sure how much a novice without a few years of Biology classes under their belts would glean from it. It was book candy for me.
It’s also a book I couldn’t put down, and I read it in a few days. The style of it is a really intoxicating merge of the wistfulness of Gene Wolfe and John Crowley, with the visual, visceral immediacy of Stephen King and Alec Effinger. Smooth and gritty at the same time. How do they do that?
The flaws of the primary character, presented early and clearly, drive this story: Vergil I. Ulum does not understand consequences of action. It is a great lesson, in high relief: it is not the heroic parts of a story that make the fireworks.
It’s also a book I couldn’t put down, and I read it in a few days. The style of it is a really intoxicating merge of the wistfulness of Gene Wolfe and John Crowley, with the visual, visceral immediacy of Stephen King and Alec Effinger. Smooth and gritty at the same time. How do they do that?
The flaws of the primary character, presented early and clearly, drive this story: Vergil I. Ulum does not understand consequences of action. It is a great lesson, in high relief: it is not the heroic parts of a story that make the fireworks.
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