Architects of Emortality [Hardcover]

Brian Stableford (Author), David G. Hartwell (Editor), Donato Giancola (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 7, 1999

In Architects or Emortality, on based his Nebula-nominated novella "The Flowers of Evil, " Stableford continues to write first-class hard SF adventure in the same future universe as Inherit the Earth. Five hundred years in the future, there is a murder in New York City by the agency of genetically altered flowers, and a rejuvenated plant designer named Oscar Wilde must help Charlotte Holmes of the NYPD investigate.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The futuristic biotech world of Stableford's acclaimed SF novella Les Fleurs du Mal (The Flowers of Evil), expanded upon in last year's novel Inherit the Earth, provides the foundation for this sequel. After an ecological collapse brought on by biological warfare and a runaway greenhouse effect, nanotechnology is regrowing lost forests as well as offering near-immortality to those who can afford it. Although the United Nations calls itself a World Government, the true power rests with the MegaMall, a company produced by generations of multinational mergers and buyouts. On this cusp of a new world, someone is murdering the pioneering scientists of the New Human Race, and it's up to Detective Sgt. Charlotte Holmes and Inspector Hal Watson, of the U.N. Police, to stop the killing. Charlotte and Hal are assisted by Michael Lowenthal, a "special investigator" from the MegaMall, and Oscar Wilde, a legendary bioengineer of specialty flowers. Evidence indicates that the murderer, a mysterious young woman, is somehow related to a genetic engineer who calls himself Rappaccini (after a character in a Hawthorne story). As the team investigates the murders, they realize that Rappaccini's taut game of hide-and-seek is leading them to the truth behind a much darker secret. Stableford's skill at creating technologically overwhelmed future worlds is evident here. His narrative teems with vivid, believable descriptions of man-eating flowers, hundred-year-old artists and rampant genetic engineering. His talent for mystery is less sure, featuring characters whose roles blur unconvincingly as the plot picks up speed. Although the novel's ending is weakened by premature revelations of Rappaccini's motives, the scale and audacity of Stableford's vision is a wonder. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The bizarre murder of a prominent architect of the new Decivilization of the world draws New York investigator Charlotte Holmes into a complicated web of murderous intrigue involving death by genetically altered flowers. Aided by a brilliant and occasionally maddening "expert witness" with the unlikely name of Oscar Wilde, Holmes seeks solutions to a series of puzzles rooted in the poets and authors of the 19th century. Set in the same distant future as Inherit the Earth, this literary sf mystery, based on the short story "Flowers of Evil," belongs in most sf collections.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 319 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (October 7, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312872070
• ISBN-13: 978-0312872076
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #472,611 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Strange, New World, March 13, 2008

By 

David Brockert "constant reader" (Madison, Wisconsin) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Architects of Emortality (Hardcover)

"Architects of Emortality" by Brian Stableford, © 1999

The cover does no justice to the story: it has nothing to do with or represents any scene from the book.

The story is a murder mystery set in the far future. People can live for two hundred years with nanotech stuff, but there has been a recent improvement, and now the age limit is unknown. The people who are killed are one hundred ninety three or four years old and due to kick the bucket soon anyway. That becomes the most intriguing part of the mystery: why kill some nearly dead people anyway? Whoever is doing it will probably outlive them.

Another part is the names of the cops on the case, Sergeant Holmes and Ins. Watson. It is something that is lost on no one, even if there has been a rift between now and then, and a lot of history has been lost. There is almost at every turn some mention of the 'gay 90's' era of the last century. Oscar Wilde is part of the team, and books or poems are referred to relentlessly. It gets to be that I felt like I was not really following the story because I was not conversant in these literary allusions.

But I did enjoy reading this book. It was interesting and the murder, while not solved completely, like a lot of them are: who, what, why, where, when, and how are all spelled out finally; it did make you feel the result was what was presented.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Reminds me of Jane Austen, May 26, 2000

By 

Doug De Bono - See all my reviews

This review is from: Architects of Emortality (Hardcover)

If you like the sophistry and eloquence of Jane Austen, then this is the sci-fi book for you. The characters are revealed through extensive dialogue regarding the future and the past.

The author paints a sterile future owned by a conglomerate and controlled by the UN. I'm not sure I would want to go there, but looking at our own world I can see how you could get there.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Thoughtful extrapolation, okay mystery plot, August 24, 2000

By 

Richard R. Horton (Webster Groves, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Architects of Emortality (Future History) (Paperback)

_Architects of Emortality_ is set in a "future history" that Brian Stableford has been working on for some time. The basic outline of this future history is that in the next century, environmental disasters destroy the ecosystem, and nearly destroy human life. Women become sterile until the development of an artificial womb. The ecosystem is recreated by genetic engineering, in a simpler and more efficient form. Surviving humans have their lifespan radically extended by nanotech, to about 200 years.

This novel, an expansion of the fine novella "Les Fleurs du Mal", is set just after a new advance in genetic engineering: genetic engineering, instead of nanotech, has made young people who may live much longer still: they are essentially "emortal". However, those who have not been engineered in the womb cannot be treated. They will die at about 200. As the novel proper opens, one of the last people not to get the new treatment, Charlotte Holmes, is investigating a rare murder, which occurred in a sort of prologue.

A very old man, a specialist in using nanotech to destroy old buildings, has been infected with a tailored virus, which only works against him, and which turns his remains into a ghoulish plant. Holmes and her superior, Hal Watson (Holmes and Watson: get it? A bit too cute, I thought;) work for the UN: they are soon joined by a young member of the new emortals, who works for the MegaMall, the (not so) secret masters of the world, and by Oscar Wilde, a master genetic engineer. It soon turns out that the prime suspect is another genetic engineer, Rappaccini, and his "daughter" (get it?), a young woman who has infected the victim by having sex with him.

The detectives are led on a wild chase by Rappaccini, as several contemporaries of the first victim, all also experts in one field or another, are murdered as well. The mystery is really "What's the motive?", and the motive is tied, of course, to the nature of Stableford's future. It's pretty well done, with lots of neat extrapolative science. The characters are somewhat flat, especially the nominal viewpoint character, Charlotte Holmes. The eventual solution is a bit strained. It's an enjoyable book, and Stableford's future is interesting and original, but it's only mildly successful as a novel. Worth your time, but no classic to be.