Customer Reviews

Darwin's Children (Bear, Greg)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(22)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

First off, don't even consider reading this novel before reading its predecessor "Darwin's Radio"; there is simply too much plot and science to attempt to pick up without the benefit of reading the first novel. Secondly, while there is some serious science discussed in both books, the reader shouldn't feel that a lack of formal biology education will prevent them from understanding and enjoying these books (although it certainly won't hurt). Bear does an excellent job of working the necessary science into the flow of the narrative, and he even provides a fairly comprehensive glossary at the end of the book.

That said, I found 'Darwin's Children" to be every bit as engaging and every bit as frustrating as "Darwin's Radio". The premise, that a new branch of human evolution is beginning, is an intriguing one, and the idea of following this new species as it grows to maturity has the potential to be fascinating. And to a degree, it is; unfortunately, Bear all to frequently takes the reader down literary dead-ends, and makes temporal jumps just when the story is getting interesting.

First the good, though, and there is plenty. To begin, Bear's characters are a step above the first novel. That's not to say that the were lacking previously, but the author has taken this opportunity to instill them with a deep pathos that is truly memorable. The characters, operating under horribly strenuous circumstances represent the full range of human emotion. Moreover, their philosophies are well defined and realistic; they absolutely fit the situation at hand, and nicely mirror historical precedent. Secondly, Bear has created a dystopian near future that is all too believable. He draws nicely on the subtle but pervasive daily fear of the post 9/11 world to create a U.S. that is both terrifyingly different, and yet disturbingly familiar. While he often where's his politics on his sleeve, Bear does draw nicely on the concern for a potential erosion of our civil liberties in the years to come. Finally, as I alluded to earlier, Bear does a superb job of incorporating genuinely cutting edge science without bogging down the narrative. In fact, the scientific dialogue almost becomes a character unto itself, as the reader ponders what revelation will be next.

Unfortunately, all of these elements are let down by rather discordant storytelling. In a book just under four hundred pages long, Bear has attempted to cover three different time periods separated by six years. Frankly, this is just too much to attempt in a relatively short novel. In any given section the pacing and plot lines are excellent, but just when the reader is immersed in the story, it jumps rather jarringly ahead by a few years. Moreover, critical plot developments are presumed to have taken place in the intervening periods, which is extraordinarily frustrating when one considers how successful Bear is at writing sympathetic characters. Secondly, there are more than a few blind alleys that left me puzzled. On more than one occasion Bear seems about to reveal a major plot point, only to back away. Perhaps other readers will deduce Bear's thinking, but in spite of rereading several sections I haven't been able to ascertain where he was headed. Finally, there is an odd supernatural/spiritual/religious plot line around one of the main characters. In and of itself this isn't a bad thing, but it seems oddly out of place with the rest of the story and doesn't really add anything to the novel.

Ultimately "Darwin's Children" isn't a bad novel, but it could have been much more. With it's well drawn characters, fascinating plot and superb settings it could have been a great novel. Unfortunately, Bear bit off more than he could chew in the allotted space. The end result is a novel that is often fascinating, frequently gripping but in the end, to broken up to be completely successful. I enjoyed reading it, but I would recommend waiting for the paperback or picking it up at the library rather than investing in the hardcover edition.

Jake Mohlman

I'd enjoyed Greg Bear's fisrt novel in this series, Darwin's Radio, tremendously - evolution, physical anthropology and neaderthals, with a new race of humans being born. What's not to like?

In Darwin's Children, the first generation of new humans are growing up, and there's enormous government tension engendered by their presence, the fear of them as a contagious virus that needs to be contained, etc. (In the real world, I suspect the response to 'new' humans would be far more savage and deadly, but perhaps the author didn't want to go there.)

Mitch and Kay, and their new human daughter Stella, are key protagonists in this novel, but not the only players: every chapter in the book switches - irritatingly - from one character point of view to another.

As is so often the case with science fiction, the science becomes the protagonist, with the human characters often little more than mouthpieces for lengthy disserations on various scientifica topics - in this book for example, evolutonary and viral biology (though Bear provides a glossary at the back for the jargon-challenged).

I suppose this would have all been fine, except nothing really happens in Darwin's Children. There are tensions. Stella grows up. Mitch and Kay have relationship issues. There's a very touching archaeological find of mixed races buried in 30,000 years of old lava (CAN two races of humanoids work together???). Oh, and Kay has an epiphany - which is all very interesting - but ultimately has little bearing on either the story or the development of Kay's character.

In short, after rushing out to buy the book in hardcover, I was left feeling flat. Perhaps this was a book Bear didn't want to write anyway - but his publisher made him....

I usually like Greg Bear's work, but "Darwin's Children" was surprisingly dull. A lot of talk, not many new ideas (just rehash of the genetic stuff in "Darwin's Radio"), uninvolving characters, and a strangely irrelevant Divine Intervention. Plowing through this book felt like a tedious homework assignment. It's a case of competent storytelling without much to say.

I was also a little annoyed at an undertone stuck solidly in A.D. 2003: Bear takes swipes at Fox News, the Evil Republicans, American voters as sheep. Hey, I'm a Democrat, too, but I see enough of this political sniping in the real world. The best science fiction weaves social commentary into the plot and assumes the reader is intelligent enough to make their own comparisons to current events.

Greg Bear is one of my favorite SF authors but I must say Darwin's Children is a real let down. Darwin's Children, the sequel to Darwin's Radio, continues the story of a species of hominids born as result of genetic mutations caused by retroviruses. The theory behind the story is that great leaps in human evolution have occurred suddenly as a result of these mutations - the first being a leap from Neanderthals to present day humans in the distant past. The story's focal point is Stella Nova Rafelson who was born in the previous novel. Society, frightened by these new offspring create what are essentially concentration camps for these children and all are required to be placed in them. Stella's parents, Kaye and Mitch, have been hiding out from the authorities but are eventually caught. We see how society treats these children and how they interact with one another throughout the novel as Bear attempts to explore a new species and conjectures about what the future holds for their assimilation into and obviously in the long term, absorption of the human species into something new.

The key problem with the novel is that the characters are not that believable and a bit rigid. The story really meanders and gets very tedious and frankly doesn't really go anywhere until the end of the story. Kaye Rafelson, who has an "epiphany" or religious experience, is a dead-end thread of the story and poorly explored.

I'm a bit disappointed in this novel.

Prior to 1997, Greg Bear had written some of the best big-concept hard sci-fi in the genre. For some reason, after the publication of Slant, he decided he was through with sci-fi, and went on to write more accessible works. And accessible this is! Once you get past the concept that there exists a group of mutant children who talk to each other with their freckles, you've got a run-of-the-mill medical mystery clearly aimed at mass-market acceptance.

Regardless of what you think of Mr. Bear's career direction (i.e., striving to become the next Michael Creighton or Robin Cook), Darwin's Children has a large number of faults with the prose itself.

First off, the book is just flat-out boring. There are no new or interesting ideas presented above what was introduced in Darwin's Radio. Likewise, the book's few major events could have been compressed into a volume about one-third the size. However, plenty of space is given over to turgid descriptions of people's outfits and clumsy inner monologues. There is a limit to how many times you can read "They've taken my child!" before the intended effect wears off.

What's worse is that the book devotes entire chapters to politics and political wrangling. If reading about testifying in front of congressional subcommittees sounds exciting, this might be the book for you.

On the other hand, characterization is kept to a minimum. Almost all the characters in the book are wooden, and by the end of the novel you're left with - at best - apathy towards them. However, one protagonist (Kaye) is such a selfish princess that you'll wish you could reach through page and slap some sense into her.

Perhaps the book's biggest flaw is the injection of religion / mysticism into the storyline. It would appear that Mr. Bear has "found God" - or at least had some profound religious experience in real life - and wants to make sure you know it. The "can't we all just get along" ending is also rather heavy-handed and serves as a perfect anticlimax to this sad volume.

Do yourself a favor, and pick up a copy of Wil McCarthy's excellent "Lost in Transmission" for some great ideas and fresh storytelling. Or go back and read "Eon" or "Anvil of Stars" again - reading Darwin's Children will only serve to disappoint.

Darwin's Children is the second novel in the Darwin series, following Darwin's Radio. In the previous novel, the CDC discovered a viral disease that caused miscarriages followed by another pregnancy without the introduction of any male sperm. Called Herod's flu by the CDC, researchers soon discovered that it originated as an HERV (Human Endogenous Retrovirus); that is, the virus was produced by each male's own cells and then passed to their mates. Renamed SHEVA (Scattered Human Endogenous Viral Activation) and soon vulgarized to "shiver", this disease also caused a few women who had xenotransplants to continually produce a variety of deadly viruses. The deaths from these cases triggered an intense fear reaction among certain xenophobic segments of society, which lead to the formation of EMAC (Emergency Action) to handle the situation.

Kaye Lang had played a primary role in the identification of the virus and the discovery of the shedding mechanism. Mitch Rafelson had made the archaeological discovery that SHEVA had been active in ancient times, producing Homo sapiens sapiens from Homo sapiens neandertalis. Their work brought them together and resulted in Kaye becoming pregnant with Stella, a SHEVA child. When public reaction became hostile to these children, Mark, Kaye and Stella went underground like many other families with SHEVA children. Others, however, turned over their SHEVA children to the care of EMAC, who put them in special "schools". One such "school" was attacked and the children slaughtered by nearby residents, so the other schools were fortified to protect the children.

Mark Augustine was the former director of EMAC, but has been re-assigned after the slaughter and is now the director of all federally operated SHEVA "schools". The incidence has haunted his conscience, for he was one of the politicians that had fanned the flames of fear and so has to share the blame for the deaths.

Christopher Dicken is still a virus hunter for the CDC, but now he walks with a limp and has only has one eye due to a bomb planted in the White House by a fanatic. He regularly visits Mrs. Carla Rhine, whose body produces mutated, and often deadly, viruses as the result of an interaction of SHEVA with her pig kidney transplant, and who is now held in maximum isolation. Dicken is ordered by HHS to meet with his former boss, Mark Augustine, to consult on a new virus which is killing SHEVA children.

Normally, SHEVA children are very healthy and are never infected by normal childhood illnesses; consequently, some state-controlled SHEVA "schools" have had most of their medical supplies transferred to other agencies. Now the children are becoming sick and some have died in various "schools" across the country. At the Joseph Goldberger School in Ohio, many of the staff have fled, the National Guard has encircled the grounds and are keeping the public out, hundreds of children are dead, and the medical supplies are scant. Augustine and Dicken go to the school and try to organize the remaining staff and students to provide essential support. Augustine has arranged for more medical supplies from federal sources, but the state is trying to block delivery. The school does have a fully equipped virological research lab, so Dicken starts taking samples and running tests.

In the meantime, Stella has run away from home. She is convinced that her parents don't understand her, but that other SHEVA children will. Unfortunately, she encounters a bounty hunter, who locks her up with several other SHEVA children, one of whom is sick and later dies. Kaye and Mitch track down the bounty hunter and call the state troopers with a kidnapping charge. The troopers arrive just before the EMAC team that has come to retrieve the children. Mitch and Kaye are allowed to take Stella home with them, but the other children are taken by EMAC.

Since Stella has caused them to blow their cover, the family flees yet again. However, Stella becomes sick on the journey and they have to call a doctor to treat her. When the doctor examines Stella, he forgets to deactivate his automatic upload to the medical authorities, EMAC discovers their whereabouts, and the family has to escape once more.

This novel continues the story of a new species of humanity that is being persecuted by a very frightened population. Since the SHEVA children have readily discernible differences from Homo sapiens sapiens, they become the victims of casual discrimination and abuse. Moreover, there are also groups trying to implement a "final solution".

Nonetheless, the SHEVA children do have some friends, both underground and public. The story describes several efforts to support and protect the children. On the other hand, the hostile groups have begun to implement measures that are abhorrent to most citizens and Augustine, in particular, is waiting to bring these practices to public attention.

This novel also adds a theological component. Kaye begins to have periodic epiphanies and MRI tests indicate that a portion of her brain related to suckling in infants has been activated. Kaye never receives verbal input from the Caller, but does receive strong emotional input. Moreover, the Caller never influences Kaye's decisions, but is always supportive. Frankly, I get the impression that the Caller is a group mind of galactic or larger scope and that it promotes maximum diversity through free will. Trust the author to insert a few speculations about the endpoint of evolution.

Highly recommended for Bear fans and anyone else who enjoys tales of medical and anthropological research in a SF setting.

-Arthur W. Jordin

I just finished reading this book. I was definitely surprised by the lack of plot and climax which are generally superb in Greg Bear's novels. It's as if Bear had so much more on his mind that he wanted to add to Darwin's Radio, but instead had to release it as a separate book. A more appropriate title might read, _Darwin's Radio 1.1_. However, I thoroughly enjoy the biology, making it a very pleasant and worthwhile read. If you love science, this book is a hardcover must for that reason alone. Otherwise, buy it on paperback later because everything Greg Bear writes deserves to be read.

One of the most boring books I have ever seen in print.

Nothing happens.

Years of story time pass...and nothing happens.

Familiar characters from Darwin's Radio...remain exactly the same, doing exactly the same jobs and stuck in exactly the same contrived, unbelievable politics...despite decades of story time passing. No new science is introduced and the only new character (and the only interesting character) is Stella Nova, who grows up and reveals some weakly thought out changes the SHEVA children go through.

The book hinges on hopeless, repressive prejudice (behaviors inconsistent with epidemics seen in the last 1000 years), an archaeological miracle identical to the one in the first book, then suddenly, and with no connection to the rest of the book, everything magically gets better in the last 40 pages, a dues-ex-machina that seems to be telling the reader: "and some time passed and everyone got happy again."

There is also an annoying, poorly written, religious thread that wastes fifty or more pages which adds nothing to the book, nothing to the speculative element, nothing to the characters and appears to be nothing but some rambling born-again-Christian fluff. Is Bear a born again? It would explain a lot of what is wrong with this book.

This book is definitely not worth reading, and really wasn't even worth killing trees to print

While I really enjoyed Darwin's Radio and flew through it the bad reviews of Darwin's Children made me hesitate to pick it up. I did end up reading it (thankfully, I didn't have to pay for it) and found those reviews to be more than accurate.

You'd think that a book about a virus that threatens the entire population of evolved humans and where thousands of children were dying would generate some emotion, some interest halfway through. Yet here I am, putting the book down unfinished, regretting the time I've invested. And it was a struggle to get just half way through. Unfortunately, there are plenty of other flaws besides the uninteresting characters.

Bear begins his story 10 years after the previous one ended but there is no prologue and very little in the way to familiarize his readers with the old characters. For example, I never figured out/remembered why there was so much animosity between Dickens and Augustine. I was often frustrated with the frequently clipped dialogue in this book which I don't remember in Darwin's Radio. And Bear's political/social commentary, such as shots at Fox News, Republicans, et al, was a little too obvious for my taste. I prefer observations on social/political/ecological issues to be a little more subtle regardless of which way they lean.

Greg Bear was my favorite writer, period. If I saw a new novel from him, I'd buy it, no questions asked. But Darwin's radio falls short. His mutated children characters could be fascinating, but he doesn't spend enough time on them. On and on we go, about Washington, hearings, and recriminations. Hey, if I wanted to see that crap, I can turn on C-SPAN and watch the 9-11 hearings, I don't need to pay eight bucks. Where is the wonder and majesty of the Way, in the Eon series? The vast loneliness of space, and awesome sense duty in the Forge of God books? The strangeness and alien humanity in Queen of Angels? This book is a disappointment. If you want to go find the wonder that was Greg Bear, go get yourself an Alistair Reynolds book. That guy ROCKS! And Mr. Bear, please go back into the wonder business, so I can go back to buying your books again without worring about wasting my time.