Customer Reviews

Evolution's Shore

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Novels with aliens in can be disastrous. They are too much like odd versions of ourselves, or a few earth species mixed together. Ian McDonald's vision avoids these pitfalls. His 'Chaga' is a substance, a machine, a being (or beings), a process and many other things all at once. None of them are remotely human or earthlike, yet there are hints that it has something to do with our own evolution. Given the rich descriptive skill with which McDonald evokes the utter strangeness of the rapidly growing Chaga, you might expect him not to be so good at human characters. You'd be wrong. His characterisation is superb - Gaby, Faraway, Tembo, Shepherd, Haran, Oksana and others are all believable people not cartoon cutouts. They invade your thoughts and beg you to care about their lives. The best thing of all though about this book is that it shits all over the idea that the USA is and will always be the most important place on the planet from a great height. While the Americans and the Europeans are running around treating the Chaga like a threat, a disease, many of the Africans realise that adaption, symbiosis, is the key to their future, and the future of the planet as a whole. By the end of the book Africa is turning the tables on the USA; this theme is continued in the equally wonderful sequel. Together, this book and its sequel add up to one of the most humane, hopeful, rich and wonderful science-fiction tales to have been written in recent years.

I would strongly agree with the reviewer above who said that science fiction often falls into anthropocentrist thinking, and that Ian McDonald is one of the few who can get past that to see the truly ALIEN. It's a rare skill.

What most of the reviews leave out is that this book combines an adventure story, a career story, a (great) love story, and has a political and geographical backdrop so vivid it stops the reader dead in his tracks sometimes. Few popular novels deal with Africa at all. Even fewer science fiction novels do. This would be one of the most ambitious undertakings--and McDonald pulls it off. I didn't think the ending was predictable, or that the political stances were cliche. In fact, the ending is rather unresolved. McDonald manages to convey a sense of hope rather than a neatly tied up bundle of plot strings. But it still satisfies.

There are few authors who can make you think of the universe as a place that is young and new and full of the unknown, full of possibilities. McDonald did it with one of his earliest (the earliest?) novels, "Desolation Road" and he does it again here in a less fantastic (yet still fantastic) setting.

Not everyone gets tingles down their spine reading this book. But enough do (and I did) that I'd wholeheartedly recommend it.

I read this book about 3 years ago on a whim. It was my first Ian McDonald book. It definitely will not be my last. Great book. Started out a little slow but I was completely drawn in as soon as Gaby McAshlan hit the Chaga. A great read on its own merits but I was drawn philosophically as well. The conflict between Western civilizations (UN) trying to manipulate the outcome in 3rd world countries (Africa) was compelling. Especially in light of a situation that seems like an inevitable occurrence on the entire planet. When I thought about the alternative of the Western world doing nothing, unfortunately, that was equally plausible. The fact that the novel takes place in the near future made it very easy to visualize. I thought that the bulk of the sex and romance in the story was mostly gratuitous and McDonald did not flesh out some of the more interesting characters. I found Gaby's roommate Miriam Sondhai to be a very interesting character and wanted to learn more about her . I thought the ending with Gaby's lover Shepard in space was a little much as well, although I did enjoy the descriptions of the conditions in space and would like to know just what he saw when he went into the Big Dumb Object. I have been waiting patiently for the sequel to be published in the states.

Being a big McDonald fan, it's hard to put my finger on which of his books might or might not be the "best," but this one is certainly in the running. He keeps his inclination toward weirdness-for-its-own-sake under rein and puts together a fantastically gripping novel. The scene in which McAslan and her colleagues are being chased into the Chaga by a UNECTA strike force actually increased my heart rate, it was that good. McDonald has never written such a great action scene before, and it really proves that he's moved to a new level of writing.

However -- and I include these comments here because it's unlikely that they'll be seen under the titles to which they refer -- several of his other books are just as good. "Scissors Cut Paper Wrap Stone" is an elegant little novella exploring some ingenious concepts. "King of Morning, Queen of Day" is a terrific three-part psychodrama. And his debut novel, "Desolation Road," still stands up as pure poetry. Of course, the two great things about McDonald are the way he blends science fiction with magical realism and the way he trashes the assumption that the future belongs to the Western European world. I would recommend all his books wholeheartedly except for "Terminal Cafe," which I found dreary and uninspiring, and "The Broken Land" (an allegory of the Troubles in Northern Ireland), which I would only recommend to people who've already read several of his books and are used to his obsession with freaky biotechnology.

Ian McDonald writes dense, meaty novels. "Evolution's Shore" is one of these. Frankly, I put it down twice before I started reading it in ernest. Then, I couldn't put it down.

The story is about a woman journalist and how she warps the world around her pursuing her own definition of truth. The background of the novel is an alien "terraforming" of Earth. Humanity is hapless as an alien ecology sprouts across the equator. The ecology is seductive, its an alien Eden. This is not a new theme to science fiction, I believe David Gerrold's "Chorr"-series is the most popular of that genre. However, the Chorr books are adolescent shoot-em-ups. "Evolution's Shore" is a novel.

The novel is rich and real. The characters are good, although the female main character has the defects of having been written by a man. The science is also very credible. Finally, most of the story takes place in Kenya. The description of near-future Africa was worthy of the best futurists.

I would have rated this novel a 9 (there are no 10s), except for the ending. McDonald did not end the story soon enough. It appears that he wanted to write two novels, and settled for one and a quarter. The last quarter left more questions then answers.

I read this book under the UK title, Chaga, while living in West Africa, thousands of miles from where the tale is told. Three years later, the story is still with me. Does one really need to say any more?

I'm told there's a sequel, Kirinya. Looking for it now, to go along with the replacement for the copy that I apparently loaned out. Ian McDonald is an exceptional writer, able to make either gender's first person quite credible, create a world that allows one to suspend disbelief, and give us characters that remain familiar years later. If you're a sci-fi fan, this is definitely worth the price and time to read!

Evolution's Shore (or Chaga in the UK) is one of the most intelligent books about alien contact I have ever read. Similar in originality to Rama, the novel explores the impact of the settling of seemingly non-intelligent alien lifeforms that proceed to terraform Earth for the better. To further complicate matters, McDonald sets the impact zones in the third world and realistically portrays the reaction of the "first world" to alien contact in the hands of Africans.

While the writing does occasionally not keep pace with the ideas, McDonald has written a truly excellent book. I find myself wanting to sit down and talk with him about this world, wanting to find out more about it. And in a way, I wouldn't mind living there.

A very enjoyable read. I found the description of life in the alien ecosystem (the Chaga) and how humans were adapting -- and being adapted -- very enjoyable. The notion of an environment that can "grow" your every need, including electronic devices, is a fun idea. The book ended as they were about the explore an alien vessel that showed up in orbit with some final words that scream for a sequal. Just tell me when it's out. Please

McDonald has the ability to take strange and disturbing ideas and make great novels out of them. One of the few writers whose work I would read even if I disliked the subject matter. And one of the few writers who can toss away preconceived notions and begin to imagine what advanced biotechnology could really do.

This is the second book I've read by Ian McDonald. The first was Terminal Cafe, and like that book, this one is set in and about a transformation of humanity. That is, the characters carry out their drama with the back drop of humanity transcending from our current existence into "the next level."

It's a theme pioneered (I think) by Arthur C. Clark's Childhood's End. Whereas Childhood's End was a tour of that transformation with characterization more of an afterthought, Evolution's Shore is about people living life with the "change" in progress as a backdrop. I haven't actually finished it yet, but I was so taken with the book and so enthusiastic about it I HAD to write a review. I hope the last 1/5 is as good as the first 4/5s or I'll have to write a followup. But I don't anticipate having a change of opinion....

Get the book. It is a GREAT read!