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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dark, gritty fiction, February 19, 2002
First off, if you haven't read Peter Watts' first novel, "Starfish", don't start with "Maelstrom". While this is theoretically a stand-alone novel, the reader unfamiliar with "Starfish" will miss out on a tremendous amount of back-story and character development. ... As for "Maelstrom" itself, Watts has easily cleared the high bar he set with his first novel. All too often, sequels are rehashes of old conflict, but that is not the case here at all. Watts takes his already complex characters from the first novel and adds several more layers of texture; at the same time he adds just enough new characters to keep things interesting. These characters are equally well developed, and overall, Watts' writing is even sharper than in the first book. The writing has to be sharper, because this is a much more complicated novel than the first. While "Starfish" took place in the relatively limited space of a deep ocean outpost, and dealt primarily with human interactions, "Maelstrom" sprawls across the Pacific and North America and a significant portion of the action takes place in cyberspace. Moreover, the plot is significantly more complicated. I don't want to get into it in too much detail, as doing so would ruin much of "Starfish" for those who haven't read it. But the general theme of this novel, like its predecessor, is the impact that the unforeseen consequences of exponentially growing technology can have on humans as a species and on the planet as a whole. In a dystopian setting of environmental havoc and human violence, two new scourges have emerged. One is spawned by nature, the other, inadvertently, by man. The result is a bizarre, but believable synergy that threatens the entire biosphere. It was particularly interesting how Watts explored the nature of consciousness by subtly comparing the burgeoning life of a piece of code with the flawed memories of the main character. By now you may have guessed that there is a lot of science in this novel, and you'd be right. There is a great deal that is cutting edge, and even more that is purely speculative. Watts makes use of some pretty heavy biology and AI science that may intimidate readers at first blush. It would be a mistake to avoid this novel for that reason because the science is just there to set the stage for the story. If you understand the detail of it, it definitely adds many intriguing twists; but if you only understand it at the surface level, you could still easily follow the story. That's the beauty of Watts as a writer: he's pigeon hold as hard-SF, but the SF is just a means to the end of writing incredibly complex, beautiful characters struggling with problems we can easily empathize with. Finally, Watts has included an appendix discussing the key science in some detail, and also provides a bibliography of sources he used. "Maelstrom" is an outstanding novel set in a believable, terrifying future. It was undeniably entertaining and I tore through it at a breathless pace. It also left me thinking about technology and its impacts in some new ways. Watts is no technophobe, but he makes a strong point about the lack of responsibility in many arenas of scientific endeavor. "Maelstrom" is a must read for anyone who enjoys a great story, rich characters and a thoughtful message.
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the finest Science Fiction works in recent years!, October 26, 2001
By A Customer
(Somewhat sheepishly) I must admit that I read Science Fiction books by the ton, and have been doing so for the better part of thirty years. The "discovery" of a brilliant piece of writing such as Peter Watts' MAELSTROM is all too rare an experience. Following his more conventional novel, STARFISH (also excellent), MAELSTROM is perhaps a work of inspired surrealism more than it is a straightforward example of "hard" Science Fiction. (This is not to take away from Watts' completely credible and coherent account of a future world devastated by the enimical effect of a nasty micro-organism that manages, by means of rapid "virus"-like replication and mutation, to infiltrate pretty much every aspect of existence.) Watts exhibits a flexibility and richness of imagination that sets his writing apart from the dry and often academic atmosphere presented in many works of the "hard" genre. I dislike plot summaries and hence will not offer one here. Let me note, however, that although the plot becomes a labyrinth in itself, the story-line never lags. Descriptions of both abstract theory and "actual" events are vivid and exact. Perhaps of greatest importance, Watts draws his characters with considerable care. Emotion (and its role in memory -links to an individual's past) plays a key role in the work. The persons presented in the novel are anything but the cardboard cutouts that often haunt works of such theoretical inclination. Quite simply, MAELSTROM is one of the finest Science Fiction novels of the last ten years and an entirely fascinating read.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Extraordinary hard SF with a dark, fast storyline., December 12, 2001
In this age of anthrax scares and threats of biological terrorism, this novel is not only fortuitously topical-but twice as frightening by the relevance of the subject matter. `Maelstrom' returns to the characters and story begun in Peter Watts' `Starfish,' where a disease vector from the distant pre-human past was discovered in a deep ocean rift. A secret underwater nuclear strike was employed in an attempt at the sterilization/containment of the `disease,' but Lenie Clarke has survived and has inadvertently become the Typhoid Mary carrying the potential death of the human race. We learn much about Clarke's interior topography as she tries to make her way home, possessed by a desire for revenge against the forces that ordered her `sterilization.' Inadvertently she becomes the Meltdown Madonna, a media/web induced celebrity and urban myth rolled in one-a rage filled carrier of death. Peter Watts fine writing has created a genre others call cyberpunk noir, but it is really much more than that. And it defies simple labeling. `Maelstrom' is dark, gritty and vivid-yet eerily redemptive in it's own way. Highly Recommended, even if you missed `Starfish.'
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