- Mass Market Paperback: 538 pages
- Publisher: Ballantine Books Inc.; Reprint edition (July 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0345435249
- ISBN-13: 978-0345435248
- Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 2.9 x 17.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,159,120 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Amazon.co.uk Review
Greg Bear notoriously reworks traditional SF themes in his own special way. His first success, Blood Music (1985), features an intelligent plague which seems destructive but eventually recreates humanity in new, transcendent form--echoing Arthur C. Clarke's rough-hewn 1953 classic Childhood's End. Darwin's Radio revisits this territory but foregrounds scientific, medical and political reactions to disaster; it's reminiscent of a Michael Crichton technothriller. The menace is a "new" virus, SHEVA, which is in fact very old--embedded in a ancient human DNA sequences and now emerging as "Herod's 'Flu", which in pregnant women always forces miscarriage. Chillingly, US health aauthorities first see this threat as something to boost funding, while conservative scientists suppress research into the bizarre reality of what's happening. Evidence from Neanderthal remains and Stalin's mass graves hints that SHEVA is no disease but evolution in action. Human genomes everywhere, linked by the subtle network of "Darwin's radio", are activating Plan B: the creation of a new species. Then, with the world racked by panic, riots, death cults and martial law, SHEVA begins to mutate ... Tense stuff, though some biological info-dumps are tough going, and it's awkwardly paced towards the end when nine months are needed for the biologist heroine's own pregnancy, leading to... but that would be telling. This is a fearfully plausible scientific thriller. --David L Langford
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Review
‘Whatever Bear touches turns epic… awesome momentum… rarely have I felt so much the presence of great events’
The Times
‘He has a soaring control of the language and dreams that belong to the visionary… Bear’s books map the future. They are required reading’
The Encylopaedia of Science Fiction
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
For those unfamiliar with evolutionary theories, there are two contesting ideas about the process. One is Charles Darwin's thesis of gradualism - successive generations change imperceptibly until a new species emerges. The other is "punctuated equilibrium" - long periods of stasis interrupted by sudden modifications resulting in new lifeforms. The latter, introduced by Stephen Jay Gould and Niles Eldredge - Jay Niles in Bear's book - has received a new, fictional boost in this compelling novel. Greg Bear has found out why the rise of modern humans in the paleoanthropological record. It's because a virus-like manifestation of our DNA causes immense changes in the genome. Discovering this, in a world where viruses such as AIDS makes rampant, high-velocity changes in its genome, is a formidable task.
Bear has restored a strong scientific base to "science fiction" where it has languished too often in the hands of the inept. He merges good biology with a strong assessment of a society under extreme stress. The characters are often buffeted by forces inadequately understood. The chief protagonist, Mitch Rafelson, opens the story as an acquisitive villain, his greed tempered by a desire to prove himself a valid researcher. On the feminist side [a must in today's fiction] is Kaye Lang - her married name which takes over forty pages to reveal - is also a scientist. Her work, unblemished, is considered Nobel material. Bringing these two together requires some convoluted machinations, but Bear manages to bring it off after a suicide and bureaucratic ineptness lead to the inevitable. They're an oddly matched couple, but two lonely people in the hands of a talented writer can overcome indominable odds. Especially when confronted by a powerful common enemy.
The story rests on how bureaucracies respond to stress. In this case the stress is dealing with a virus striking only women. Why are so many American [and other nationalities, but we'll get to that later] conceiving but losing embryoes? Worse, why is it happening in tandem, with second pregnancies in many cases not the result of sex? Bear takes us through the workings of many of America's health agencies, their workings and their personnel as the story unfolds. The image is far from encouraging, but not overdrawn. Chris Dicken, a functionary in one of these hierarchical satrapies, is caught up in a search for truth while struggling to maintain his position. Bear draws Dicken as well, if not better, than the rest of his characters. His situation is complicated by his desire for Kaye, and Bear gives us a quality picture of a man beset by immense contradictions. In Dicken, Bear gives us a real picture of hubris, a portrait untrammeled by false ethics or marred by unconvincing powers.
Bear's scientific credentials provide a rare solidity to his fine story line in this book. If there's a flaw, it's in his failure to invoke some mention of world reaction to this phenomenal crisis. Since most of the characters find occasion to watch the news, it's almost astonishing that foreign reaction, particularly in the "Third World" is omitted altogether. What is astounding is his utter failure to relate conditions in Africa. That continent, after all, is the home to modern humanity. Its population contains the highest genetic diversity. If clues were to be found to explain what might be happening in America in the novel, that would be the place to find them. It's a very "American" book, looking deeply inward while ignoring the remainder of the planet. Brief forays into the former Soviet Georgia, Mexico, and, indirectly, Austria don't redeem this flaw.. However, one can forgive this lapse in the face of a gripping story, realistic portrayals and the compelling finale. Bear is worth all his awards. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I enjoyed Bear's 'Forge of God', but was disappointed by the sequel 'Anvil of Stars'. I hesitated on buying 'Darwin's Radio' but I'm so pleased I did. I enjoy science fiction set in the here-and-now, and this is the best I've read yet. Having the advent of a new species unfurl before one's eyes is quite thrilling, especially when the world seems determined to set it's face against it. The female lead's pregnancy was unnecessary as it 'took up' 9 months after the bulk of the story but I was gripped throughout. I'd be interested to read a sequel, tho' perhaps a more elaborate end to this book might have been better. Nonetheless, excellent.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Darwin's Radio is my first Greg Bear novel, after my hearing many good things about him over the years - and I wasn't disappointed with it. It's a well-written novel, crammed with scientific ideas, questionable politics and real people - more than enough to hold the attention of any sci-fi reader. Sadly, I never really felt any great emotional connection to the main characters until the very end of the book, when the answer to the big question of the book - is what's happening a disease or the next step of human evolution - was coming clear. I wish Darwin's Radio had continued for another few hundred pages, to see where Bear's speculations would have eventually led us. Maybe I can wait for a sequel.....
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Sample only - well-written, but I wasn't captivated
The sample is an extensive one, covering about 2 whole chapters, which flit between the Alps and Georgia. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Andrew Ives
In a moment I'm dazzled
First of all, this is a great book, it is believable and true to its essence.
The main notion of the story is a pretty much simple idea at surface that with the... Read more
The main notion of the story is a pretty much simple idea at surface that with the... Read more
Published 17 months ago by ManInsideTheHelm
Overlong and uneven
I'm a really big fan of Greg Bear, but this one rather misses the mark for me. It has a pretty good premise but it takes far too long to get to what is ultimately a predictable... Read more
Published 24 months ago by Marchespie
Another disappointing SF award winner
As anyone who's read Eon will know, Greg Bear does Sense of Wonder almost by default. But he also does it at the expense of structure, characterisation and plausibility. Read more
Published on 21 Sep 2009 by S Ounsworth
Very unusual book
A great tale
unfortunately the book ends just where the real questions are asked -so I have to get the second volume now.
unfortunately the book ends just where the real questions are asked -so I have to get the second volume now.
Published on 23 Sep 2008 by CjW
Darwin's radio
A great book about our next evolutionary step and how the public and government react to it. There is a lot of science in the book, but not prohibitively so, and it is interesting... Read more
Published on 23 July 2006 by Spider Monkey
Science Fiction with actual science
I first read this book when a friend leant it to me after telling me that there was too much science for her liking and that I'd probably enjoy it. She was right. Read more
Published on 2 April 2006 by "driahades"
good stuff, but a cop out i think
a superb premise. well thought out. far too much science in it, despite doing some molecular biology at university a decade ago, i found the science tricky to follow in... Read more
Published on 5 Jan 2006
OK
this book is ok...had no idea what all the science words meant, but there's a glossary at the back which at least gives you a vague idea of what all of them are talking about. Read more
Published on 4 Sep 2004
A superb book (not one for elf-lovers)
There is too little good science fiction been written these days - the shelves are full of sub-standard Tolkein knock-offs with sword-wielding wizards on the cover. Read more
Published on 24 Mar 2004 by M. J. Farncombe
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