Everfree [Hardcover]

My copy is a little tattered because I took it with me everywhere, hoping I'd get a chance to read just one more chapter between the things I had to do during the day. I had a blast reading it -- it really puts you in the post-plague, post-cure world where communities should be happy but instead, they head straight toward war. Suspense, characterization, great voice, a riveting story -- it's all there. I especially felt a deeper bond with Halloween and surprisingly, Isaac and Sloane.

I loved the stories of the plague survivors -- like the guy who's wife sacrificed herself to save him from the plague and now he desperately needs to find out what happened to her. Or the chauffeur who impersonated his boss to save himself. Or the folks who believe Hal and his pals are angels fulfilling a biblical prophesy. I also loved the sprinkling of historical and cultural references made by the narrators. It really gave me the sense that the post-human creators did everything they could to instill the importance of history and continuity and a sense of loss for civilization.

I just finished the book and it feels like a good friend just moved out of town. I want another Halloween/post-human story.

If you're wondering whether to read Everfree, do it -- it's a great ride. If you're wondering whether to start the series, run and buy Idlewild. You're in for a treat.

Looking back in my mental trivia file, I'm struck by how prophetic Nick Sagan's first claim to fame turned out to be. No, I don't mean his being the son of the last century's most likeable astronomer, the late Carl Sagan. It's young Nick's voice saying, "Hello from the children of planet Earth" on a recording that is still traveling in distant space on NASA's Voyager 1.

Those simple, welcoming words connect so powerfully with Sagan's recent emergence from the often thankless role of a Hollywood script and screen writer to become one of the most exciting new voices in science fiction.

That's because in EVERFREE --- the latest in his "post humans" series, following IDLEWILD (2003) and EDENBORN (2004) --- the theme continues to be about children maturing in a vastly changed world, facing a future riddled with social, psychological and genetic booby traps.

Set on an Earth still barely recognizable after a devastating pandemic called Black Ep, the bioengineered super-children of EDENBORN have taken their place among the fragile remains of human society as cautious and often unwilling leaders who seek to avoid the administrative mistakes, power-games and excesses of conventional government.

They know better than to revisit the old utopian schemes of humanity's past, but the idea of Darwinian struggle and anarchy is equally repulsive. So as good kids must do, they work out a precarious compromise based partly on the original model of the commonwealth. Star Trek's Mr. Spock would be impressed at how closely the post-human pattern for life follows the Vulcan path of dynamic balance.

But as a loose-knit global family of wildly diverse personalities themselves, the young adults and their brilliant but aging and stressed parents soon face challenges that no amount of hard-science training could anticipate.

It was the advances of hard science that made the EVERFREE storyline possible, offering plague-ravaged humans at the end of EDENBORN the hope of future healthy lives through cryogenic preservation --- the old but appealing idea of deep-freezing the terminally ill until their ailments can be reversed or cured. Now armed with medical knowledge to save all but the most advanced plague cases, Sagan's gifted post humans are faced with myriad practical and ethical questions as they struggle to decide who should be revived first.

Of course, the technical issues are no longer in question. Instead, the colossal problem threatening to tear the fledgling new society apart is a very human one --- that of integrating newly "thawed" folks into an environment where their previous wealth and power are meaningless. The post humans' we-are-all-in-this-together philosophy runs smack into old-fashioned rugged individualism, and the two mindsets mix like oil and water.

And that's what EVERFREE is most memorably about. Sagan brilliantly treads the thin ice of futuristic ethical comment, daring to propose scenarios that show us at our all-too-human worst, even as we cling to the shreds of social idealism.

With his characteristic crazy-quilt juggling of points of view as each super-kid has his or her say, Sagan's EVERFREE brings us to the brink of new hope without quite getting there. Along the way he's introduced old-style real conflict with weapons that kill, as well as adventure, revelation, romance, a tantalizing brush with alien contact, and even new offspring.

And that's where the story just stops, leaving the reader on an unresolved chord of anticipation. So if this really was intended to conclude a trilogy, let's hope Sagan changes his mind. He may have become a victim of his own success, but there are far worse fates for a new author! Personally, I can't wait to hear more from his imaginative and quirky post humans.

--- Reviewed by Pauline Finch (paulinefinch@rogers.com)

In an excellent continuation of his first two books, Nick takes you through to the final phase of the battle for survival of the human race. The prespective of the narrative is somewhat different from the previous books and the challenges encountered by the heros of the previous books highlight the good and bad sides of human nature. Building a new society practically from scratch can be a source of an infinite number of different angles; Nick choses his own and keeps the story "human" with day-to-day issues as well as big-picture thinking. If you enjoyed the first two books, do read this one but don't just expect "more of the same"; keep an open mind and let the author guide you through his new world... enjoy!

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