Darwinia (Paperback)

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Amazon.co.uk Review
In 1912, the entire population of Europe disappeared; all over the rest of the world, there were lights in the sky and the telegraph wires went silent. And suddenly from Britain to Siberia, from Sweden to Spain, there was a jungle full of strange monsters, fur-bearing snakes and lost cities--the continent they call Darwinia. In America, religious fundamentalists came to power claiming that this was God's punishment for the heresies of Darwin; an expedition sets out into the heart of the lost continent. And people are haunted by dreams of a war that never was ... If this were all that were going on, Robert Charles Wilson's novel would be audacious and intellectually thrilling enough, but there is more besides, lots more. At an early stage, we realise that the expedition has its enemies--a conspiracy of the deadly and immortal. And neither the conspiracy, nor the world of the Darwinia miracle, is exactly what they seem. Full of speculations about Deep History, the nature of reality and the plan to escape the end of Time, this starts as SF adventure story and becomes remarkably more; over several books, Wilson has quietly built himself a reputation of promise, and now entirely delivers. --Roz Kaveney

Review
Alternate-historical apocalypse from the author of the fine time-travel adventure A Bridge of Years (1991), etc. In 1912, following a cosmic event known as the Miracle, Europe vanishes, replaced by Darwinia, a physiographically similar continent occupied by alien flora and fauna that somehow are biochemically compatible with those of Earth. The US, fueled by an upsurge in religious faith, declares Darwinia open to all colonists. By 1920, a few settlements have been carved out of the new wilderness; a scientific expedition under the American creationist Preston Finch will proceed up the Rhine and across the Alps, its progress recorded by Boston photographer Guilford Law, who leaves wife Caroline and daughter Lily behind in New London. Soon, attacked by bandits, menaced by the strange local wildlife, the expedition's in serious trouble; the survivors report weird dreams. Guilford meets himself as he might have existed: a soldier killed in WWI. Eventually, having discovered a vast abandoned city, Guilford emerges from Darwinia to find that Caroline and Lily, thinking him dead, have run off to Australia. Guilford's doppelganger convinces him that he, and others like him, are troops in some incomprehensible struggle against other demon-ridden humans, such as spiritualist Elias Vale. Billions of years hence, you see, surviving intelligences have built the Archive in order to remember everything that ever happened; but the Archive has been invaded by "psions," free-living bits of computer code (the demons that ride Vale and company). Guilford and his associates are avatars of the Archive, awaiting a showdown with the psions. A brilliantly imagined but hypercomplicated, undramatizable hodgepodge, whose incoherent narrative is all squirming ends and no graspable substance. (Kirkus Reviews)

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5 Reviews 5 star:    (0) 4 star:  (2) 3 star:  (2) 2 star:  (1) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 3.2 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   2 of 2 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars surprises, 5 Aug 2005 By  Stephen "dschubba" (wirral, UK) - See all my reviews This is a much better, and better organised, book than other reviews suggest. It may look, at the start, as if it's a Victorian pastiche fantasy involving the sudden replacement of an entire continent with new fauna/flora, suggesting a novel explanation for fossil evidence of earlier seemingly alien systems (not necessarily a theistic explanation). The real explanation, signalled early on, is a lot spookier and provoking. It wouldn't be fair to say what it is - but maybe a glance at http://www.simulation-argument.com/ would help (or worry) once you've read the book! The author doesn't 'lose his way', and his characterization adds interest to what is already a good myth. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   2 of 2 people found the following review helpful: 3.0 out of 5 stars An excellent book cut off in its prime., 5 Oct 1999 By  Mr. Dj Barratt "dare99" (Bantu) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    A fascinating premise to this book applied a little heavy handedly. The metaphysical side of the book should have been broken in more gently and the use at the end of "60 years later" in a book mostly set in the 1920s strikes me as an author who's lost his way during the writing and wants to tie things up. That negativity aside it was quite a good read. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   3 of 4 people found the following review helpful: 2.0 out of 5 stars A great idea, squandered among homages, 18 Jul 1999 By A Customer The fantastic premise of this novel - fantastic in both senses - is what keeps you reading. It also helps you to forgive the shallowness of the characters, and the squeezing of so many sci-fi homages into one little book - which starts off a little like John Wyndham, turns into a gung-ho exploration story a la Jules Verne, and suddenly leaps into Olaf Stapledon-style metaspace, with strong undertones of Philip K Dick. And at times he does write a little like the late Fanny Cradock. By the end of the thing, you're up a gum tree down a creek without a paddle, and you've lost your favourite hat. But I can't deny I found it entertaining enough to comment on. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this) Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review › See all 5 customer reviews...		Most Recent Customer Reviews 3.0 out of 5 stars Half-finished enterprise. I'm not sure where or how to start.... there are so many different concepts crammed into this book, almost all of them under-developed and half-finished. Read more Published on 19 Nov 2002 by A. J. Watson 4.0 out of 5 stars Selling it short ... It describe a world (incredibly well) that wasn't real - but wasnt that the shock! bravo to the author - a change in reality! Read more Published on 17 Sep 2001 by kittenfun Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews › See all 5 customer reviews...

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