Darwin's Children

A Novel

By: Greg Bear

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 17 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

Greg Bear’s Nebula Award-winning novel Darwin’s Radio painted a chilling portrait of humankind on the threshold of a radical leap in evolution. Now, Bear continues his provocative tale of the human race confronted by an uncertain future, where “survival of the fittest” takes on astonishing and controversial new dimensions.

Eleven years have passed since SHEVA, an ancient retrovirus, was discovered in human DNA - a retrovirus that caused mutations in the human genome and heralded the arrival of a new wave of genetically enhanced humans. Now, these changed children have reached adolescence...and face a world that is outraged about their very existence. For these special youths, possessed of remarkable, advanced traits that mark a major turning point in human development, are also ticking time bombs harboring hosts of viruses that could exterminate the "old" human race.

Fear and hatred of the virus children have made them a persecuted underclass, quarantined by the government in special “schools”, targeted by federally sanctioned bounty hunters, and demonized by hysterical segments of the population. But pockets of resistance have sprung up among those opposed to treating the children like dangerous diseases - and who fear the worst if the government’s draconian measures are carried to their extreme.

Scientists Kaye Lang and Mitch Rafelson are part of this small but determined minority. Once at the forefront of the discovery and study of the SHEVA outbreak, they now live as virtual exiles in the Virginia suburbs with their daughter, Stella - a bright, inquisitive virus child who is quickly maturing, straining to break free of the protective world her parents have built around her, and eager to seek out others of her kind.

But for all their precautions, Kaye, Mitch, and Stella have not slipped below the government's radar. The agencies fanatically devoted to segregating and controlling the new-breed children monitor their every move - watching and waiting for the opportunity to strike the next blow in their escalating war to preserve "humankind" at any cost.

©2003 Greg Bear (P)2003 Books on Tape, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Bear's sure sense of character, his fluid prose style and the fascinating culture his 'Shevite' children begin to develop all make for serious SF of the highest order." (Publishers Weekly)

"Top-shelf science fiction, thrilling and intellectually charged." (Amazon.com)

Excellent Sequel

Great performance! Satisfying culmination of an epic story. This is Greg Bear at his finest. an intricate story that is all the more frightening because it hinges on scientific fact and speculation.

Serious Science Fiction

I'd give this novel 2 stars for page turning entertainment, 4 stars for true science fictional speculation, and 5 stars for hard science research. What held back the entertainment value was the relentless political conflict. I selected this book because I'm fascinated by the idea of a descended species for mankind. I've always hated that most science fiction books create a homo superior by giving them ESP as their defining trait. Greg Bear's approach is far more creative by exploring how this new species evolves. However, Bear spent to many words on political infighting and not enough on what these new people would be like - maybe he's saving that for another novel. I do give Bear great credit for writing a serious science fiction novel and not fantasy escapism that's common to the genre.

Excellent.

6/5 Another riveting discovery for me. Good flow, edge of your seat with a great story. worth another listen. Exceptional.

Enthralling

Simply put, this book is fantastic. Even though the scientific parts (and they are long when existent) are best taken in short doses, the rest is very immersive and I have gone for hours upon hours without being able to stop listening. With a healthy dose of science, politics, and anthropology, this book is a great listen. Very highly recommended.

Enterntaining - Although a little uneven

This book has an interesting premise. It follows a long line of other titles that have a "Me against the World" theme. It is definitely a good listen since it is well read. I found the book a bit uneven in parts, but that is why they call them unabridged versions.

Darwin's Children

The second part of Darwin's Radio, the book is very timely in the exploration of US Government Agency's response to new dangers real and imagined. With a hopeful message of hope that a people caught up in fear of the unknown regain their footing and return to the values of our founding fathers.

College level biological fancy

Although the book was read fairly well, I found the content to be difficult to wade through in audio form. There are long parts of the book where virology and biological term papers seem to be discussed with complete abandon. The impact on the listener is bewildering terms and loss of train of thought. In book form, it would be easy to backtrack to slowly go through the passages to understand what was being said. Not so with audio. Also, I found some of the time jumps difficult to transition. Perhaps the book does this visually, but with no long pauses or any audible queue, it is hard to warp several years mentally. All in all, I found the book to be an interesting topic and somewhat translatable to current race clash issues today brought about by terrorism.

Different

At the beginning I thought I knew where it 'might' be going---I was wrong. At first I wasn't sure I liked the path Bear took the novel and was disappointed. Having a strong science background I liked the science part and thought his departure from where I might have taken the book, if I could write that is...disappointing, but I finally came around to appreciate it was written by a different perspective than say hard core sci-fi, or hard core scientific influence.
Having segued into that mind set I enjoyed the last part. It was kind of like having two books, once separate then conjoined, sort of juxtaposed unity. Sorry don't mean to be glib but it's the only way I know to decribe my perception of Darwin's Children.
The first book had more scientific overlays which contributed to my conflicting views: I like it, I don't like it, maybe I will like it, not bad.
All told it is a different book then I normally listen to (although I didn't know that at the onset), being a Robert Hamilton, Sanderson, Stephen King kind of sci-fi reader/listener, but I have to say I came to enjoy the different path that Bear took, at least this once. Hmm I think I'm rambling so just get the book, put aside any self-perceived notions at the start and enjoy going somewhere you might not have bought a ticket for. The scenery will be enjoyable if not spectacular. Good doesn't mean mediocre.

Interesting science in this series!

I enjoyed the real science in this story and the interactions of the characters. Great ideas of what ties different fields of science together.

MIxed feelings about this one

I haven't read or listened to the earlier Sheva-book by Greg Bear (Darwin's Radio), so bear that in mind when reading my review.

Although raising interesting questions about genetic development of the human species this book was extremely annoying in its righteous atmosphere and in its portrayal of the characters with such one sided empathy that seemed at times pathetic. The characters were surprisingly one dimensional and although one might assume that the main characters were supposed to be touching to the listener, they left, at least me, pretty much cold. I felt like the writer tried to force the idea of human evolvement with these Sheva Children to be right, without leaving room for any other thoughts. I felt underestimated by the writer for not giving me the option for wider speculation.

I'm not too sure whether Scott Brick was the right choice to voice this book. I really do like him, and sometimes even buy a book here because he is the reader, but in this production his usually quite rich voice acting felt rather melodramatic and carried with it mainly the tired and tiring message of how sad is it that the Sheva Children are treated so badly. Throughout the book Brick used his voice to sound like it's almost breaking of emotion, which might of course be good if the action in the book would justify that, but he used this effect ALL THE TIME with the main characters, and made them sound like such a sorrowful bunch, which actually made me hate them.

I'm sure that many people find this book to be very interesting and thought provoking. It's too bad that the rather splendid idea is, in my opinion, carried out so poorly and flatly. But to the book's credit I have to say that in a good science fiction fashion it raised interesting questions, and anyway kept me entertained. Although I expected more from Greg Bear and Scott Brick.