Darwinia

Regrettably, this book had so much potential but which was never fully exploited, for me at least. The alternative Europe setting promised much excitement and suspense. But that world was never fully realized. I really wanted to know more about "Darwinia" but in retrospect it seems that Robert Charles Wilson never really considered that to be the driving point of his book.

The characters were 2-dimensional and too many were killed-off nonchalantly to keep me interested in the plot.

Robert Charles Wilson could have written this book even without any major alternative historical settings which, happily, would have stopped me from getting lured into reading this mediocre "science-thriller".

A disappointing experience.

2.40 stars
( )

The premise: ganked from BN.com: In 1912, history was changed by the Miracle, when the old world of Europe was replaced by Darwinia, a strange land of nightmarish jungle and antedeluvian monsters. To some, the Miracle is an act of divine retribution; to others, it is an opportunity to carve out a new empire.

Leaving American now ruled by religious fundamentalism, young Guilford Law travels to Darwinia on a mission of discovery that will take him further than he can possibly imagine...to a shattering revelation about mankind's destiny in the universe.

Darwinia is a 1999 Hugo Award Nominee for Best Novel.

My Rating: Worth Reading, with Reservations

Even though this was the first Robert Charles Wilson book to ever come in my possession, I'm really glad it's not the first one I ever read. Not to say that this one was bad, but I'm not sure it would've left enough of a strong impression on me back then to read more of the author's work, whereas Spin was one of my favorite novels that I read in 2011. Be that as it may, this book does have a dizzying amount of things to offer: alternate history/parallel worlds, philosophy, suspense and thrillers, evolution and aliens, intergalactic conflict. It's certainly fascinating, and almost something that deserves two readers so that readers can really sink their teeth into what's going on, why it's going on, and therefore really appreciate the story. It's not a book that you can read with the television on, or while under the influence of cold medicine. It's a book that requires your absolute attention, and that's not a bad thing. It's just a thing to be aware of. The opening is great, but the rest of the book had its ups and downs for me. Definitely worth reading, but be focused when you do.

Spoilers, yay or nay?: Yay. Part of the reason is so I can try and work out my understanding of the novel. The full review, WITH SPOILERS, maybe found in my blog. As always, comments and discussion are most welcome!

REVIEW: Robert Charles' Wilson's DARWINIA

Happy Reading! ( )

http://tpi-reads.blogspot.com/2011/09/darwinia-novel-of-very-different.html ( )

A quick read in one of my favorite settings, the story is fleshed out as the chapters rotate through three main characters, some of them more interesting than others. The mechanism that explains the Miracle feels a bit like a cheat, but it appeals to my science fiction sensibilities, so I could not help but be taken in by it. ( )

Darwinia was an interesting and very good read. Most of the novel I enjoyed immensely. Good characters in here and a richly painted canvas of ideas.

I'll need to be a little spoilery here. Darwinia is an alternate history of 20th century earth, in which an event occurs in 1912 that is a radical divergence from our world. Our world still exists, but the earth of Darwinia isn't a parallel world. When I began reading this I guessed that a parallel earth had somehow intersected with ours with the result that Europe was completely overlaid with the new wild land of Darwinia. But this proved to not be the case, although in a way not far removed from it.

How to explain what we eventually discover happened? I guess a way to describe it is to say that Earth/Darwinia is a galactic memory of our world that is having history rewritten. In the background which we learn imperfectly as the novel progresses is a strange sort of galactic war wherein the archives of all the life through the universe that has preceded it is being infiltrated and corrupted by something akin to a computer virus. Although this is the background behind the story, the majority of the novel is much more like a modern well written science fictional adventure/mystery story in the vein of Edgar Rice Burroughs, whose stories incidently are referenced several times within the book.

Parts of it are a little tough to swallow and flew somewhere high overhead for me, but the heart of the story was excellent and I'm glad to have finally tackled this interesting novel. The first third or so of the novel was really my favorite, and the ending wasn't quite up to the level of what had preceded it. ( )