Darwin's Paradox

The Icaria Trilogy #3

by Nina Munteanu

A devastating disease. A world on the brink of violent change. And one woman who can save it or destroy it all. Julie Crane must confront the will of the ambitious virus lurking inside her to fulfill her final destiny as Darwin's Paradox, the key to the evolution of an entire civilization. Darwin's Paradox is a novel about a woman's fierce love and her courageous journey toward forgiveness, trust, and letting go to the tide of her heart.

Genres: Science Fiction

294 pages, Paperback

First published July 4, 2007

About the author

Nina Munteanu is a Canadian ecologist and SF, fantasy and eco-fiction writer. She has published eight novels and a dozen award-winning short stories translated into several languages. Her novels are mostly eco-fiction and thrillers that explore humanity's tense co-evolution with technology and Nature.

Nina is also editor of several publishing houses and ezines. She teaches writing at the University of Toronto and George Brown College. Her three textbooks "The Fiction Writer", "The Journal Writer" and "The Ecology of Story" are used in colleges, universities, and writing institutions throughout the world. Her latest non-fiction book "Water Is..." explores the many identities of water (www.TheMeaningOfWater.com). Find more on Nina and her work at www.ninamunteanu.ca.

The books that appear on my bookshelf are all books I recommend. You will not find a book on my shelf or a book review from me that is not a recommended book; if I don't like it, it won't be here.

Reviews

[Tina Hunter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was hard to put down, a sure sign that something interesting happened on every page.The first chapter or two, with all it's back-story, is a little on the slow side but trust me when I say, "Keep Reading!"This story takes you into scientific theory, hard science facts, and political intrigue while still telling a story about characters that you can care about.This is half hard Science Fiction, half personal struggle (kind of like V for Vendetta), and I would say it's definitely worth the read. Cheers.

[Brad · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to love Nina Munteanu's novel, Darwin's Paradox. Any Canadian sci-fi writer is a okay by me, and Munteanu's novel had much promise. Unfortunately, because of two frustrating choices Munteanu made, that promise was never quite fulfilled.

Before I get to the problems with Darwin's Paradox, though, I want to praise Munteanu's plot. I am not a plot guy. In my own writing, plot always takes a backseat to character, so when I read the same thing is my focus; yet, there is something intoxicating about Munteanu's plot in Darwin's Paradox. There is just a hint of Michael Crichton going on in there, and the cinematic aspects of her writing make the middle 160 pages come alive (so much so that I would love to take a crack at adapting her book for the screen). The action is taut, the skills of Munteanu's characters make sense, and there is a very nice balance of tension and action.

It is also refreshing to have not one, but four competent women playing important roles in the story (even if some of their names are just a little too overdetermined).

But then there are the problems. The first problem is page one to page sixty. They needed to be cut. I can see why Munteanu kept them, but the arguments for are too heavily outweighed by the arguments against. Everything of importance that she covers in that first 60 pages is reiterated later in the book, and she could have easily integrated Aard -- a character of questionable importance -- into flashbacks or expanded discussions between characters. It made the novel very difficult to get into.

The second problem is Angel, the daughter of Julie (the most important veemeld/criminal/daughter of a chaos theoretician in the book) and Daniel (street punk/revolutionary/love interest). I never quite bought Angel's inner struggle. Angel is bitter at her mother for Julie's role in the plague level deaths of Icaria's citizens; she's mad at her mother for Julie's murder of some Pols (and shooting one in the testicles); she's mad at her mother for Julie's seeming murder of Aard; then Angel unjustly and unbelievably thinks her Mom is plain evil, and when Angel's own ears clarify who is really the manipulative and nasty force in Icaria, she hangs on to her anger.

Now I get that Angel's a twelve year old girl, but this is a twelve year old girl who has been home schooled and indoctrinated by revolutionaries, far away from the uber-cities of Icaria. I simply can't buy that her morality would include venerating police, nor that she would be anything but on the side of her mother. This might not have been so frustrating if Angel was a peripheral, supporting character, but she was too important for her unbelievable ethics to not interfere with the flow of the story.

Regardless of the problems, Munteanu's effort is solid and worth a read by anyone who loves sci-fi, particularly of an ecological bent. Darwin's Paradox may not be a literary classic, but with the right screenwriter and director, it could be a big screen one.

[Claudiu Murgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Darwin's Paradox is a wonderfully crafted story in which AI takes over the day-to-day life. The characters are well defined, credible and the details of their actions help the reader emphatically attach to them. A must read.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was just what I was craving -- a bit of fluffy sci-fi. It was refreshing to read a bio-sci-fi novel written by a trained ecologist, however, in some cases I was just appalled by her poor description of (grasp of?) evolutionary concepts, especially natural selection. The overuse of the "paradox" trope in its most colloquial sense, and other buzzword-y scientific ideas, was also kind of annoying. Then there is the rape apologism and feminism fail which are at such odds with the fact that she actually wrote two pretty great female characters in the main roles, and a clever female villain. The book would have been better (and garnered an extra star) had it been cut short by fifty pages. The last couple chapters were dull, maudlin, and did little to advance the ideas of the story. A single epilogue-type chapter would have been more than sufficient to wrap things up.

[Ted Hopkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

A surprisingly good read. Solid SF with an intriguing plot and nicely developed characters. Highly believable in its context. I like the contrast between fleeing technology, embracing technology, and actively resisting technology. Munteanu develops good human involvement to all three responses to technology and builds to a reasonable evolutionary conclusion.

[J.P. McLean · Rating 5 out of 5]

What do you get when a scientific mind collides with a wild imagination and great prose? A fast-paced thrill ride through a futuristic landscape that’s as eerily familiar as it is alarming. Munteanu’s passion for story telling with a thoughtful twist is evident throughtout Darwin’s Paradox. It will leave you thinking, and that’s a good thing.

[Brian Gaston · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strong science fiction. The characters are good and the story strong. A 3+.

[Kent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kinda like comfort food - satisfying but probably not healthy. I didn't derive any moral or intellectual lessons from this novel. The story ends and then it ends and then it ends. There is a problem with story-telling here. The author provides some inticing characters but they experience inprobable situations and come to questionable conclusions. It maintained my interest but that was propably because I was reading it while stair-stepping for thirty minutes every weekday and needed the diversion to avoid physical collapse. I will probably look for this author in the future and hope for development beyond what I read here.

[Evan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Only got a few chapters in, just didn't appeal to me. Felt a bit too disjointed, and the bits of backstory of the relationship between Julie and her husband kept making me think this was the second book in a series, and suspended my suspension of disbelief.

Granted cyberpunk-like dystopian is not my preferred sub-genre.

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slow to begin, and slow to end, with tons of plot holes, poorly-described action, underdeveloped characters, and little explanation aside from some fancy science words tossed in. I give it two stars for the interesting concept but poor realization.

[Nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Darwin's Paradox is "a thrill ride that makes you think and tugs the heart." ---Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author of Rollback