Darwin-Kinder/Darwin-Virus

Darwin's Radio #1-2

by Greg Bear

Ein Massengrab in Georgien, in dem die Leichen mehrerer schwangerer Frauen entdeckt werden - und eine Verschwörung mit dem Ziel, diesen Fund der Öffentlichkeit vorzuenthalten ... Eine aufregende Entdeckung hoch in den die gut erhaltenen Körper einer prähistorischen Familie - mit einem Neugeborenen, das verwirrende biologische Merkmale aufweist ... Eine rätselhafte Krankheit, die nur werdende Mütter befällt und zu Fehlgeburten führt ... Drei scheinbar isolierte Fakten, die in diesem Roman zu einer wissenschaftserschütternden Wahrheit zusammenkommen. Das Darwin-Virus ist ein raffiniert angelegter Thriller, der alles in Frage stellt, was wir über Herkunft und Schicksal des Menschen zu wissen glauben. Die Evolution konfrontiert die Gesellschaft mit einem nächsten erschreckenden Schritt. Dieser grimmig-intelligente, fesselnde Roman voller Abenteuer und Ideen um Genetik und Evolution, dieser temporeiche Thriller, der um so zeitlose menschliche Fragen wie Kampf, Verlust und Erlösung kreist, zählt gewiss zu den gelungensten Wissenschaftsromanen der letzten Jahre.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

Kindle Edition

First published March 4, 2003

About the author

Greg Bear was an American writer and illustrator best known for science fiction. His work covered themes of galactic conflict (Forge of God books), parallel universes (The Way series), consciousness and cultural practices (Queen of Angels), and accelerated evolution (Blood Music, Darwin’s Radio, and Darwin’s Children). His last work was the 2021 novel The Unfinished Land. Greg Bear wrote over 50 books in total.

(For a more complete biography, see Wikipedia.)

Reviews

[Marco Henkel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting read about a possible scientific development regarding changes in our DNA and how that might affect society as a whole. The two books do have a bit of a different tone, but I think they work nicely together to complement each others strengths. At the time of writing, much of the scientific methods and speculation were pretty much state of the art, which makes for the strongest type of scifi implementation as its very close to a real what if scenario. Vivid characters, great writing and very evocative.

[Ardene · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anthropologist Mitch Rafelson discovers the mummified bodies of a Neanderthal couple and their strange newborn. Molecular biologist Kay Lang has unearthed evidence that “junk DNA” may have a role to play in evolution, but is having trouble persuading her colleagues her conclusions are valid. Virus hunter Christopher Dicken is trying to discover the source of an illness that strikes pregnant women and their fetuses. Mark Augustine, of the Center for Disease Control, is trying to manage public reaction and advise the US government of how to respond.

And then the women who have lost their babies become pregnant (often without having sex), and their children are born with motor and language skills far in advance of “normal” humans.

Is evolution a gradual process, or can its changes sometimes be abrupt? Do retroviruses have a role to play in evolution? What might happen if evolutionary changes were triggered by a virus?

These novels are well worth reading for the science they explicate. The public and governmental response may strike some as over the top, but I think they are plausible. While this is billed as a scifi thriller, it is not an action novel, but an ideas novel. I found it gripping, but if you love action, you may hate it. Since it is told from the point of view of at least three people it seems disjointed at times. Darwin’s children is even more disjointed, and explicates the societal response over time.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

just finished the first part of this double book. it was a good read. took a little to get into it at first. the first third maybe . . . wasn't bad just found that i didn't care as much about the characters as you do in a really good story. after that, it got better and i started caring more. good read and an interesting story line about the evolution of humans.

so i finished the darwin's radio part of the book a while back and really liked it. this morning i finished darwin's children. i don't know that i can say i liked it as much as the first one though i don't think you really get the story without it. darwin's radio is good hard sf but it did leave me hanging a little bit at the end. after darwin's children, also good hard sf btw, i feel i've got the whole story. worth a read in my opinion.

[Lori · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting story from a scientific/evolutionary perspective. Not particularly gripping as a narrative, and the characters are difficult to connect with, so don't read this expecting a moving story but do read it if you're interested in genetics and evolution.

The second book, Darwin's Children, is not compelling. Basically the same characters grow up and older; they face issues with integrating into society and with the government running amok with fear and power. There is no new science introduced and there nothing incredibly compelling or new about the integration or fear issues (tragic, yes; compelling, no).

I think the first book is absolutely worth reading; I would skip the second altogether unless you found the characters compelling in the first book.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am torn with this book. The premise was really good and held much promise, but the execution was lacking. The first 200 pages were really good, but the novel then slowed way down. In fact the last 50 pages were really hard to get through. All the various plot lines were not tied up well and most were left unresolved. This story could have been really good. I felt the same way about the book Quantico (written by this author). Bear seems to take really good ideas and only partially pull them off.

[Elliott Bäck · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the concept--that latent genetic coding can coordinate using viruses to initiate massive changes in the human DNA. It appeals to any distributed systems people :)

[Norm]

Tense, brainy & fun. An order of magnitude better than anything ever written by Michael Crichton.

[Laura Siegel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ever think that the very groups we put down for being inferior, might be evolutionary modifications designed for the betterment of mankind? Read this inspiring series.