From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Aug 1 13:36:36 2000 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed2.news.luth.se!luth.se!newsfeeds.belnet.be!news.belnet.be!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsxfer3.itd.umich.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!dreaderd!not-for-mail Sender: wex@poison-ivy.media.mit.edu From: tillman@aztec.asu.edu (P.D. TILLMAN) Subject: Metareview: Evolution's Darling by Scott Westerfeld Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Approved: wex@media.mit.edu Reply-To: tillman@aztec.asu.edu Organization: none Date: 31 Jul 2000 12:10:54 -0400 Message-ID: X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.5/Emacs 20.3 Lines: 56 NNTP-Posting-Host: poison-ivy.media.mit.edu X-Trace: dreaderd 965059857 9443 18.85.23.103 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.sf.reviews:2773 Evolution's Darling by Scott Westerfeld Review Copyright 2000 Peter D. Tillman Rating: "A" -- a sexy SF thriller with integrity. Highly recommended. This is a very impressive book. It combines exceptional writing, a brisk tale of a galaxy-spanning civilization, interesting thoughts on the nature of sentience, and rough sex. With a droid named Darling. In short, a "sexy SF thriller with integrity" (Gary K. Wolfe, Locus 5-00) He liked it, Amy Halprin liked it, I liked it, and I bet you will too. Here's Amy Halprin's review, the best of several I saw online: http://secure.cyberus.ca/sfsite/05a/ed80.htm Westerfeld mentions influences from Delaney, but his closest comparable (IMO) is Iain Banks -- in particular for madcap, manipulative, sentient starships with funny names-- and I'd have to say I enjoyed Darling more than Banks' Feersum, or even Excession. It's clear that Westerfeld has read both the classics and the competition, but his voice is distinctive and remarkably assured. He writes in a "literary" style, but don't let that put you off -- this is rich, buttery prose of the very best quality. Really, he's as good as Banks, and more cheerful, too. Westerfeld is now high on my "new writers to watch" list. And I'll have to check out his two previous books. Links: http://www.janmag.com/SFF/evodarling.html -- This curious example of review-as-polemic is noteworthy, if wrongheaded: reviewer Claude Lalumiere berates Westerfeld at length for making his AIs (and humans) exclusively heterosexual, as opposed to gender-bent. First, this is simply wrong: the sentient starships (etc.) are explicitly neuter. Second, so what? A major strength of the novel is its exploration of artificial sex. To explore all posible sexual permutations would require more characters, and more space, obviating another of Darling's strengths, its brevity and tight focus. Author (needs an update!): http://members.aol.com/sdwestnyc Amazon readers' comments on Darling: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1568581491/ Reviews of Westerfeld's earlier books: Fine Prey: http://secure.cyberus.ca/sfsite/08b/fine39.htm Polymorph: http://secure.cyberus.ca/sfsite/01a/poly24.htm %T Evolution's Darling %A Scott Westerfeld %D May 2000 %I Four Walls Eight Windows %O $16/#10 tp, %P 290 pp. %G ISBN 1568581491 Read more of my reviews: http://www.silcom.com/~manatee/reviewer.html#tillman