I've read all of Mr. Wilson's books and he is getting better all of the time. The problem he faces is that his books, always excellently conceived, usually peter out by the end. As in BIOS, the characters are basically victims of a (well-conceived) planetary environment, the "bios" of the title. The characters are mostly stock and are removed from the novel one by one in such a way as to give the impression that the book has no real plot. It just ends, leaving me with the impression, "Is that all there is?" To Mr. Wilson's credit, the book is excellently written and the sci-fi elements all credible and in place. It's not a bad read, but I wanted more "novelistic" elements threaded throughout the book. I wanted a plot.

Robert Charles Wilson's most recent novel, BIOS, is a compelling, well-written book that is ultimately unsatisfying. As other reviewers have noted, the book concerns Earth's efforts to understand and ultimately conquer the planet Isis, a world teeming with microbes, viruses, and prions that make Ebola and AIDS look incredibly tame. These efforts parallel ones on an Earth that has itself been decimated by plagues. Wilson creates a tense narrative by raising many questions--why is Isis so toxic? who is Zoe Fisher? will her special talents help her discover the secret of Isis? what is the secret of Zoe's past?--and only slowly giving away the answers. Just as in Wilson's recent DARWINIA, the secret of Isis, once revealed, turns out to be of a different order than the first half or so of the novel leads to the reader to expect. The last-minute twist is a common tactic for Wilson, and I believe that it has failed in every instance in which he has used it (and it works better in DARWINIA than it does here). On the other hand, his MYSTERIUM is probably the only novel that Wilson draws to a satisfactory close. I recommend buying the book (in paperback), but be prepared to be disappointed in the end.

Toronto author Robert Charles Wilson has built up a bit of a reputation for being the most unknown good SF author out there. After a hiatus in the mid 90's he came back with the interesting "Darwinia".

His next book was Bios. This is a much more traditional adventure novel and doesn't really include any of the hard science elements that are to be found in Darwinia. Yet it also isn't quite as character driven as his earlier books (e.g. Mysterium and Gypsies). The fact that it has 28 chapters in 200 pages, means that this is really little more than an extended novella.

All in all this is a minor book for Wison, but it is still an excellent SF novel (if short!)

DARWINIA, is a parallel worlds novel with a twist. At the turn of the century, industrialized Europe is replaced with an alternate Europe that has not been civilized or inhabited. Guilford Law, who was 14 at the time of the transformation, enlists in an expedition to explore the continent eight years later. During the exploration, his party is attacked and all but two killed. Law discovers that superhuman godlike being are literally waging a war for the control of the universe and that he is an important cog in whether the earth will fall into the hands of the enemy.

I have been a fan of Wilson's since I came across MEMORY WIRE over ten years ago. I have eargely awaited every novel he has written since. He has not written a bad book. Some are better than others. DARWINIA, sad to say is his weakest yet.

What has alway set Wilson apart is his ability to write characters that we cared about. Plot was secondary. In the first half of DARWINIA, we are introduced to realistic, characters in beleveable situations. Wilson usually asks hard questions about the meaning of existence, what the moral and ethical ramifications to the readers are of his cararcters actions, and how flawed characters can reach transcendence. Like the great writers he often punctuates these questions with the emotional cost to his character. Instead of the question being a lecture we get a surprising emotional answer, often a very unexpected one

In the first half of the book, Wilson does his normal, exceptional job of dilineating his characters. Unfortunately, the second half of the book seems much more plot driven. It is obvious that some charcters are introduced only to force the main character into some course of action. This give the second half of the book a 'B' movie or 40's pulp S.F. magazine feel that I am not used to with this author.

The main weakness of this book is that it is too short. We do not know enough about the saviors or the villains. Since they play such a critical role in the story, the novel suffers.

Wilson does ask some interesting questions and does have some emotional answers. He gives a feel for what it must be like for god to have become man and to die to save others. Unfortunately he does not do a good job of explaining what it means to be human.

For newcomers to Wilson read it and hunt up more of his work though please be advised that all of what he has written is more like the first half of the book. For those of us who have read his works, I still recommend it. As I said before, Wilson has not written a bad book, This one is full of quirky ideas that will make you think.

Darwinia is a flawed masterpiece. In March 1912, half the world disappears. Great Britain and Europe and all the people who live there vanish into nothingness and are replaced by a land that is geographically similar to the old land but which is covered in forests of plants and trees unknown to science. The forests are inhabited by birds, animals and insects the like of which have never been seen before on the Earth.

Expeditions are mounted to explore and exploit the new lands and speculation as to the cause of the catastrophe run wild. The story follows one such expedition deep into the heart of what was once Europe. One by one the members of the expedition die. Only two survive to return to the outside world and these two, for their own reasons, remain silent about what they found.

Up to this point the book held me enthralled. An exciting adventure, an eerie mystery, what more could anyone want? But then there was a brief interlude in the middle of the book that completely destroyed the spell. The interlude explained all the mysteries - but only to the reader, not to the characters in the book. They don't discover any of these secrets until much later on. Such a massive spoiler in the middle of the story completely destroyed its momentum. I didn't like possessing information that was unknown to the characters and while the book did eventually pick up again, there was a long dry patch where it simply stopped working.

It's an ingenious book with a carefully worked out plot and the reasons for the strange thing that has happened to the Earth are beautifully original. The sheer detail of the new lands and their flora and fauna are exquisitely presented and the hardships of travelling through them are excellently dramatised. All this is high praise indeed and the book deserves it. But the structure is very badly flawed - I really did hate that massive spoiler in the middle.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first half of this book. I won't rehash the basic plot - you can read the synopsis above and many of the other reviews for that. I was completely enthralled by the mystery of what had happened to the old Europe. I had absolutely no idea what to expect. And then, the first of several "interludes" jolted me from the alternate 1920 to the millions-of-years-from-now far future. It was a bit disorienting and didn't really seem to connect to the story thus far except for a few hints that didn't make sense until they were explained much later on.

Don't get me wrong, I finished the book and did enjoy it. Guilford Law is a very likeable character and if the plot requires a more-than-average amount of suspension of disbelief, it is still worth reading. But the story doesn't flow smoothly, the transitions are awkward, and the reality of what is happening, when revealed, is a bit cheesy. Take it out of the library, but I wouldn't spend the money. I'd give it 3 1/2 stars if I could.

This is a easy entrance book for graduated students. Chemical Engineers will be safe with this.