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Darwin's Children

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available
Greg Bear’s Nebula Award–winning novel, Darwin’s Radio, painted a chilling portrait of humankind on the threshold of a radical leap in evolution—one that would alter our species forever. Now Bear continues his provocative tale of the human race confronted by an uncertain future, where “survival of the fittest” takes on astonishing and controversial new dimensions.
Eleven years have passed since SHEVA, an ancient retrovirus, was discovered in human DNA—a retrovirus that caused mutations in the human genome and heralded the arrival of a new wave of genetically enhanced humans. Now these changed children have reached adolescence . . . and face a world that is outraged about their very existence. For these special youths, possessed of remarkable, advanced traits that mark a major turning point in human development, are also ticking time bombs harboring hosts of viruses that could exterminate the “old” human race.
Fear and hatred of the virus children have made them a persecuted underclass, quarantined by the government in special “schools,” targeted by federally sanctioned bounty hunters, and demonized by hysterical segments of the population. But pockets of resistance have sprung up among those opposed to treating the children like dangerous diseases—and who fear the worst if the government’s draconian measures are carried to their extreme.
Scientists Kaye Lang and Mitch Rafelson are part of this small but determined minority. Once at the forefront of the discovery and study of the SHEVA outbreak, they now live as virtual exiles in the Virginia suburbs with their daughter, Stella—a bright, inquisitive virus child who is quickly maturing, straining to break free of the protective world her parents have built around her, and eager to seek out others of her kind.
But for all their precautions, Kaye, Mitch, and Stella have not slipped below the government’s radar. The agencies fanatically devoted to segregating and controlling the new-breed children monitor their every move—watching and waiting for the opportunity to strike the next blow in their escalating war to preserve “humankind” at any cost.
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    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from March 3, 2003
      In this masterful sequel to his Nebula Award–winning Darwin's Radio, Bear takes us into a near future forever changed by the birth of millions of genetically enhanced babies to mothers infected with the SHEVA virus. These children may represent the next great evolutionary leap, but some fear their appearance rings a death knell for traditional humanity. Geneticist Kaye Lang, archeologist Mitch Rafelson and their daughter, Stella Nova, have been hiding from an increasingly repressive U.S. government that wants to put the so-called "virus children" in what are essentially concentration camps. Eventually, the family is captured, and when Mitch resists he's arrested on a trumped-up charge of assaulting a federal officer. In later years, Kaye returns to genetics and Mitch, once he's out of jail, to archeology, but neither gives up hope of finding and freeing their daughter. Meanwhile, Stella, imprisoned but surrounded by her own kind, begins to explore the full significance of what it means to be post-human. Though cast in a thriller mode, like much of Bear's recent work, this novel may contain too much complex discussion of evolutionary genetics to appeal to Michael Crichton or Robin Cook fans. Nonetheless, Bear's sure sense of character, his fluid prose style and the fascinating culture his "Shevite" children begin to develop all make for serious SF of the highest order. (Apr. 1)Forecast:An eight-city author tour, plus national print advertising in both mainstream and SF/fantasy publications, should launch this into bestseller territory. Look for further award nominations for Bear, as well as the forthcoming Warner Bros. movie based on his novel
      The Forge of God.

    • Library Journal

      December 1, 2002
      The Nebula Award-wining Darwin's Radio saw the appearance of new, improved human beings called Homo sapiens novus. Now lots of Homo sapiens are out to get them.

      Copyright 2002 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • School Library Journal

      August 1, 2003
      Adult/High School-In Darwin's Radio (Ballantine, 1999), a long-dormant retrovirus triggered an evolutionary leap. One of the resultant "virus children" was Stella Nova, the daughter of Mitch, an anthropologist, and Kaye, a molecular biologist. As this sequel begins 12 years later, the three are hiding out to escape an increasingly powerful "emergency" government agency set up to "protect" the public from the strange new children. With the complicity of politicians and the news media, EMAC has incited and exploited public fear, violating traditional American rights and isolating the youngsters in inhumane "schools." Stella is caught and placed in one of these institutions while her parents and several other characters studying the new evolutionary development endure their own privations in a country gone terribly wrong. As the adults struggle to carry on their work, Stella and the other virus children grow to maturity, covertly exploring their talents and inventing a new culture that transcends human limitations in several significant ways. Grounded in the cutting-edge science of genetics, this compelling story also explores the seemingly paradoxical question of spirituality. Bear's chilling portrait of America under the heel of EMAC is a cautionary tale worthy of George Orwell or Sinclair Lewis, yet his protagonists shine with humanity, courage, and, in the end, the hope that different species can share the world in peace. This outstanding novel can be read independently, but would best be enjoyed by those who read the first book.-Christine C. Menefee, Fairfax County Public Library, VA

      Copyright 2003 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Booklist

      February 15, 2003
      Genetics and evolution are fascinating subjects for speculation, especially in Bear's capable hands. A decade ago (see " Darwin's Radio," 1999), human evolution took a leap when children genetically different from the rest of humanity were born around the world, thanks to the actions of retrovirus fragments in the human genome. " Darwin's Children" begins as the virus children are sent away to schools, often situated in old prisons, to keep them segregated from the rest of the world, which largely fears them. A new disease has emerged among the children, and it takes a great toll, in part because there simply isn't enough medicine to combat it, thanks to corruption in the bureaucracy. Stella Nova, the daughter of two eminent scientists who were at the forefront of predicting and understanding the malady, is one of its survivors. The rest of the book follows Stella's and the other remaining new children's struggle to understand their place in a world that wants to suppress them. Bear handles the interaction between science and plot with practiced aplomb.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)

    • Library Journal

      Starred review from February 15, 2003
      Ten years after the birth of the first generation of biologically mutated humans known as the SHEVA children (named for the virus connected with their conception), many "old-style" humans wage a campaign of covert genocide in a desperate attempt to prevent the "new humans" from achieving adulthood. Following the story of SHEVA-born Stella Nova and her parents, Kaye and Mitch Rafelson, as they struggle to protect their child and fight for the rights of the new children, Bear's sequel to Darwin's Radio combines the hard science of evolution with tough moral issues about the survival of species. Believable characters and riveting storytelling make this a priority purchase for sf collections. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 12/02.]

      Copyright 2003 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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Languages

  • English

Levels

  • ATOS Level:5.4
  • Interest Level:9-12(UG)
  • Text Difficulty:4

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