Bios was a quick, fun read. Only 207 pages and chalked full of ideas, it read like a novella, maybe even like a short story. Indeed, the main downfall of Bios is that it presented too many ideas. There was too much to chew on and digest for a book of that length. The characters were developed in a hurry in order for their motivations/actions to make sense, the way you would expect of characters in a short story. Accordingly, they came across a little robot-like, too obvious, a little too flavorless for me. And it was too bad, because a couple of the characters could have been really interesting had their lives and motivations been laid out with more care, more subtlety. The underlying philosophical and scientific ideas the author wanted to convey likewise were not developed with the care or subtlety you would expect of a Hugo Award-winner like Robert Charles Wilson. Wilson throws a ton of ideas at the reader across a broad range of subjects: the purpose of religion; the nature of consciousness; the “are-we-alone?” question; the role of personal ambition in impersonal bureaucracy; prejudice among mankind; the frailty of mankind; the use of others for one’s own gain; and love in the midst of suffering. Did I miss anything? Probably.On the other hand, though, the characters were developed sufficiently to be understood, and they were able to drive the plot in a logical fashion. Also, the various ideas the author wanted to explore were interesting, and each had its place in the overall plot. The plot itself was a little predictable, but fun enough for me to keep going.I’m willing to give Wilson some leeway, since he wrote Bios about six years prior to writing his Hugo-winning Spin. I guess I can look at Bios as part of Wilson’s development as an author. He would later write The Chronoliths in 2001, which was decent, then Blind Lake in 2003, which was pretty good, before getting to Spin in 2005, clearly his masterpiece.All in all, a good book to read while traveling, as it’s short, fun, and won’t make you think too hard. Just don’t expect too much from it.
This is a lean, economical (just over 200 pages) and yet very satisfying SF read. Many writers would have got a trilogy out of this, or at least a 500-page epic, but Wilson instead focuses tightly. We have a far future space-opera sort of environment, in which humanity has spread into space, which has led to social fragmentation and new human communities and cultural norms developing, notably among the inhabitants of the Kuiper Belt. One of the grounds of differentiation between different human strains is the extent of their post-humanness: how much they have permitted bio-engineering to modify the basic human form. This could be a whole book in itself, as could the political world hinted at in the dystopian model it is suggested has emerged on Earth. Instead, the focus is on first contact, and the human attempt to come to terms with the radically inimical life forms--or bios-of the planet Isis, a planet that seems determined to kill humanity, despite lacking any evident intelligent life. The explanation for this hostile state of affairs is perhaps a bit disappointing, but Wilson gets us there with such carefully-etched characters and finely-honed (even poetic) language that the journey is well worth making. Some readers might find the conclusion bleak, for want of a better word, but I'd be more inclined to go with "transformative." Intelligent, well-crafted SF, for the discerning fan of the genre.
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Im Prinzip handelt es sich bei Bios um eine Horrorgeschichte, die in wissenschaftlicher Nüchternheit erzählt wird. Zu Beginn ist das noch nicht ersichtlich, als es um die Erforschung eines neuen Planeten geht, bei der man auf Schwierigkeiten stösst. Doch relativ bald merkt man, dass der Mensch und seine ausgeklügelten Werkzeuge nicht mehr Herr der Lage sind.(view spoiler)[Es kommt zu den ersten Todesfällen und auf Seiten der Verantwortlichen versucht man das Problem (eine Seuche, die durch eine extrem lange Inkubationszeit das Sicherheitsprotokoll überwinden konnte) einzudämmen.Letztlich ist das natürlich zum Scheitern verurteilt und die Expedition komplett dem Untergang geweiht. (hide spoiler)]
—Sargeatm
A slightly odd effort from RCW. Doesn't go in any of the directions you might reasonably expect, or indeed, arguably, in any particular direction at all - but has a wealth of satisfying detail for all that. The speculations about future humanity were interesting; the ones about the alien ecosphere of the title had some obvious howlers from a biologist's POV, but were nonetheless enjoyable, albeit a little implausible feeling.Rich, varied, interesting, but it felt almost like the first half of an incomplete longer work. Worth it, but flawed and partial.
—Liam Proven
A book with all kinds of potential that just never seems to take off. Loved the setting of a beautiful but toxic to human life planet and the idea of a explorer trained and, so some degree, built to see if the planet can be tamed but neither she nor the other the characters ever engendered much investment in the their lives. Almost seems like the story should have been cut down into a short story or expanded into a longer novel. At 214 pages it is pretty short and it suffers from too much set up for its current length and then seems rushed to the end rather thoroughly exploring all the possible ramifications of what could be fascinating place and engaging character.
—Stephen
