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Rating: 
Summary: Nice near-future SF medical-musical(!) thriller.
Review: -----------------------------------------------------------
"They arrested me on the train to France..." Meet Valeria Thornham,
pretty music student, promising young composer -- and threat to
public safety?Valeria, brain-damaged as an infant, was successfully treated with
Cicnip-C -- 'cerebral implantation of cloned neural progenitor cells.'
Now, in 2032, a Cicnip-C patient has turned mass-murderer, the media
are in a frenzy about 'cloned-brain psychos', and the Ministry of Health
is in a panic.... Val is hustled to the posh Laurel Hill Centre for Cognitive Research,
where the odious Professor Bernet plans to use her for brain research --
with a threat of lobotomy if she doesn't cooperate. But Val is a fighter,
and with the help of sympathetic staff, she reaches an accomodation of
sorts with the Evil Genius. There are clever twists en route, a
new love won and lost, and some very nice passages on music: its
performance, composition and place in human culture. It wouldn't be
fair to reveal the ending, but it's fast and furious. Here's a clue: music
really does soothe the savage breast... This is Bradshaw's second SF outing, following her less-successful The
Wrong Reflection (2000). Bradshaw is better-known as a historical and
fantasy novelist, but I predict she'll be well received by Nancy Kress
and LE Modesitt fans. Bradshaw may be new to SF, but she's an
experienced, smooth, economical storyteller. I'll be looking for her next
book -- and I should go back and read some of her historicals.
Rating:
Summary: Nice near-future SF medical-musical(!) thriller.
Review: -----------------------------------------------------------
"They arrested me on the train to France..." Meet Valeria Thornham,
pretty music student, promising young composer -- and threat to
public safety? Valeria, brain-damaged as an infant, was successfully treated with
Cicnip-C -- 'cerebral implantation of cloned neural progenitor cells.'
Now, in 2032, a Cicnip-C patient has turned mass-murderer, the media
are in a frenzy about 'cloned-brain psychos', and the Ministry of Health
is in a panic.... Val is hustled to the posh Laurel Hill Centre for Cognitive Research,
where the odious Professor Bernet plans to use her for brain research --
with a threat of lobotomy if she doesn't cooperate. But Val is a fighter,
and with the help of sympathetic staff, she reaches an accomodation of
sorts with the Evil Genius. There are clever twists en route, a
new love won and lost, and some very nice passages on music: its
performance, composition and place in human culture. It wouldn't be
fair to reveal the ending, but it's fast and furious. Here's a clue: music
really does soothe the savage breast... This is Bradshaw's second SF outing, following her less-successful The
Wrong Reflection (2000). Bradshaw is better-known as a historical and
fantasy novelist, but I predict she'll be well received by Nancy Kress
and LE Modesitt fans. Bradshaw may be new to SF, but she's an
experienced, smooth, economical storyteller. I'll be looking for her next
book -- and I should go back and read some of her historicals.
Rating: 
Summary: Hard to put down!
Review: I was totally gripped by this well-written book. The world the author created--Britain sometime in the future--seemed very possible and the characters acted like real people. The main character (a music student) was very sympathetic and the plot was unpredictable. Why was she arrested? Why was she lying to herself about her unusual musical abilities? And who should she trust? This is the second science-fiction book of Bradshaw's I've read--I hope she keeps writing science fiction along with her historical novels!
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