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Rating: Summary: A fine, gritty Cal-biotech hard-SF future. 4.5 stars Review: CLADE is set 50 years after a catastrophic ecological collapse, the 'ecocaust', a human-caused mass-extinction right up there with the five worst in Earth's history. Civilization was saved by heavy-handed reengineering of the biosphere, but at a cost of billions of lives lost, and a tightly-regimented social setup. Budz does a nice job of worldbuilding in CLADE, and handles the ambiguous costs and benefits of new technology very well indeed.
Decent hard-SF that makes a serious attempt to extrapolate the medium-term future is never in oversupply. This is my favorite kind of SF, so I was very pleased to discover CLADE. There are, unsurprisingly, some first-novel rough spots here, particularly with the thriller-style plot, which suffers from some heavy-handed auctorial hammering-to-fit -- but, hey, you'll happily put up with a few warts for the technically-sweet payoffs in CLADE. Budz is clearly an author to watch. A sequel, CRACHE, is promised for Fall 2004. I'm looking forward to it.
Happy reading!
Pete Tillman
Read complete review: tinyurl.com/57pc3
Rating: Summary: A breath of freshly engineered air Review: Mark Budz reminds me of Wilhemina Baird (Clipjoint) and Howard Hendrix (Lightpath) in presenting serious science fiction with comic touch. The adventure Rigo and Anthea find themselves caught up in is fast and funny, but there is a cautionary tale behind it that is direct and satisfying. I'd given up on science fiction for a while (except for the exceptional work of Liz Williams), but Budz has me looking forward to his next book because he seems to have something new to steer us toward.
Rating: Summary: A warning as well as a great story Review: Planet Earth is not a self-sustaining orb anymore ever since the ecocaust occurred causing the destruction of humongous land masses all over Terra; killing untold billions. Scientists work feverishly to save theplanet as the ice caps rise, causing the oceans to deepen, drowning islands and shorelines. The ozone layer has more holes than Swiss cheese so that many inland communities are domed.Populations are confined to certain geographical regions known as ecotectural zones or Clades and bioengineered sensors prevent one community from interacting with another. Genetically engineered plants and trees pump badly needed oxygen in the air and people like Rigo is a sytech working for Neogenetic's and does his best to work within the system, until he understands that through bioengineering and the use of pherions, the powers that be control what one thinks and feels. Now Rigs works within the system to change it. Thanks to mankind's greed, stupidity and blindness, Earth has destroyed itself. Now instead of starting over, the in crowd is rebuilding the world the way it used to be only now they are in charge. There are such strict class and caste structures that artificial wars exist between people. Everyone knows they are being drugged into docility but very few care and those that do are the true heroes of the CLADE. Harriet Klausner
Rating: Summary: A warning as well as a great story Review: Planet Earth is not a self-sustaining orb anymore ever since the ecocaust occurred causing the destruction of humongous land masses all over Terra; killing untold billions. Scientists work feverishly to save theplanet as the ice caps rise, causing the oceans to deepen, drowning islands and shorelines. The ozone layer has more holes than Swiss cheese so that many inland communities are domed. Populations are confined to certain geographical regions known as ecotectural zones or Clades and bioengineered sensors prevent one community from interacting with another. Genetically engineered plants and trees pump badly needed oxygen in the air and people like Rigo is a sytech working for Neogenetic's and does his best to work within the system, until he understands that through bioengineering and the use of pherions, the powers that be control what one thinks and feels. Now Rigs works within the system to change it. Thanks to mankind's greed, stupidity and blindness, Earth has destroyed itself. Now instead of starting over, the in crowd is rebuilding the world the way it used to be only now they are in charge. There are such strict class and caste structures that artificial wars exist between people. Everyone knows they are being drugged into docility but very few care and those that do are the true heroes of the CLADE. Harriet Klausner
Rating: Summary: Good sci-fi, less than spectacular characters Review: The science fiction aspects of Clade were pretty good, and I wish more people could see the value and the danger of genetic engineering at the same time. Very interesting in that aspect. At first, I couldn't get over all the hispanic themes throughout the book. I just couldn't identify with it I guess. It began pretty slow, and many things were a bit vague. Just what did Ibrahim draw a picture of anyway? I couldn't find it! And the remote link system toward the end was a bit silly. But anyway, I still recommend it, for the forward thinking anyway, though the prose may be unremarkable.
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