Rating: 
Summary: okay or good, sort of
Review: I really wanted to like this book more than I did...it sounded so promising and began well. However, I finished it feeling unsatisfied. The premise is fascinating, but it seemed that the book couldn't decide what it wanted to be about, really. The characters didn't seem real; the odd, interludes explaining that nothing really exists are a confusing disruption that don't really illuminate much (what the heck is a noosphere, anyway?). I did plow through to the end, and encountered some interesting and even one or two compelling moments along the way, but the sick, half-fascinated voyeuristic feeling wasn't the aftertaste I was hoping for.
Rating: 
Summary: A good book, but not a classic
Review: Darwinia has an interesting premise: Europe disappears overnight, replaced by a similar continent with completely different flora and fauna. The main character, Guilford Law, is part of an expedition to cross the Alps, or what _were_ the Alps, anyway... I liked the initial focus on Darwinia itself, and assumed that this would be a semi-hard-sf adventure novel about exploration. After all, the cover quote compares Wilson to Jules Verne and Edgar Rice Burroughs. A little less than halfway through the book, I found out that I was completely wrong. This book isn't even remotely similar to anything Verne or Burroughs ever wrote! I was disappointed at first, at least about the Verne part. (I was never much of a Burroughs fan.) However, this book did resolve itself into a good book, not the book I'd been hoping for, but certainly worth reading. My complaints about the novel are as follows:<Warning: Spoilers ahead. Stop here if you plan to read the book.> Several major things were never adequately explained. We never find out exactly where the psilife came from, where Darwinia came from, why the psilife built the city, or why the psilife would bother enslaving humankind instead of just destroying it. The (not-so) final battle never resolves--we eventually find out who won, but we don't actually see them win. Despite these shortcomings, Wilson's writing style manages to salvage the book. I'll definitely be looking into his other works.
Rating:
Summary: Alternate history that becomes something else...
Review: Before I read this book I read a lot of the reviews by other readers, and I learned a lot about the plot of this book that I would have been better off not knowing and discovering on my own within the pages. Read other reviews at your own risk... So with that said, I compare Darwinia a lot to the movie _Fight Club_... no joke. If you have seen _Fight Club_ you know it starts out with a relatively straight forward plot and ends up becoming something entirely different- even epic in scope. This is what Darwinia is all about, giving you an interesting premise and then taking you on a very intriguing ride with an ending you would not have anticipated when you first began the story. Darwinia is not perfect, but it certainly is a breath of fresh air and quite different than probably anything you have read lately. Of course, your mileage may vary.
Rating: 
Summary: DARWINIA--Sad and Disappointing
Review: I am always drawn to books, such as DARWINIA, that win important and coveted awards. DARWINIA won the Philip K. Dick Award for best novel the year it was published (1998). However, the short list of nominations must have been pitiful for this book to win the award. What makes this a disappointing read? First, nothing is resolved (except perhaps that the villians don't win). We never learn anything of importance about the section of Europe that is replaced with an alien landscape. Who built the ruins? Does any one live there? Worst is that the reader is never given a full understanding of how or why the heros were chosen and what gift made it possible for them to live an extended life to be ready for the final big battle. And what a dissapointment is that battle! Why is it being fought? Who are the bad guys and what do they want? Too much is left unresolved. Wilson does a credible job of fleshing out his characters and making them believable and loveable. He manages to make the culture that develops on the fringe of the alien landscape interesting and credible. Other than that, the book was a total waste of my time. Only obsessive/complusive behavior forced me to the end.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Concepts, Bad Fiction
Review: Let it first be said that Wilson's novel does contain a number of interesting concepts (that is why I gave this book two stars instead of one), especially ones pertaining to evolution, as the title obviously suggests. However, overall this book is a good example of stagnant fiction. The plot goes nowhere until probably page 200 in 360 page book. The author seems to be heavily influenced by the "Highlander." Moreover, the prose of this book is simply awkward, not to mention a number of anachronisms (the novel is primarily set in the 1910-1920s).It is more like a second rate Western than a science-fiction novel. In fact, the "science-fiction" part can be summarized in probably two pages. It is hard not to notice the heavy influence of Stephen King (and I mean the worst parts of Stephen King). Frankly, I am surprised that TOR would publish this nonsense. Overall, a disappointing read--not worth the time or money.
Rating: 
Summary: Reality has been shredded.
Review: This book was one of the few that resonated - and continues to do so - with me on a personal level. Guilford Law is the classic tragic hero, but with no definable flaw other than his sheer /humanity/ (which is later even called into question); caught up in events that he can neither control nor understand. Law's experiences - and those of his comrades - left me more than a little unsteady at the finish. I couldn't wait to get to the end and finally capture the elusive resolution, but at the same time, I mourned the end of the book. Though I fully intend to re-read it, the uncertainty -- dare I call it suspense? -- has a magical quality that I doubt can be recaptured. This isn't, however, a book that I would recommend to everyone. A fanatic of a single, specific genre, or even just two or three, would be unendingly irritated by the shifting theme. The novel is one of those rare few that spans across many genres, including historical fiction, surrealistic fiction, fantasy, metaphysical fiction, and hard science, in approximately that order. Some elements of horror might be present, but these are usually placed for dramatic effect or emotional impact. Wilson was never unnecessarily gruesome, but he didn't pull any punches either. The reader must keep an open mind. Try not to begin the book with any preconcieved notions - including any that you pick up from this review. If one begins the book expecting any specific feel, tone, mood or message, they will be either delighted or bitterly disappointed when the novel completely fails to conform. There will be people (there always are) who won't be surprised in the least, and they have my deepest sympathies. I found the journey, with all of its twists and meanderings into unexpected genres, a heady and moving experience.
Rating:
Summary: Unexpected to be sure
Review: As a biology teacher, titles like this grab my attention. This work unviels a fascinating landscape of improbable life in a world that should not be. Central to the fine adventure tale laid out is the descriptions that bring the unknown continent to life in the reader's mind. The idea is a great one and the execution flawless. And the upshot of the whole thing took me so much by surprise that I must recomend it.
Rating:
Summary: Dali in writting
Review: A Dali-like style with melting away views desapearing into obsqure horizons. A very live book, so easy to follow and so easy to absorb the environement, however strange it may feal. In times it reminded me P.K Dick's "The Opposite World" for reasons that are not very clear. An overwhealming ending adds alot to the somewhat slower start, creating an amusing cresendo. In stages Wilson's writting sounded like Gibson describing the oversaturation of a data-cascading pathway. This is a book with the right "metron" in everything. Short, precise, to the point, it never drifts away of the main plot, but still lets the characters complete personalities to emerge. Its compact size and fast storytelling makes it an excelent, and highly recomended treat for the weakend and a book that you will read again, and again, and again... ...
Rating:
Summary: Utterly enthralling
Review: I checked Darwinia out from the library once. I read it three times before I returned it. Two weeks later, I checked it out again. Considering how finicky I am about my choice of books, I think this says a lot about this novel. Well written, fascinating, and enthralling (as I said in the title). However, I gave it four stars because there were some parts that I found hard to understand, speaking of gods and monsters and Hives, which just seemed to complicate the whole thing. In spite of my rating, I still consider Darwinia one of the best books I've ever read, for the reasons listed above and because it's so plausible: the 1914 setting is accurate as far as I know, and London being a settlement on an unknown wilderness instead of the industrialized city on a largely tamed England that we knew in 1914 is fascinating to contemplate. I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Readable but strange and unsatisfying
Review: This is a very strange book. It begins in a world that has changed from ours: Europe and vicinity has changed from what we know to a strange jungle populated by plants and beasts never seen before on Earth. We join an expedition to explore this jungle, then suddenly are fast-forwarded billions of years into the future, where our distant descendants have created an archive of their history that is being corrupted by dark subsentients for their own survival. It becomes apparent that we're not on the real earth but are on the one in the archive that has been corrupted and that recovery is dependent on how the characters from this expedition behave. One first refuses to help, then finally has no choice about it. It's a strange, mindbending sort of story with a not altogether satisfactory conclusion.
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