Rating: 
Summary: Good hard sci-fi, but read only if you enjoy fatalism
Review: A compeling read of good hard science fiction at first
but yuck, the hero and heroine died miserably, pointlessly
just as they discovered love.Then in the epilogue the author tries to save something
by having a new person arriving on the planet "hear"
their voices (of the long dead hero and heroine) in the
wind. Scientifically speaking how does that work? Mystical sound
waves? Good grief that's not science and that's not
scientific. This novels ending made me feel mad, claustrophobic
and creepy. I'm trying to drub the thoughts in this novel
out of my brain somehow and soon.
Rating: 
Summary: This is the first book I've read by Wilson...
Review: And I wasn't disappointed. Even though BIOS is relatively short, it tells a very interesting story. The characters are all well written and believable. I really like that the reader is able to glean as much information about the politics of Earth from the story rather than it all being explicitly spelled out. Without giving away too much, I also really liked that Wilson didn't just cop-out on the ending. I really enjoyed this book and will look for more from Wilson.
Rating:
Summary: This is the first book I've read by Wilson...
Review: And I wasn't disappointed. Even though BIOS is relatively short, it tells a very interesting story. The characters are all well written and believable. I really like that the reader is able to glean as much information about the politics of Earth from the story rather than it all being explicitly spelled out. Without giving away too much, I also really liked that Wilson didn't just cop-out on the ending. I really enjoyed this book and will look for more from Wilson.
Rating: 
Summary: Clinically cold
Review: As Ursual le Guin remarked in her inroduction to "Left Hand of Darkness", "anything carried to its logical extreme is despressing, even cancerogenic". Bios makes this very mistake on numerous occasions. First of all, it lacks any and all human element. I could not accept any of the characters as LIVING PEOPLE, but more as just a few more entities that would eventually succumb to the "bleedout and deliquescence" that is so gratuitously plentiful in Bios. Dialogue is indeed scant, and, unlike Ender's Game (yet another nearly inhuman book), author does little in the way of interjecting words spoken out-loud with words not spoken at all. Time shifts are rarely paid atention to, and I had trouble keeping track of who was the viewpoint character. Naturally, with the characters gone from view one begins to pay more attention to the setting. It took me only a few pages to discover the amazing floweriness of scientific terminology. The author has a seemingly insatiable desire to explain the technical details of every single device, as if to stop the reader from taking notice of the book's glaring deficiencies. Literally every word is preceeded with an explanatory adjective of the most "hard SF" sort, which in itself is, first of all, rather annoying, and, second of all, leads the reader to believe that the author though of the book as lacking in credibility. Aside from these I thought that the world of Isis, the most important force in the entire book, is far too underdeveloped. When I read about wondrous new worlds, I want to know something about them! Despite its flaws Bios manages to collect a rather unhealthy attention. I suppose one who likes what is dubbed "hard science fiction" may also like this forever cold iceberg.
Rating:
Summary: No Darwinia
Review: Bios is a step or two below the first Wilson book I read, Darwinia, which receives 5 stars plus. But Bios was definately worth the read, although not a re-read.
Rating: 
Summary: If this is good . . . . then I am confused
Review: I could not get through Darwinia. And Bios, when it was all said and done, had no purpose. The text of both books are repetitive. If you looking for human interaction, neither of these books offer much. There is only a limited amount of dialog. If you are looking for new ways of thinking about science, its not here. But both books offer enviornmental detail ad nuasea, with no real contribution to the plot. Neither book offered me any new insights. The plot and character development in Bios could have been covered in 50 pages. Both Darwinina and Bios were a waste of my time and money.
Rating: 
Summary: Out of the Silent Planet, again.
Review: I have never been disappointed by Wilson's novels. Here is another satisfying story which takes some theme from Christian literature and turns it into science fiction. In this case it is Gnosticism and C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy in which the our planet is portrayed as fallen from grace. In Darwinia, Wilson explored the nature of the miraculous. In Harvest, it was the Christian rapture turned scifi. It's a fruitful vein to explore in science fiction and others like Frank Herbert have turned religious literature inside out. Since I am not at all christian I enjoy watching Wilson play with those myths, providing a scientific basis for them. In Bios, he uses the Penrose-Hammeroff theory of consciousness -- that cellular microtubules via quantum gravitation and non-locality connect all living creatures in the universe -- to provide a rationale for the Earth's silent nature. I liked his terse development of character and scene which gives the reader's imagination license to fill in the background. Like an abstract painter, he just gives one line to suggest a whole realm of development such as the servitors extending their recycling to the humans aboard IOS or the isolation of Theophilus being a fitting punishment for his misuse of human beings. There is enough material in this novel for a book three times its length but Wilson shows admirable taste in providing a concise, tight and entertaining read.
Rating:
Summary: Well-written but peters out in the end
Review: I've read all of Mr. Wilson's books and he is getting better all of the time. The problem he faces is that his books, always excellently conceived, usually peter out by the end. As in BIOS, the characters are basically victims of a (well-conceived) planetary environment, the "bios" of the title. The characters are mostly stock and are removed from the novel one by one in such a way as to give the impression that the book has no real plot. It just ends, leaving me with the impression, "Is that all there is?" To Mr. Wilson's credit, the book is excellently written and the sci-fi elements all credible and in place. It's not a bad read, but I wanted more "novelistic" elements threaded throughout the book. I wanted a plot.
Rating:
Summary: Don't read this book!
Review: If you don't mind not knowing the history or the background of a story and just like reading about how the main characters are going to die, if you like bilogical warfare and don't really care if the characters succed in thier quest, cause they won't, or if you want to waste 8 hours of your life. Please read this book. I am a big fan of "hard" sci-fi, but this one falls short. I would call it a very small space opera that has no point.
Rating:
Summary: Gnostic Fiction
Review: Let me just begin by saying I'm a terrible reviewer. I will never achieve the necessary objectivty to analyze novels I care for. With that said, I'm not sure what the first reviewer is going on about. The characters are touchingly drawn, especially Zoe and Tam. Granted, the dialogue might be described as minimalist, but with no sacrifice in style. In my opinion, his review only underscores that the better part of aesthetics is mostly personal taste. Permit me to gush,I think this novel is brilliant. With Wilson it all comes down to endings. In a few delicate strokes, and on a few pages, he has the artist's ability to paint something geniunely beautiful and moving. What a gorgeous universe he delivers! A wonderful rendering of speculative metaphysics in fiction, to boot. I so enjoyed the motif of life 'descending'(falling?) to earth and becoming corrupted. The earth and humans cut off from LIFE are in a cosmic prison house, so very gnostic and reminiscent of Lurianic Kabbalah. I just wanted to say how grateful I am to have met Robert Charles Wilson at a Borders book signing in Farmington Michigan. It ranks as one of the top ten great conversations of my life. (And if you need anyone to read works in progress mail away!) Sincere thanks to RCW for his work. My life is better for having encountered your stories.
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