Rating: 
Summary: Bioengineering, cosmological physics, murder. Top notch.
Review: (I read the UK paperback.) Greg Egan is currently the best hard sf writer I know of. He writes science fiction the way it SHOULD be: imaginative yet plausible, stuff that makes you think, stuff that draws on real science rather than warp-space hyper-rubbish. Egan's novels are pretty good but his short stories are really excellent. It's interesting that, although "Distress" is a novel, it opens with a series of interviews (the protagonist is a journalist), each one of which is like a mini-short story about some aspect of biotechnology. This plays to Egan's strength: idea, idea, idea. However, after a while the story settles down to the central plot, about a theoretical physicist whose life is endangered by a lunatic group with some strange ideas about cosmology. I strongly recommend this book. It deserves a 10 for ideas; I am downgrading it to a 9 because other aspects of Egan's writing could still be improved.
Rating:
Summary: Bioengineering, cosmological physics, murder. Top notch.
Review: (I read the UK paperback.) Greg Egan is currently the best hard sf writer I know of. He writes science fiction the way it SHOULD be: imaginative yet plausible, stuff that makes you think, stuff that draws on real science rather than warp-space hyper-rubbish.
Egan's novels are pretty good but his short stories are
really excellent. It's interesting that, although "Distress" is a novel, it opens
with a series of interviews (the protagonist is a
journalist), each one of which is like a mini-short story
about some aspect of biotechnology. This plays to Egan's strength: idea, idea, idea. However, after a while the story settles down to the central plot, about a theoretical physicist whose life is endangered by a lunatic group with some strange ideas about cosmology.
I strongly recommend this book. It deserves a 10 for
ideas; I am downgrading it to a 9 because other aspects of Egan's writing could still be improved.
Rating:
Summary: Mr. Egan's best work to date!
Review: Distress finds Mr. Egan writing at the top of his form. I found the novel to be chock-full of startling ideas. It seemed that every time I turned the page I confronted another moral or ethical dillemma, each more delicious than the last to ponder and consider.
Egan makes some bold predictions for the future. I was fascinated to note that he never brought up some new type of technology or sociology without fully considering and exploring its implications. For instance, Egan suggests that in the not-too-distant future, genetically engineered crops will be produced that are far more efficient and productive than those of today. That alone isn't a particularly daring or evocative prediction--people have been saying that for years. But Egan doesn't leave it there. He considers where the funding for such ventures will come in the future, and comes to the conclusion that it must come from private companies. Mr Egan extends that idea to answer the question of why private companies would spend the enormous amounts of money that such research would require. His answer is that genetically engineered organisms would become patentable. But then, of course, with the new crops under private patent, the people most needing of such crops would not have the means to obtain them. This observation is not the main point of the book. Far from it, it is more of an aside. It is another example of Egan's considerable world-building prowess.
Distress has its fair share of techno-speak which makes parts of it a bit inaccessible, especially to those unfamiliar with the basis of the current search for a Theory of Everything (TOE). This hardly detracts from the book, as a complete understanding of theoretical physics is hardly necessary to comprehend the implications of the TOE in Distress.
I found Distress to be far superior to both Permutation City and Quarantine with respect to Egan's characters. The characters in Distress are far more three-dimensional and sympathetic than those in Egan's previous two novels.
Distress is a fine example of what Hard SF should be. Bold ideas backed by real science, without forgetting that a strong plot and likable characters are what's really important.
Rating: 
Summary: Mind Blowing
Review: Distress is a very unique novel. It is a quest for the intelect, a discussion of the implications of technology on our lives, and even more importantly, discussion about the implications of actual science on life. If you want to know what the future will be like, Egan is a place to look for inspiration (although not for answers). Egan not only understands technology and science, and not only has the imagniation to forsee the future in ways which are original and thought provoking, but is able to see the social consequences of technology. Egan's story, especially in the first two thirds of the novel, is an almost entirely successful and constant challange to the mind, in an enjoyable story. Egan's prose is powerful, and you can often enjoy his phrases, and while his minor characters are awfully indistinguishable, the two major ones, Violet Mosala and Andrew Worth, are very well realised and are sympathetic. The novel contains ideas about the Theory of Everything. The theory of Everything is a unification of Einstein's theory of Relativity and Quantom Mechanics - it's a theory that can explain, at least theoretically, EVERYTHING, from the motions of planets to those of electrons. The novel doesn't speculate as much about TOE itself, but about the social and psychological and even ethical responses of it, and it does so by introducing a pseudo-scientific religion which glorifies and demonises the descoverer of the theory. This religion is interesting, but it is one of the two major failure of the novel because (slight spoiler here) it turns up that it is true in a sense. This changes the story from a scientific to a metaphysic one, and pushes us towards the realms of fantasy. The other major weakness is that Egan's plotting and story elements are relatively poor. Crisises can be resolved in manners which are hardly satsifactory to the reader, in the sense that they rarely are well established or given proper pay off. Egan attempts to write a 'thriller' especially at the end, and it doesn't work. But those are relatively minor problems. Distress is a novel of ideas, and thus it functions brilliantly. It'll make you think. So go read it.
Rating:
Summary: Mind Blowing
Review: Distress is a very unique novel. It is a quest for the intelect, a discussion of the implications of technology on our lives, and even more importantly, discussion about the implications of actual science on life. If you want to know what the future will be like, Egan is a place to look for inspiration (although not for answers). Egan not only understands technology and science, and not only has the imagniation to forsee the future in ways which are original and thought provoking, but is able to see the social consequences of technology. Egan's story, especially in the first two thirds of the novel, is an almost entirely successful and constant challange to the mind, in an enjoyable story. Egan's prose is powerful, and you can often enjoy his phrases, and while his minor characters are awfully indistinguishable, the two major ones, Violet Mosala and Andrew Worth, are very well realised and are sympathetic. The novel contains ideas about the Theory of Everything. The theory of Everything is a unification of Einstein's theory of Relativity and Quantom Mechanics - it's a theory that can explain, at least theoretically, EVERYTHING, from the motions of planets to those of electrons. The novel doesn't speculate as much about TOE itself, but about the social and psychological and even ethical responses of it, and it does so by introducing a pseudo-scientific religion which glorifies and demonises the descoverer of the theory. This religion is interesting, but it is one of the two major failure of the novel because (slight spoiler here) it turns up that it is true in a sense. This changes the story from a scientific to a metaphysic one, and pushes us towards the realms of fantasy. The other major weakness is that Egan's plotting and story elements are relatively poor. Crisises can be resolved in manners which are hardly satsifactory to the reader, in the sense that they rarely are well established or given proper pay off. Egan attempts to write a 'thriller' especially at the end, and it doesn't work. But those are relatively minor problems. Distress is a novel of ideas, and thus it functions brilliantly. It'll make you think. So go read it.
Rating:
Summary: Superb Extrapolation - Wild Plotting
Review: Distress is aptly named, and should, perhaps, be the subtitle of all his novels. This is because you WILL find your mental faculties in considerable distress while you read. Thought provoking is an understatement in this, as well as all his works. The author sometimes gets carried away in his explanations, as if he has to hammer home the point that he KNOWS what he is talking about, but in my opinion the stories would be just as good without. However, for those of us who love Hard Sci-Fi, the explanations are part of the fun! I came away liking this book quite a bit, I found the end satisfying. As for those who have existential/religious problems with the book, I too noted some of the "attitude" there, but I just didn't take it personally, and took it as one man's opinion. That allowed me to enjoy the book. One problem I do have with this and another of his books (Diaspora), is his use of asexual characters (although their use in Diaspora is more understandable), and the "V" pronouns that he uses for them. It seems to me to be an uneccessary convolution to an already complicated story. I "get" the point he is trying to make about relationships, etc, but I found it dehumanizing nonetheless. I don't think people would ever choose such a path in the forseeable future. Now that I've read it in two of his books, I think the idea is getting silly. That said, this is my favorite book by this author, and now that I have read 5 of his works, I feel my brain has grown in at least another 3 or 4 dimensions.
Rating:
Summary: Perhaps Egans best so far.
Review: Distress is aptly named, and should, perhaps, be the subtitle of all his novels. This is because you WILL find your mental faculties in considerable distress while you read. Thought provoking is an understatement in this, as well as all his works. The author sometimes gets carried away in his explanations, as if he has to hammer home the point that he KNOWS what he is talking about, but in my opinion the stories would be just as good without. However, for those of us who love Hard Sci-Fi, the explanations are part of the fun! I came away liking this book quite a bit, I found the end satisfying. As for those who have existential/religious problems with the book, I too noted some of the "attitude" there, but I just didn't take it personally, and took it as one man's opinion. That allowed me to enjoy the book. One problem I do have with this and another of his books (Diaspora), is his use of asexual characters (although their use in Diaspora is more understandable), and the "V" pronouns that he uses for them. It seems to me to be an uneccessary convolution to an already complicated story. I "get" the point he is trying to make about relationships, etc, but I found it dehumanizing nonetheless. I don't think people would ever choose such a path in the forseeable future. Now that I've read it in two of his books, I think the idea is getting silly. That said, this is my favorite book by this author, and now that I have read 5 of his works, I feel my brain has grown in at least another 3 or 4 dimensions.
Rating:
Summary: A science fiction gem.
Review: Distress is not only the best of Egan's novels that I've yet read, but one of the most inventive and accomplished sf novels I've read in many years. Andrew Worth is a science journalist in a world populated with ignorance cultists, voluntary autists, and gender migrants. Having finished the 'frankenscience' series Junk DNA, he turns down an offer to tape a show on the newly endemic Acute Clinical Anxiety Syndrome (a.k.a Distress), to compile a profile of quantum physicist Violet Mosala, currently at work on a Theory of Everything, or TOE. Worth leaves Sydney and his marriage (both in ruins), and travels to Stateless, a utopian anarchy on an island constructed with pirated biotech. Plots against both Mosala and Stateless escalate as the novel heads towards an astonishing climax. While Egan is best known for his ideas - and there are more ideas in the first chapter of this book than in many sf novels - his characterization in this book is excellent: Worth is a well-rounded character with his own opinions and motivation, Mosala is a welcome example of a fictional sane scientist, and the asex Akili Kuwale is a masterpiece of sf characterization.
Rating:
Summary: A science fiction gem.
Review: Distress is not only the best of Egan's novels that I've yet read, but one of the most inventive and accomplished sf novels I've read in many years. Andrew Worth is a science journalist in a world populated with ignorance cultists, voluntary autists, and gender migrants. Having finished the 'frankenscience' series Junk DNA, he turns down an offer to tape a show on the newly endemic Acute Clinical Anxiety Syndrome (a.k.a Distress), to compile a profile of quantum physicist Violet Mosala, currently at work on a Theory of Everything, or TOE. Worth leaves Sydney and his marriage (both in ruins), and travels to Stateless, a utopian anarchy on an island constructed with pirated biotech. Plots against both Mosala and Stateless escalate as the novel heads towards an astonishing climax. While Egan is best known for his ideas - and there are more ideas in the first chapter of this book than in many sf novels - his characterization in this book is excellent: Worth is a well-rounded character with his own opinions and motivation, Mosala is a welcome example of a fictional sane scientist, and the asex Akili Kuwale is a masterpiece of sf characterization.
Rating:
Summary: Egan unflinchingly sides with cold truth over delusion
Review: Distress isn't just a new plague of mental illness in the 21st century. In Egan's novel, it's the inevitable product of man's new knowledge of his body and the cosmos. There is the biological knowledge that enables the unpleasant and temporary resurrection of a murder victim at the novel's beginning. Genetic engineering provides the opportunity for ultimate survivalist Ned Landers to become a new kingdom of life subsisting on old tires and no oxygen. Not content with survival after nuclear and biological apocalpyse, he decides the rest of humanity has to go. More benign are the "asexs" which have opted to forgo the need for sexual intimacy and the "voluntary autists" who forsake the "delusion" of all intimacy. Sociobiology and stolen genetic engineering technology are the byproducts of biology the inhabitants of Stateless, a floating island of coral, use to preserve their anarchist society. But these are all backdrops to the main plot which revolves around physics, specifically
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