BLACK MILK

Rating:
Summary: It is a crying shame...
Review: Black Milk is an outstanding book. It takes a long, hard child's-eye look at the idea of genetic engineering. Reed plays a classy trick on the reader by making his narrative first-person--in the person of a child with a slightly faulty gene set who remembers everything he witnesses exactly as it happened. Black Milk is suitable for young readers, but it is also a good read for adult SF fans.

It is a crying shame this book is so hard to find: I would love to teach it in a college literature class (I've tried and failed because it is out of print).

Rating:
Summary: Mediocre
Review: I realize that many people the world over will vehemently disagree with me, but I, personally, find Robert Reed to be an incredibly overrated author. BLACK MILK, one of his earlier novels, is no exception. Right from the beginning, with the perspective of a child in first-person, the story seems to take a turn for the worse. (I've always loathed novels from the perspective of a child.) I found his characters to be disengaging, and (fairly) lifeless. Now, the idea around which the novel is set - genetic engineering - is not new. However, the well of ideas surrounding it still hasn't been dried up, and Robert Reed has tried his hand at it. The idea, genetically tailored children, is a good one. However, the way Reed executes that idea is not. I've also read two of Reed's other books, MARROW and BEYOND THE VEIL OF STARS, neither of which impressed me; suffice to say, I won't be picking up any more books of his.

Rating:
Summary: An Awesome Book
Review: One of the best books I've read in a long time. From the back cover, I was expecting one of those cruel evil scientist tries to control the oh so wonderfully gifted team of saintly youngsters. What I found instead was a poignant and honest portrayal of childhood. The characters stay young (about ten years old) throughout the book, except a short epilogue. Their perspective of the genetic crisis does not diminish the fright of the situation, but makes it hit very close to home. This is not a story of great daring space commanders, but of civilians, of people like you and me. That is what makes it scary. Scary's not exactly the word, though. The novel is nothing like horror. It leaves you with a sick, hollow kind of dread of the inevitable. The characters are excellently drawn. Cody is a hoot (and the female athlete - yea!) but the author manages to make the reader feel sympathy for even the whiny Marshall. The world is mostly like our own, but little details about how genetics have changed it make it very believable. My only complaint is that the end came too quickly and conveniently. Overall, a fantastic book.