Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating read
Review: Set in the future (though the book never specifies when), when medical advances has made autism a thing of the past, this is the story of Lou, a highly functioning autistic man - one of the last autists in existence. When Lou is given the choice to undergo treatment to become "normal", he must decide whether to venture into the unknown, or remain his familiar, but flawed, self.Elizabeth Moon is a mother of an autistic child herself, and you can tell she knows the condition inside and out by the way she tells her story from the viewpoint of an autist. The Speed of Dark poses the question: How much would you do to become normal and accepted? How much would you sacrifice of your true self? And then Ms. Moon sets out to answer that question in the guise of Lou Arrendale, who is at once likable yet, at times, infuriating. The book is exhausting to read - I can't imagine how exhausting it must be to live with autism! And at the end of the book, we are given some answers... but also left with one final question: What, exactly, is normal?
Rating:
Summary: Inside an alien mind
Review: Set perhaps thirty or forty years in the future, this is the story Lou Arrendale and his coworkers--a "lost generation" of autistics born late enough to benefit from vastly improved treatment for their condition, but too soon to be truly cured. They have jobs they're really good at, that use the abilities that come from their disability in really valuable ways, in a work environment fitted out with the things they need to help them function well.
All's well, or seems so, until their peaceful routine is disrupted by the announcement that an experimental new technique may be able to cure autism in these "lost generation" adults. The company they work for has bought the research, and the new manager of their division, who has already made it clear that he regards as "waste" the money spent on their special accommodations, has decided that they are all going to "volunteer" for the first human trial.
This crew is autistic, not stupid, and they do have friends and resources; the coercion doesn't work, but they still have to decide what they want to do. Will it work? Will it fail? If it fails, will they be worse off than they are now? If it works, will they lose the particular talent for pattern-recognition that currently makes them so valuable? Do they even want to be "normal"?
It's not really the near-future setting that makes this sf; it's the trip inside an interestingly alien mind, as we get nearly all of the story from Lou's viewpoint. Forget anything cutting I've said about some of Moon's other work; this one is stunningly good.
Strongly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Thoughtful, but sometimes frustrating
Review: This book is moderately interesting and mostly well thought out. It portrays the normal life of an autistic person credibly, and cautiously approaches some important dilemmas about identity.
But what it leaves out is sometimes frustrating. The ending is a bit too cryptic. The ape research that plays an important role in the story is hardly explained at all, as if it could only be understood by experts, when it seems to me that the research must have included some observations of behavioral changes in the apes that an average person could understand and which should influence the protagonist in his difficult choice.
Rating:
Summary: Moon has an autistic child and her empathy shows
Review: This book is told mostly through the eyes of Lou, an autistic man who works for a computing firm along with others with autism. Lou doesn't always understand why his boss wants him to do certain things but Lou likes to look for patterns and is happy to do it.
The plot is great; in the near future a possible cure for autism is found and Lou's boss wants him and the others to be part of the test group. Not all of the autistic workers want to be a "normal" and the boss tries to pressure them into it.
The parts of the book that really shine are the sections written in Lou's voice. Mrs. Moon has an autistic child and judging by the book has a real understanding of what takes place inside of the autistic mind. Some books purport to change the way you look at the world, but this one actually does. Rightfully won the Nebula award for best Sci-Fi novel, but don't let that scar you; there are no rayguns or aliens.
Rating:
Summary: Life lessons for each and all
Review: With *The Speed of Dark*, Elizabeth Moon steps out from her usual role of science fiction author to deliver a gimlet-eyed perspective of what it means to be 'normal,' and in the process shows the reader what normal means. Others elsewhere ably limn the story's plot; surprisingly, few note how Elizabeth Moon has used the medium (its context) to help tell her tale -- and convey her message -- via employing a style at once affectless yet lucid. This is a worthy parallel (and metaphor) to protagonist Lou Arrendale's changed mental and emotional state, and showcases an author at the top of her form. I enjoyed the insights about "pattern recognition"; I enjoyed learning about the inner world of fencing; I enjoyed the insights into the inner turmoil autistics (and those close to them) suffer; I enjoyed reading each word, as 340 pages flew by. Chapter 18, in particular, left me agog in wonder, and I immediately re-read it to savor its finer qualities. Yet don't let my dry prose deter you from a stellar reading experience. Recommended.
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