Originally posted at: http://jawasreadtoo.wordpress.com/201...Guilford Law was born two years shy of the turn of the century. He lives vicariously through the sciences and world-changing theories he reads about in magazines, imagining himself as part of a much larger and quantifiable 20th Century universe. Even when a strange light blasts the sky on his fourteenth birthday, Guilford isn’t charmed by the miraculous explanations made by others. Instead, he’s become so fascinated about unravelling the secrets of the mysterious Darwinia—the new, alien landscape that inexplicably replaced Europe and the United Kingdom the night the sky lit up—that he later enlists in an expedition, led by a man named Finch, as a photographer, determined to explore the new continent that everyone says has changed the landscape of natural evolution. Of course, he doesn’t travel alone; the crew aren’t the only ones keeping him company, but Guilford isn’t yet ready to understand the strange apparition following him in his dreams dressed in a tattered army uniform and looking very much like himself.I hadn’t even finished reading this book before I decided more Robert Charles Wilson was definitely in order. Bear in mind, I finished Darwinia with a cold, and that always manages to make my interpretation a bit more interesting, especially if the book is already a little weird to begin with. Darwinia is all kinds of weird. There are ghost-like parallel entities, philosophical musings, foreign creatures, and an intergalactic war that threatens the existence of humanity as Guilford knows it. It’s a little bit of travel and exploration narrative combined with Science Fiction, alternate history, and wrapped up with the effects of a suspense thriller.Granted, there were a lot of odd things happening in this novel, not the least of which was the explanation behind Darwinia’s existence (I had a brief flashback to “Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull”), but I did enjoy it. At first I thought perhaps Darwinia and the ghost-like soldier following Guilford around were some strange re-imagining of post-war Europe, ravaged by the after effects of a world suffering loss on a major scale, even without World War I—almost as if the world is in constant struggle to find an equilibrium in which parallel events dole out some predetermined Fate, regardless of how or why it happens. In our early 20th Century, Guilford went to war and died. In his, there was no war to kill him, but thousands are still lost.With so many people suddenly wiped from the European continent and the British Isles early in the century, I suppose some loose connection to World War I is one interpretation, but surely doesn’t have much firm grounding—the dates are all wrong, for one—but I’d like to think there’s something to the fiction lending itself to that kind of metaphorical contemplation. Of course, with Guilford being called back to Darwinia (i.e. New Europe) in 1945 to fight the good universal fight as Japan wars with other countries in the background, a connection to World War II is undeniable. Some things appear inevitable no matter how we arrive at certain futures. Suffice to say, with Darwinia appearing in 1912, predating what would have been the start of World War I in 1914, I still believe in some way that the alien continent has heavy metaphorical subtext that speaks largely for both the predictability of mankind (wars are inevitable) and the deeper, more philosophical discussion of life and mortality (what makes life so wonderful is the bittersweet reality that we do die; life is precious because of its brevity).In any event, aside from the first one, the interludes between chapters were useful, but gave readers information the characters don’t get until much, much later. There were also strange, unexplained terms and concepts included I often felt a textbook would serve as better explanation than a dictionary. I think readers, if they aren’t already familiar with these terms, needn’t worry. The confusion was, I think, partially intentional (I don’t think we’re supposed to know what a noosophere is right away) and did indeed throw me off course from expecting an adventurous and heroic travel narrative. This is far more than an adventurous travel narrative. But to be honest: I wouldn’t have minded one of those.There was something nostalgic and measured about the first half of the book (it was also anxiously exciting). Guilford and his fellow team members sail down what was once the Rhine, taking photographs, plant samples, observing wildlife, and generally emulating early explorers doing everything the old fashioned way (Darwinia is woefully bereft of the modern conveniences of unaffected countries like America or Canada which have radio and telegram services). Once the bad stuff starts happening (and you will know it once you get there), the plot picks up rather awkwardly, but takes a turn away from earlier considerations. Instead of focusing on Guilford’s curious obsession with Darwinia as he travails the wilderness and how that might affect his personal life, the plot moves to much different aspirations to explain the continent’s existence. From then on out, it isn’t about Guilford so much as the private and abstract war he’s suddenly become a part of. The mystery, and how the story was structured to support it, did not work entirely well for me, but it was enjoyable.If there was anything that bothered me about the writing it was this: I feel that Wilson’s narrative distances itself from his secondary characters, creating a large disparity between the protagonist and everyone else. For instance, Guilford’s wife appears only in relation to him and how her actions affect him (having his child, adultery, leaving him alone the country, etc…). There is very little we find out about her, and I don’t think we were meant to, but by the end of the book (with the lapse in time between sections taking its toll), I even found it difficult to cheer poor Guilford forward.The concepts in Darwinia were wonderfully strange, though. I think this is a book that’s built around its ideas and philosophies, rather than the characters (who really don’t exhibit much personal growth and are more interesting because of what is happening to them). Overall though, I am pleased with my first Robert Charles Wilson book, especially since it’s one I haven’t seen with as much recommendation as Spin or Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd Century America. Although, I do plan to read one of those next.
Vi este livro pela primeira vez num grupo de trocas, e o título atraiu-me. Li a sinopse e fiquei ainda com mais vontade de saber quão diferente era o século XX na visão de Robert Charles Wilson. Passaram-se alguns meses, mas «Darwinia» chegou finalmente à minha caixa de correio.Li-o em dois tomos. A premissa foi sempre interessante, o rumo da história bem desenhado, as personagens bem construídas e as descrições espectaculares.«Darwinia» foi uma das minhas primeiras experiências com Sci-Fi, que não é, de maneira alguma, a minha temática favorita. Nunca gostei nada de coisas que tivessem a ver aliens e naves espaciais e vidas noutras galáxias. Peguei neste livro porque, honestamente, não me parecia ter nada que ver com isso. Ingenuidade da minha parte, que não soube reconhecer o estilo logo de início. Mas embora tenha descoberto no decorrer do livro que, afinal, tinha essa pitada de Wells e Edgar Rice Buroughs, gostei bastante de «Darwinia».A base de ciência por detrás de toda a história fascinou-me e deixou-me a querer saber mais sobre estas teorias algo loucas em relação a outras galáxias e universos paralelos. Contudo, as referências científicas são oferecidas ao leitor sem qualquer explicação, nem sequer uma nota de tradutor. Ora, sem conhecimentos profundos de ciência, por vezes torna-se um pouco complicado entender onde o autor quer chegar. Mas não é nada que não se entenda pelo contexto.Quanto ao final: numa palavra, suave. Não consegui evitar ficar um bocadinho desiludida.All in all, gostei muito de «Darwinia». Prendeu-me do início ao fim, com uma escrita interessante e histórias intercaladas que, no final, acabaram todas por culminar no evento que define o mundo - e o livro.Parece cliché, mas o autor deixou-me a pensar nos grandes mistérios da vida e da vivência (porque são, de facto, diferentes), com frases simples, mas que encerravam muitos significados.Mais ou menos como este livro.
What do You think about Darwinia (1999)?
This book is a kinetic tumble of genres: alternate history, science fiction, geographical survey, action thriller, horror, mythology. The story is idea-driven much more than character-driven; it's the detached logic of situations that makes many sections heartwrenching. The complete strangeness of Darwinia juxtaposes the absence of Europe, direct ancestor of my literary development. Indeed, in this scenario, I would not have been born at all, as my paternal grandfather would have disappeared in 1912 at age ten. There's no rest for the reader, no place of comfort, as there is none for most of the characters. I'm glad I read (and finished) this book. It made me think; it took familiar world-pieces, tossed a number of them out, and placed the rest in very unfamiliar combinations. It charged my imagination; parts of it creeped me out. Not a comfortable read, but a worthwhile one.
—Peregrine
I wanted to give this three and a half stars, possibly four. The book starts out with Europe and another section of the world being transformed from its Earth appearance into that of another world. Strange creatures and plants, an entire biosphere is there. That was enough to get me to buy this book from the Orem library sale. I enjoy tales of exploration and adventure. And adventure it has. Weird plants and circumstances, though not nearly enough beasts and encounters as I would like. Instead, the book turns to humans and how they are perceiving this. And then it gets weird and takes a downward turn we start having people possessed by older gods. Oh great, another Lovecraftian thing, I think. Then it switches again into the realm of sci if, gigantic computers that preserve everything in real size, including galaxies. Computer bug viruses evolve to change the program and since the program is required to preserve life, it cannot kill the virus. It recruits humans to do so and the virus is what has changed Earth. So the battle for earth begins. I liked it, but not as much as a simpler "let's go explore the new continent" book I think. The premise was cool, I just go not like the elder gods stuff that much.
—Mark Smiley
This book provides a look at a titanic battle between inter-galactic forces of preservation and entropy. But, as is his custom, the author relates the tale of that struggle in very human terms and with very human characters. The main character, Guilford Law is the unwitting device of the forces of preservation, but must undergo a host of trials and tribulations to that end. Others are similarly intertwined; some with more awareness than others. Those that comprise the forces of chaos are sometimes no less ignorant of their destiny.All this is related in the context of an amazing physical transformation of much of Europe into a jungle of unearthly and primitive plants and animals. The dilemma of dealing with this "new" world causes it's own set of world crises, even while bypassing WWI. Gradually, the exploration of the continent and the unfolding of awareness of being pawns in a metaphysical contest sharpens the conflict and creates tragic casualties among those humans not so engaged. But overall, even at its near apocalyptic end times, the value of basic humanity is affirmed.Well conceived and well written.
—Jim Mcclanahan
