The first book of the summer holiday, I guess, and a rather good start: this is basically the book I wished that Darwin’s Radio, by Egan’s near namesake Greg Bear, was going to be. The central idea is the same: peculiar mutations are occurring which will not only upset evolutionary biology but also perhaps imperil the future of humanity. However Egan ties his viewpoint character into a disturbing but believable family background with consequent psychoses, and the politics and biology all seemed considerably more credible. It is set in a part of the world I don’t know at all – the South Moluccas, in the near future; with excursions to the gay/academic scene in Toronto – but all very vivid and believable. I’m not surprised that this won prizes, if anything I’m surprised it didn’t win more.