Humbled

The older I get the harder it is (or at least so it seems) to be surprised by a book. Perhaps if I did not read so much this would not be an issue. Still, like a hopeful dreamer panning for gold I read and search, looking for something that can make me enter that 'wow' space. I remember that space, it's a great place to be. Those moments are surprising but this time the vehicle was even more of a shock.

For over a decade I have been read something in almost every sub-genre of fantasy there is but never once crossed over into science fiction. I had no interest and a good amount of prejudice against it. (Elves are one thing but I am not reading about aliens and space ships.) It is something I will have to work on if Darwinia is any indication.

It started off as a throw back to Jules Verne and H.G. Wells (authors I have been reading since at least 12), the writing excellent and the conflict new. Who in the world decides to erase Europe and put a primevil jumgle in its place? Brilliant! By the time the science fiction rolled around I truely did not care and was under no circumstances putting it down. To say any more would be to give too much away.

Reading is in a way like fishing. Most days you catch nothing or sun fish at best but once in a while you might snag a rainbow trout for the photo album. Darwinia by Robert Charles Wilson is now not only my first sci-fi novel it is one of my favorite books and definately something to be revisited. Books like this are, after all, why I keep reading.