The Genome

reviews.metaphorosis.com

3 stars

Starship pilot Alexander Romanov, fresh out of hospital, stands up for young Kim O'Hara, only to find she's more than capable of taking care of herself. Genetically designed for a particular function like Alex himself, Kim is about to undergo her transition to full ‘spesh' status, and Alex is genetically programmed to care for those under his care. When a mysterious dream job comes his way, he takes Kim and several others onto his crew, only to find that the job is more than he bargained for.

Lukyanenko does a good job of tackling the details of his concept - that humans are divided into ‘naturals' and genetically designed ‘speshes' who have had some aspects of their being enhanced and others suppressed. Pilots, for example, have innate mathematical skills and a firm belief in order, but are incapable of love. Lukyanenko pursues the concept with consistent logic, if with a little fuzziness around the edges, and with a massive over-simplification at one point.

Happily, Lukyanenko sets his book in a (far future) multicultural context, not the America-centric milieu that is the default for so many stories. Unhappily, he carries in a number of stereotypes that are outdated even in Russia - particularly concerning women and gays. (e.g., “every woman's ineradicable need to look as seductive as possible”) Some elements don't ring true for anyone, and especially for a Russian. The book is presented by Goodreads as a sequel of sorts to Dances on Snow, but it reads as a standalone novel.

The book is partly about the risk of hubris - the fear that humans exploiting the near-divine power of genetic pre-determination sow the seeds of their own destruction. It's also a novel about love. Alex, whose ability to love is genetically inhibited, is pushed by circumstances to explore his limitations. As one character tells him, “love is the feeling that makes us equal to God”.

Some aspects of the story are imperfectly developed. Alex has a tattoo on his shoulder that shows his emotional state. The need for and purpose of the tattoo are initially unclear, and never really developed. It's a promising gimmick, but one that feels like the remnant of an early draft. There's a (non-graphic) scene of sexual violence that's completely gratuitous and non-credible, and feels inserted solely to get the plot around a corner. Kim is inconsistent in her knowledge of her self and skills. The book evolves partly into an homage to Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle, but the detective element is not the book's strong point.

On a purely conceptual level, this is a well developed and executed book. Lukyanenko sets out to consider the benefits and drawbacks of genetic manipulation, and does so logically and thoughtfully. The writing is generally good (the translation is good, but not great). Unfortunately, the presentation of concepts is substantially undercut by tired and offensive biases. Had the book been written in 1950, or even Russia in 1970, I'd have made allowances. But it wasn't; it was written in 1999, well past the time when these flaws could be overlooked. I'm (very slowly) reading Lukyanenko's Watch series in Russian, and I have to say that this has made me a fair bit less enthusiastic to press on.

If you're intrigued by the potential consequences of genetic engineering, and can stomach the unfortunate attitudes, this is an interesting book. If sexism and prejudice get in your way, I can't recommend this.

NB: Received free copy from Net Galley. 

Pros: interesting & diverse characters, solid world-building, some thought provoking philosophy

Cons: several highly disturbing (though not graphic) scenes, Lolita style relationship

Five months after a devastating accident that physically cut him in half, Alexander Romanov is released from the hospital. With little money and no plans, he encounters a young girl nearing her spesh metamorphosis and - due to the programming inherent in his pilot spesh - has to help her out. He takes a job as a ship captain to help pay for the treatment she needs and, once she's done her metamorphosis, assembles a crew for an unknown mission.

The book is split into three sections. The first section introduces the characters, the second deals with the fallout of discovering their mission, and the third revolves around a mystery. While I really enjoyed the first two parts, the third got irritating as two of the characters claim to have solved the mystery but refuse to explain what happened, presumably so the reader has time to put the clues together. It felt artificial, though there is a reason given for their delay in the text. The resolution was interesting as it referred back to several of the philosophical questions the book as a whole posed.

The world-building in this book is solid. There are four groups at play: 1. Natural, unmodified humans 2. Speshs, people whose parents decide before birth what specialized job their child should have, and are then genetically modified physically and psychologically to do the work and enjoy it. 3. Clones. And 4. the Others, several alien races that have interactions with humans. You'll also encounter human politics, with a child Emperor, various religions (and religious extremism), numerous branches of racism, etc. Different planets have different specialties, atmospheres, and customs, while travel between planets is done using hyper-tunnels and takes a surprisingly short amount of time.

For the most part I liked all the characters, at the beginning at least. The captain's a great POV character. I love his demon tattoo (and what it does for him), and the way he analyses his world, questioning the way things are, even when he's ok with the way things are. Kim's a great character, though I did have issues with her... relationship with the captain (and others, as her being 14 and having sex with people significantly older wasn't something I'm comfortable with, even if the characters - for the most part - considered it normal, or at least, not unusual). Her specializations made her self-assured, despite her lack of experience. Janet was my favourite character until the half-way point when her upbringing came to the fore. I liked that she'd taken charge of her life, getting several specializations and was willing to be a mentor for Kim.

The one character I didn't much like was Puck. His antagonistic attitude and desire to prove that a natural human could be just as good as a spesh made him kind of irritating. I did, however, appreciate that he was gay and that his being natural showed off the prejudices of his crewmates.

This is a book that makes you think, though some of the scenes that open the way to philosophical discussion are disturbing to say the least. While nothing's particularly graphic there are mentions of rape, slavery, and war. I could easily see this being put on university reading lists and/or used for book clubs, as there are some very interesting essay and discussion topics brought up, particularly around genetic modifications and freedom. So, for example, as disturbing as I found the hunting scene, I did appreciate the questions about class, ethics and humanity that the captain ruminated on that arose from it.

In addition to her relationships, I had a few issues with what happened to Kim at the end of the book.

I'm not sure I would want to read it again, but it was an interesting, if somewhat uncomfortable, book to read.