Natural History - Justina Robson


Natural History
Justina Robson
Macmillan Publishers
ISBN: 0333907450 (Amazon link)


It's late, I'm tired, I'm being lazy and skipping writing a proper review, but here's a couple of brief comments: I thought Natural History was terrific, much stronger than Silver Screen or Mappa Mundi, both of which I enjoyed. Natural History is hugely inventive, fabulous reading and one of the best SF books I've read in ages. Highly recommended.

I loved two things in particular; the idea of "form and function" as a belief system for the Forged, and the names of the Forged - "Heavy Angel Sisyphus Bright Eagle" for example. It may be just me, but I was reminded of Ian McDonald's Ares Express, but no doubt someone will now tell me that they're both riffing off someone else's work.

To make up for my laziness, here is a quick set of links praising the book as I would have: M John Harrison's review in The Guardian newspaper, Rick Kleffel's review at The Agony Column, Cheryl Morgan's review at Emerald City, Iain Emsley's review at SF Revu, or even an interview (by Cheryl Morgan again) at Strange Horizons.

Posted: Tue - November 18, 2003 at 01:10 AM        

©