Natural history /

In Robson's U.S. debut, a thought-provoking SF stand-alone, the British author of Sliver Screen and Mappa Mundi revisits the disquieting territory of Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End. Advances in genetic engineering have created the Forged, human/machine hybrids that carry out tasks too mundane or too dangerous for the Unevolved, as non-Forged humans are called. Soon after a Forged explorer, Voyager Lonestar Isol, returns from a 15-year trip with the Stuff (a sentient chunk of gray quartz capable of instantly transporting her anywhere), Isol announces that she's found an empty Earth-like planet in a distant star system. By claiming it as a home world, the Forged can finally break from the resented Gaiasol, the political entity that rules Earth's solar system, and become what they were meant to be. While many dream of moving out, others suspect that the Stuff's offer is too good to be true. Archeologist Zephyr Duquesnse, commissioned to study the proposed home world and make sure it's truly free of life, finds no easy answers. Fans of the sweeping, politically and psychologically aware space opera of Iain M. Banks and Ken MacLeod will be intrigued by Robson's setting and the new slant she takes on universal questions. Agent, Merilee Heifetz at Writers House. (Jan. 4) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

In the far future, humanity has diverged into separate strains: the Unevolved, or "normal" humans, and the Forged, or genengineered humans, altered for specific functions. When Isol, a machine-human spaceship, discovers an Earth-like planet far outside the solar system, she claims it as a refuge for other Forged humans who desire freedom from their Unevolved creators. Zephyr Duquesne, a human anthropologist, travels via Isol to the new planet to ascertain its fitness for occupation?only to discover an unexpected "natural" phenomenon that threatens to change the nature of reality itself. Robson, an Arthur C. Clarke Award nominee for Silver Screen and Mappa Mundi, realizes the cosmic vision of an original voice in the genre. Complex characters that challenge the standard concept of "human" bring insight and drama to a thought-provoking sf adventure with appeal to fans of both hard science and issue-oriented speculative fiction. Highly recommended. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Another entry in what amounts to a (not exclusively) British-accented new New Wave of breathtaking space operas (cf. Iain M. Banks, Ken MacLeod, John C. Wright, Neal Asher), here's Robson's third novel and first US appearance. Several centuries hence, the moon and Mars have been terraformed, semi-independent societies thrive at Jupiter and Saturn; true artificial intelligences, Abacands, serve without desires or volition, while humanity consists of natural-type Unevolved and a spectacular array of odd-bodied, MekTek-enhanced Forged: Rocs, TickTock Hives, Heavy Angels--and human-machine starships like Voyager Lonestar Isol, which, cruising near Barnard's Star, collides with an exploded-spaceship debris field and sustains life-threatening damage. Near death, Isol comes upon a strange silicate rock, apparently an engine--and, somehow, sentient! Isol realizes that the rock, "Stuff," is, via eleven-dimensional superspace, capable of transporting her instantly, anywhere, and of reshaping matter to any desired form. She jumps to what seems to be the rock's homeworld, where stand the deserted buildings of an alien civilization. Isol jumps back to Earth, intending to sell bits of Stuff to her would-be revolutionary Forged contacts (they chafe under the Gaiasol government's heavy hand). Fearing schism or outright civil war, Gaiasol's security chief, General Machen, rejects Isol's claims and insists on independent verification. Isol chooses the Unevolved cultural archeologist Zephyr Duquesne who, Isol assumes, should be easy to manipulate. Zephyr finds the planet to be all that Isol has claimed, covered with astonishing artifacts that have the semblance of living matter. Meanwhile, other recipients of Stuff are less happy: some hear voices; others fear that Stuff is invasive. Isol begins to fight Stuff's efforts to remake her, terrified of what the inevitable metamorphosis may bring. Quirky, highly intelligent, uneven, sometimes exposition-clogged, often utterly remarkable: alert, agile readers will find it thoroughly rewarding. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.