Aaron Wilson, book and story reviewer at the Soulless Machine, recently did an in-depth review of Nina’s science fiction eco-thriller, Darwin’s Paradox by Dragon Moon Press.

“Munteanu’s idea of how humanity will evolve to be able to communicate with machines is a deeply fascinating one,” said Wilson. “Munteanu’s prose is tightly woven and written without apologies for the complex language and scientific terms that are bounced around, which is refreshing. She assumes a smart reader, a reader not afraid to pick up a dictionary, or at least flip to the back of the book to see she included it in her glossary of terms. I particularly enjoyed the in depth discussion of Chaos Theory and how it played out in the plot.”

Wilson ended with, “if you are interested in the evolution of the Human and AI, then this is a must for your collection.”

Go here for his review in its entirety. You may also wish to read his insightful reviews of some of Nina’s short stories (Butterfly in Peking, Julia’s Gift, and Virtually Yours).

The Soulless Machine is an excellent site for reading well-written reviews of the story, whether long or short. As his mission statement attests, Wilson is dedicated …to keep the short story alive. For instance, his latest post reviews a collection of short stories by William R. Potter called Lighting the Dark Side. Wilson also posts a good list of online short story sites (mostly science fiction) and websites of interest, as well as a good selection of what he calls “bookish blogs”.

Says Nina, “There aren’t too many sites that devote themselves with such dedication to missing link pet supplements
reviewing the short story form; partly because this form, sadly, isn't as popular with readers. The irony is that this form is often the most interesting, unique and sharply compelling ... skating the edge of mainstream with new ideas, sometimes outrageous, always diverting. I thank Aaron on behalf of all short story authors for his attention to this form."

For a look at his publications, go here.

Darwin’s Paradox Reviewed by Dragon Page

Karen Mason — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 06:34:01 +0000

Brian Brown of Dragon Page recently reviewed Nina’s book, Darwin’s Paradox. This is what he had to say:

The Gist: Julie Crane has a vitamin b complex dogs
lot of skeletons in her closet. She had the unleashed the Darwin virus on the world, murdered a government official, and then ran away from all the chaos she had created.

That is what the history books say, but often history is changed, twisted and confused from what really happened.

Julie fled into the wilderness outside of the cities with her husband. Outside of the influence of everyone and everything Julie learned to live in this wilderness. She gives birth to her daughter Angel and looks forward to living a life with nature.

All of this is shattered when Julie discovers that she is being hunted again. She makes a journey back to the city, alone. Julie’s daughter convinces her father to go after Julie and they too make their way to the city.

Back in the city Julie is confronted with the political intrigue, societal differences, and the mass of humanity she left behind.

It’s up to Julie, her family and new friends to unravel what is true and what is false and set things right for the future

The Good: This is a book of heavy, heady concepts in this book, chaos theory, human neurophysiology, ecosystems and sustainability, viruses, AI’s and more. It really gives some oomph behind the story of Julie and the other characters.

The vision of the future is well done and I’m a sucker for near future stories that have all of the elements of political intrigue, cybernetics, rebels against the system, AI’s going wonky, and a glimpse at future life.

The Bad: The human story elements seemed a bit weaker than the world itself and the concepts of humans living in the future. It seemed that Julie was moving on a very linear path through the world and not really deviating. For me, some of the supporting characters seemed more interesting, like her daughter Angel or the quirky, sleazy ex-Mayor.

It’s a bit confusing at the start with the barrage of the background information you get at the beginning.

The Ugly: Nothing really ugly to report.

Nina Munteanu weaves a good story that has some large concepts peppered through it. The story does have warts but they are easy enough to gloss over and dig into the main story. There are some nice twists and turns and rabbit holes to follow the tale down. I hope that future books have more about the world, the citizens who inhabit it, and the politics of city states.

I easily recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a nice mix of science fiction, political intrigue and some big scientific concepts. Go pick it up!

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Darwin’s Paradox Reviewed by Soulless Machine

Darwin’s Paradox Reviewed by Dragon Page