The Genome

August 3, 2015
Lukyanenko (the Night Watch series) neatly crafts a sophisticated SF thriller featuring Alex Romanov, a spesh, or a person who has been altered to be superhuman. After recovering from a horrific accident, Alex accepts a job as the captain of the spacecraft Mirror. He's responsible for ensuring the safe passage of his alien compatriots on their tour of the known galaxy. Alex's life is further complicated by the murderous intent of his fellow crewmembers, as well as his romantic entanglement with a much younger spesh, Kim. The prose is introspective and inventive, and the story plumbs tricky philosophical questions, such as what it means to be human and how humanness can be altered in the future. The plot moves along at a fast pace, with an appealing at and at times humorous voice. Lukyanenko's tendency toward the preachy is amplified by the translation. This solid work of SF fits into, but does not transcend, its genre.

December 1, 2014

Alex Romanov is a spesh, genetically engineered as a master pilot and recuperating from a terrible accident on the planet of Quicksilver Pit when he encounters Kim O'Hara. She is destitute and on the streets, about to go through the metamorphosis that will manifest her specialty when Alex rescues her. Kim needs help and Alex needs to fly, so he takes a mysterious job as a ship's captain to earn money. After hiring his crew (including the newly transformed Kim), he finds out his first assignment will be transporting tourists from the Zzygou alien race on a pleasure cruise. When one of them ends up dead, he and his whole company fall suspect. VERDICT Lukyanenko, best known for the "Night Watch" series, plants the seeds of an intriguing look at the consequences of altering the human genome to create specialists uniquely suited for certain jobs. But there are too many parts of this novel that make no sense (everyone in the future apparently smokes, even in confined space vessels), or will make some readers uncomfortable, including the depiction of women and the highly sexualized nature of the 14-year-old Kim.

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