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Evolution Darling Scott Westerfeld 9781568581491 Books

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Evolution Darling Scott Westerfeld 9781568581491 Books

An intriguing exploration of love and hate, growth and regression, passion and apathy. My favorite aspect of Westerfeld's writing is his ability to champion qualities that arguably represent the best of what we consider humanity, without coming across as presenting a morality tale. If compassion, depth of understanding, and relentless patience are not virtues... well, at least they seem to offer important evolutionary benefits.

In my opinion, this novel merits a republication someday. I was going to give it four stars, but after considering others' criticisms and my own, I've changed my mind. While not perfect, its flaws result more from a lack of editing than a lack of storytelling ability. I don't agree with all of Westerfeld's choices -- the weird sex scenes do get to be a little much, for me -- but I can hardly equate a "failure" to meet my personal preferences with actual missteps. I am satisfied that the story elements are there for a reason and serve the whole.


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Evolution Darling Scott Westerfeld 9781568581491 Books Reviews

This is another fascinating book like Karl Schroeder's Ventus that seemingly effortlessly generates a new story to be told while very well informed by all the SF preceding it. There was hardly a misstep anywhere in this work and the use of language was refreshingly lyrical.
Was a good book. Not as good as the other science fiction he has done.
Awesome book!
one of my favorite sci-fi books by one of my favorite authors
I won't give an overview of the book as many of the other reviewers have already done so, but I will say how regretful it is that this book is out of print. It's an excellent book! I was first drawn to Westerfeld through his Leviathan series, and found it very entertaining. I searched through his other titles and found this book very intriguing the idea of an robot protagonist and AIs engaging in intercourse. And I wasn't disappointed. This novel blew his YA novels out of the competition. Love the characters and the world, how everything has a personalty - even space cruisers! The idea of AIs having souls and if a soul can be copied. Even a Turing test for humans!

Now, I don't normally go for erotica pieces, but the sex in this novel is neither gratuitous nor boring. It's actually pretty interesting how a robot would have sex with a human, and from that interaction how both characters grow.

I do hope Westerfeld writes more adult science fiction novels such as this one; I think there is some great talent here that doesn't show up in his YA novels.
You may recognize Scott Westerfeld's name from his popular young adult series, such as Peeps and Uglies. Evolution's Darling is an entirely different novel. Darling is a 200 year old artificial intelligence. Thanks to technology, robots have the ability to become sentient beings, detectable by a Turing test. The title refers to the fact that artificials can evolve many times during their lifetime, while their biological counterparts cannot. Darling, so named and made sentient by a past love, is an art dealer of authentic, original, and expensive art. He happens to meet Mira, a mysterious assassin, on a pleasure ship. He seeks a famous sculptor that was thought to be dead, while Mira accompanies him (with her own motives). Is Vaddum, the sculptor, a copy? Can intelligent beings be copied? Should they? Should the copies by destroyed?

Although this is a science fiction novel, the language used and descriptions are beautiful and complex. Musical imagery is used throughout. It was surprising for me that there was a balance and mixture of science and art that was wonderful to read. All of the characters were fully realized and unique, even the minor characters. The artificial intelligence, in many instances, turned out to be more human than the biological humans. For example, Darling focuses on the emotional meaning behind Vaddum's work, while Zimivic, his human rival, looks at the technical aspects and how much the piece will make him. It makes us question what really makes a being human or sentient. Even the not yet sentient AI has personality, humor, and their own quirks.

Evolution's Darling was a completely unique novel. It was engrossing from beginning to end. I would recommend this book to any fan of science fiction.
Its a shame Scott Westerfeld has segued into teen and adolescents books. He is obviously making tons of money doing so but we have lost a brilliant Sci-Fi writer in the process. Example, before those books he wrote the provocative, delicious, thought provoking 'Evolutions Darling'. What is life, consciousness, loyalty?? How exotic can sex be before becoming perverse. What is normal? Explore it all through his fascinating mind and well written prose. I could not put this down and had to ration chapters so I wouldn't fly though it. I just regret he has so few adult books.......
An intriguing exploration of love and hate, growth and regression, passion and apathy. My favorite aspect of Westerfeld's writing is his ability to champion qualities that arguably represent the best of what we consider humanity, without coming across as presenting a morality tale. If compassion, depth of understanding, and relentless patience are not virtues... well, at least they seem to offer important evolutionary benefits.

In my opinion, this novel merits a republication someday. I was going to give it four stars, but after considering others' criticisms and my own, I've changed my mind. While not perfect, its flaws result more from a lack of editing than a lack of storytelling ability. I don't agree with all of Westerfeld's choices -- the weird sex scenes do get to be a little much, for me -- but I can hardly equate a "failure" to meet my personal preferences with actual missteps. I am satisfied that the story elements are there for a reason and serve the whole.