Kress, Nancy

• Beggars in Spain (8)

  • The first of a series of books set in a world where the near future is dominated by the social ramifications of genetic manipulation...in this case, the origin and history of a society of people who do not need to sleep (and who also tend to be more intelligent and practically immortal). The first part is reminiscent of Julian May's "Intervention" series, but from there, Kress takes her own path. The story follows the life of one of the first "Sleepless" named Leisha, but she is placed in the context of much larger events in a fearful society. Overall, this is an excellent example of "speculative fiction" (standard fiction with just one speculative "twist" thrown in to ordinary society) as opposed to "science fiction", and I enjoyed it quite a bit. The ending clearly leaves room for more, but the book is just fine as a stand-alone.

• Beggars and Choosers (6)

  • This is a fairly strong continuation of the story of the sleepless and the "super sleepless", but not nearly as compelling as the first book. Though Kress continues to explore interesting philosophical and ethical ground, the plot tends to drag. Also, although I greatly appreciate unorthodox use of language and the invention of new dialects, I was more annoyed than engaged by the dialect of the "common people." Maybe this tended to make some plot-lines more tedious than they would otherwise be, but that was my take. The first 50-100 pages of this book were quite good, but after that, Kress focussed too much on the effects rather than the causes and motivations of the actions of the "super sleepless". Hiding her interesting ideas behind a level of mundane affairs didn't serve to deepen my perspective...it only made me impatient. Overall, the book is worth reading, but I'm looking forward to the next book with more fear than hope.

• Brainrose (7)

  • Imagine that you are the reincarnation of many people who lived successively before you. Imagine even further that you could access the memories of these people through a surgical procedure allowing access to your brain's "racial memory". Certainly an interesting idea, and Kress paints a picture of a near future in which this is possible. On top of this are religious objections, a political movement that represents the extreme of Lovelock's famous "Gaia hypothesis" (that the Earth is self-regulating in a sentient way), and lots of personal conflicts among characters who don't have a whole lot going for them in terms of convincing motivation or depth.

    This story is a mixed bag of really neat ideas (I am left with one indelible image of a holographic presentation of statistical results pointing to a common pattern among accessed racial memories) and moderately melodramatic (in an unappealing way) relationships. The ideas are as interesting as in the Beggars series, but the characters a bit less interersting and believeable.

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