Genetopia

by Keith Brooke

"Genetopia" is the story of Flint, a young man in search of his possibly-abducted sister in a far future where nano- and bio-technology have influenced and accelerated the evolution of humans and their strangely altered surroundings. In this world, illness is always to be feared as symptoms can be a part of the transformation re-engineering active genes; mutating germ cells; migrating traits from species to species through plague and fever. This is a world where organic AIs grow in the jungle, either worshipped or feared, where trees sing to each other and new houses are grown to order. To find his sister, Flint must travel through communities and wildlands no normal person would brave. Flint's story is the story of the last true humans, and of the struggles between those who want to defend their heritage and those who choose to embrace the new. "Genetopia" will appeal to the core science-fiction market, but also to those interested in environmental, political, biological, and anthropological issues.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

303 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2006

Reviews

[Peter Tillman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good novel, about a young man who's looking for his lost sister. Which turns out to be a fine device for a grand tour of a future where machine civilization has fallen, and some sort of contagious bioengineering got loose. Part of this is used to provide housing, fiber and such for the tribes. And part of it gets inside people and rewrites their genome, somewhat randomly. Gene engineering has also been used to create specialized slave races, who are programmed to always, always obey, honor and serve their masters, the True Humans. There is, hrm, "potential for abuse."

The world-building here works really well. The characters are a little blurry, but serve the author's will, and sometimes come to life. Brooke wisely doesn't try to supply technical details for the genetic work, or tell us how civilization fell. We see the world as the characters do, as it is in their daily lives.

There is a good deal of cruelty and violence, including a small war to put down a slave revolt. And to clear out troublesome people who can't pass as pure human stock. The book ends well, on a hopeful note. I enjoyed the ride. 3. stars, rounded up.

Here's Publishers Weekly's starred review:
https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-...
The author gave me a copy of his book years ago, which I misplaced after a move. It turned up, and I finally read it. Good job, Keith!

[Mary Ellen · Rating 2 out of 5]

An inventive and interesting world populated by flat characters. The plot meanders around rather aimlessly, then just kind of stops. The prose feels dry and emotionless, which is odd given the subjects covered. The themes lack subtlety, sprawled out before the reader right from the start without any mystery or sense of discovery. Overall this reads like a first draft where the author was just beginning to work out the ideas that he wanted to examine. Which is a shame, because the world had potential.

[Lee Pfahler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of the three Keith Brooke novels I have read this one is my favorite. It was a bit slow in places when the main character was searching for his sibling. But some of that is understandable because he was traveling and discovering new cultures which don't necessarily come quick to a young and inexperienced person. And of course not much went his way while on his search! It was a journey of growth and discovery for this young man and perhaps for the author as well!

[Jack Deighton · Rating 3 out of 5]

We are long in the aftermath of The Fall, in a genetically unstable world. Traits can migrate from species to species, carried by plague and fever, or deliberately induced in the gennering vats. Humans can become Lost, animals be brought up from beasthood to a form of sentience. Those called Mutts have been bred to obey - to love - humans without question and carry out menial tasks; slavery by another name. Technology has regressed to that of muscle power only. In all of this, true humans strive to keep their bloodlines pure. People are judged on what can be divined of their breeding and different clans specialise in different occupations.

While Brooke occasionally uses other viewpoints our main window on this world is through Flintreco Eltarn, whose sister Amber (Amberline Treco) has been sold into Muttdom by their father who (suspicious of his wife Jeschka’s proclivities) has always thought of her as impure, one of the Lost. The book then takes the form of Flint’s quest to find Amber. Along the way Brooke has the opportunity to present various aspects of his imagined world where everything outside the familiar bounds of a person’s knowledge is dangerous, any transformation a frightening thing, all change harmful and corrupting. As well as in the gennering vats changing vectors may occur in unfamiliar plants and fruits – or even in familiar ones. Yet human nature it seems is perennial. Venality, concupiscence, love, fear, hate all make their appearance.

He finally encounters one of the Lost, whose changing he was complicit in bringing about, who tells him, “‘The last trump has wiped out most of True humankind. All of nature (was) engineered to defer to your kind. When you find your judgement, the world will be inherited by those who have embraced change,’” and, “To be human is to be fluid, unfixed. Humanity today is not what it was yesterday, and it is only the start of what it will be tomorrow.... Out here we are truly posthuman. To be changed is to be blessed.”

Genetopia is in some ways an odd book. Within that familiar quest structure (which it partly subverts at the end) it seems to both decry and advocate a change in humanity. Perhaps the biggest problem I had with it was that the profound ability for biological change felt out of place with the regression of other technology. Brooke is good on relationships though, if a little pessimistic here about the possibility of a kinder humanity.

[Paula Cadle · Rating 2 out of 5]

In this world, people are surrounded by natural compounds that change DNA. True humans (no DNA augmentation) are held above those who are engineered mutts for specific tasks and the Lost who look human, but have been changed in other ways. In this pre-industrial civilization, Flint is looking for his sister who was sold by their horrible Father. Flint's journey is captured. Hers - not so much and I would have enjoyed hearing more of her story, too. I skimmed when focus moved from Amber to Flint for too long. Can't say I liked it, but the ending made sense.

[Aaron · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not going to lie, I found this book kind of troubling.

What I think it accomplishes well is the sense of setting. Not the setting itself, because I feel like what we had from this work wasn't so much an exploration of a place or how a culture as presented in the novel could come to be, but more impressions of things. The clash of creole and a sort of Huck Finn and a sort of Antebellum slavery lifestyle was very different, not at all what I was expecting when I picked this work up.

That said, I think Brooke would have been better served deciding a few things from the get go, because I think they very much change what his novel is saying. As much as science fiction can be a great place for commentary without attaching too many stigma of discussing real world events and opinions or accusing anyone of being wrong, I think there are elements related to the 'science' of work that confuse any commentary the author was trying to make.

Namely, the core concept itself: Your genetics can be manipulated by any number of sources in this setting. One moment you own a number of 'pups' or the very much slave race of this setting, your own land and have a clan name, the next you are a pup yourself with essentially no rights and no way to advance yourself other than escape in hopes of finding a society of your own kind who live on their own terms. In case you weren't sure exactly where this was coming from in American history, the method to do so is called the "Harmony Road" and has very opaque suggestion that it is referring to the Underground Rail Road as a concept.

That in itself would be no problem. The problem is that pups are genetically predisposed to docility, obeying true humans no matter the punishment they've taken from them, and lack of intelligence. This isn't just if you've been born a pup, but implied to take place if you're changed into one by the many infection vectors of this setting. It's to the point that changing, as one character does, from a violent slave owner to a very docile pup seems to have erased his memory, and that many who are changed over in such a way often 'lose themselves.' An exception to this is one of the main characters.

So, slavery is wrong. This book is not written with the intent of justifying slavery I would certainly hope, I don't know what exactly Brooke may have been thinking while writing this work but I'm pretty sure that isn't one of them.

However, I do feel this book has a theme of mutable identity, which is a concern often linked to slavery narratives. This I feel is where the book is letting us down. Some characters, for some reason, seem to become a total tabula rasa when making any kind of genetic change, as though they've suddenly forgotten everything about themselves, while others seem as though they're barely affected by the changes. Some have this startling midpoint: they now speak the pup-creole and are significantly docile around pure humans, etc. What I really want to know is should this be interpreted as a product of the genetic transformation that occurs or a product of some kind of mental... I'm not sure, trigger perhaps? That is totally a product of the mind attempting to cope with what's happened? That or we'll just have to take the narrative at face value... which is hard when it's making very clear indications of linking itself to actual occurrences in human history.

Not to say this is an overtly bad book or anything. I just feel that this problem was key to my experience, so distracting that no matter the other merits of the writing escape me for the most part. While I don't say it's a bad read, I do say it's a very interesting concept that given more decisive writing in certain places could have been stellar.

[Julie Capell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Instead of fully examining its interesting premise--what would happen if genetically-engineered crops got completely loose in the environment--this book unfortunately becomes overwhelmed by its slavery subtext, which seems tired and cliched. Focusing mostly on how humans would survive in a drastically altered natural environment full of nanotech and dangerous genetic vectors (which they no longer have the science to understand) the book asks at what point would genetically altered human beings cease to be "human" and become something else. Unfortunately, the author allows the story to deteriorate into a rather pointless story of a boy/man searching for his sister barely more complex than an average Young Adult novel. He spends a little time with a "religious" community and has a "grasshopper" moment, after which he becomes all Yoda-ish. But then that storyline is also thrown away and he becomes involved for what seems like half the book in a guerilla-war-like conflict that is poorly explained and which the reader is unable to care about. The characters are as flimsily developed as the story concept. Overall, a dissatisfying read. My Sci-Fi Book Club gave it 3 stars out of 5.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brooke creates a society in this book - he challenges himself at every turn to come up with something new and different. The story questions humanity and judgements. The fantasy is fast-paced. What's not to like?

[Jeanne Boyarsky · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found Genetopia fair. It created a good world and had a good story. It even invented another language and had names with meaning. Not sure why I didn't like it more.

[Sara]

Its sci fic novel.when slave and fear and race of human to survive with truble in realitionship in the family.the auther whant chalnge and he has a new one.