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Darwinia by Robert Charles Wilson
01/12/2007 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
pub: Orb/TOR/Forge. 320 page enlarged paperback. Price: $14.95 (US), $18.50 (CAN). ISBN: 0-7653-1905-5. Buy Darwinia in the USA - or Buy Darwinia in the UK  check out website: www.tor-forge.com
When I started this book, my first impressions was that it was to be an exploratory book set in the 1912 time period. The major difference being that what used to be Europe is no long there. Winked out of existence and replaced with a different environment. Jungle terrain with new species, many of them dangerous.
We follow the latest expedition through the eyes of its photographer, Guliford Law, who leaves his wife and young daughter in London. To say the expedition were ill-prepared for such a journey would be putting it mildly and leaves me unable to say too much without giving too much of the plot away. The fact that the story leads away from the expedition should be sufficient clue that not everything is as expected.
To give author Robert Charles Wilson his due, he conveys the Victorian outlook well although I have to confess that the back cover depiction of America being ruled by religious fundanmentists doesn't really strike me. Had we seen more of this America then perhaps that would have strengthened the image. When the expedition takes place, the numbers are much smaller to play with and in books, typical of that time, we see some of what goes on in Law's letters to his wife.
Half-way through the book, the story takes off in a different direction which owes a little to Heinlein with a dose of Darwin's survival of the fittest. It almost gave me the impression that Wilson got bored with the direction he was going in and decided to spice the story up differently. As we only see this from the characters' perspective, we're not left with much impression of what is going on excapt the Earth has been juxapositioned with an alternative reality.
I think this book has to be read with an expectation of taking the story as you find it. I can well see people debating this reality and in some respectsl I really wish Wilson had explored this new continent better. Whether he does ot not, let alone cover just what else has been going on will depend if it warrants a sequel.
GF Willmetts
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