Reviews
Amazon.com
In the distant future, nanotechnology has gotten out of control. The inner
solar system has been overrun by Mycora, atom-size machines that devour
everything they touch. Humanity has long since fled Earth for the cold
reaches of the outer system, where the lack of heat and sunlight make it
difficult--but not impossible--for the Mycora to bloom. Life in the Immunity
is hard, and the survivors of humanity face the constant onslaught of the
ever-evolving Mycora. But if they are to survive, the remaining humans must
try to learn what happened to Earth, and whether the Mycora are finding ways
to overcome their susceptibility to cold. When the Immunity mounts an
expedition to plant probes on Earth's polar caps, shoemaker and aspiring
journalist John Stasheim is asked to come along to chronicle the journey. He
soon learns that the trip will be fraught with as many political dangers as
nanotech ones, and that the Mycora are both more and less than they seem. An
excellent SF novel along the lines of Greg Bear's Blood Music
</exec/obidos/ASIN/0441003486/002-7800988-9171032>, but with more action and
plot. Wil McCarthy is a writer to watch. --Craig E. Engler