I enjoyed this half sci-fi, half adventure story about symbiotic nanotechnology gone out of control. There were a lot of moving parts and characters I was invested in. I actually think it was pretty light in depth on the hard sci-fi parts (ponderings about the sentience of the nanotech didn't really go anywhere), but the well-paced adventure parts made up for it. I do think there were way too many loose ends at the end regarding the fate of the LOVs and remaining characters, the Mother Tiger AI, the political dynamics, etc. ( )

This is the sort of book where it was enjoyable as I was reading it, but I have a feeling that 6 months from now I'll have very few specific memories of it - it was a pretty straightforward thriller; didn't really leave any deep and indelible marks on my consciousness.

A team of scientists is illegally working on a banned project - artifically engineered, diatom-like lifeforms that form colonies, seem to exhibit intelligence, and can be used as a symbiotic neural implant. When one of the scientists drops dead, an investigation reveals the illegal activity.
The scientists, who have 'infected' themselves with these "LOVs," seem to be unnaturally attached to them - but is the appeal the enhanced abilities that the LOVs give them, or is an alien intelligence affecting their minds, seeking to protect itself?
Only one of the scientists, Virgil, escapes the biological ethics committee, and escapes to a Vietnamese jungle, where he meets up with a down-on-her-luck journalist who gets involved, along with a rich businessman and his collection of street kids, who, with the help of a computer AI, he can form into a tribe/cult, as a sociological experiment.
Together, this assortment of people withstand an embargo from the outside world, who regard the LOVs as a biohazard. Are they? Or are they the future of humanity?
The result is a sort of cross between cyberpunk and alien-invasion tale.

Unfortunately, the book doesn't resolve a lot of the issues it brings up.
Nagata seems to want to compare the bio-enhancements of the LOVs with the technological "farsights" (sorta like a PDA, in sunglasses, with an AI assistant on the desktop) - but there's no real discussion of it, except to show that computer AI's can get out of hand too.

The question of whether the LOVs actually make their human symbionts smarter is never answered. The infected characters certainly don't act particularly intelligent.

Are the LOVs self-aware? Do they have an agenda?

What was businessman Nguyen's motive in giving the street kids farsights and hooking them into a network?

What did happen to the sick kids with LOVs who were airlifted out of the jungle?

What is the agenda of the AI known as 'Mother Tiger'?

What will happen next?

It's all a big and rather unsatisfying setup for a sequel... which, as of yet, doesn't seem to exist. ( )

The problem with techno-thrillers is that you have to get the technology accurate without inundating the reader with exposition, showing how clever you've been. Linda manages the last part quite well, it all works together, and is fleetingly explained as necessary. However it never really quite rings true, the abilities of the LOVs are too convenient for whatever situation they happen to find themselves in, mutate too quickly and then conversely never make as much of the situation as they could do. To imagine that they would in any way be constrained to the small area is preposterous at best. I kept expecting the realistic proposition of a worldwide outbreak to be discovered but even the possibility was never mooted, which broke the disbelief for me.

Otherwise though it's quite fun. A look at how a biologically active nano-particle 'grey goo' future might start. We follow a small team of researchers and a poor desperate independent media reporter as events spiral beyond their control. Everybody uses and doesn't really understand ubiquitous semi-AI software agents, running on high tech cloud computers, but vast swathes of the population still don't have enough food or water. Gradually other characters appear, leading or involved in the official bodies responses to such an outbreak. Sadly though everybody is a bit thin and we never really develop any emotional connection to them - which is slightly ironic because the LOVs were supposed to have been designed to bolster emotional communication. Although they weren't supposed to be release form their orbital research lab either.

Interesting,and far from the worst I've read along this sort of scenario (and at least we avoided the obvious zombie plot that threatened to creep in), but ultimately lacking in detail of characters and world building to be fully engaging. The ending is hooked sufficiently for sequels although I don't think they are yet written. ( )

I was disappointed. The other book that I read by this author was great. This one just never went anywhere and then it ended. I don't know if there is a follow up book or what, but it just didn't capture my imagination the way I had hoped. ( )

I was disappointed. The other book that I read by this author was great. This one just never went anywhere and then it ended. I don't know if there is a follow up book or what, but it just didn't capture my imagination the way I had hoped. ( )

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