Beggars and Choosers

This book picks up about a decade after the end of BEGGARS IN SPAIN and mainly follows the path of the Super Sleepless on Earth, specifically Miranda Sharifi, the brilliant granddaughter of Leisha's nemesis from the first novel. American society has become more stratified than before, where the wealthy working class called "Donkeys" literally buy votes by providing bread and circuses for a large uneducated welfare population called "Livers". Of particular interest is the character of Drew Arlen, a young Liver who wants to raise himself above his birth and be on par with the Super Sleepless. Drew becomes involved with Miranda's plots within plots to remake society as she sees fit.

The saga continues. The people who do not need to sleep have wrought a profound change on the world in the first book (Beggars in Spain). Now, like the numerical solution of a differential equation spinning away as the computer chugs on further iterations, the story spinds out in myriad directions and ends up creating a society that looks very much like society today or for that matter a thousand years ago. Stratified and seggregated - of course the rules of seggregation are different. Do all stable societal configurations stratify the society? Or does the author's experince with her society guides the book to this conclusion? Thought provoking.

This was actually the first Kress book I read (I went out and grabbed 4 more almost immediately afterward, including Beggars in Spain)...so, the book definately stands on its own two feet and I still enjoyed the series tremendously despite not reading them in their intended order. Maybe it's because I read this one first, but it stands out as my favorite - a well-crafted future (usually missing from a lot of sci fi), a compelling plot (again, often absent from a lot of sci fi...no alien invasion/war/global cataclysm/blah/blah here, just a very interesting look at what the advances in our own existing technology may one day bring us), really great lead characters, particularly Diana Covington who I felt I sort of followed through this story in progress, and hey, some actual science! I'm no genetic engineer, but it seems that the material has been very well thought out and is a running theme in the Kress books I've read so far - being central to this book and the others in the series, I like the fact that the concept is used so thoughtfully...genetic engineering didn't destroy the world, but it certainly did change it. I suppose it would...perhaps it will, depending on how far we take it. This book has a ring of realism and science fact mixed in with fiction, as well as the central question 'what will the technological and social advances of the future really mean to us and how will they affect us?' - I just don't seem to find much science fiction like that these days. I was looking for some new material to read, and after picking up four or five complete duds by other authors, I picked this one up initially because the cover intregued me...boy am I glad I did. I have a feeling Kress will keep me in good sci fi for a while.

In "Beggars and Choosers" Ms. Kress continues to pursue questions concerning the role of biomedical technology in "improving" the quality of the human species. Almost everyone accepts the premise that modern medical science should strive to eliminate physical and mental defects. What happens, however, when we have the technology to enhance traits, such as intelligence, to levels beyond "normal"? She creates a society stratified on the basis of genetic enhancements. This society begins to fragment as the groups grow to distrust and then hate each other. The novel is more crisply written than its predecessor, "Beggars in Spain" and the characters have more depth. This is true even for the SuperSleepless, who may be a different species altogether. Ms. Kress wrote "Beggars and Choosers" in the first person, in contrast to "Beggars in Spain" which is in the third person. She writes through the eyes of three characters to give different perspectives of the new social stratification, and is very effective at this task. Leisha Camden, the key character in the first novel, has only a minor role in this work. I was disappointed by her unceremonious exit. Getting readers to invest this much emotion in characters, however, is the mark of a good writer.

"Beggars and Choosers" is the sequel to the fascinating book "Beggars in Spain". It is every bit as good as "Beggars in Spain", and presents a plausible yet fantastic set of subsequent events. Like "Beggars in Spain", the characterization is as good as the plot, and a variety of political and science themes are explored. My only reservation about this book is that I would recommend reading "Beggars in Spain" first.