Everfree

In an excellent continuation of his first two books, Nick takes you through to the final phase of the battle for survival of the human race. The prespective of the narrative is somewhat different from the previous books and the challenges encountered by the heros of the previous books highlight the good and bad sides of human nature. Building a new society practically from scratch can be a source of an infinite number of different angles; Nick choses his own and keeps the story "human" with day-to-day issues as well as big-picture thinking. If you enjoyed the first two books, do read this one but don't just expect "more of the same"; keep an open mind and let the author guide you through his new world... enjoy!

My copy is a little tattered because I took it with me everywhere, hoping I'd get a chance to read just one more chapter between the things I had to do during the day. I had a blast reading it -- it really puts you in the post-plague, post-cure world where communities should be happy but instead, they head straight toward war. Suspense, characterization, great voice, a riveting story -- it's all there. I especially felt a deeper bond with Halloween and surprisingly, Isaac and Sloane. I loved the stories of the plague survivors -- like the guy who's wife sacrificed herself to save him from the plague and now he desperately needs to find out what happened to her. Or the chauffeur who impersonated his boss to save himself. Or the folks who believe Hal and his pals are angels fulfilling a biblical prophesy. I also loved the sprinkling of historical and cultural references made by the narrators. It really gave me the sense that the post-human creators did everything they could to instill the importance of history and continuity and a sense of loss for civilization. I just finished the book and it feels like a good friend just moved out of town. I want another Halloween/post-human story. If you're wondering whether to read Everfree, do it -- it's a great ride. If you're wondering whether to start the series, run and buy Idlewild. You're in for a treat.

Looking back in my mental trivia file, I'm struck by how prophetic Nick Sagan's first claim to fame turned out to be. No, I don't mean his being the son of the last century's most likeable astronomer, the late Carl Sagan. It's young Nick's voice saying, "Hello from the children of planet Earth" on a recording that is still traveling in distant space on NASA's Voyager 1. Those simple, welcoming words connect so powerfully with Sagan's recent emergence from the often thankless role of a Hollywood script and screen writer to become one of the most exciting new voices in science fiction. That's because in EVERFREE --- the latest in his "post humans" series, following IDLEWILD (2003) and EDENBORN (2004) --- the theme continues to be about children maturing in a vastly changed world, facing a future riddled with social, psychological and genetic booby traps. Set on an Earth still barely recognizable after a devastating pandemic called Black Ep, the bioengineered super-children of EDENBORN have taken their place among the fragile remains of human society as cautious and often unwilling leaders who seek to avoid the administrative mistakes, power-games and excesses of conventional government. They know better than to revisit the old utopian schemes of humanity's past, but the idea of Darwinian struggle and anarchy is equally repulsive. So as good kids must do, they work out a precarious compromise based partly on the original model of the commonwealth. Star Trek's Mr. Spock would be impressed at how closely the post-human pattern for life follows the Vulcan path of dynamic balance. But as a loose-knit global family of wildly diverse personalities themselves, the young adults and their brilliant but aging and stressed parents soon face challenges that no amount of hard-science training could anticipate. It was the advances of hard science that made the EVERFREE storyline possible, offering plague-ravaged humans at the end of EDENBORN the hope of future healthy lives through cryogenic preservation --- the old but appealing idea of deep-freezing the terminally ill until their ailments can be reversed or cured. Now armed with medical knowledge to save all but the most advanced plague cases, Sagan's gifted post humans are faced with myriad practical and ethical questions as they struggle to decide who should be revived first. Of course, the technical issues are no longer in question. Instead, the colossal problem threatening to tear the fledgling new society apart is a very human one --- that of integrating newly "thawed" folks into an environment where their previous wealth and power are meaningless. The post humans' we-are-all-in-this-together philosophy runs smack into old-fashioned rugged individualism, and the two mindsets mix like oil and water. And that's what EVERFREE is most memorably about. Sagan brilliantly treads the thin ice of futuristic ethical comment, daring to propose scenarios that show us at our all-too-human worst, even as we clin

Nick Sagan has overcome his sophomore slump (Edenborn) in crafting a fast-paced conclusion to his trilogy that explores a future world where the only survivors of a plague are the rich and powerful who could afford to have themselves preserved. The new world populated by the power-hungry elite is not a pleasant one and the cast of the first two books, is faced with the difficult task of trying to shepherd wolves. If there is a complaint to be had with this novel it's that for the most part the story is pretty downbeat. The ugliness and selfishness of human nature is highlighted. In the prior novels, the characters, mainly Halloween, were changed by the adversity they faced. There is much less change in this novel and the characters, while coping with their problems are left unaltered in their views perhaps because their outlooks, which tend to be pessimistic, are not disproven. Overall, fans of the first two novels will not be dissapointed. Initiates to the series should begin with Idlewild as there is little in the way of introduction to the recurring characters and the events of the prior books are frequently referenced.

The Black Ep pandemic epidemic (see IDLEWILD and EDENBORN) has left few humans still alive. No part of the earth was safe from the ravages of the disease. At the same time in Victory City the few Posthuman survivors argue about the future with most wanting to adhere to the Doctrine of working as a collective to survive while the recently unfrozen prefer a return to the class power system for instance what else can a de-iced senator from Texas do but use authority even as far away as the Green Mountains of Vermont. As the debate rages over how to promulgate the species and organize society, a mutation strain of Black Ep causes new havoc. Finally science saves Homo sapiens from becoming extinct with the creation of a new organ that dramatically increases the immune system so that it can fight off the Black Ep and its various strains. However those still alive realize that the synthetic organ that wards off Black Ep is also a communication device that enables aliens to communicate with earthlings; aliens who brought Black Ep to the planet. Mankind has apparently past a morbid test, but the price still shakes those breathing; some want nothing to do with this ET superior; others want vengeance; while the remainder believes it is hopeless to do anything but continue to endure. In his third futuristic thriller Nick Sagan has written a compelling work that will appeal to fans of speculative fiction and apocalyptic thrillers though this time society is breaking into factions over the way to remake the future. Readers will admire those trying to live as they refuse to allow humanity to become extinct even when the odds are overwhelmingly against them and they disagree on what kind of society to have. Speculative fiction and apocalyptic thriller fans will enjoy the final fight of the fittest for survival of the species. Harriet Klausner