Iris

A small, disaffected group of artists, scientists, and software developers in route to Titan , the crew of Deepstar was seeking escape, isolation, and refuge when Iris wandered into the solar system. Now curiosity and wonder are drawing the star travelers to the mysterious gas giant and its hospitable moons--for here lies their long sought dream of a new home and future. But an alien space-going vessel--unimaginably ancient yet astonishingly still operational--has been left behind on the surface of one of Iris's orbiting satellites by a strange and unknown culture. And the extraordinary artifact is pointing the colonist toward an even more remarkable discovery awaiting them on Iris itself; something deadly, inconceivable....and alive.

I'm currently enjoying reading this book.Then again.....I LOVED Six Feet Under.....characters don't get more screwed up than that.....I guess you just have to like the darker sides of life.

Iris is a challenging and complex and RICHLY REWARDING read. The characters are truly unique--and some are quite unsavory--and the science and speculations that surround their story are fascinating. There are at least three scenes as awesome and colorful as any I've read.

This huge novel goes right onto my top ten list. It is full of tons of richly developed ideas, including an awesome alien life form as well as a fascinating means of human-alien interface. Bold inventiveness on everything from cyberspace to immortality to future societies take a cast of truly unique characters on a fascinating and powerful journey.

..I found Iris to be a compelling read, and its characters to be a fully realized set of people with foibles, problems, neuroses, and -- gasp -- sex lives. That is not to say that Iris is pornographic; far from it. But the character are adults, and the book manages to convey a sense of the tangle of personalities that would result from the extended close contact of ten people on a lengthy interplanetary flight. And then, on top of all that, comes a VR encounter with an alien intelligence! A worthwhile read, no question about it.