The Child Garden, Or, a Low Comedy

I love sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and any well-written material. With that said, something about this book didn't resonate with me. I can understand the main character being a giant polar bear and the whole world being taught with viruses. But there was something about the plotting that left me feeling "Where is this going?" To be fair, I put it down for several days 2 or 3 times and picked it back up - same thing. It just felt "padded" to me, like it was to be a novella or a long short story and instead was stretched into a book. I like Geoff Ryman's short stories, but this book was not my cup of tea.

One of my favorite books ever in the world. I love it so much. I'll never get over it.

This is a truly wonderful book, that deserves a lot more attention than it got. Ryman has an incredible range, a gift for characterization, and has mastered the art for precise observation that he can nevertheless make iconic. This book is very ambitious - and he gets away with it. He weaves together Marx, the theory of relativity, hologram productions of Dante, vampires, and genetic engineering - and it works. This is one of those books that I press into my friends' hands saying, "You have got to read this." Then I have to show up at their door to get it back because they love it so much that they don't want to give it back. If you like this book you should also read "Was," Ryman's book that tackles "The Wizard of Oz." He is a truly great modern writer.

I've read this book four or five times, and I get something new out of it every times. Somehow Ryman manages to make the book engrossing and compelling, yet multi-layered and as complex as any book I've read. Ryman has created a truly original fantasy society - all too rare in science fiction - and he mixes innovative details about bio-engineering with ruminations on Dante and the nature of love. Amazingly rich.

Reading this book is like hearing the King James Bible set to music, or being presented with a holographic rose as big as Brazil, or discovering that you are in fact the cure for cancer

Like his brilliant "mainstream" novel "Was", "The Child Garden" is a novel that works on many levels, it leaves your mind reeling. Like Delany, LeGuin, and Crowley, Ryman is one of the masters of "serious" science fiction. This novels interweaves a lesbian coming out story with bio-engineering extrapolation in a future London. But the coming out story is just a springboard for ideas about the Self in Society, about alienation, memory, human connection. And Ryman somehow manages to weave consensus politics and the struggle of the artist into the bio-engineering theme. On top of this, the entire novel is about Art's healing powers. Through all this cerebral imagery, there are unforgettable characters, wit, and a whole lot of love. Few science fiction novels -- and novels about ideas in general -- can make one weep and think. This novel is the rare one that does both