Slow River
Nicola Griffith
Born into a bioengineering family made wealthy by cleaning up after humanity, Lore leads a life of privilege and power. Riches don’t bring happiness, though, and the van de Oest family hides its share of dark secrets. Lore is kidnapped, but escapes from her captors when she realizes her family isn’t going to pay the ransom. Naked, alone, and wounded, she is saved by the brutally street-smart Spanner, who teaches Lore to survive by exploiting the Net (and human) weaknesses. To learn to trust, though, Lore must face her demons, one by one, until she can begin again.
Griffith’s biotech-science details are accurate, and she fits them smoothly into the story in the manner of a cyberpunk master. This novel’s real strength is its characters, though. The van de Oest family, Spanner, even characters who appear only briefly, are all distinct and consistent–not to mention very human. Lore herself seems so personal that Griffith’s note about the story’s disturbing aspects not being autobiographical was probably wise. Slow River is more than good enough to transcend genre and appeal to both queer SF readers and a more broad audience looking for an excellent character-driven SF story. –Therese Littleton
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Details
ISBN | 345395379 |
Genre | Award Winner; Speculative Fiction |
Copyright Date | 1995 |
Publication Date | 20-Aug-96 |
Publisher | Ballantine Books |
Format | Trade Paperback |
No. of Pages | 352 |
Language | English |
Rating | Great |
BookID | 12049 |