Starfish Paperback – 29 April 2008

A SiFi writer in league with Asimov, Clark and Lui. Fantastic expanse of ideas and imagination. Fast paced and utterly bewitching. A little more editing aka slimming would do wonders.Must read for all SciFi fans.

First true science fiction I’ve read in a long time.

Also, to an ex-biologist and sometime hard-scientist wannabe, so much interesting science in an intriguing story! On to book 2!

Peter Watts is, if anything, consistent.. The same future dystopia reigns in every novel from the first Rifter Trilogy to Blind Sight / Echopraxia. It is a dismal, soulless mess of biological and technological dreams / nightmares with characters that can only be described as depressingly complex. The same themes appear over and over - intelligence, free will, consciousness, boundaries, purpose and reason.Unlike many authors, Watts eschews lofty power talk from the likes of the Kremlin, UN or White House. His focus is on the middleman - those who are controlled and control others, who both take and give orders. This is a difficult perch due the inherent nuances of such a position and yet this is what he does best. In a world starved for more and more energy, the deep rifts in the oceans are now being exploited. But the cost in human sacrifice is great.STARFISH is the story of one group of workers at the Beebe energy plant. First novels are almost always autobiographical which is the case with this novel. The author worked in the oceans protecting marine life and thus has inside knowledge of the last unexplored place on Earth. The description of the underworld is fascinating but it is the workers that grab our attention. These are greatly modified humans that can withstand the tremendous pressure of the deep and who can remain in the waters for long periods of time due to their internal machinery that allows respiration. The catch is that these individuals must fit a certain psychological baseline and that include sociopaths, pedophiles and abuse victims.But something lurks among the insane crew, an ancient form of life (pre DNA) that threatens the world. . And once its meme enters the Maelstrom (future internet) intelligent monitoring organisms set up to prohibit viruses and malware are drawn to its very simplicity. The reader is in for a bumpy, ride to the future with word twists, technical verbal fireworks, phrases as sentences, competing thoughts and a swirl of condensed, punk writing. My Grade - A1

I just finished reading this book for the second time and I think it might have been even better than the first time I read it. I will be definitely be tagging this book for a third read and that is rare for me.It's dark and honest with fasinating new tech that seems very plausible for the nearish future.Lenie Clarke is someone you will get to know and its odd cause she is messed up twisted from her past but at the same time I find her absolutely captivating. As this was my second read when I read the sentence that was something like 'Lenie Clarke has been activated' a shiver went down my spine as I could just about remember what that would mean for world in the next two books!

Difficile de commenter après Jérôme et Hellburner ! mais je tenais à laisser mon impression Après des années de lecture essentiellement sf il est rare d'avoir un véritable "coup de coeur", de se sentir véritablement dépaysé, de ne pas deviner tout ou partie de l'intrigue alors j'insiste ! Lisez StarfishAh que j'aime cette écriture ! Peter Watts possède l'art et la manière de nous entraîner à la fois dans des lieux extrêmes et de nous faire visiter de l'intérieur des personnages hors normesPas besoin d'aller à l'autre bout de l'univers ... Il nous plonge dans l'abysse sur une faille dans une station qui a pour première mission d'entretenir les machines qui fournissent l'énergie à la surface dans un monde futuriste avec pour équipe d'entretien un groupe de "déviants psychologiques" spécialement sélectionnés ... et on plonge loin loin en territoire inconnu.ce pourrait être un huis clos étouffant s'il n'y avait ces retour-plongées en surface et ces personnages inquiétants et passionnantspour faire un peu de chauvinisme, j'ai pensé non pas à Destination Vide mais à Soleil Chaud Poisson des profondeurs de Jeury et puis j'ai arrêté de comparer ou d'essayer de classer Starfishattention, il y a une suite (maelstrom et behemoth) mais rien que cet opus là vaut son pesant d'or Ne le ratez pas