review:
An enjoyable hardcore cyberpunk story set in the sea - now that's different and evocative of Crichton's Sphere and also setting the early stage for how Blindsight envisioned evolving humans. The story is about a bunch of 'divergents' i.e. people who are different from 'normals' in the sense that they don't fit in or follow the same norms and rules of society. People who have suffered trauma or have tendencies for violence. It was uncomfortable to read since this isn't a protagonist that the reader can usually read along as or with - but perhaps the point of the story was to suggest these people are so far off from society that any chance to further the distance is a natural tendency. The tech was cool - genetic modification but not just hand-waving, instead having a gradual consequential impact through living and integrating it as part of what we see our bodies as a system of functionalities. There is another three books in the series - but I do not think the reviews and discussions are promising enough for me to give it a read. I remember not liking Echopraxia after looking forward to it from reading Blindsight.,