Starfish

by Peter Watts
Tor Books; February 2000; ISBN 0-812-57585-7; 374 pp.;
reviewed by John W. Herbert

I’m going to go out on a big limb here and predict that Starfish is going to win the Aurora this year. If it doesn’t, I’ll demand a recount.An ambitious and impressive first novel, it concerns the genetically and mechanically altered humans who man underwater geo-thermal power stations along the Juan de Fuca ridge just off the BC coast. It is not a place for any sane person, and the only people who can tolerate the working conditions are people that the surface society is best rid of anyway. Watts manages to make you want to keep reading, even though all his characters are thoroughly unlikable. The oppressive atmosphere seeps through the pages as Watts draws you deeper into the underwater intrigue.This book is going to make a big splash. Catch the wave