Review: Genesis by Bernard Beckett

Genesis
Bernard Beckett
2006

Wow. A pretty good read. It turned out better than I thought it would.

The story takes place in the future, apparently in a near-perfect society that has formed after two different apocalyptic events. Anaximander is a young woman going through an oral exam in order to get into The Academy, and in the course of questioning she and her examiners talk about a famous human, the rebel Adam, and a famous android, the first real AI construct called Art. And they explore what it means to be a human, what it means to be a machine, and what the differences are, if any.

Not a bad little book. It's only 150 pages long, and it's a fast read, so if you like speculative science fiction I encourage you to give it a try. It won't waste too much of your time if you don't like it, and it brings you to a satisfying end rather quickly if you do like it and aren't much into delayed gratification. But don't read any other reviews about it before hand, though. I think the book will read better that way.


ADDED: Interesting. In reading up on this book, I have discovered that it is considered a work for children. That's odd. It wasn't in the children's or young adult section of the library, and it didn't seem like a work for kids when I was reading it. I never thought it had to do with anything juvenile until I read about the awards it has won.

Again, interesting.
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