Better Angels

KLIATT

Set in the same world as Hendrix's earlier novels, Lightpaths and Standing Wave, this novel follows several people whose lives are transformed by the discovery of an odd artifact. When Lydia Fabro digs a bone that looks like an angel's shoulder blade out of the La Brea tar pit, it's an interesting find. But then the alien nanotechnology on the artifact is set loose on the world, and nothing will ever be the same. Struggling to find answers are Paul, whose sister disappeared soon after she gave him the spore of a rare hallucinogenic mushroom; Mike, whose addiction to the drug derived from the mushroom eventually helps him to communicate with—and control—the electronic life forms that have evolved in the Net; and Jiro, whose pattern-finding skills and Native American mysticism lead him to a daring and risky attempt to push the limits of what it means to be human. At stake is the next level of evolution, not of humanity, but possibly of the universe itself. Hendrix is an impressive writer, and this book is a fascinating exploration of the intersection of science and spirituality. While it can stand alone, it is more likely to be embraced by readers who are already fans. Buy where the earlier books have been popular. KLIATT Codes: SA—Recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 1999, Berkley/Ace, 373p, 23cm, $13.95. Ages 16 to adult. Reviewer: Deirdre B. Root; Ref. Libn., Middletown P.L., Middletown, OH, March 2001 (Vol. 35 No. 2)

Locus

A novel of unparalleled brilliance from the author leading the way into the new millennium...

Kirkus Reviews

This hardcover debut from the author of Standing Wave, etc. arrives too late for a full review. By 2014, a religion-obsessed government is repressing scientific endeavor. Some years previously, however, Jacinta Larkin discovered a South American Neanderthal population whose religion was based on ingesting a fungus that produced cosmic mental connections and eventually would transport them through a wormhole to meet the alien Allesseh. (When an Allesseh ship crashed on Earth millions of years ago, they left the fungus in case intelligence someday evolved.) Jacinta's skeptical brother Paul watches in disbelief as Jacinta and friends vanish into space. Eventually, he sells the fungus to Dr. Vang, who hopes to develop mind/machine linkages of such information density that a transcendental singularity will open. Others take the fungus drug with varying degrees of enlightenment. Meanwhile, researcher Lydia Farbro discovers an alien artifact in a California tar pit. Extraordinarily rich in ideas, but bogged down by indistinguishable characters and laborious exposition.