There's a kind of genius in science fiction. No other genre depends more upon the ability of its authors to speculate on the future's social, technological and scientific trends. Consequently, it is a genre which often produces both works of wonderful imagination and works of staggering miscalculation. Though Babylon Babies has an intriguing premise, it has more in common with the latter camp than the former.
The year is 2013 and the world is about to change. Marie, a young woman, recently liberated from a genetic experiment conducted in Siberia, carries inside her the next evolution of humanity. Marie, who is a schizophrenic, needs to hook up with allies expecting her in Montreal, Canada, but she can't reach them on her own. Enter Hugo Toorop, a war-scarred antihero whose mercenary talents were honed in the Balkan wars. Toorop agrees to shepherd Marie to Montreal, but along the way he learns far more about her, and the future, than is safe to know. In a world of gangsters, government agencies and information dealers, Toorop is tasked to keep Marie alive until her destiny is complete. But is he willing to exist in a world where her promise is made reality?
Mr. Dantec is clearly a deep thinker. His speculation on the nature of human consciousness and intelligence and their relationships with schizophrenia is fascinating and disturbing. This, coupled with musings on the consequences of genetic manipulation and the nature of the next great leap forward in science, provide the story a solid, Sci-Fi platform. Meanwhile, Toorop and Marie are fully realized characters shouldering weighty burdens. Not only have they each suffered a dark past, they have a vital role to play in giving birth to the next evolution of humanity, Marie to give it life and Toorop to decide if it is worthy of coming into existence. Together, premise and protagonists ought to be enough to actualize this story, but dislocated subplots, inconsequential digressions, and too much damn weirdness clog up what ought to be a quality tale. Of the 520 odd pages, at least half is nonessential padding which, rather than add to the story, only succeeds in diminishing its impact. Promisingly incisive, but profoundly flawed. (2/5 Stars)
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