Limit Of Vision [Hardcover]

_Limit of Vision_ is set in the near future. A trio of scientists has been working on a project for a corporation basically exploring the feasibility of using organisms named LOVs (since they exist at the limit of human vision) for any practical purposes. Unfortunately, the scientists are hampered because all biotechnology is strictly regulated b/c of a horrible sounding accident caused by biotech gone awry. So, their LOV experiment actually lives on a space station in orbit around Earth. Before the LOVs were taken to the space station, the scientists stole some of them and implanted them on their foreheads.

This book is about the unexpected and unpredictable consequences of that action. Some of the questions that were raised in the book include: what defines consciousness? At what point does an organism stop being "animal" and start being something else? If an organism has consciousness, then do we have the right to just destroy it? And if we don't destroy it, does it pose a threat to the very things that define us as humans?

It's not a perfect book. It does leave some loose ends. It might even be missing some details throughout the book. But, that said, I absolutely had a GREAT time reading this book. It read almost like a thriller rather than some dry biotech story. In my mind, it encompassed many of the things that make sci-fi fun to read - a fast moving plot, lots of technology well used, a real concern about what might happen in the future. With a little stretching, I could absolutely see the vision Nagata created in _Limit of Vision_ as being a realistic possibility of what our future might look like. I was also really impressed by the strides that Nagata has made in creating realistic characters.

I also want to stress that Nagata is not some "new SF author" attempting to re-write Bear's _Blood Music_. First of all, she's been around for quite a while. She has several other books out there that are really well written, although in a much different style than _Limit of Vision_. Second, Nagata has written about nanotechnology in basically ALL of her earlier books. She's not attempting to re-write _Blood Music_, she's continuing in exploring a subject that she's been talking about for quite a while. In my opinion, even if you just look at the quality of the WRITING, _Limit of Vision_ is a far superior novel.

You'd think people would be a little hesitant to infect themselves with these LOVs (cute name notwithstanding), but not in this strange world where all natural human instincts are sacrificed to further the plot. Nope, in this world people can't wait to get their brains on the LOVs because LOVs "intensify your mood". Exaclty what "intensifying your mood" really gets you is never really nailed down, but it's a pale second compared to the host of freakish super powers imbued in "Blood Music" --or for that matter in any of the various Star Trek episodes of a similar plot. People may be willing to scrap The World As They Know It for an evolutionary upgrade, but it's gotta be a killer deal--imortality at the very least. I found myself rooting for the "bad guys" who spend the novel trying to stop the idiotic "heroes" from thoughtlessly passing out LOVs like M&Ms even as they're mutating into that thing on the book cover. In the real world our response to such an outbreak could be summed up in two words: Daisy Cutter, and we'd be right. But who am I to question the author's assumption that "intensifying your mood" is worth the risk of having your world overrun by giant spiders a thousand times smarter than you who just outgrew what they used to eat.