Author: Mark Salow

ISBN: 0595397778

The new futuristic action thriller novel Darwin’s Orphans (iUniverse Inc., Lincoln, 2006) by Mark Salow incorporates some novelty of thought and fresh qualities in the familiar storyline of conflict between the good and the bad guys in an advanced future world. Salow’s book tells the story of a pop star Bobby Joe who becomes the president of the United States somewhere around the latter half of the 21^st century. His efforts to bring peace to humanity are thwarted by supporters of violence, guys calling themselves ‘Defenders of Natural Freedom’. The story furthers along very usual lines of attack-defense situations ending in a safe and sound Booby Joe and termination of the Defenders.

The new thing about Salow’s work is his idea that human evolution tends to promote peace in majority of cases, as apparent from the success and popularity of Joe among his people. Salow has used the term ‘Darwin’s Orphans’ for the Defenders who have failed to evolve along the lines of peace like the majority of their countrymen. The interesting fact recorded about such a constitution of though is that violence undermines coherence and hence the group given to it soon splits and perishes. The internecine conflict within the Defenders verifies this observation.

Darwin’s Orphans cannot be called a page-turner since the three parts of the book tell a story that is fairly predictable and has been tried numerous times, particularly in Hollywood’s futuristic thrillers. The division of story in the three parts separating the histories of the evolution of the two conflicting groups has broken the continuity of the plot. There is little speech and character development and much of the story is ‘telling’ rather than ‘showing’. The plot too is not compelling. What makes this antiwar novel an interesting piece is its optimistic stance and positive novelty of idea.

The above review was contributed by: Ernest Dempsey. This is the  pen name of Karim Khan from Pakistan who is a Research Associate in Geology and writes fiction, nonfiction, and book reviews. To read more of Karim's Review CLICK HERE