nicolepants's review
4.0
I liked Gemsigns, but thought it was a bit overwrought, and a bit muddy.... I really liked Binary because it focused more on the story, the science, and the implications of living in a world with gems. -0.5 stars for glacial pacing/Phoenix chapters, -0.5 stars for incredibly weird affection shown at odd times between characters (Sharon/Mik, Rhys/Callan). Also I wish the foreshadowing in both books didn't make it so you can spot the twist a mile away, the reveal should actually reveal something.
helenid's review
4.0
Very interesting and the tension barely let up. There were new characters who caused me no end of worry! Also no cliff-hanger :)
colossal's review
4.0
A political SF thriller that continues three years after the events of [b:Gemsigns|17350538|Gemsigns (®Evolution, #1)|Stephanie Saulter|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1360600426s/17350538.jpg|24092177].
The new legal status of gems and the ongoing presence of Aryel Morningstar have calmed much of the tension between norms and gems. The book starts with Mikal from the first book being sworn in as the first gem politician. He's also married to the norm policewoman Sharon Varsi from the first book and has taken her surname. The gemtech companies have moved into areas outside human genetic engineering and no longer have much contact with the gems that they created and enslaved. But that's about to change. It turns out that the gems may need the gemtechs, for both information about their path and help for the future. And the gemtechs need some of the expertise of key gems as well.
This situation revolves around the fraught relationships between Aryel, Eli Walker and Zavcka Klinst all from the first book and whether they can work together, and what hidden agendas are going on. The book ends up pivoting on Aryel's origins and Zavcka's motivations while introducing several new characters.
This series still lacks in nuance; the good guys are unambiguously good and the bad guys are horrible. However, this is a significant improvement on the first book, particularly in terms of the gemtech renewal. There's also signs at the start that Zavcka herself may be moving her attitudes as well, but this turns out to be just a symptom of a greater insanity. There's also a lot of answers in this book and clear signs for the future of this interesting universe.
The new legal status of gems and the ongoing presence of Aryel Morningstar have calmed much of the tension between norms and gems. The book starts with Mikal from the first book being sworn in as the first gem politician. He's also married to the norm policewoman Sharon Varsi from the first book and has taken her surname. The gemtech companies have moved into areas outside human genetic engineering and no longer have much contact with the gems that they created and enslaved. But that's about to change. It turns out that the gems may need the gemtechs, for both information about their path and help for the future. And the gemtechs need some of the expertise of key gems as well.
This situation revolves around the fraught relationships between Aryel, Eli Walker and Zavcka Klinst all from the first book and whether they can work together, and what hidden agendas are going on. The book ends up pivoting on Aryel's origins and Zavcka's motivations while introducing several new characters.
This series still lacks in nuance; the good guys are unambiguously good and the bad guys are horrible. However, this is a significant improvement on the first book, particularly in terms of the gemtech renewal. There's also signs at the start that Zavcka herself may be moving her attitudes as well, but this turns out to be just a symptom of a greater insanity. There's also a lot of answers in this book and clear signs for the future of this interesting universe.
soesje's review
5.0
Great continuation of the first book. We are dealing with new problems and problems that continued from the first book. we deal with a lot of topics in this book that are carefully handled, topics like trauma, infertility, pride, racism and sickness. I think these topics are handled in a way that shows you how the characters deal with it and how it affects the characters, not in way that is telling you how you should feel about it. I think this was the right choice since these topics where not the focus of the book but did drive plotpoints or where side storylines on their own.
cindyc's review
5.0
If you loved Gemsigns, you’ll be blown away by Binary. What an absolutely amazing book this is!
The story starts 5 years after the events in Gemsigns and the Gems have slowly been accepted into society by now. Not that everything’s peachy, there is still a lot of caution and opposition from fundamentalists, but the Gem society is on its way to full acceptance. Mikal has been elected in the City council and there is even a big festival where Gems can show their technology and their way of living, ‘The Festival of the Future’. It’s promising to be quite the event.
In the meantime the Gemtech companies have almost all gone under, but Bel’Natur and Zavcka Klist are still going strong. The company has drastically changed direction, firing most of its staff and rehiring people sympathetic to Gems to start a new era in Infotech. Zavcka has a lot of plans and wants to use Herran’s binary thinking to produce a new kind of product. Aryel is reluctant to let him go to Bel’Natur, but the choice is up to him. Meanwhile detective Sharon Varsi receives prove that genestock, genetic material from the gemtech age, has been stolen from the Archive. Is it true and why was it stolen?
There are a few new characters introduced in this book and some others that were already mentioned in the first book now get a lot more ‘screen time’. First of all there’s Aryel’s adoptive family: Rhys and Gwen, Gem twins who were found in the woods after a mysterious lab went up in fire, and their dad, one of the Remnants, who found them. Of all of them especially Rhys gets a big storyline and I loved reading about him. He’s very smart, but plagued by a mysterious illness. In coming to the city, he hopes he can find out what’s wrong with him, but along the way he also finds love. If you want to read about a heartwarming, lovely romance, than you’ll love this part. It’s LGBT and a romance so well written it made me ‘ship’ them a bit, if I can use the popular term.
People getting more time in the spotlight are Sharon Varsi and Herran, both very interesting characters who get great storylines. Herran really makes a lot of progress socially and it was wonderful seeing him slowly blossom a bit more, getting a bit closer to people and opening up more.
There are a few big storylines in this book that all come together smoothly in the end. We have the stolen genestock and the investigation to find out who was involved and why the genestock was stolen. Then there’s also Rhys’ disease and what may be causing it. Rhys can’t find his genecode anywhere, so there’s another big mystery there. He knows that having his genecode would give a lot of insight in this strange disease. A big part of the story is obviously also dedicated to the new Bel’Natur and Herran’s part in that. In between all these there are also intermezzo’s that are written from 2 point of view characters. I have to admit that I was a bit confused at first and that I didn’t see the second POV clearly at first. But slowly I understood. It’s interesting, because these parts are not explicit, you have to piece together the bits of information you get to understand the past of two of the main characters. It may be confusing at first but when everything comes together and you can see the whole picture I was more than satisfied with all the explanations. I know this part of the review may sound a bit cryptic but I’m desperate not to spoil anything for future readers. This is something you’ll have to piece together on your own and enjoy the story as it makes its connection with all the other storylines.
I would love to write even more about this book, I think I could discuss and talk about it all day. It’s full of interesting themes and characters and has an very entertaining story that will leave you in the dark ’till the end. Honestly, I would recommend this series to anyone who likes an intelligent, exciting, extremely well written science fiction story.
The story starts 5 years after the events in Gemsigns and the Gems have slowly been accepted into society by now. Not that everything’s peachy, there is still a lot of caution and opposition from fundamentalists, but the Gem society is on its way to full acceptance. Mikal has been elected in the City council and there is even a big festival where Gems can show their technology and their way of living, ‘The Festival of the Future’. It’s promising to be quite the event.
In the meantime the Gemtech companies have almost all gone under, but Bel’Natur and Zavcka Klist are still going strong. The company has drastically changed direction, firing most of its staff and rehiring people sympathetic to Gems to start a new era in Infotech. Zavcka has a lot of plans and wants to use Herran’s binary thinking to produce a new kind of product. Aryel is reluctant to let him go to Bel’Natur, but the choice is up to him. Meanwhile detective Sharon Varsi receives prove that genestock, genetic material from the gemtech age, has been stolen from the Archive. Is it true and why was it stolen?
There are a few new characters introduced in this book and some others that were already mentioned in the first book now get a lot more ‘screen time’. First of all there’s Aryel’s adoptive family: Rhys and Gwen, Gem twins who were found in the woods after a mysterious lab went up in fire, and their dad, one of the Remnants, who found them. Of all of them especially Rhys gets a big storyline and I loved reading about him. He’s very smart, but plagued by a mysterious illness. In coming to the city, he hopes he can find out what’s wrong with him, but along the way he also finds love. If you want to read about a heartwarming, lovely romance, than you’ll love this part. It’s LGBT and a romance so well written it made me ‘ship’ them a bit, if I can use the popular term.
People getting more time in the spotlight are Sharon Varsi and Herran, both very interesting characters who get great storylines. Herran really makes a lot of progress socially and it was wonderful seeing him slowly blossom a bit more, getting a bit closer to people and opening up more.
There are a few big storylines in this book that all come together smoothly in the end. We have the stolen genestock and the investigation to find out who was involved and why the genestock was stolen. Then there’s also Rhys’ disease and what may be causing it. Rhys can’t find his genecode anywhere, so there’s another big mystery there. He knows that having his genecode would give a lot of insight in this strange disease. A big part of the story is obviously also dedicated to the new Bel’Natur and Herran’s part in that. In between all these there are also intermezzo’s that are written from 2 point of view characters. I have to admit that I was a bit confused at first and that I didn’t see the second POV clearly at first. But slowly I understood. It’s interesting, because these parts are not explicit, you have to piece together the bits of information you get to understand the past of two of the main characters. It may be confusing at first but when everything comes together and you can see the whole picture I was more than satisfied with all the explanations. I know this part of the review may sound a bit cryptic but I’m desperate not to spoil anything for future readers. This is something you’ll have to piece together on your own and enjoy the story as it makes its connection with all the other storylines.
I would love to write even more about this book, I think I could discuss and talk about it all day. It’s full of interesting themes and characters and has an very entertaining story that will leave you in the dark ’till the end. Honestly, I would recommend this series to anyone who likes an intelligent, exciting, extremely well written science fiction story.
sophiebillekens's review
4.0
Excellent stuff. Really enjoyed part 1 (Gemsigns) and this sequel is just as good. It's clever social commentary disguised as sci-fi. It's also a thrilling read with a race to the finish. I love the plausible future Saulter has created, and I also love that main characters include a gay couple and an autistic man/boy. You have to read it with due attention, though, because there is quite a bit of tech-speak (i.e. I don't have a degree in molecular biology, but I did manage to follow the genetics talk, mostly), so make sure you have time for this one.
graculus's review
5.0
I read the first book in this series (Gemsigns) after it was recommended by multiple people at WorldCon last year and discovered just why folks were raving about it - fortunately for me, the local library has discovered Stephanie Saulter and recently bought the second book (Binary) with the third book (Regeneration) on order, so that'll be reviewed on here in due course...
As this is the middle book of the trilogy and I hadn't done a proper review of the first one, I feel there needs to be some explanation of the setting: essentially, the book is set in London some years after a cognitive disorder called the Syndrome had decimated the world's population. In response to that, various companies had developed what they call 'gemtech', essentially genetically engineering people to do the jobs nobody wants to do or is able to do - so you might have someone (described as a 'gem') who can breathe underwater or work at very high altitudes, but who is essentially the property of those companies. The world is divided between 'gems' and 'norms' and Gemsigns is about the campaign for the gems to gain full human rights, against the opposition of the companies involved, led by a charismatic gem called Aryel Morningstar.
Binary is set shortly after that campaign has succeeded, with many of the same characters playing significant parts in its story. While the world is trying to work out just how gems and norms are going to relate to one another, a whistleblower informs the police that valuable raw material has been stolen from one of the gemtech companies. At the same time, the company concerned is trying to reinvent itself and tap into unexplored areas of research, namely the link between computers and people - for that research to succeed, they need the cooperation of one of their former pieces of property, which also gives the gems an opportunity to find out if the company has really changed the way it claims. Closer to home, one of Aryel's family is becoming more and more unwell from a disorder that seems to be related to his genetic code, so the opportunity to mine the company's archives for anything that might help is almost too good to be true.
I think one of the strengths of these books is how believable the characters are, especially in their interactions with one another - none of them are perfect but they are all very human, regardless of their background. In Binary, we discover something about the backstory for both Aryel herself and her main adversary, the CEO of Bel'Natur - meanwhile, new relationships are formed and old ones strengthened by adversity. Seriously, it's all good - read these books, read Regeneration when you get the chance and anything else Stephanie Saulter might write in the future.
As this is the middle book of the trilogy and I hadn't done a proper review of the first one, I feel there needs to be some explanation of the setting: essentially, the book is set in London some years after a cognitive disorder called the Syndrome had decimated the world's population. In response to that, various companies had developed what they call 'gemtech', essentially genetically engineering people to do the jobs nobody wants to do or is able to do - so you might have someone (described as a 'gem') who can breathe underwater or work at very high altitudes, but who is essentially the property of those companies. The world is divided between 'gems' and 'norms' and Gemsigns is about the campaign for the gems to gain full human rights, against the opposition of the companies involved, led by a charismatic gem called Aryel Morningstar.
Binary is set shortly after that campaign has succeeded, with many of the same characters playing significant parts in its story. While the world is trying to work out just how gems and norms are going to relate to one another, a whistleblower informs the police that valuable raw material has been stolen from one of the gemtech companies. At the same time, the company concerned is trying to reinvent itself and tap into unexplored areas of research, namely the link between computers and people - for that research to succeed, they need the cooperation of one of their former pieces of property, which also gives the gems an opportunity to find out if the company has really changed the way it claims. Closer to home, one of Aryel's family is becoming more and more unwell from a disorder that seems to be related to his genetic code, so the opportunity to mine the company's archives for anything that might help is almost too good to be true.
I think one of the strengths of these books is how believable the characters are, especially in their interactions with one another - none of them are perfect but they are all very human, regardless of their background. In Binary, we discover something about the backstory for both Aryel herself and her main adversary, the CEO of Bel'Natur - meanwhile, new relationships are formed and old ones strengthened by adversity. Seriously, it's all good - read these books, read Regeneration when you get the chance and anything else Stephanie Saulter might write in the future.
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