Scan barcode
A review by sizrobe
Gene Mapper by Taiyo Fujii
4.0
Decent enough biopunk. I wish I could give it 3.5 stars. It's a relatively slow burn for a simple enough detective story about a new "five star" artificially designed rice variant that is mysteriously getting infected. It's set in the 2030's, where VR and augmented reality are fully enmeshed in everyday life, and fully artificial organisms that are programmed whole cloth from the DNA up are just beginning to exist.
It's relatively hard scifi, aside from a brief interlude involving nanites, which seems a bit optimistic for the 2030's. It's also relatively science-positive, depicting Luddite factions as largely backwards and misguided. It also features a memorable character named Kurokawa, whose quirks I won't spoil here.
It's relatively hard scifi, aside from a brief interlude involving nanites, which seems a bit optimistic for the 2030's. It's also relatively science-positive, depicting Luddite factions as largely backwards and misguided. It also features a memorable character named Kurokawa, whose quirks I won't spoil here.