The Bohr Maker

The Bohr Maker is a science fiction novel by the writer Linda Nagata.

This is the first book that I have read by Linda Nagata and I'm not quite sure what I feel about it. The basis for the book is interesting enough - it takes place in a world where nanomachines, bio-engineering and neuralcomputer interfaces are highly developed and in widespread use. This makes the world of Nagatas Bohr Maker very strange - a lot stranger than the world of Nivens Ringworld, even though we never leave the solar system and never meet a life form of non-human descendance. This takes some getting used to (I think that people who have read William Gibson, will have an easier time with this), but I have already bought Tech Heaven by Nagata and I think that I will enjoy this book more that I did Bohr Maker, as I've already gotten a feel for her universe and writing style.

The book is about the ultimate nanomachine (called The Bohr Maker), a nanomachine with the power to transform both humans and their environment into anything the humans want. The plot is mostly about the fight for this nanomachine - our main character (Nikko) needs the Bohr Maker to survive and will do anything to get it. Nagata takes us through a very interesting world and shows us a lot of the things that nanotechnology can give us and along the way spins a tale that is both fascinating and interesting. It's a book that makes one ask one self what it is to be human and if it really matters.

Review by bon

This book is the first Linda Nagata book I've read. I'm pretty happy with it. It's as if someone took SNOWCRASH, chopped it down to bite size and stuffed it full of a different garbage dump Earth.

I really enjoyed the whole bit with the different virus/makers that would reprogram dna and brains into something else. Some evicted tenants who were mutating into solid gold buddahs. Genius writing. The main character who accidently gets the Bohr Maker program stuck in her is excellent in personality as a poor messed up ex prostitute kid Phousita eating s***** collected out of the main sewer/river going thru town.

She is transformed and goes from another penny blowing down the street to miss grid universe god. The hard ass cop Kirsten is nasty nasty and epitomizes old thinking like a Falwell type in a tough woman cop body with all the restricted brain areas torching poverty everywhere it is challenged. This book is so well thought out I have to recommend it to everyone. Please read it. NOW!!! It's hard to believe it's her first novel, she's been doing short stories for a while now. About time`!!