Linda Nagata’s latest book, Limit of Vision (published by Tom Doherty Associates Books), is an intriguing science fiction novel about nanotechnology. This novel should be added to any science fiction collection for its creativity in writing about technology and science having to do with artificial intelligence and nanotechnology.

Previously, Nagata has written four other science fiction novels, including The Bohr Maker (winner of the Locus Award for Best First Novel), Deception Well, Vast, and Tech Heaven.

Limit of Vision takes place in the future in a small Hawaiian research lab and in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta. The main characters of this novel are Virgil Copeland and Ela Suvanatat. Virgil Copeland is one of three young American scientists who smuggle LOVs (a bioengineered organism) to earth from an orbital platform high above the earth and implant them into their brains, using themselves as test subjects. Copeland and his colleagues are certain that the LOVs can be a great benefit to mankind. Ela Suvenatat is a 19 year-old, half-Thai and half-Caucasian journalist who becomes involved with the LOVs and Virgil while gathering information for a news story. The story describes the life and evolution of the LOVs while Virgil and Ela guard them against destruction by the rest of the world.

Nagata excels in using science and technology in her writing, but uses too much scientific or pseudo-scientific terminology, which sometimes leaves the reader confused. For example, in part of the book Nagata writes,

Our method of selection does favor those LOVs that can most efficiently link with one another and operate together as a distributed system–like a billion tiny computers linked on a network … Of the twenty colonies in the LOV lockdown, most are obsolete generations. Nearly all our cognitive work involves the apex colony.

Limit of Vision is one of those books in which the reader has to stop and think about what is going on and make sense of the technical language. The convoluted technical lingo thwarts the blazingly creative plot.

In addition to overly technical sentences, this book leaves too many questions unanswered. The reader wonders how Virgil and his colleagues smuggled the LOVs to earth, and why the government was so opposed to the LOVs. The reader is left wondering what is going to happen to the LOVs, Virgil, and Ela. The conclusion to this story leaves the reader feeling like there should be a "to be continued."

On the other hand, Nagata fills the novel with captivating characters, creative ideas, and bizarre creatures. Each new character in the book is described and talked about so much, it seems as if the reader has known them forever. Once the reader gets used to the technical terms and comprehends what is happening, the novel becomes difficult to put down. There is a constant flow of action to keep the reader interested.

Overall, Limit of Vision is a worthwhile venture into hardcore science fiction that incorporates the ideas of biotechnology. Not counting the technical language, this novel should be one of the books to buy this year if you like science fiction.