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Becoming Green by Stuart Fox

Becoming GreenBecoming Green was strangely exactly what I needed right now. So far removed from the typical story lines that top the book searches these days, this was a sci/fi medical drama reminiscent of “Outbreak” but with a completely different twist.

Set in the Sierra Mountains, the town of Crowley Lake is shaken one day by a mysterious illness that brings in the government and shuts them off from the world. Taking the lives of some and altering the lives of the rest, Becoming Green, tackles the possibility of a genetic mutation that turns people essentially into plants, no longer requiring them to need food.

The brain child of Neil Holmes, a renowned biologist who has is wife unknowingly release his creation to their town, quickly introduces the possibility of a new species and one that threatens the human race if not contained.

Although I found the romantic relationships that develop in this story strangely out of place given the crisis they are dealing with, the story itself was very entertaining. The back stories of each character and the technical aspect of this book were very well done. The author doing his best to explain phenomenons of science as well as history are very apparent and for the most part well integrated. Although a few times I did feel they were over the top, mostly finding some of the character’s knowledge of such things a little hard to believe …but all in all it made the story what it was and was a very good read.

For those interested in science, evolution, the possibilities of life on a different planet and the interesting things that we humans are capable of, I highly recommend this book. There were a few editing issues, but none to bother me much from being drawn into the story. Stuart Fox did a fantastic job of character building, really allowing you to get to know the people involved (and there were quite a large number of them). With each new introduction you could see how they would possibly fit into the story and instead of too much information or too many characters, what you are left with is a well crafted story that all began with one crazy scientist’s idea that we could become like plants and no longer need food to survive.

When the realization of what he’s done truly hits the people involved they are left with a very difficult choice – how to allow these new “green” people to exist.

Find Becoming Green on Amazon.com