'Earth' is a bit of a strange mixture: it is a considered ecosocial critique patched onto a not entirely serious B-movie disaster plot and terrible deus-ex-machina ending. Brin can certainly write, and 'Earth' is a great read (until the end), populated by many well-painted characters, from the major protagonists like Alex Lustig, creator of the world-threatening miniature black hole, to the minor roles, like the excruciatingly realistic middle-class teenage gang-members in Bloomington, Illinois. Disregard the pulp plot, and it is also a highly thoughtful and perhaps prophetic portrait of a world which has suffered environmental meltdown and where privacy is a forgotten concept. Until the troubles of Worldcom, Enron and AOL etc., I had thought Brin's backstory of a global war against coporate secrecy was amusing but far-fetched. Now I am not so sure... something's going to have to give.

I'm also surprised nobody seems to have noticed its strong resemblance to John Brunner's brilliant and cynical early 1970s environmental dystopia, 'Stand on Zanzibar'. The setting and the structure of 'Earth', with its multiple storylines split by excerpts from imaginary nonfiction works and internet chatrooms, is strongly influenced by Brunner's novel, and Brin also directly pinches the figure of the 'mucker', someone who is driven to senseless spree-killing by the deteriorating environmental conditions. Brin's work is far more optimistic than Brunner's, however whereas I would still rate 'Stand on Zanzibar' as one of the greatest SF novels of all time, 'Earth' is disjointed, but fun.