Review of 'Forty Signs of Rain'

Forty Signs of Rain by Kim Stanley Robinson
1st book in the 'Science in the Capital' series

Things are going badly for the earth with the catastrophic consequences of global warming causing big problems. In this novel, however, these events only unfold in the final 50 pages, in the other 300 pages the politics of Washington, DC and, specifically, the National Science Foundation (NSF).

A small group of delegates from the tidy island nation of Khembalung open an embassy near the NSF offices. Their island, unfortunately, is one of those threatened by the rising waters of the earth. Anna Quibler works for the NSF and takes the plight of the delegates to heart. Frank Vanderwal, a collegue of Anna, questions the effectiveness of the NSF: Can it act in time to help avert disaster?

Another very readable novel by Robinson though I found it a bit dry and full of a lot of political wrangling that did not really “grab” my attention. This is the first in a series of novels about the impending apocalypse and I will likely read the rest of the series but it will not be at the top of my reading list.

Rating: “A bit better than average”

Review Date: 2007-05-10


Genre: Science Fiction

Publisher: Harper Collins

Publication Date: 2004


Other reviewed books in the 'Science in the Capital' series:

Other reviewed books by Kim Stanley Robinson: