Icarus Descending

Icarus Descending, by Elizabeth Hand, turns out to be the 3rd book in a trilogy. If I'd realized that, I'd have read the other books first. Knowing it now, there's no way I'm going back to read the other 2. I think I'll try another of her works next. Waking the Moon, maybe, or Glimmering. This was an interesting read and one I found difficult to put down, even though the point of view changes frequently -sometimes "I" is a different person from one paragraph to the next. That's not a style I find endearing, but the book held me anyway.

from the back of the book:

Of all the grotesque creatures populating the earth in the aftermath of the viral wars, the most monstrous are the energumens. Because their mutations are the result of centuries of genetic engineering. Because they are the most beautiful of the geneslaves. Because they are also the most human. They spend their thousand-day life spans tending to the needs of the Ascendants, who rule a war-blasted planet from the distant HORUS space stations. But the energumens have destroyed the Ascendants and will now come to earth to lead the other bioengineered slave races in a war against humanity, ushering in a deadly new age. And only they hold the key to surviving the cataclysm that is hurtling toward them from deep space.