Kress postulates a future in which parents can control their children’s genetic futures. Specifically, a genetic modification can be made in utero which would allow the person to never require sleep. The so-called Sleepless thus enjoy an additional eight hours every single day to study, practice their skills, or work. As a result, they are significantly more successful than Sleepers.

At first, Sleepers regard the Sleepless as curiosities, but as the Sleepless grow in number and influence, envy and fear rear their heads. Repressive laws begin dotting the legal landscape, and anti-Sleepless violence mounts. In time, many of the Sleepless withdraw to their own isolated community. The climactic moment of the novel brings with it the threat of war between Sleeper and Sleepless.

Kress has written a quintessential what-if novel. The strength of the story rests in its examination of how the unintended aftereffects (as opposed to side effects) of this genetic modification would play out in society over time. It’s a thoughtful, dialogue- and philosophy-heavy work, with a couple of clever twists that turns the story back from Sleeper-vs-Sleepless to Sleepless-vs-Sleepless to human-vs-human. The title derives from an extended metaphor played throughout the novel. On the whole, the plot is fairly straightforward, slowly building upon itself with successive events. No twist endings here.

The characters are the weakest link in the novel. With a couple of notable exceptions, they are more broadly-sketched caricatures than real people. It’s not that Kress doesn’t have the skill; she just doesn’t spend the time or delve into most of the characters’ lives enough for us to really get to know them. I wouldn’t mind so much if it were just the secondary characters, but even the novel’s antagonist seems one-dimensional. I wish we had seen more of her earlier in the book, so we would have a better idea of who she is and why she’s the person she’s become.

On the whole, an engaging and thought-provoking story. This is science fiction in the Jules Verne tradition. That is, it’s fiction today. Let’s re-read it again in a few decades and see if we can still say that.

For those who are interested: Regarding gay content, there’s virtually zilch. There is one mention of gay rights as part of a list of civil rights movements in history. No gay characters (not even B- or C-characters, which I personally thought was an interesting omission, considering the number of characters and treatment of the subject matter). I didn’t score the novel for its gay positivity because there wasn’t enough information. It’s as if gay people don’t exist in Kress’s future.