As an ancient retrovirus awakens, an epidemic strikes pregnant women. The victims experience miscarriages followed by second pregnancies with deformed fetuses. A pair of scientists believe that this terrifying disease is the next step in human evolution.

Year of publication: 1999

Followed by: Darwin’s Children

Biotech scientists have developed an artificial life form based on bioengineered human neurons, called LOV. As LOVs implanted in animals enhance their cognitive abilities, illegal experimentation on humans starts. But soon LOVs escape and start evolving.

Year of publication: 2002

Mankind is sending in deep space four transhumans and a vampire to study an alien artifact (yep, vampires exist, resurrected from extinction by paleogenetics). Their mission will call into question the relation between intelligence and consciousness.

Year of publication: 2006

Followed by: Echopraxia

A collection of stories from the world of genetic engineering, biotech corporates and the legal system: cancer research halted by patents on genes, a orangutang, genes changing human behaviours, and bioluminescent animals used for advertisement. 

Year of publication: 2006

In a near future, genetically-modified crops have increased food supply and eradicated world hunger. One day, mutations destroy a plantation of rice. Suspecting sabotage, a Japanese “gene mapper” launches an investigation across Asia.

Year of publication: 2013

Pills and injections are a thing of the past. Drugs are administered by giant genetically-modified tapeworms nesting in people’s guts. Humans are healthier than ever. But these parasites now claim their freedom.

Year of publication: 2013

Followed by: Symbiont; Chimera

Fleeing a dying Earth, mankind’s last survivors find a new home. But the planet is not deserted. Another civilization inhabits it, one of sentient jumping spiders (the Einstein of arachnids) generated by humanity herself via genetic engineering.

Year of publication: 2015

Followed by: Children of Ruin; Children of Memory

A pharmaceutical pirate reverse-engineers expensive medications and traverses the world on her own submarine bringing cheap alternatives to the poor. But her latest drug is leading to lethal overdoses. An unlikely duo is tasked to stop her.

Year of publication: 2017

At the end of civilization, a biotech company retreats from a nameless city, leaving behind genetically-engineered creatures. Over them all rules a giant flying grizzly bear. From his fur, a scavenger rescues Borne, a highly intelligent blob.

Year of publication: 2017

On the distant planet Pax, Earth colonists encounter a life form like no others. Sentience plants dominate Pax and rule over its animals. Settlers must find a way to communicate and coexist with an utterly alien intelligence.

Year of publication: 2017

Followed by: Interference; Usurpation

In the deserted steppe of Kazakhstan, an archeologist makes a shocking discovery that will upheaval our understanding of the evolution of intelligence.

Year of publication: 2019

Note: Linden is better known for his non-fiction books on animal intelligence.

An astronaut wakes up on a spaceship. His mission may save or doom the world, but now he can’t even remember his identity… And he’s alone… Or at least, with no human nor terrestrial company…

Year of publication: 2021

Note: Linden is better known for his non-fiction books on animal intelligence.

In an archipelago in Vietnam, a species of octopus has developed its own language and culture. A powerful tech company sets to study these highly intelligent, and dangerous, creatures. The goal? To understand how to build an extrahuman intelligence.

Year of publication: 2022

Reproduction has gone past sex.  Embryos are derived from reprogrammed skin cells. Biohackers steal biological material from celebrities and auction it on the black market. This allows the highest bidders to have kids with their idols. 

Year of publication: 2024

While World War 3 ravages the Earth, an extremophile parasite appears in Antarctica. As it latches on humans, the violent hosts coalesce into a symbiotic hive mind. Will the symbiote kill the scientists and escape the South Pole, or will it become the final bioweapon in the war?

Year of publication: 2025