i'm half way through alister reynolds, 'on the steel breeze' the second in his africa trilogy and we have enhanced elephants in space, humans genetically engineered into whales, mer people and of course the continuation of the family history of the akynya family. it's a brilliantly executed novel and filled with inventive ideas and excitement, in fact reynolds is the maestro when it comes to science fiction. my only complaint is it's been a long time between readings the first in this series and this one, therefore some of the intricate plot lines are faintly distant in my memory and i'm having to tap into to some total recall to remember the bits that link the novels, even though they are stand alone, this is a continuum.