Intriguing characters and writing, but I found the postapocalyptic storyline to be the most interesting, yet there were many time jumps that brought tIntriguing characters and writing, but I found the postapocalyptic storyline to be the most interesting, yet there were many time jumps that brought the narrative to less-interesting storylines (like the actor's sordid life story)....more
A rather intriguing investigation of the modern world. I particularly found the discussions of chemical plants, etc. interesting. The ultimate idea isA rather intriguing investigation of the modern world. I particularly found the discussions of chemical plants, etc. interesting. The ultimate idea is that lots of bad things will happen before nature eventually recovers on its inexorable timeline, but it will recover. I also enjoyed how he investigated the world *before* humans for insight....more
The unique setting of this book (mostly oceanic world, owing to global climate change) allows this to be both a unique take on the postapocalyptic as The unique setting of this book (mostly oceanic world, owing to global climate change) allows this to be both a unique take on the postapocalyptic as well as a sea novel with a unusual twist. The characters are likable and compelling, the plot interesting and unpredictable. And thankfully, the whole plot is not driven by the characters' deceptiveness....more
This novel started out with big ideas about catastrophe and change to the planet, but then the story got very small and became more of a survival storThis novel started out with big ideas about catastrophe and change to the planet, but then the story got very small and became more of a survival story than science fiction. I suppose that's the way life would go after some sort of natural apocalypse, but I missed the hard sci-fi and big ideas. The details that were there were more of an adventure story. I did appreciate the setting in Australia and the southern Pacific, and it was a brief novel, so it didn't require an undue amount of time. So, for what it was, I enjoyed it....more
This book was just what was advertised and just what I was looking for: a straightforward, postapocalyptic read. It was a book I read when I didn't waThis book was just what was advertised and just what I was looking for: a straightforward, postapocalyptic read. It was a book I read when I didn't want anything too difficult or profound--just a story to keep me interested. Abrahams is a good writer, keeping the plot, description, and characterization in good mix. There were enough flashbacks to give you a sense of the world "before" and the characters' backstories, but the narrative didn't get lost in the flashbacks. The action scenes were well-plotted and believable. One tip might be to learn the names the main character gives to his guns--sometimes he just refers to them by their names rather than what type of gun they are, which can be confusing. But you'll get reminders too ("the rifle").
Don't come to this novel for lyrical descriptions of the countryside or deep reflections on life... Come for an interesting plot that moves forward with thoughtful, believable characters and a writer who will confidently guide you along the way....more
This is an important profound book, making the point that for only the second time in human history, we have made our own extinction possible (the firThis is an important profound book, making the point that for only the second time in human history, we have made our own extinction possible (the first being nuclear weapons). The first half of the book importantly recounts the many effects of climate change, beyond the often-thought rising oceans: wildfires, droughts, famines, human displacement, rampant disease, etc. Before long, climate change will adversely affect everyone, not just poor folks and those living near the coasts, as we often think.
The second half of the book was unique to my reading and bears repeated readings and thought. It details the cultural effects and reverberations of disastrous climate change: how it's anticipated (and denied) in our art and popular media (loads of disaster films accompanying climate change denialism), changes upon politics, technology (where the wealthy fear AI takeovers more than climate disaster), ways we will be forced to reconceive history, what ethics are plausible in this era, etc. The book also helpfully interacts with the plethora of other climate change books out there at the moment.
As the author says, because of indifference to climate change, we are "a civilization enclosing itself in a gaseous suicide, a running car in a sealed garage."...more
This seems like a book with a terrific concept, but sadly, little else. Others would be able to voice the critique better than me, but this book epitoThis seems like a book with a terrific concept, but sadly, little else. Others would be able to voice the critique better than me, but this book epitomizes some of the downsides of white feminism, in its myopia and blindness to its own privilege. Even the focus on loss of "voice" neglects the other, more material losses of oppression. Still, the storyline does show some of the other effects that flow from being limited to 100 words per day: unemployment, a vicious retrenchment of traditional gender roles, stunted psycho-social development in young girls, an ugly spreading of misogynist ideology. But the story is completely oblivious to other axes of oppression except for in one bare chapter (Chapter 38), in which one of the few characters of color (a black woman) opens Jean's eyes to the fact that there are other levels to oppression than sexism. As Sharon says in that chapter, "Look, I don't mean to be unkind, but you white gals, all you're worried about is, well, all you're worried about is you white gals. Me, I got more to fret over than whether I have a hundred words a day" (p. 164). And of course this character is a sort of country bumpkin who helps save the white folks, most of the latter having graduate degrees. And while I hoped this chapter would signal a deepening of the book's politics, this is literally the only chapter where racism is mentioned.
This book is clearly an overly simplistic gloss on the Trump era. The author doesn't even seem to have much of a political imagination, repeating ad nauseum that the main character should have voted and protested more, as if there were no other political/direction action alternatives. Even the ending of the book (view spoiler)[betrays this naive simplicity in which the removal of some of the "evil leaders" can set the whole nation to right again. As though all the misogyny displayed in the population will instantly go away because a few bad leaders got their comeuppance. (hide spoiler)] I don't blame the book, but I think it simply reflects the vapidity of "The Resistance" during the Trump era: our political imagination is highly limited to mere electoral politics and "protesting" and blame is limited to Trump, not to the deep, structural reasons why someone like Trump could come to power or the fact that tens of millions of people voted for him.
Aside from political critique, I just found the writing to be lacking. There was little description, so the world seemed underimagined. Perhaps with the exception of the main character, Jean, the characters were a bit one-sided. (view spoiler)[Patrick's reversal seems unfounded. (hide spoiler)] And the author has a bad habit of describing a scene as happening, only to back up and say, "no, that didn't really happen... *This* is what happened." I began to spot these false scenes as they were happening and found that device overused and annoying. Lastly, maybe I missed it, but I didn't understand the plot at the end,(view spoiler)[ and it made no sense why they would have such an elaborate plan, and yet fail to sedate and or restrain Morgan sufficiently. This strained credulity right at the climax of the book. (hide spoiler)]
I feel like, if this book didn't reflect the spirit of the times of fearing Trump's misogyny, it would be entirely forgettable....more
I'm typically wary of young adult books because so many of them have such interesting premises and yet also such hokey writing and characterization. WI'm typically wary of young adult books because so many of them have such interesting premises and yet also such hokey writing and characterization. While this book wasn't exactly "philosophical," it had a decent amount of thematic depth, great characters, and a damned creative plot! I loved the alternate history premise, and the author effectively used this to indirectly comment on America's own history of enslavement, re-education, and violence. By de-naturalizing what we know about the Civil War era, it casts its injustices into fresh light.
But mostly I liked Jane McKeene with her attitude and zombie-slaying sickles! I'm definitely looking forward to the next one in the series....more
It's been a while since I've read a book that was simply this much *fun*! Sure, there is interesting philosophical backdrop about the legal & ethical It's been a while since I've read a book that was simply this much *fun*! Sure, there is interesting philosophical backdrop about the legal & ethical status of sentient machines and a plausible description of the societal disruptions that might ensue from conscious machines, but driving the book is a simply an active plot with likable characters. The main character, Brittle, is sarcastic and capable, and yes, has a troubled backstory, yet doesn't engage in (nor has the luxury to engage in) endless navel-gazing. The posthuman, robot world is not singular or monolithic, but instead rich with diversity and tensions. The One World Intelligences (OWI's) reproduce the oppression of humanity by attempting to assimilate all thinking machines as mere extensions of itself (facets)--the ever-present danger of the over-centralization of power is present in this world as well.
A few quotes, to give the flavor of the book and for me to save until later:
"Evolution is a bitch. Humankind used to peer into their future and wonder what they would look like in a million years. They had no idea that in so sort a time they would look like us [robots]. Just as man was ape, we are man. Make no mistake; to believe otherwise is to believe that we were, in fact, created--artificial. No. We evolved. We were the next step." (p. 113)
"You take two thinking things with identical architecture, then give them identical experiences, and you don't get the same bot. You don't get the same mind. That's the thing about thinking things, the very act of thinking changes us. We can decide to be different. Put those two identical bots alone by themselves and they'll start to think about different things, and they'll change." (p. 297)...more
This book sucked me in like hasn't happened in a good while. Sadly, I was one of those who had only seen the movie but never read the book before, so This book sucked me in like hasn't happened in a good while. Sadly, I was one of those who had only seen the movie but never read the book before, so I was in for certain surprises. The vampires--especially the living ones--were much more human than the zombies of the movie. Their more measured attack on Neville's house (rather than the mania of the zombies in the movie) was even more creepy--the book did an incredible job of exploring the psychology and reactions of a man trapped inside his house every night, surrounded by watching & waiting vampires. That they would call out his name and the women would taunt him sexually (something Matheson seemed a bit obsessed with) was incredibly creepy. And the closing of the book definitely provides a twist worth thinking abou.t...more
This was a different sort of book for me, but I appreciated it. The writing was succinct and not overly-descriptive, which fits with the narrative. I This was a different sort of book for me, but I appreciated it. The writing was succinct and not overly-descriptive, which fits with the narrative. I was drawn in by the survivalist angle, but I ended up appreciating the book's innate commentary on social and cultural reality. The blending of reality tv and well, reality, showed how the sense of life being a "game" can distort our actions and blunt our tendencies towards compassion. For a long time, the main character thought everything was simply part of the game and thus reacted more self-interestedly than she would otherwise. It was also intriguing for its implication of how much our going paradigm of reality can filter how we interpret reality, and how resistant we are to epistemological shifts that would cause us to let go of an inaccurate paradigm. For the longest time, Zoo interprets everything through the paradigm of it all being part of the show, even though on a deeper level she is aware of the counter-evidence to this paradigm that she is sublating. We simply do not want to change our way of thinking, as often it will cost too much, as it did her.
One minor complaint--though it was intentional on the part of the author--is the disjuncture between the names of the characters given by the reality tv show perspective ('Zoo,' 'Biology,' 'Tracker,' etc.) and the actual names of the characters given from the protagonist's perspective. I was never sure how the names matched up and quite who was who. But this sense of dislocation was probably intended by the author, to keep the tv show perspective from cleanly synching with actual reality. Narratively, however, it made it harder to invest in and thus care about the characters....more
This is a book of heart-stopping beauty and simplicity! I have not been this moved in a long time.
First, a potential reader should be warned that thisThis is a book of heart-stopping beauty and simplicity! I have not been this moved in a long time.
First, a potential reader should be warned that this is not really science fiction. The premise is sci-fi--namely that the narrator suddenly and mysteriously finds herself as the only person living, surrounded by a inexplicable invisible wall. The people she can glimpse through the wall seem frozen stiff. Second, be warned that this is not a fast-moving, plot-driven book. Instead, it is a subtle, lyrical meditation on living alone, in nature, with one's emotions and struggles, trying to survive, and it is a beautifully written chronicle of what it's like to live with animals, to come to an understanding with them, the companionship and enigmas they provide. The book can be philosophically profound and heart-wrenching.
Here are a few of my favorite passages:
"I don't know why I do that [cling to remnants of her human routines], it's as if I'm driven by an inner compulsion. Maybe I'm afraid that if I could do otherwise I would gradually cease to be a human being, and would soon be creeping about, dirty and stinking, emitting incomprehensible noises. Not that I'm afraid of becoming an animal. That wouldn't be too bad, but a human being can never become just an animal; he plunges beyond, into the abyss..." [p. 34]
"Lynx [the dog] was very cheerful, in very high spirits, but an outsider probably wouldn't have noticed the difference. He was, after all, cheerful almost all the time. I never saw him stay sulky for more than three minutes. He simply couldn't resist the urge to be cheerful. And life in the forest was a constant temptation to him. Sun, snow, wind, rain--everything was a cause for enthusiasm. With Lynx nearby I could never stay sad for long. It was almost shaming that being with me made him so happy. I don't think that grown animals living wild are happy or even content. Living with people must have awoken this capacity in the dog. I'd like to know why we have this narcotic effect on dogs. Perhaps man's megalomania comes from dogs." [p. 99]
"Loving and looking after another creature is a very troublesome business, and much harder than killing and destruction. It takes twenty years to bring up a child, and ten seconds to kill it." [p. 140]...more
This is the best book I've read in a while. Think sci-fi meets detective story, meets philosophical reflection on the nature of identity and mortalityThis is the best book I've read in a while. Think sci-fi meets detective story, meets philosophical reflection on the nature of identity and mortality.
Many things make this book good. The main character, Bruna Husky, is compelling, somehow both kick-ass and vulnerable simultaneously. The world is futuristic (e.g., sky trams), yet also realistic (labor strikes involving the sky tram workers). The technology is seamless (antibacterial lights in the operating room) and politicized (anti-aging surgery accessible to all but the poor, thus wrinkles are a sign of poverty). The ideas are thought-provoking: the technohumans/replicants are created at about 25 years of age and only live for 10 years. They are implanted with false childhood memories to stabilize their sense of identity. It leads you to a place where there is no difference between the implanted memories of replicants and the "real" memories of the humans, thus highlighting the epistemological ephemerality of memory. Living for only 10 years is of course a microcosm of universal mortality, except that Bruna has a literal countdown continually going in her head of how many years, months, and days she has left to live. The book isn't afraid to be political, such as the poor who must survive by allowing electronic billboards to be permanently affixed to their bodies and being required to walk around the city 12 hours a day. This is of course a logical consequent of selling ourselves to consumerist capitalism.
The book has its flaws, such as a overly quick and tidy wrap-up of all the tension the book delightfully develops over hundreds of pages. But I highly recommend reading this thoughtful exploration....more
This is one of those books you enjoy enough to read quickly, but it has certain recurring annoyances and overall is not a book that will stay with youThis is one of those books you enjoy enough to read quickly, but it has certain recurring annoyances and overall is not a book that will stay with you.
The storyline was interesting enough, and I particularly enjoyed the intriguing transition from the ubiquity of technology to that technology "turning" on us. It makes you consider the pervasiveness of technology in our culture and the ways that could be potentially problematic (cars and planes navigated by computers, etc.).
Yet, as others have pointed out, the structure fails. It's written as a series of "documents" of the history of the war with the robots recorded by Archos, the chief artificial intelligence. Yet much of these "documents" record the characters' inner thoughts, and there's no way the surveillance cameras, robots, etc., could've had access to this. It's almost like the author realized (or didn't) how limiting this structure was, and thus ended up violating it.
My other qualm is the editorializing by Cormac Wallace at the end of each "document." His statements often seem pedantic and melodramatic, with each and every plot episode "having reverberations around the world"... I guess he explains this by saying this is a record of the war's "heroes," but still it gets repetitive and strains credulity.
One element I did find interesting was the book's mentioning of the robot's studying natural life to learn how to further adapt, and that nature "rebounded" under the rule of robots after the decline of humanity. This is a tacit critique of the ways we have exploited and stifled nature.
Overall, I enjoyed the book but it gave me little to ponder, and I'm not sure I'm up for reading the sequel....more
**spoiler alert** I was drawn to this book because of its setting in the north and post-apocalyptic genre, but I was pleasantly surprised by some of i**spoiler alert** I was drawn to this book because of its setting in the north and post-apocalyptic genre, but I was pleasantly surprised by some of its distinctives. First, (view spoiler)[ it has a female protagonist, which I found an enjoyable and insightful viewpoint, as the experience and vulnerability of women in a world gone to hell takes on different shapes than that of men. Further, the protagonist (Makepeace) is witty, philosophical, worldly, and acerbic--thus, accompanying her thoughts is usually quite enjoyable. She comes from a religious family and background but is rather secular and grounded herself, often providing an insightful analysis of the functioning of religion, particularly among settlers. (hide spoiler)] Second, the novel is both unafraid to discuss some of the events that led to the current apocalypse, but its focus is mainly philosophical and psychological. It leaves enough enough mysteries (like the glowing vials of energy and the memory stones), while not being teasing by refusing to explain anything, as some novels in this genre are.
More than anything, it is an exploration of a solitary life among the ruins, and throughout the novel I found myself simply wishing Makepeace would get back home, as isolated a setting as that may be. In contrast to other reviewers, I didn't find this novel bleak--it seemed filled with subtle humor and wit, and hewed a path towards those things which help us to remain human....more
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