Status
Available
Call number
Series
Publication
Ace Books (New York, 2008). 1st edition, 1st printing. 336 pages. $24.95.
Description
Sometime in the twenty-third century, humanity went extinct leaving only androids behind. Freya Nakamichi 47 is a femmebot, one of the last of her kind still functioning. With no humans left to pay for the pleasures she provides, she agrees to transport a mysterious package from Mercury to Mars. Unfortunately for Freya, she has just made herself a moving target for some very powerful, very determined humanoids who will stop at nothing to possess the contents of the package.
Media reviews
Asimov's Science Fiction
Somewhere, Heinlein is proudly smiling.
This is a fabulous book, a witty and deep critique of the field's shibboleths, and well worth the price of admission.
User reviews
LibraryThing member andyl
Saturn's Children is the story of Freya-47 a gynoid designed for sexual pleasure - hardwired into her brain is a desire for her One True Love. However he, like the rest of the human race (the Creators) have long been extinct. Freya has pissed off an aristo called Domina and has to go on the run.
Freya is the main character and is also the book's narrator. At times she is quite amusing especially when complaining about the state of space-travel. However at times the author forgets that she is supposed to be a naif (the line "two sex-robots going at it like bonobos ..." didn't work for me when earlier in the book it was established that the narrator wasn't entirely clear what a bird is. The cloak & dagger stuff does become quite confusing (and for good reason) in the last 50 pages.
Also (quite obviously) as Freya is a sex-bot there is quite a lot of sex of every conceivable (and some which may be inconceivable) variety. Be warned if this is the sort of thing that you don't like to read about.
For those that don't know this book is Stross riffing off of late-period Heinlein. Freya is obviously supposed to remind us of Friday (and indeed in the book is almost called Friday a number of times). However this book reads a lot better than late-period Heinlein. You do not have to have read late-Heinlein to appreciate this book but if you have it does bring an added dimension to the book.
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She accepts a courier job with the Jeeves Corporation which leads to travel all over the solar system as she gets entangled with a plot to redevelop organic-based life.Freya is the main character and is also the book's narrator. At times she is quite amusing especially when complaining about the state of space-travel. However at times the author forgets that she is supposed to be a naif (the line "two sex-robots going at it like bonobos ..." didn't work for me when earlier in the book it was established that the narrator wasn't entirely clear what a bird is. The cloak & dagger stuff does become quite confusing (and for good reason) in the last 50 pages.
Also (quite obviously) as Freya is a sex-bot there is quite a lot of sex of every conceivable (and some which may be inconceivable) variety. Be warned if this is the sort of thing that you don't like to read about.
For those that don't know this book is Stross riffing off of late-period Heinlein. Freya is obviously supposed to remind us of Friday (and indeed in the book is almost called Friday a number of times). However this book reads a lot better than late-period Heinlein. You do not have to have read late-Heinlein to appreciate this book but if you have it does bring an added dimension to the book.
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LibraryThing member BjornFr
Another of this year's Hugo nominees I read in the same month (along with Zoë's Tale) and again wasn't impressed. Story didn't grip, characters neither. Well executed, some neat ideas but...
LibraryThing member NickCato
Having not been a big reader of science fiction since my teenage years, I was recently dragged back in due to three newer authors: Robert Buettner, Jeff Somers, and Charles Stross. The last 3 novels I read by Stross (THE ATROCITY ARCHIVES, THE JENNIFER MORGUE, and HALTING STATE) made me a big fan,
SATURN'S CHILDREN takes place in the 23rd century, where humans are extinct but their creations live on: super-advanced robots of all shapes, sizes, and emotions. Freya is a female robot who was designed to be a sex slave. She longs to leave Venus, and is given the opportunity by someone who wants her to deliver a package for him. He funds Freya's trip, and it's not long before she finds out the package she's carrying may lead to the re-creation of an extinct human . . . and of course all kinds of intergalactic goons are looking for it, too.
While Stross' premise is fine scifi fare, and there's some really inventive robotic sex scenes (!), SATURN'S CHILDREN is bogged down with way too much technical explanation of space travel, at times reading like a never-ending college text book. At 323 tedious pages (the small typeset not helping matters), It took me 2 months to get through this (I needed to take breaks from the tiny-font) and in the end I'm convinced SATURN'S CHILDREN would've worked better as a 100-paged novella.
"Living Starships" and sexy robots aside, if this is what's considered "hard scifi," then I hope Stross goes back to the soft stuff.
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so when his latest release was announced I jumped on it.SATURN'S CHILDREN takes place in the 23rd century, where humans are extinct but their creations live on: super-advanced robots of all shapes, sizes, and emotions. Freya is a female robot who was designed to be a sex slave. She longs to leave Venus, and is given the opportunity by someone who wants her to deliver a package for him. He funds Freya's trip, and it's not long before she finds out the package she's carrying may lead to the re-creation of an extinct human . . . and of course all kinds of intergalactic goons are looking for it, too.
While Stross' premise is fine scifi fare, and there's some really inventive robotic sex scenes (!), SATURN'S CHILDREN is bogged down with way too much technical explanation of space travel, at times reading like a never-ending college text book. At 323 tedious pages (the small typeset not helping matters), It took me 2 months to get through this (I needed to take breaks from the tiny-font) and in the end I'm convinced SATURN'S CHILDREN would've worked better as a 100-paged novella.
"Living Starships" and sexy robots aside, if this is what's considered "hard scifi," then I hope Stross goes back to the soft stuff.
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LibraryThing member Beemac
Disappointing, comes across as a replaying of 18th century England using robots.
LibraryThing member m1k3y
Saturn's Children marks Stross's serious progression as a writer.
He's doing far more advanced tricks with plot and exposition than in his previous novels.
The way he drops in the back story, such that when the lead is called a "robot" you installing know it's like using the N-word.
Oh, yeah - what's
Robots created to serve man, and left floundering when their masters are gone, but unable to stop the course they were on.
As Stross says: "when the last human died, human civilisation barely stopped from lunch".
There are robots of every shape, size and variety. And the way they 'connect' is hilarious! Some very interesting depictions of space docking.
It's a rollicking tale, but I kept pausing to admire Stross's prose style.
All I want now is a sequel!
He's doing far more advanced tricks with plot and exposition than in his previous novels.
The way he drops in the back story, such that when the lead is called a "robot" you installing know it's like using the N-word.
Oh, yeah - what's
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this book about? It's a different kind of post-human novel; mainly because humanity has died off. But before they did so (and potentially _because_ they did so) they created a race of intelligent robots to help them colonise the solar-system.Robots created to serve man, and left floundering when their masters are gone, but unable to stop the course they were on.
As Stross says: "when the last human died, human civilisation barely stopped from lunch".
There are robots of every shape, size and variety. And the way they 'connect' is hilarious! Some very interesting depictions of space docking.
It's a rollicking tale, but I kept pausing to admire Stross's prose style.
All I want now is a sequel!
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LibraryThing member TomVeal
Saturn's Children, a 2009 Hugo Award nominee, sports an intriguing premise: Mankind has quietly gone extinct, along with all but vestiges of other organic life, leaving behind a civilization of robots that perpetuates many of its creators' foibles and follies. This post-humanity has spread to the
The novel's plot slowly reveals a conspiracy to recreate the human masters, a step that some robots nostalgically favor, some dread and others see as an opportunity to seize supreme power. Thrust into the middle of these intrigues is Freya, a humble "sexbot", whose profession was rendered obsolete by the demise of its clientele before she could even entertain her first john. She and her siblings now cling to the margins of society. At the opening of the book, she is contemplating suicide, the fate of a number of her sisters. Then she inadvertently offends a powerful "aristo" and discovers that she while she may want to die, it's no fun to be murdered.
As one reads the story, it is imaginative and gripping. Charles Stross has left far behind the clumsiness and earnest preaching of his first couple of novels. He is also less frenetic than in much of his short fiction. There are bursts of fast action, but everything and everybody aren't moving at three-quarters of the speed of light all of the time.
So far, so good. Only one characteristic Strossian flaw remains: an indifference toward whether the flashy, fascinating parts fit into a coherent whole. It's a bit odd that robots would be as obsessed by sex as these are. There's sort of an explanation: Human brains were the template for robotic; apparently, the sex drive got carried over. What isn't explained is why, given that practically every robot we meet has the libido of a drunken sailor on shore leave, Freya Nakamichi-47can't live in the manner of a grande horizontale in 19th Century Paris. The only visible reason is that she then would not find herself contemplating plunging from a sky city to the surface of Venus, and there would be no novel.
Other elements in the setting are less believable, though I think many P. G. Wodehouse fans will be pleased that the author shares their secret suspicions about how Jeeves spent his off-page free time.
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far edges of the Solar System and begun sending settlements to the stars. At the same time, it is rife with conflict, oppression and violence.The novel's plot slowly reveals a conspiracy to recreate the human masters, a step that some robots nostalgically favor, some dread and others see as an opportunity to seize supreme power. Thrust into the middle of these intrigues is Freya, a humble "sexbot", whose profession was rendered obsolete by the demise of its clientele before she could even entertain her first john. She and her siblings now cling to the margins of society. At the opening of the book, she is contemplating suicide, the fate of a number of her sisters. Then she inadvertently offends a powerful "aristo" and discovers that she while she may want to die, it's no fun to be murdered.
As one reads the story, it is imaginative and gripping. Charles Stross has left far behind the clumsiness and earnest preaching of his first couple of novels. He is also less frenetic than in much of his short fiction. There are bursts of fast action, but everything and everybody aren't moving at three-quarters of the speed of light all of the time.
So far, so good. Only one characteristic Strossian flaw remains: an indifference toward whether the flashy, fascinating parts fit into a coherent whole. It's a bit odd that robots would be as obsessed by sex as these are. There's sort of an explanation: Human brains were the template for robotic; apparently, the sex drive got carried over. What isn't explained is why, given that practically every robot we meet has the libido of a drunken sailor on shore leave, Freya Nakamichi-47can't live in the manner of a grande horizontale in 19th Century Paris. The only visible reason is that she then would not find herself contemplating plunging from a sky city to the surface of Venus, and there would be no novel.
Other elements in the setting are less believable, though I think many P. G. Wodehouse fans will be pleased that the author shares their secret suspicions about how Jeeves spent his off-page free time.
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LibraryThing member lewispike
A book that's centred around a sex-bot doesn't sound like an obvious place to explore ideas about robots, the potential dangers to the human race, politics and slavery. Of course it also sounds (not that this was why I bought it, I saw the author's name and bought it without reading the blurb) like
Stross has done better - his normal humour is largely missing here and that's a shame - but it is an enthralling read and it is, as you might expect, an appalling plausible society of pseudo-human style but in which all the humans are dead.
The problem? In order to control their robots they've imprinted various control circuits, and the bots that can exploit this to control those around them, making an aristocracy and a slave caste with a few free beings squeezed uncomfortably in the middle.
There's some good throw-away physics about moving around in the solar system without "magic" starships, some interesting ideas about robotics, and a generally good read.
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it's going to be a sexy read and it's about as sexy as a bible.Stross has done better - his normal humour is largely missing here and that's a shame - but it is an enthralling read and it is, as you might expect, an appalling plausible society of pseudo-human style but in which all the humans are dead.
The problem? In order to control their robots they've imprinted various control circuits, and the bots that can exploit this to control those around them, making an aristocracy and a slave caste with a few free beings squeezed uncomfortably in the middle.
There's some good throw-away physics about moving around in the solar system without "magic" starships, some interesting ideas about robotics, and a generally good read.
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LibraryThing member AlanPoulter
Set in a future when humanity is extinct, intelligent robots carry on the task of spreading civilisation, having colonised the solar system and sent ships to nearby stars. These are not soulless Asimovian robots as their minds are copies of archetypal personalities, created by conditioning using
For control purposes, humans made serving them the deepest desire of a robot. Now humans are gone, 'aristo' robots use this servitude capacity to enslave other robots. Their greatest fear is of 'pink goo' - animal cells of any kind that could, in theory, be used to rebuild one of the lost human 'Creators'. A human, could, simply by their presence, control any and all robots using their inbuilt servitude routines.
The novel follows Freya, one of a defunct concubine archetype, cloned from the original called Rhea, who gets involved in something illegal that involves smuggling pink goo. Freya is given the 'soul chip' (memories) of another of her archetype, Juliette, and starts to be influenced by Juliette's experiences. The abilities to swap soul chips (and thus identities) and to blank parts of soul ships complicates the plot no end. The action takes on Venus, then Mercury, Mars, Callisto and finally 'Heinleingrad', on distant Eris, as aristo factions like the Black Talon, and robot archetypes, especially one modelled on the Jeeves character, struggle over the ultimate prize...
Ironies abound. Humans, as their creators, are like gods to robots. Robot society is as venal and despotic as that of their creators. In their restless journeying (space travel for robots is uncomfortable and slow but usually not fatal) they are driven by the expansionist dreams of their creators, as robots have no purpose of their own. Despite decades of AI research, 'intelligent' robots are still as much a figment of the imagination as warp drive. While on the surface this novel is a romp built from retreaded components from earlier writers, underneath it raises issues about self-hood, freedom and the purpose of life, none of which robots really have.
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human experiences (some extremely unpleasant). This conditioning also inculcates basic emotions and needs: for example, robots can enjoy a drink or two (though not of alcohol) and can experience the pleasures of sex when they 'link up'.For control purposes, humans made serving them the deepest desire of a robot. Now humans are gone, 'aristo' robots use this servitude capacity to enslave other robots. Their greatest fear is of 'pink goo' - animal cells of any kind that could, in theory, be used to rebuild one of the lost human 'Creators'. A human, could, simply by their presence, control any and all robots using their inbuilt servitude routines.
The novel follows Freya, one of a defunct concubine archetype, cloned from the original called Rhea, who gets involved in something illegal that involves smuggling pink goo. Freya is given the 'soul chip' (memories) of another of her archetype, Juliette, and starts to be influenced by Juliette's experiences. The abilities to swap soul chips (and thus identities) and to blank parts of soul ships complicates the plot no end. The action takes on Venus, then Mercury, Mars, Callisto and finally 'Heinleingrad', on distant Eris, as aristo factions like the Black Talon, and robot archetypes, especially one modelled on the Jeeves character, struggle over the ultimate prize...
Ironies abound. Humans, as their creators, are like gods to robots. Robot society is as venal and despotic as that of their creators. In their restless journeying (space travel for robots is uncomfortable and slow but usually not fatal) they are driven by the expansionist dreams of their creators, as robots have no purpose of their own. Despite decades of AI research, 'intelligent' robots are still as much a figment of the imagination as warp drive. While on the surface this novel is a romp built from retreaded components from earlier writers, underneath it raises issues about self-hood, freedom and the purpose of life, none of which robots really have.
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LibraryThing member snarkhunt
Freya's a sexbot activated after all of humanity has died, so she can't fulfill her true calling. The posthuman romp crosses the solar system with meditations on the frailty of man, slavery and the relationship of man to machine, love as submission, and the impossibility of space travel.
All of that
It's not Charlie's best, but it's fun and good.
All of that
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is embedded in a fine intrigue thriller, but the failure here is that the conceit keeps poking through, like threads unwinding from a cheap suit. You can ignore the robot dreaming, the sleep, the gasoline cocktails, etc. Ignoring them doesn't make them go away and if you pull on them at all the whole thing unravels.It's not Charlie's best, but it's fun and good.
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LibraryThing member timothyl33
While the premise seemed interesting enough, Saturn's Children suffers from a multitude of issues. One problems is that the story overall feels like a generic sequence of events that is supposedly strung together by this macguffin mystery that's surrounding the protagonist. In addition, the plot
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doesn't really come into fruition until about the last 10 percent of the book. So in cases like this where the plot is almost absent, the weight of the story needs to be supported by the protagonist itself. Considering that this book is about the dilemmas of a fembot who's primary function became obsolete once humanity became extinct, there's really little to distinguish between her and a human, personality-wise. Sadly, there are moments within this book that do shine, but most of them are concepts regarding interplanetary travel, which are few and far between. Show Less
LibraryThing member slothman
Stross brings us an entertaining homage to Robert Heinlein's later work with a robotic heroine, Freya, designed as a love slave for the now-extinct human species. While the tale is a classic space opera adventure, Stross takes the challenge of adhering to "Mundane SF" guidelines: all the technology
Freya is caught up in intrigue in a society run by robots who wound up in charge of a society where the rules were crafted by humans who kept robots as slaves; even the most emancipated robots are just owned by a corporation that they control themselves, and are vulnerable to legal attack. Without humans to fix the problem, the system remains static-- but if someone were to re-create a human from the leftover DNA and raise them as they chose, they would be able to rule the entire solar system by proxy. There are indications of a conspiracy to do just that. Freya cherishes her freedom... but designed to yearn for a human to fall in love with.
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is a reasonable extrapolation from the present day. Interplanetary travel is extremely slow and annoying, even for robots who can survive situations that would kill a human, fusion power is big and expensive, and even artificial intelligence relies on mimicking human brain architecture rather than any breakthroughs in computer science.Freya is caught up in intrigue in a society run by robots who wound up in charge of a society where the rules were crafted by humans who kept robots as slaves; even the most emancipated robots are just owned by a corporation that they control themselves, and are vulnerable to legal attack. Without humans to fix the problem, the system remains static-- but if someone were to re-create a human from the leftover DNA and raise them as they chose, they would be able to rule the entire solar system by proxy. There are indications of a conspiracy to do just that. Freya cherishes her freedom... but designed to yearn for a human to fall in love with.
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LibraryThing member santhony
Humanity has become extinct, but civilization and galactic colonization continues to hum along, thanks to a variety of highly sentient androids and other artificial intelligence, which have amusingly oriented themselves into a highly rigid class conscious society. The narrator of our story happens
This novel is not the easiest to read. I frequently found myself rereading paragraphs in an effort to process the information therein. This is partly due to the fact that it is extremely descriptive, especially as it related to science and engineering, and partly due to the fact that the protagonist and many of the other characters wear the memory chip of “sister” or “brother” replicants, making much of the action confusing as it relates to point of view and actual identification of many of the actors. Starting at about page 150, I became somewhat lost and confused and can’t swear that I unraveled all the details by the time the novel ended.
There is some outstanding hard science fiction contained in this novel (orbital space tethers, migrating Mercurial cities on rail, fascinating details of energy sources, space and interstellar travel), though perhaps not presented in the best form for easy consumption. Of particular interest are the travel sequences, of increasing length and complexity (Venus to Mercury to Mars to a Jovian moon to a dwarf planetoid outside the Kuiper belt and finally to a nearby star system) and the methods of propulsion, length of travel and the implications thereof.
There are some excellent and witty sections in this book, for example, robots debating the philosophy of evolution vs. intelligent design as related to artificial intelligence. Space ships, hotels and other usually inanimate objects are not only sentient, but sexual creatures.
Much of the novel revolves around the concept of “pink goo”, a/k/a human DNA/RNA, the discovery of which could result in reintroduction of the human species with thought provoking implications. All in all, an excellent novel from the viewpoint of hard science fiction, however, at times a chore to read due to the excessively confusing plot lines.
Five stars for the science, two stars for the overly confusing story.
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to be an “escort” android (a/k/a a sexbot), manufactured in the form of its creators. As a result, the android is obsolete, both as to form and function.This novel is not the easiest to read. I frequently found myself rereading paragraphs in an effort to process the information therein. This is partly due to the fact that it is extremely descriptive, especially as it related to science and engineering, and partly due to the fact that the protagonist and many of the other characters wear the memory chip of “sister” or “brother” replicants, making much of the action confusing as it relates to point of view and actual identification of many of the actors. Starting at about page 150, I became somewhat lost and confused and can’t swear that I unraveled all the details by the time the novel ended.
There is some outstanding hard science fiction contained in this novel (orbital space tethers, migrating Mercurial cities on rail, fascinating details of energy sources, space and interstellar travel), though perhaps not presented in the best form for easy consumption. Of particular interest are the travel sequences, of increasing length and complexity (Venus to Mercury to Mars to a Jovian moon to a dwarf planetoid outside the Kuiper belt and finally to a nearby star system) and the methods of propulsion, length of travel and the implications thereof.
There are some excellent and witty sections in this book, for example, robots debating the philosophy of evolution vs. intelligent design as related to artificial intelligence. Space ships, hotels and other usually inanimate objects are not only sentient, but sexual creatures.
Much of the novel revolves around the concept of “pink goo”, a/k/a human DNA/RNA, the discovery of which could result in reintroduction of the human species with thought provoking implications. All in all, an excellent novel from the viewpoint of hard science fiction, however, at times a chore to read due to the excessively confusing plot lines.
Five stars for the science, two stars for the overly confusing story.
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LibraryThing member Interositor
Well handled post-apocalyptic setting in which life after meatbag humanity goes on pretty much unfazed in the form of human equivalent AI robots. You don't need me to tell you the plot, but it's the sort of book where, if anything, the main character is not wanton enough. Space travel is still
MASSIVE SPOILERS
I think one of the most striking things about this book is that it thinks itself outside of humanity by presenting a world where our veneration of squirty meat organisms, life, in other words, is discarded as irrelevant, because it's the way we think and our culture that defines who we are. It's the perfect set up for a post-humanity culture who don't notice climate change until the Gulf of Mexico hits a rolling boil, one of my favourite gags in ages. The robots here are us. In this world the prospect of biological humanity returning means nothing good, and it's hard to root for that when living among a culture that has outgrown its need for us.
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rubbish even if you're a robot, and underclocking your brain to live the tedium and confinement in slow time doesn't help all that much. Brilliant conceit, but then all of Stross's conceits are brilliant. Written, I'm told, as a tribute to late period Heinlein novels, so sex, intrigue and labyrinthine plotting abound.MASSIVE SPOILERS
I think one of the most striking things about this book is that it thinks itself outside of humanity by presenting a world where our veneration of squirty meat organisms, life, in other words, is discarded as irrelevant, because it's the way we think and our culture that defines who we are. It's the perfect set up for a post-humanity culture who don't notice climate change until the Gulf of Mexico hits a rolling boil, one of my favourite gags in ages. The robots here are us. In this world the prospect of biological humanity returning means nothing good, and it's hard to root for that when living among a culture that has outgrown its need for us.
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LibraryThing member sarah_rubyred
Sexbots, both male and female were created just before the humans died out. Specifically designed to fall in lust with a human the moment they set eyes on one they are now slightly redundant, but the heroine and her kind are able to avoid becoming slaves to the robot 'aristo' class by doing odd
I have the feeling I could have liked this more. The story was brilliant, the idea of robot slavery an interesting and likely future, and I loved the reality of space travel, cramped, uncomfortable and long. However, due to poor character development, and the changing of names all over the place (and one design of robot all having the same name), I constantly felt I was missing something.
I really enjoyed this, don't get me wrong, and would recommend it to any sf fan, but I would advise them to take note of all the characters. None of them stood out to me.
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jobs around the place.I have the feeling I could have liked this more. The story was brilliant, the idea of robot slavery an interesting and likely future, and I loved the reality of space travel, cramped, uncomfortable and long. However, due to poor character development, and the changing of names all over the place (and one design of robot all having the same name), I constantly felt I was missing something.
I really enjoyed this, don't get me wrong, and would recommend it to any sf fan, but I would advise them to take note of all the characters. None of them stood out to me.
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LibraryThing member sdobie
Freya Nakamichi-47 is an android designed as a sexual companion for humans, but in the twenty-third century, humans are extinct, and Freya and her sister models have to find other ways to make a living in the all-robot society that spans the solar system. Freya offends a member of the robot
I enjoyed the novel, but it seems like a fairly minor work by Stross without the complexity and depth of ideas of some of his other novels. It is written as a tribute to the later Heinlein novels, which means there is a lot of non-explicit, somewhat silly sex, but without the pontificating of the Heinlein books. I enjoyed a lot of the ideas such as the structure of the robot society and how it cam about, and its fear of biological life as "pink goo" replicators. The depiction of the tedium of space travel is something that does not usually show up in science fiction. The story does get somewhat confusing though, and beyond the interesting concepts there is not much else in this novel that left a lasting impression on me.
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aristocracy, and takes a job smuggling restricted biological materials in order to get off of Venus. This starts her on a tour of the solar system as she is drawn into deeper levels of espionage among the robot ruling class.I enjoyed the novel, but it seems like a fairly minor work by Stross without the complexity and depth of ideas of some of his other novels. It is written as a tribute to the later Heinlein novels, which means there is a lot of non-explicit, somewhat silly sex, but without the pontificating of the Heinlein books. I enjoyed a lot of the ideas such as the structure of the robot society and how it cam about, and its fear of biological life as "pink goo" replicators. The depiction of the tedium of space travel is something that does not usually show up in science fiction. The story does get somewhat confusing though, and beyond the interesting concepts there is not much else in this novel that left a lasting impression on me.
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LibraryThing member rbaech
This is certainly not the deepest and most meaningful book ever written, and it makes no pretense at being so. This is a fun, sometimes thoughtful, sometimes upsetting, romp through a universe that doesn't exist.
LibraryThing member MikePearce
Bloody good book, thoroughly enjoyed this space based robot sex novel. I wasn't sure what to expect when I read the synopsis on BoingBoing, but now I'm glad I read it. Lots of science-y bits to keep the geeks amongst us amused and a fair twist at the end. If you get the hardback, don't look at the
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photo of the author, it's hard to take the sex-scenes seriously if you do (as serious as you can take inter-robot-romance). Show Less
LibraryThing member voodoochilli
Fantastic book! I know the premise sounds a bit seedy: a retired sexbot exploring the universe...but trust me, this is a fantastic read that deals with complex issues such as identity, emotions, and sibling rivalry to name but a few.
LibraryThing member Shrike58
If you've been reading Charles Stross you'll notice that many of the usual tendencies are in operation in this story. The put-upon female protagonist; check. The plot based on a covert scam; check. Much musing on the post-human future; check.
This time around we have a world without humans (having
Thus we find our heroine Freya (a sex worker in a world without human clients) early on the run from what looks like a chance encounter with an overbearing "aristo." She thus falls into a world of private covert operations, where the great prize is the recreation of biological life forms, and where the dominant species is the red herring.
It's in this scenario that Stross makes heavy use of one of my less-favorite tropisms; that of the downloaded personality. However, I find it deployed in a more efficient fashion then in "Accelerando" or "Glasshouse," as the characters in this novel are very dependent on the knowledge gleaned from their parallel selves, and there are no guarantees that even their other selves are trustworthy. In a middle section that is rather roundabout, this keeps the suspense up until the countdown to the big bang at the climax (ahem) and onto a satisfactory conclusion.
As to Stross' observation that this is his homage to late-period Heinlein, this is certainly the case, down to our heroine who goes on and on and on in a chatty verging on blathering fashion. There's a good reason for this in the end but there are points in the novel where the data dumps are very long, even for Stross. On the other hand, just because Stross respects Heinlein, it doesn't mean that he isn't above satirizing the prophet (there's a shock), and there's much in this book that is absurdly funny, and could have been played up with even more absurdity had Stross chosen to do so. Never say that the man doesn't respect his characters, even when he puts them through the wringer.
This time around we have a world without humans (having
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stupidly offed ourselves) and our artificial creations have picked up right where we left off with our arrogance and, dare I say it, our inhumanity. As those lines of servants (can you say 'house slaves'?) who were closest to humanity in our last days have managed to insert themselves at the top of the social food chain over 90% of the AI population. Mankind having failed to do their creations the favor of collective manumission before shuffling off this mortal coil.Thus we find our heroine Freya (a sex worker in a world without human clients) early on the run from what looks like a chance encounter with an overbearing "aristo." She thus falls into a world of private covert operations, where the great prize is the recreation of biological life forms, and where the dominant species is the red herring.
It's in this scenario that Stross makes heavy use of one of my less-favorite tropisms; that of the downloaded personality. However, I find it deployed in a more efficient fashion then in "Accelerando" or "Glasshouse," as the characters in this novel are very dependent on the knowledge gleaned from their parallel selves, and there are no guarantees that even their other selves are trustworthy. In a middle section that is rather roundabout, this keeps the suspense up until the countdown to the big bang at the climax (ahem) and onto a satisfactory conclusion.
As to Stross' observation that this is his homage to late-period Heinlein, this is certainly the case, down to our heroine who goes on and on and on in a chatty verging on blathering fashion. There's a good reason for this in the end but there are points in the novel where the data dumps are very long, even for Stross. On the other hand, just because Stross respects Heinlein, it doesn't mean that he isn't above satirizing the prophet (there's a shock), and there's much in this book that is absurdly funny, and could have been played up with even more absurdity had Stross chosen to do so. Never say that the man doesn't respect his characters, even when he puts them through the wringer.
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LibraryThing member TheDivineOomba
This book is a fun romp through a post-human space populated with androids. Its fun, its witty, its deep, but not angsty or dark.
Here we get Rhea, an android created for sex. Only, her model became defunct after humans died out, so Rhea has to find a way of existing without relying on her primary
I liked the book. Characters were well rounded, the universe is well written. Rhea is a sex-bot, and it can be written a bit heavy handed, until I fully understood that she cannot help who she is. The one thing that is damned annoying, why the Cover?! It was drawn as if to attract every adolescence boy out there, the sort of book that you don't want your mom knowing you read.
Outside of that, a good book to read.
Here we get Rhea, an android created for sex. Only, her model became defunct after humans died out, so Rhea has to find a way of existing without relying on her primary
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purpose. As the story unfolds, secrets and plots are revealed, with Rhea an unwitting key player.I liked the book. Characters were well rounded, the universe is well written. Rhea is a sex-bot, and it can be written a bit heavy handed, until I fully understood that she cannot help who she is. The one thing that is damned annoying, why the Cover?! It was drawn as if to attract every adolescence boy out there, the sort of book that you don't want your mom knowing you read.
Outside of that, a good book to read.
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LibraryThing member wjohnston
I generally like Stross but I found this one a bit wanting. The premise is great - humanity is gone, but has left behind robots and androids who continue to makeover the solar system. It's all done with plausible tech (so, for example, there's no FTL travel). And yet I felt the narrator seemed too
Still, it's a great premise and I'm curious to see what he does with it in the follow-up.
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human. Apart from the occasional strange word choice (reminding me of some classic Data lines from STNG), the narrator could as easily have been in one of this Laundry novels. Still, it's a great premise and I'm curious to see what he does with it in the follow-up.
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LibraryThing member wifilibrarian
Humanity has gone, the last people having died out several hundred years ago. But before they died out they created AI, and androids that could colonise world's for them, and work as servants. Stross takes us on an merry ride across the solar system's colonies as Freya, one of the last femmebots
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built soley for humans pleasure, tries to avoid being killed by the aristrocat androids, while trying to also find meaning for her existence when she has no humans left to satisfy. I found the idea of a society of AI continuing past the end of humanity an interesting one. But having to explore those through a lovebot were overly sexual for me. Show Less
LibraryThing member questbird
I picked up this book because I remembered Charles Stross as having made some of the more interesting contributions to the AD&D second edition Fiend Folio. Stross dedicates this book to Robert Heinlein and Isaac Asimov and the influences are clear, particularly the latter's 'Three Laws of Robotics'
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robot novels and the former's 'Friday'. (The climax of the book takes place on Eris in the domed city of Heinleinberg too). This is an interesting hard-sf tale set almost entirely within the future Solar System, in a future where humanity has mysteriously died out and left its intelligent robot servants to colonise the worlds. The robots are slaves to non-existent masters, and the society they have created is also an unhealthy slave-holding one. The narrator is Freya, a pleasure bot made for a now-vanished species, who becomes an interplanetary agent and performs various feats of derring-do. I like the hard-sf elements such as physical constraints on travel, the exploration of ideas about what such a robot civilisation might be like, and the humour of this book. Some parts of the tale are confusing; the point of view of the narrator lurches around a bit and there are multiple personalities involved. Sometimes the robots acted like humans in robot clothing, which made them less believable. Overall though it was an interesting read and I do appreciate science fiction which stays relatively local (spatially). Show Less
LibraryThing member danahlongley
The best Stross book I've read to date. Spectacularly creative and containing just the right mixture of cyberpunk, hard sci-fi, and gripping character and world building.
LibraryThing member bianca.sayan
I think Stross was trying to write a fun space-romp, but reading a book with a sex-bot main character was just kind of depressing for me. I thought there were a lot of neat ideas in here ( If neural networks are designed to mimic human neural networks, what would those entities be like? Can a
I probably wouldn't recommend, too slap-dash.
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complex program adapt when their original purpose is eliminated? What mistakes would human-mimicking AI be doomed to repeat? How would free will work for AI? ) that never got explored because the book was light-hearted and abruptly short. Also, I don't think Stross spent enough time explaining his multi-entity intrigue. How did the Jeeves' start out? What were the motivations behind the outer rim bots?I probably wouldn't recommend, too slap-dash.
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Subjects
Awards
Hugo Award (Nominee — Novel — 2009)
Locus Award (Finalist — Science Fiction Novel — 2009)
Prometheus Award (Nominee — Novel — 2009)
Locus Recommended Reading (2008)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2008-07
Physical description
336 p.; 6.54 inches
ISBN
9780441015948