Alpha

by Catherine Asaro

Paperback, 2007

Status

Available

Call number

Fic SF Asaro

Collection

Publication

Baen (2007), Edition: Reprint, Mass Market Paperback, 368 pages

Description

Charon was the most ruthless�and brilliant�criminal of the twenty-first century, a practitioner of illegal robotics and android research. He is dead now, and General Thomas Wharington believes his team of experts has deleted all the electronic copies that the megalomaniacal inventor created of himself. However, one major problem remains: Alpha, the only android survivor of Charon�s cybernetic empire. Outwardly indistinguishable from a human woman, Alpha has superhuman strength and speed, and perhaps even more deadly capabilities still unknown. Thomas� superiors want her dismantled and studied, but to Wharington, it feels like murder. He stalls for time, a move that could prove disastrous. Alpha escapes from an escape-proof compound, kidnaps Wharington, and takes him to one of Charon�s hidden installations. Charon might be dead, but Alpha continues to carry out her late master�s orders, and she refuses to elaborate on what those orders entail. Meanwhile, her behavior is becoming more human, or so it seems. Is she developing emotions and a conscience, or is she just learning to counterfeit them as a means of carrying out her enigmatic orders? And do those orders include Wharington�s death sentence?… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member rocalisa
Alpha by Catherine Asaro (9/10)
SF with a good touch of romance. I thoroughly enjoyed this, but I'm biased to like Asaro and this didn't disappoint, although it took a while to get moving.
LibraryThing member wyvernfriend
Following on from Sunrise Alley this tells the story of Alpha and General Thomas Wharington. Thomas has to deal with both his feelings for Alpha and the fact that Charon has left some fingerprints around the place. Alpha is also trying to deal with a certain amount of automony and trying to find a
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place in the world.

It's an interesting read, but it does need Sunrise Alley first to truly make sense of the story.
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LibraryThing member flemmily
I don't really understand how people can find a robot becoming human so compelling. For me, I like to read about different, fully developed emotions, rather than a repressed individual's first shoots of feeling.
That being said, Asaro seems to be a pretty good writer. Plot, setting, and pacing were
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all well done; I just really did not care for the characters.
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LibraryThing member bookczuk
Not to my taste, but I can see where others could be very fond of this author.
LibraryThing member catseyegreen
I might be being a little harsh but I just could not buy into this story which felt like an excuse for sex scenes between an old man and an android. The action parts felt dated and the medical practices were definitely outdated.

library book read 10/23/2023

Language

Original publication date

2004-08-01
2008-11-24

Physical description

368 p.; 6.6 inches

ISBN

1416555129 / 9781416555124

Local notes

Charon, 2

DDC/MDS

Fic SF Asaro

Other editions

Rating

(33 ratings; 3.4)
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