Reviews

Tchaikovsky is one sick puppy. This is some gooey cosmic horror.

Didn't realise I was reading the second book in a series here (whoops!) which explains why I was a little lost in the beginning. It didn't matter much though and I feel this book can stand alone.

Time to read the first book!

kynan's review against another edition

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4.0

TL;DR: A worthy and in some ways superior sequel to [b:The Expert System's Brother|37941670|The Expert System's Brother (Expert System, #1)|Adrian Tchaikovsky|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1517499958l/37941670._SY75_.jpg|59667425]! Strongly recommended if you're in the mood for some short, interesting, and well-told science-fiction!

TL (spoilers herein): Champion picks up Handry's story ten-years after Brother left off. During this interlude, Handry has assumed the mantle that was rather forcibly removed from Sharskin and now leads the collection of Severed, known (internally) as the Order of Cain or (to the villagers) as the Bandage-Men. Handry's position has left Melory free to study and learn from the House of the Ancestors, and to do a little tinkering too.

Handry has has grown the group both in size, but also in visibility since Sharskin's days, no longer a lurking sect, but a fully-realised member of society, doing the rounds of the various villages, visiting, offering to proactively remove the new Severed, scare away troublesome beasts and, most interestingly (to me, anyway) providing a fledgling postal service!

Change is coming though! The ghosts have grown restive and uneasy in the face of the Order and soon the namesake Champion appears, looking for Handry in order to return things to the predictable (if ignominiously agrarian) status quo that prevailed for so long. Along with the challenge of the Champion are some interesting new beasties, causing further disruption to the villages and their way of life. Handry and Melory need to work hard to ensure not only their own continued existence, but that of both their peoples too!

This time around, along with the Handry narrative, comes a few chapters (four I think) told from the perspective of the hinted-at Ancestors from the first book. We get a little insight into exactly what led to the tribes being the way they are today (I totally misread the situation in book 1 apparently - I thought it was an accident that resulted in the genesis of the tribes although, as I write this, I realise that the story we're told can't be from the perspective of the folks who were with the House of the Ancestors, and that's a whole other story). There's less emphasis in this book on the social themes, and a lot more around the idea of assumptions and perspective.

I found a lot in common with [b:Fiasco|28766|Fiasco|Stanisław Lem|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1287614689l/28766._SY75_.jpg|1762117] here actually! The alien perspective is...alien (although more explicably so that in [a:Lem|10991|Stanisław Lem|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1246185166p2/10991.jpg]'s example) and the end of the book is almost as unsatisfying. Which is not to say it's bad, but you get there and are quite upset for everyone involved. I really liked the way that various characters opinions played off against each other, and the fact that the Order disrupt "life" merely by existing, any problems the ghosts didn't address just became part of the way life was, this has been going on for several hundred years to this point and change, perhaps even for the better, is suddenly coming hard and fast, perturbing the ghosts and the society they've been half-arsedly overseeing.

This story is less of a character study and goes into a lot more detail on the world and the creatures therein. I like this a lot, and I liked the alternating story arcs and the conclusion of the main storyline. The only thing I didn't entirely get on board for was the weird little love-story. That didn't make a whole lot of sense, maybe because it's a short story and we didn't spend a lot of time learning about people this time around, as such, when the relationship was suddenly tacked-on to the end of the tale it felt a little weird, but it's literally only a page so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I recommend reading this, I rate it one star more than it's predecessor because I enjoyed the story more but I'd happily recommend both, in order.

merlandre's review against another edition

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5.0

A good story. A follow up to the Expert Systems Brother. Short but involved. Interesting philosophical ideas about alien encounters. Trust, understanding, difference. Well done.

chrstn's review

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dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

pandsomeboi's review

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adventurous hopeful reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

A slight improvement over the first book but still far too slow paced and over-written. I found myself skipping entire paragraphs without loosing anything. Similar to the first book the plot is simple. So are the characters. Despite a theme of “change is good” the characters barely change at all. Their development is mostly in the form of accepting themselves for who they are but not actually changing anything about themselves. That’s what makes everything so predictable for the reader. The unexpected happens for the characters, in their world, but not in ours. It’s not a deep, contemplative story about human evolution, community, or technology. It’s a shallow, non-complex tale of survival and, perhaps, the hubris of man.

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