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bug_lightyear's review against another edition
4.25
Read in 18.5 hours at 0.65 speed
A nice story about a Mars rover and his drone buddy, who like to sing Twinkle Twinkle. The robots develop emotions, but still can't communicate their excitement, fears, hopes to the humans working with them.
The kid of one of the engineers working on Res writes letters to him so we get to hear a human point of view as the years go by and her mom gets sick.
The audiobook narration was good, I particularly liked how Sophie's letters were narrated. The robots' little phrases like "beeps and boops" and Fly's over-enthusiasm became irritating in the long run, especially because I couldn't figure out what Guidance was saying... "croissants ?"
The chapters of the audiobook (on Libby) always cut a couple of seconds too short, cutting the last few words when using the timer.
I was a bit bothered by the humans Res calls hazmats, because as far as I know as an engineer, they would be wearing cleanroom suits intended to protect the robot and not hazmat suits intended to protect the humans. But I might be wrong, I've never worked on a NASA robot. The Earth is mentioned as a white dot in the sky, I haven't been able to find out if that's true and that Earth actually looks white from Mars. I wish there were a few more scientific/technical details like how are the robots powered? How does their tracking and communication work? How did they bring Res back to Earth?
A nice story about a Mars rover and his drone buddy, who like to sing Twinkle Twinkle. The robots develop emotions, but still can't communicate their excitement, fears, hopes to the humans working with them.
The kid of one of the engineers working on Res writes letters to him so we get to hear a human point of view as the years go by and her mom gets sick.
The audiobook narration was good, I particularly liked how Sophie's letters were narrated. The robots' little phrases like "beeps and boops" and Fly's over-enthusiasm became irritating in the long run, especially because I couldn't figure out what Guidance was saying... "croissants ?"
The chapters of the audiobook (on Libby) always cut a couple of seconds too short, cutting the last few words when using the timer.
I was a bit bothered by the humans Res calls hazmats, because as far as I know as an engineer, they would be wearing cleanroom suits intended to protect the robot and not hazmat suits intended to protect the humans. But I might be wrong, I've never worked on a NASA robot. The Earth is mentioned as a white dot in the sky, I haven't been able to find out if that's true and that Earth actually looks white from Mars. I wish there were a few more scientific/technical details like how are the robots powered? How does their tracking and communication work? How did they bring Res back to Earth?
Content Warnings
Moderate: Chronic illness
scarlett_f's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Grief, and Chronic illness
purplepenning's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Chronic illness
Minor: Abandonment and Injury/Injury detail
squinnittowinit's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
A lovely story with endearing characters. I found myself smiling many times while reading this, and very invested in the characters' struggles. The narrators were also enjoyable to listen to.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Chronic illness and Grief
Minor: Bullying and Body horror
Missing person (minor), perilous situations, dangerous weather, loneliness, coma, fallingaudreylee's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
The development and deployment of the Rover robot named Redemption was juxtaposed against the life of one of the NASA coders' daughters. This was a clever move by the author as it allowed us to view the emotional development of Redemption in contrast to that of Sophie who writes him letters. The struggles with friendship, independence, and the threat of loss were all remarkably similar. At times, the Sophie portrayed in the letters did not feel the same age as the Sophie in the rest of the narrative. This novel made the science behind the Rover come alive.
Content Warnings
Minor: Chronic illness
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