Reviews

The Downloaded by Robert J. Sawyer

bandicoot's review

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hopeful reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

rosemwood's review against another edition

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4.0

I listened to this free from audible. The paperback does not come out until May of 2024. It was interesting as the chapters were called episodes instead. It felt like I was watching a TV series. The voice acting was very good. The best part was Brandon Fraser narrated by favorite character, Roscoe. The only negative I have of this story was that I wish for more.

scrappyhooker's review

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adventurous mysterious reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

theaceofpages's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

"Store the body at sub-zero temperatures; store the mind in a quantum computer—and reunite them at some point in the future. It was a perfect solution not just for those seeking to beat death, like my grandpa, but also for astronauts like Jürgen and me planning to go on a centuries-long interstellar voyage. Except, damn it all, something went horribly, horribly wrong."

Set in the future, humans have perfected cryogenics. The trick is that the mind and the body have to be stored separately and the mind downloaded from the quantum computer back into the body when the body is defrosted. We meet two groups of people - astronauts who were meant to be frozen for a long space voyage to a distant star and prisoners wh were meant to serve a 20 year prison senence in 10 months in a sped up simulation. Hower, things don't quite go as promised and everyone wakes up on or around an earth they don't recognise 500 years later. These are their stories, told through a series of interviews, as they share who they are.

I was immediately intrigued when I saw the concept. The book may be short but it covers quite a lot in it pages. But because of its length a lot of these things unfortuanately aren't looked at much deeper than surface level (altough some points like COVID in this case both 19 and the new 50 disease were brought up multiple times, still not nearly as deeply as many other books look at pandemics though). I wasn't aware of the interview structure before I started. Although it maybe makes things a bit more fragmented than they would otherwise have been (each interview is quite short!), the fact that this isn't done through dialogue (i.e. it's just one character talking at a time without interruptions) means it mostly reads as any other story would. This started as an audio format and there were definitely times when I could tell that this was written with that in mind. There are times when it becomes more stream of concious and I imagine those parts work much better inan audion format as that kind of rambling tone doesn't necessarily transate as strongly to a print format - this is not the majority of the book though. Just parts here and there. But overall, this was an interesting book and I'm glad I read it! I'm definitely a little curious about what happes to our characters next.

I recieved a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. As always, all opinions are my own.

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angus_mckeogh's review against another edition

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4.0

Extremely different approach to AI within an apocalyptic narrative revolving around finding a new planet to settle humanity on. My first Sawyer but won’t be my last.

sandiet's review against another edition

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4.0

I downloaded (no pun intended) this selection because it was short. Don't let the length fool you though, there's a lot to this story that's set in Waterloo, ON and outerspace. The pandemic, global warming, transgender issues and more are covered. Like I said there's a lot to this short story. I'm hoping to read the print version when it's released because I think I'd get more from it by reading.
The performances are done really well. I've already recommended to a few people I think might find this interesting.

papisto's review

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adventurous dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

1.0

igeek's review against another edition

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4.0

This was a very interesting read/listen. Think “what it would be like to live in the matrix while being aware of what happened in the world outside of the matrix.

adventuresinfictionland's review

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adventurous hopeful mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

lurker_stalker's review against another edition

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4.0

Very much enjoyed this full-cast audiobook. It was interesting and engaging. Recommended for my sci-fi friends.