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trike's review against another edition
1.0
Initially I was like, “Wow! This is going to be a 4-star read, easy!” And then I was like, “If he sticks the landing, this might actually achieve 5 stars!”
...and then he drives this sucker off a cliff where it explodes into a flaming ball of nonsense. Mark, I gotta ask, did you let your 7-year-old take over partway through? Pretty sure this is how it went:
Wheaton: “So here’s the set-up, kiddo: the sun is dying, but at MIT they’ve created an AI designed to help people get over trauma. It’s a combination of JARVIS and BARF from the Iron Man movies. How do you think she solves the problem and saves humanity?”
Wheaton’s kid: “I love Iron Man!!! Ooh, he has to meet Wolverine!”
Wheaton: “Well, no, Wolverine has an impossible healing factor that’s borderline magical, so he doesn’t really belong-”
Wheaton’s kid: “But I love, love, love Wolverine!”
Wheaton: “I know, honey, but this-”
Wheaton’s kid: “I WANT WOLVERINE!”
Wheaton: “Ok! Fine! Wolverine is in! Now what?”
Wheaton’s kid: “Your computer should make EVERYONE Wolverine! Like, they can change their bodies instantly and become anything! That way the sun ‘sploding don’t matter!”
Wheaton: “Well, that’s actually a different Marvel character named Darwin who can adapt to anything.”
Wheaton’s kid: “Yeah, him! And the computer should fight another computer, like in Avengers!”
Wheaton: “Sigh. Okay, kiddo.”
So much promise, squandered on impossible tech, bullshit biology, and an utter lack of research. Looking at Google Maps is NOT research.
Let’s take the New Hampshire parts of the book, for instance. (Disclosure: I live in NH.) It makes sense people would escape from Massachusetts to New Hampshire. Anyone who has sat in I-93 traffic northbound on a Friday afternoon can see the miles of Massholes heading to the lakes region. (“Massholes” is a term of endearment. We love you shitty drivers here in the 603. Stay home. Or at least USE YAH BLINKAHS!!!) So that’s all good.
But then he has our flesh-and-blood hero and virtual heroine (the titular Emily) break into a house in Wolfeboro, which just so happens to be the retired police chief’s home. Okay, coincidence, that’s fine. The chief is a woman, which, all right, not outside the realm of possibility in a sci-fi thriller. And now she’s black.
Um.
Yeah, I’m a liberal in a mostly red state, and I’m a feminist, and I’m all about inclusion, but you can’t just ignore the reality on the ground. New Hampshire is about 95% Caucasian, and Wolfeboro is about 108% white. I’ve been there quite a bit and I’m fairly sure I’ve never once seen an African-American. I’m not sure any black people have even *visited* Wolfeboro. I mean, people there look at *me* sideways and I’m Italian with a last name that sounds like it might be Hispanic. In 2016 Wolfeboro voted for Trump nearly 2-to-1.
I’m just sayin’.
He compounds the issue by making our black female police chief a painfully cringe-worthy Magical Negro with a side helping of Whoopi Epiphany Speech. These are white male author tropes that you dumbasses REALLY need to stop perpetuating. Read about them here: MN: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MagicalNegro WES: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WhoopiEpiphanySpeech
With the weird comic book DNA stuff and the poorly-researched setting, it comes as no surprise that later in the book he gets physics absolutely wrong every chance he gets. Just the deaths in outer space alone are disqualifying. You don’t “die in seconds” as your lungs explode. It takes minutes to die of that... which is actually more horrifying. If you’ve seen Kubrick & Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey then you’re familiar with Bowman’s desperate attempt to get back into the Discovery. In his haste to rescue Poole, he jumps into a pod without his helmet. HAL refuses to let him back in. “Open the pod bay doors, Hal.” “I’m sorry, Dave. I can’t do that.” So Bowman makes an emergency entrance into the ship without his space hat. He’s fine. Because exposure to vacuum is not an instakill death sentence. Even if you were unprotected in space, exposed to the heat of the sun, you wouldn’t die quickly.
But at this point I’m just needlessly nitpicking because the book had lost me long before. Oh, did I mention the confusion between “computer virus” and “virus virus”? Yeah.
This is the kind of stupid lazy sci-fi I hate, where literally a weekend’s worth of research on Wikipedia would’ve made the story orders of magnitude better.
...and then he drives this sucker off a cliff where it explodes into a flaming ball of nonsense. Mark, I gotta ask, did you let your 7-year-old take over partway through? Pretty sure this is how it went:
Wheaton: “So here’s the set-up, kiddo: the sun is dying, but at MIT they’ve created an AI designed to help people get over trauma. It’s a combination of JARVIS and BARF from the Iron Man movies. How do you think she solves the problem and saves humanity?”
Wheaton’s kid: “I love Iron Man!!! Ooh, he has to meet Wolverine!”
Wheaton: “Well, no, Wolverine has an impossible healing factor that’s borderline magical, so he doesn’t really belong-”
Wheaton’s kid: “But I love, love, love Wolverine!”
Wheaton: “I know, honey, but this-”
Wheaton’s kid: “I WANT WOLVERINE!”
Wheaton: “Ok! Fine! Wolverine is in! Now what?”
Wheaton’s kid: “Your computer should make EVERYONE Wolverine! Like, they can change their bodies instantly and become anything! That way the sun ‘sploding don’t matter!”
Wheaton: “Well, that’s actually a different Marvel character named Darwin who can adapt to anything.”
Wheaton’s kid: “Yeah, him! And the computer should fight another computer, like in Avengers!”
Wheaton: “Sigh. Okay, kiddo.”
So much promise, squandered on impossible tech, bullshit biology, and an utter lack of research. Looking at Google Maps is NOT research.
Let’s take the New Hampshire parts of the book, for instance. (Disclosure: I live in NH.) It makes sense people would escape from Massachusetts to New Hampshire. Anyone who has sat in I-93 traffic northbound on a Friday afternoon can see the miles of Massholes heading to the lakes region. (“Massholes” is a term of endearment. We love you shitty drivers here in the 603. Stay home. Or at least USE YAH BLINKAHS!!!) So that’s all good.
But then he has our flesh-and-blood hero and virtual heroine (the titular Emily) break into a house in Wolfeboro, which just so happens to be the retired police chief’s home. Okay, coincidence, that’s fine. The chief is a woman, which, all right, not outside the realm of possibility in a sci-fi thriller. And now she’s black.
Um.
Yeah, I’m a liberal in a mostly red state, and I’m a feminist, and I’m all about inclusion, but you can’t just ignore the reality on the ground. New Hampshire is about 95% Caucasian, and Wolfeboro is about 108% white. I’ve been there quite a bit and I’m fairly sure I’ve never once seen an African-American. I’m not sure any black people have even *visited* Wolfeboro. I mean, people there look at *me* sideways and I’m Italian with a last name that sounds like it might be Hispanic. In 2016 Wolfeboro voted for Trump nearly 2-to-1.
I’m just sayin’.
He compounds the issue by making our black female police chief a painfully cringe-worthy Magical Negro with a side helping of Whoopi Epiphany Speech
Spoiler
before she dies. Because of course she does. From cancer, the ONE THING the magical “reprogramming DNA” tech can’t solve. Because she needs to be the Magical Negro helping out the white protagonistWith the weird comic book DNA stuff and the poorly-researched setting, it comes as no surprise that later in the book he gets physics absolutely wrong every chance he gets. Just the deaths in outer space alone are disqualifying. You don’t “die in seconds” as your lungs explode. It takes minutes to die of that... which is actually more horrifying. If you’ve seen Kubrick & Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey then you’re familiar with Bowman’s desperate attempt to get back into the Discovery. In his haste to rescue Poole, he jumps into a pod without his helmet. HAL refuses to let him back in. “Open the pod bay doors, Hal.” “I’m sorry, Dave. I can’t do that.” So Bowman makes an emergency entrance into the ship without his space hat. He’s fine. Because exposure to vacuum is not an instakill death sentence. Even if you were unprotected in space, exposed to the heat of the sun, you wouldn’t die quickly.
But at this point I’m just needlessly nitpicking because the book had lost me long before. Oh, did I mention the confusion between “computer virus” and “virus virus”? Yeah.
This is the kind of stupid lazy sci-fi I hate, where literally a weekend’s worth of research on Wikipedia would’ve made the story orders of magnitude better.
lamusadelils's review against another edition
2.0
Aunque puedo ver potencial y tiene uno que otro chistorete gracioso, honestamente Emily es uno de los ejemplos de Inteligencia Artificial (o Consciencia Artificial, en este caso) más desesperantes y aburridos que he leído.
Aunque entiendo el punto de que un sistema inhumano aprendiendo a pensar en incluso sentir bajo términos humanos probablemente nunca va a tener conocimiento y juicio sin aprenderlos a la manera humana (o sea, como niños), hay otras versiones mejores allá afuera que han explorado esas ideas de formas mucho más efectivas.
Ni siquiera la parte donde Emily desarrolla aparente atracción me parece original o particularmente bien desarrollada, especialmente porque todo se mezcla con otros eventos apocalípticos y con personajes bastante aburridos.
Como toda historia que presenta avances científicos especulativos -hasta el momento- por supuesto se puede decir que plantea preguntas en la audiencia acerca de qué es la conciencia, nuestra relación con la tecnología que creamos y las cuestiones éticas de crear algo que es capaz de sentir y pensar. Sin embargo, creo que es uno de esos casos en que no queda nada particularmente memorable al terminar de leer, no hay momentos que resalten por su prosa, ni hay escenas que sorprendan y siembren ideas inéditas en nuestras mentes.
Aunque entiendo el punto de que un sistema inhumano aprendiendo a pensar en incluso sentir bajo términos humanos probablemente nunca va a tener conocimiento y juicio sin aprenderlos a la manera humana (o sea, como niños), hay otras versiones mejores allá afuera que han explorado esas ideas de formas mucho más efectivas.
Ni siquiera la parte donde Emily desarrolla aparente atracción me parece original o particularmente bien desarrollada, especialmente porque todo se mezcla con otros eventos apocalípticos y con personajes bastante aburridos.
Como toda historia que presenta avances científicos especulativos -hasta el momento- por supuesto se puede decir que plantea preguntas en la audiencia acerca de qué es la conciencia, nuestra relación con la tecnología que creamos y las cuestiones éticas de crear algo que es capaz de sentir y pensar. Sin embargo, creo que es uno de esos casos en que no queda nada particularmente memorable al terminar de leer, no hay momentos que resalten por su prosa, ni hay escenas que sorprendan y siembren ideas inéditas en nuestras mentes.
thestarman's review against another edition
VERDICT: Almost unrateable, because it's all over the place. There were some 3+ stars parts--namely, the first 15%, before all semblance of science was tossed out, and before Emily's abilities became increasingly contradictory and ever-expanding (how convenient). By the end it's a 0.25 star WTF affair. Overall: 1.4 stars.
DETAILS (no Big spoilers):
GENRE (as I read the book):
Science Fiction
Speculative Fiction
Weird YA Romance
Fantasy.. or something
Alternate Universe & Physics ?
Maybe It's All a Dream?
A freakin' mess
SAY SOMETHING NICE: Parts of this tale are pretty imaginative (if wonky and/or impossible in our current universe). There's tension: doomsday is imminent! There are twists. The last 50% of the book has a good bit of action. And the narrator is (allegedly) an A.I. Artificial Consciousness.
I'm not saying YOU won't love this book--especially if you know nothing at all about basic science, biology, astronomy, or computer programming. The story did take unexpected turns, and the twist I expected did not happen at all. Yep, Wheaton fooled me! But when you make up science as you go along -- and constantly ignore previous statements/facts -- anything is possible.
DETAILS (no Big spoilers):
Spoiler
GENRE (as I read the book):
A freakin' mess
SAY SOMETHING NICE: Parts of this tale are pretty imaginative (if wonky and/or impossible in our current universe). There's tension: doomsday is imminent! There are twists. The last 50% of the book has a good bit of action. And the narrator is (allegedly) an
I'm not saying YOU won't love this book--especially if you know nothing at all about basic science, biology, astronomy, or computer programming. The story did take unexpected turns, and the twist I expected did not happen at all. Yep, Wheaton fooled me! But when you make up science as you go along -- and constantly ignore previous statements/facts -- anything is possible.
diesmali's review against another edition
4.0
This book has a really interesting premise, and it started out focusing on ideas. Great, just what I wanted! But then it quickly turned into a page-turning adventure, which was a bit of a let-down. I would have preferred something else. But it was still quite the good read, and there are still things to think about in there.
themoonkestrel's review against another edition
4.0
Emily is very close to Paprika in "form" but the purpose is completely different and the plot too. So if you liked Paprika this is probably a good book for you. The science gets a bit iffy as the book progresses whcih was sad, as the first chapters had very "strong" science, then it becomes more and more speculative until it is barely there which was something that made me sad and disconnect a little (but I am a diehard scientist, and love tech science).
The plot turns quite a bit and the last few twists I didn't expect, however I did expect the Jason one
The plot turns quite a bit and the last few twists I didn't expect, however I did expect the Jason one
Spoiler
it was easy to know he was most certainly NOT going to his sister and family, there was a plan for him to take over stuff of course!shawnista_incolor's review against another edition
4.0
The ending was a bit meh, but I loved most of it. Cool fictional science and technology advancements presented in an understandable way.
bizaleth's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
literatureeverafter's review against another edition
3.0
Personally not my thing but I still love Emily!
itsemmane's review against another edition
4.0
When I first heard about Emily Eternal, it wasn't about its story but it was ranked in the top 10 best audiobook performances and I was intrigued right away. I was expecting a cliched AI to turn into a human but this one was far and more than that. This was probably the most human artificial intelligence I've ever encountered.
Emily Eternal is a sci-fi story about the world's first artificial consciousness named Emily. She's referred to as a consciousness rather than an intelligence because she was more developed with the main purpose of understanding human behavior and unlocking the secrets of the mind while helping people with their trauma. But everything is about to change when Emily is tasked to be humanity's savior from the impending doom of the Sun. She was about to test a theory to save mankind when armed men attacked the lab and held Emily's servers hostage. Emily, the world's very first artificial consciousness and supercomputer is now on the run.
This was a very fresh take on an AI and I love how it turned out. At first, I was very hesitant about an AI who's already self-aware when she was made. It seemed like it would be a common idea since the sci-fi genre was overcrowded with AIs but Emily Eternal was the rarest of all the AIs I've read. Her characterization was very interesting since it's not every day that you get to read about a runaway AI. I love following Emily as the story progresses because she's experiencing her firsts just like a human would. I also completely underestimated how an Artificial Consciousness would fight her enemies but with her great observation skills, sciences & mathematics, she quickly learned the difference between a tool and a weapon. It was awesome!
The story was great! It was very thrilling and it had this conspiratorial cloud over it that made everything very mysterious. From action to drama, romance, and mystery, this novel perfectly harmonized all of that. But there was something really weird about the part towards the end, for some odd reason, it felt very out of place. Everything was believable, and then suddenly another aspect was introduced and it felt like XMEN-ish and it was very strange.
Overall it was a great read! It's filled with so much humanity and I enjoyed every second d of it until the very intense conclusion. I highly recommend it.
4/5
Emily Eternal is a sci-fi story about the world's first artificial consciousness named Emily. She's referred to as a consciousness rather than an intelligence because she was more developed with the main purpose of understanding human behavior and unlocking the secrets of the mind while helping people with their trauma. But everything is about to change when Emily is tasked to be humanity's savior from the impending doom of the Sun. She was about to test a theory to save mankind when armed men attacked the lab and held Emily's servers hostage. Emily, the world's very first artificial consciousness and supercomputer is now on the run.
This was a very fresh take on an AI and I love how it turned out. At first, I was very hesitant about an AI who's already self-aware when she was made. It seemed like it would be a common idea since the sci-fi genre was overcrowded with AIs but Emily Eternal was the rarest of all the AIs I've read. Her characterization was very interesting since it's not every day that you get to read about a runaway AI. I love following Emily as the story progresses because she's experiencing her firsts just like a human would. I also completely underestimated how an Artificial Consciousness would fight her enemies but with her great observation skills, sciences & mathematics, she quickly learned the difference between a tool and a weapon. It was awesome!
The story was great! It was very thrilling and it had this conspiratorial cloud over it that made everything very mysterious. From action to drama, romance, and mystery, this novel perfectly harmonized all of that. But there was something really weird about the part towards the end, for some odd reason, it felt very out of place. Everything was believable, and then suddenly another aspect was introduced and it felt like XMEN-ish and it was very strange.
Overall it was a great read! It's filled with so much humanity and I enjoyed every second d of it until the very intense conclusion. I highly recommend it.
4/5