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3.53 AVERAGE
3.53 AVERAGE
adventurous
informative
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A little more ridiculous than I was hoping it would be. Too many talking animals??
I like it when fiction's not afraid to get weird. This story includes a romance between an uplifted cat and a robot beaver being remotely controlled by . So it's got "weird" covered. Bonus points for having one of the main plotlines revolve around public transit policy.
The only other thing I've read by Newitz is "When Robot and Crow Saved East St. Louis" from Future Tense Fiction (review), which portrayed a heartwarming friendship among humans, animals, and machines. The same theme is core to this novel: homo sapiens, enhanced cats and dogs and moose and naked mole rats, drones and even sentient doors are all just "people" working together. It's a pretty adorable vision of the future in that regard, though the larger context is an extreme corporate dystopia where slavery is openly tolerated. The utopian aspects are sometimes didactic and the villains sometimes seem to be guided by a desire to Be Evil rather than serious self-interest, but overall it's fun and thought-provoking.
I enjoyed the debate about the ethics of creating people in order to fill a need—
One disappointment: the otherwise-excellent jacket art neglected to include any flying moose.
(crosspost)
Spoiler
a sentient train whose brain is adapted from an earthworm'sThe only other thing I've read by Newitz is "When Robot and Crow Saved East St. Louis" from Future Tense Fiction (review), which portrayed a heartwarming friendship among humans, animals, and machines. The same theme is core to this novel: homo sapiens, enhanced cats and dogs and moose and naked mole rats, drones and even sentient doors are all just "people" working together. It's a pretty adorable vision of the future in that regard, though the larger context is an extreme corporate dystopia where slavery is openly tolerated. The utopian aspects are sometimes didactic and the villains sometimes seem to be guided by a desire to Be Evil rather than serious self-interest, but overall it's fun and thought-provoking.
I enjoyed the debate about the ethics of creating people in order to fill a need—
Spoiler
specifically, sentient flying trains to provide public transportation:Spoiler
"But still, it's our problem to solve. We can't build new people to fix this for us. We'd be dumping all our crap onto innocent creatures who would have to carry tourists around."
"Not just tourists. ... They'll be carrying every kind of person.... Plus, they wouldn't all have to become public transit. ... A flying train could be an engineer, a game designer, or a farmer if they wanted. ... Plenty will be left who like doing transit."
..."But what if you're wrong, and none of them want to fly people around? Or are you going to program them to want it?"
The room filled with the sound of Boring Fleet vessels laughing like wind chimes. ... "We of the Boring Fleet are not programmed to enjoy making subterranean infrastructure, but like all creatures, we find it satisfying to do things that our bodies excel at. Just as you hominins like to poke at machines with your hands and run your flappy mouths. And moose like to swim. Our bodies shape what we consider pleasant, whether that's work or play."
..."Exactly right. Not every train will want to do the same thing, but I'm not worried that the—the Flying Train Fleet will be averse to the thrill of designing optimal routes and visiting hundreds of cities across the globe."
One disappointment: the otherwise-excellent jacket art neglected to include any flying moose.
(crosspost)
The ending made my jaw drop. This was a really weird, interesting, imaginative story. If you're interested in politics, environmentalism, and especially trains, you'll probably love this book. It was pretty much made for me. Some parts were a lot weird, and I'm personally not into imagining animals sexually, but I can suspend my imagination enough to handle it.
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I really enjoyed the anti-capitalist vibe throughout, as well as the extremely unconventional characters.
Books one and three really grabbed me, though to be honest I feel book one accelerated too quickly and I would have appreciated a little more development before immediately revealing some big mysteries of the planet. Book two, on the other hand, really dragged for me. It seemed to only exist for the world-building and to set up book three, so it was hard for me to invest in the story line or characters.
In my opinion, Newitz employs too much tell and not enough show, but I suppose that's what you get when you cram three distinct stories into one 300 page novel. Still, despite the narrative issues and sometimes awkward prose, they get extra points for originality, and for making interspecies romance charming and believable.
Lastly, I applaud authors like Newitz, Chambers, and others who are working to populate their fictional worlds with inclusive values.
Books one and three really grabbed me, though to be honest I feel book one accelerated too quickly and I would have appreciated a little more development before immediately revealing some big mysteries of the planet. Book two, on the other hand, really dragged for me. It seemed to only exist for the world-building and to set up book three, so it was hard for me to invest in the story line or characters.
In my opinion, Newitz employs too much tell and not enough show, but I suppose that's what you get when you cram three distinct stories into one 300 page novel. Still, despite the narrative issues and sometimes awkward prose, they get extra points for originality, and for making interspecies romance charming and believable.
Lastly, I applaud authors like Newitz, Chambers, and others who are working to populate their fictional worlds with inclusive values.
challenging
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No