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A review by kingeditor
The Stories of Ibis by Hiroshi Yamamoto
4.0
Science fiction has often endeavored to explain AI, but seldom has it tried to justify it. Instead of asking how AI would work or how AI would come about, The Stories of Ibis is more concerned with why people would make AI, what AI means to us, and where AI already exists in the present: stories.
In the view of Ibis, the titular storyteller, AI serves the same purpose as fiction, because, like a story, although an AI is not physically real, it can inspire real emotions, and the more positive those emotions are, the greater claim the AI has for being real in a different sense. Thus, even when the stories Ibis shares do not have AI present, they are still fundamentally about AI in that they explore how people use role-playing and collective imagination to cope with the outside world. While in each story technology has a role in facilitating these activities, it is less important than the interpersonal connections involved.
For a translated work, the writing and dialogue are clear, if sometimes marginal—though, perhaps this makes it better suited to an English reader—yet Yamamoto pushes the boundaries of a “light novel” in surprising ways, such as his invention of an AI argot and his seamless transitions between stories imbedded within each other. His settings, however, are typical otaku fare, which his characters acknowledge along with his debt to Asimov’s Laws of Robotics.
But unlike Asimov, his stories are all centered around female protagonists. This is not a coincidence, as Ibis admits early on that it is easier for her, a female AI (“female” being the gender she was assigned as well as her gender of choice), to relate to stories with female protagonists. This a bold statement coming from a male author, especially from a genre as male-dominated as science fiction.
Unfortunately, he is not as bold when it comes to addressing the sexual exploitation of these AI, which is an undercurrent throughout most of Ibis’ stories. Granted, whenever the abuse and prostitution AI suffer are mentioned, it is with indignation and disgust. Yet the objectification and infantilization of AI women is merely alluded to rather than confronted, and male gaze pervades both the intermissions of the male narrator and the stories told by Ibis.
Still, where the baggage of the light novel medium does not hamper it, The Stories of Ibis is truly a gem. Other science fiction books may offer crackling circuitry and turgid technobabble, but this one, to the satisfaction of a layman like myself, has warmth, heart, and pathos.
In the view of Ibis, the titular storyteller, AI serves the same purpose as fiction, because, like a story, although an AI is not physically real, it can inspire real emotions, and the more positive those emotions are, the greater claim the AI has for being real in a different sense. Thus, even when the stories Ibis shares do not have AI present, they are still fundamentally about AI in that they explore how people use role-playing and collective imagination to cope with the outside world. While in each story technology has a role in facilitating these activities, it is less important than the interpersonal connections involved.
For a translated work, the writing and dialogue are clear, if sometimes marginal—though, perhaps this makes it better suited to an English reader—yet Yamamoto pushes the boundaries of a “light novel” in surprising ways, such as his invention of an AI argot and his seamless transitions between stories imbedded within each other. His settings, however, are typical otaku fare, which his characters acknowledge along with his debt to Asimov’s Laws of Robotics.
But unlike Asimov, his stories are all centered around female protagonists. This is not a coincidence, as Ibis admits early on that it is easier for her, a female AI (“female” being the gender she was assigned as well as her gender of choice), to relate to stories with female protagonists. This a bold statement coming from a male author, especially from a genre as male-dominated as science fiction.
Unfortunately, he is not as bold when it comes to addressing the sexual exploitation of these AI, which is an undercurrent throughout most of Ibis’ stories. Granted, whenever the abuse and prostitution AI suffer are mentioned, it is with indignation and disgust. Yet the objectification and infantilization of AI women is merely alluded to rather than confronted, and male gaze pervades both the intermissions of the male narrator and the stories told by Ibis.
Still, where the baggage of the light novel medium does not hamper it, The Stories of Ibis is truly a gem. Other science fiction books may offer crackling circuitry and turgid technobabble, but this one, to the satisfaction of a layman like myself, has warmth, heart, and pathos.