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A review by branch_c
Emily Eternal by M.G. Wheaton
3.0
Emily is absolutely a unique AI character, at least in my reading experience. The explanation of her existence and capabilities and behavior is creative and thought-provoking in the best ways.
Having said that, the distinction between AI and AC (artificial consciousness) is not part of that uniqueness; it’s just a terminology quirk that doesn’t take into account the actual definition of consciousness. Also, going back to Emily’s capabilities and behaviors, I have to admit that while the initial presentation is great, it goes off the rails a bit when the action picks up. The ease and speed with with she’s able to access, influence, and even control the humans she deals with - merely by having a chip in contact with any part of their skin - quickly starts to seem like magic. Likewise, the way she presents herself to many people at once, all with separate chips, involves a bit of hand waving and seems like it would take a significant amount of processing power (not to say “attention”). It might have kept things more grounded if there had been some difficulties along these lines. The plot too, toward the end, goes off in a direction that, while pleasantly unexpected, is also not as satisfying as I’d hoped. And the romance aspect is never quite believable for me, on the part of either party involved.
So in the end, while certainly a worthwhile read, I enjoyed the concept more than the execution on this one.
Having said that, the distinction between AI and AC (artificial consciousness) is not part of that uniqueness; it’s just a terminology quirk that doesn’t take into account the actual definition of consciousness. Also, going back to Emily’s capabilities and behaviors, I have to admit that while the initial presentation is great, it goes off the rails a bit when the action picks up. The ease and speed with with she’s able to access, influence, and even control the humans she deals with - merely by having a chip in contact with any part of their skin - quickly starts to seem like magic. Likewise, the way she presents herself to many people at once, all with separate chips, involves a bit of hand waving and seems like it would take a significant amount of processing power (not to say “attention”). It might have kept things more grounded if there had been some difficulties along these lines. The plot too, toward the end, goes off in a direction that, while pleasantly unexpected, is also not as satisfying as I’d hoped. And the romance aspect is never quite believable for me, on the part of either party involved.
So in the end, while certainly a worthwhile read, I enjoyed the concept more than the execution on this one.