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I've read two very different books about AIs this week.
The first was Silently and Very Fast by Catherynne M Valente, a novella that is written from the perspective of an AI that develops over the course of several generations of one family. It mixes myth, metaphor and self-reflection to build up a portrayal of the AI's burgeoning self-awareness and its desires for its own existence. The narrative weaves in different timelines to show the relationship between the AI and whoever in the family is in the ascendant at any one time. It's quite nebulous as stories go, and I found it difficult to get a real hold on the progression of events, or fully appreciate the significance of the use of symbols. It's about choice and lack of choice, personhood and the search for independence, expectation and obligation. It was interesting and weird, but perhaps not as involving as I would have liked it to be.
A Closed and Common Orbit, on the other hand, was wonderful from start to finish and I loved every minute of the audiobook. It's the second in the Wayfarer series by Becky Chambers, and it took me by surprise at first, because it follows two very minor characters from the first book and makes them the protagonists. They travel away from the Wayfarer, so none of the first book's main characters are in it at all. There are two timelines - one following Sidra, an AI transplanted into a humanoid body, who struggles with intergrating into corporeal society; and one giving the background to Pepper, who grew up isolated on a junkyard planet and had to work for many years to escape. Even though I already knew where Pepper ended up, I found the tale of her childhood very affecting and very suspenseful, which is a difficult trick to pull off. And I thought the portrayal of Sidra's difficulties in acclimatising to a humanoid body was brilliant. There isn't really much jeopardy in the book as a whole (though things do get a bit tense towards the end) but this wasn't a problem at all. The story is so diverse and inclusive and fuzzy and lovely and fascinating and emotive - I just loved it, and I can't wait to listen to the third book in the series.
The first was Silently and Very Fast by Catherynne M Valente, a novella that is written from the perspective of an AI that develops over the course of several generations of one family. It mixes myth, metaphor and self-reflection to build up a portrayal of the AI's burgeoning self-awareness and its desires for its own existence. The narrative weaves in different timelines to show the relationship between the AI and whoever in the family is in the ascendant at any one time. It's quite nebulous as stories go, and I found it difficult to get a real hold on the progression of events, or fully appreciate the significance of the use of symbols. It's about choice and lack of choice, personhood and the search for independence, expectation and obligation. It was interesting and weird, but perhaps not as involving as I would have liked it to be.
A Closed and Common Orbit, on the other hand, was wonderful from start to finish and I loved every minute of the audiobook. It's the second in the Wayfarer series by Becky Chambers, and it took me by surprise at first, because it follows two very minor characters from the first book and makes them the protagonists. They travel away from the Wayfarer, so none of the first book's main characters are in it at all. There are two timelines - one following Sidra, an AI transplanted into a humanoid body, who struggles with intergrating into corporeal society; and one giving the background to Pepper, who grew up isolated on a junkyard planet and had to work for many years to escape. Even though I already knew where Pepper ended up, I found the tale of her childhood very affecting and very suspenseful, which is a difficult trick to pull off. And I thought the portrayal of Sidra's difficulties in acclimatising to a humanoid body was brilliant. There isn't really much jeopardy in the book as a whole (though things do get a bit tense towards the end) but this wasn't a problem at all. The story is so diverse and inclusive and fuzzy and lovely and fascinating and emotive - I just loved it, and I can't wait to listen to the third book in the series.
