I was so relieved that I liked this book. It's never easy to read a colleague's stuff and have to choke it down. I'm predominantly a fantasy reader - but I've earned my spurs reading Asimov, Heinlein, Herbert, McCaffrey, Clarke, etc. - I'm no stranger to space and robots. Let there be no doubt - this is some A+ crunchy nerd stuff here.
The world building in this book is, quite frankly, excellent. The level of thought Dubeau has put into every part of Capek society - how it grew from a future human civilization, how the different 'families' of robots interrelate, how the central conflict is spawned from an AI split in philosophy? That's not something you can casually toss out - or execute easily. Here it feels completely natural and intuitive. When you can make an entire race of sentient robots feel natural and intuitive - that is a rare gift. The 'process porn' alone - oh man. The sequence of Dagir's body and core faculties being built in the first act - that could have been 3 times as long and I would have kept lapping it up. The moments where the book delves into a new feature of Capek society or capability - or just the technical 'HOW DO' of it all are delicious nuggets of thought chow. And it's never -feels- like an info dump! Maybe because you just want to know more and more about how the Capeks function? But I found myself reading less for the overarching plot and more for the guided tour of these fascinating robots/aliens. There's also some great (but quiet) thoughts on identity and gender that were very nice.
Characterization is also strong - Dagir is the best, of course. Dubeau seems to have an interesting bent for writing devoted, protective, skilled female characters? Her group of allies are freaking great - I hated that so little of the book's runtime was spent with 'the gang' all together. Special shout-outs to Ukupanipo and Hermes. The careful depiction of the antagonist [left unnamed here lest I spoil] is also very nice - I would have liked a little bit more, but the tantalizing tendrils that are there were great.
The plot is solid, but I had some quibbles. The over plot - the galaxy spanning mystery - is fine, but it felt a bit mechanical. (pun intended) I found myself drawn much more to Dagir's emotional plot and her connections to her 'son' Jonathan - the resolution of the emotional plot was extremely interesting functionally, but it felt a bit rushed? Everything was nailed down and completed - with interesting hooks left for the planned sequel - but then the curtain came up and I WASN'T READY. LET ME CRY a LITTLE MORE DAMMIT, JF.
One other minor quibble: if he Capeks are all named after human mythologies as a sort of genealogy (amazing idea), how have they not used them all up after thousands of years? Like, how are we meeting Hermes and not Hermes10111678B?
I enjoyed this book immensely. The plot is a distant third, with the characters second - -and then light years ahead in first the development of a fascinating, unique setting and culture that makes this book so important to read. I had a great time, I have questions, I want to read more. I was so relieved that I liked this book. It's never easy to read a colleague's stuff and have to choke it down. I'm predominantly a fantasy reader - but I've earned my spurs reading Asimov, Heinlein, Herbert, McCaffrey, Clarke, etc. - I'm no stranger to space and robots. Let there be no doubt - this is some A+ crunchy nerd stuff here.
The world building in this book is, quite frankly, excellent. The level of thought Dubeau has put into every part of Capek society - how it grew from a future human civilization, how the different 'families' of robots interrelate, how the central conflict is spawned from an AI split in philosophy? That's not something you can casually toss out - or execute easily. Here it feels completely natural and intuitive. When you can make an entire race of sentient robots feel natural and intuitive - that is a rare gift. The 'process porn' alone - oh man. The sequence of Dagir's body and core faculties being built in the first act - that could have been 3 times as long and I would have kept lapping it up. The moments where the book delves into a new feature of Capek society or capability - or just the technical 'HOW DO' of it all are delicious nuggets of thought chow. And it's never -feels- like an info dump! Maybe because you just want to know more and more about how the Capeks function? But I found myself reading less for the overarching plot and more for the guided tour of these fascinating robots/aliens. There's also some great (but quiet) thoughts on identity and gender that were very nice.
Characterization is also strong - Dagir is the best, of course. Dubeau seems to have an interesting bent for writing devoted, protective, skilled female characters? Her group of allies are freaking great - I hated that so little of the book's runtime was spent with 'the gang' all together. Special shout-outs to Ukupanipo and Hermes. The careful depiction of the antagonist [left unnamed here lest I spoil] is also very nice - I would have liked a little bit more, but the tantalizing tendrils that are there were great.
The plot is solid, but I had some quibbles. The over plot - the galaxy spanning mystery - is fine, but it felt a bit mechanical. (pun intended) I found myself drawn much more to Dagir's emotional plot and her connections to her 'son' Jonathan - the resolution of the emotional plot was extremely interesting functionally, but it felt a bit rushed? Everything was nailed down and completed - with interesting hooks left for the planned sequel - but then the curtain came up and I WASN'T READY. LET ME CRY a LITTLE MORE DAMMIT, JF.
One other minor quibble: if he Capeks are all named after human mythologies as a sort of genealogy (amazing idea), how have they not used them all up after thousands of years? Like, how are we meeting Hermes and not Hermes10111678B?
I enjoyed this book immensely. The plot is a distant third, with the characters second - -and then light years ahead in first the development of a fascinating, unique setting and culture that makes this book so important to read. I had a great time, I have questions, I want to read more.