Once again I was lucky enough to be a part of the blogsplosion for Quirk Classics. This time it is for Android Karenina. Besides giving us copies to review they are also allowing, you the blog readers, the chance to win 1 of 25 Quirk Prize packs which have copies of Quirk books, an Android poster and more (seriously - it is cool... go win it! Click here to go to their forum.
Now - for the book. As with any major Russian novel, it has huge amounts of explanation and character building - which is what the first 100 pages are. Looking back I know I was a little frustrated because I wanted to see how the robots in the society really functioned but the story really needs these first pages to set the tone and to also make the inevitable action all the more exciting. Ben Winters has done a great job of recrafting Russia into a robot assisted society with its "Iron Laws" to protect the citizens. Anyone worth anything has their companion Type III robot always around and helping. The backdrop of the society and the changes that the robots have made to the world really paint a vivid picture of how different this world is, and the humans, with their love affairs and fights show us how we will never change - regardless of how society is created.
There are some fantastic ideas for a robot supported society and I love how so many of these little things sneak in as a tiny element, but if you stop and think about it you realize - why wouldn't there be a robot teapot? If you go all the way, then all the servants and the proletariat are replaced by menial robots that do not need pay, just repair.
This is a wonderful example of how you can take a classic, shift the world it is in and yet have it still hold true to the original while being a completely new book. Quirk has done it again!
Go buy it today!
No comments:
Post a Comment