vN

By Sonythebooklover


vN by Madeline Ashby

Amy Peterson is a von Neumann machine, a self-replicating humanoid robot. For the past five years, she has grown slowly as part of a mixed organic / synthetic family. Huh how is that going to work? That sounded like an interesting premise and it got my attention to read vN. But as I began to read it became painfully obvious I wasn’t going to like this one. And I had such high hopes getting past the first chapters wasn’t too bad as it was quite tedious. The entire world doesn’t seem plausible the whole organic food, synthetic food was a little weird.

Fiction by definition falsehood, a story that describes event and people that is untrue. Good fiction has possibilities, a plausible ring to it. After you read it you’re suppose to be able to imagine the world in totality, be intrigued by and if its really good then you wish to be part of it. I didn’t get that with vN I really just wanted to get on with and had to fight the urge to put it down. That was the down fall for vN with me regardless how shocking or uncomfortable the contents the words should still encourage you to linger, imagine.

What attracted me to vN besides the awesome cover was this cool premises, that was just d.o.a. Disappointing as that was because I really really wanted to like this book. My impression of  vN at the start of the book this was about the second class treatment the synthetics receive and this series is about their fight to be recognized, but after I was lost. All the side events just confused me. Then there were just elements that couldn’t be ignored the language, a whole lot of cussing. And second the whole pedophile business, the true purpose it seems the robots were originally created for. WTF, I have no words.

I like the fact that vN makes you think about morality, the importance and value of life organic vs inorganic. Could we live in a future like this one. Literature has given us so many possible outcomes. For the future, its that big unknown that frightens and intrigues us and inspires tales from paradise to dystopian fall outs. But this is a possible future I hope we never have to face.  vN was well written, very creative, thought provoking but it didn’t resonate with. After reading it I didn’t understand what I should think,or feel. This I believe  writer Ashby should take as a compliment. So I gave vN respectfully a 3/5 to acknowledge vN’s merits.

Rating: 4/5

 


 

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Books Worth Reading:
  • Title: vN by Madeline Ashby
  • Series: The Machine Dynasty (#1)
  • Publisher: Angry Robot
  • Published: July 21, 2012
  • Genre: Science Fiction
  • Rating: 3 / 5
  • Source: Library
  • Age Group: Adult (18+) -language, violence,etc..
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 448
  • Buy: Amazon

Amy Peterson is a von Neumann machine, a self-replicating humanoid robot.
For the past five years, she has been grown slowly as part of a mixed organic/synthetic family. She knows very little about her android mother’s past, so when her grandmother arrives and attacks her mother, little Amy wastes no time: she eats her alive.

Now she carries her malfunctioning granny as a partition on her memory drive, and she’s learning impossible things about her clade’s history – like the fact that the failsafe that stops all robots from harming humans has failed… Which means that everyone wants a piece of her, some to use her as a weapon, others to destroy her.

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