Sea of Rust
Ratings75
Average rating3.8
Robot is too human for me to find interesting. Writing feels like a parady of an action movie.
Excellent start with a balanced view between the storytelling and Science fiction. Waiting for the next
DNF @ ~25%.
This was actually my second go at reading this book and I only got a little beyond where I initially stopped. I'm giving it two stars because I like some of the concepts and Brittle is intriguing, but everything else didn't work for me.
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There is a reasonable backstory on the end of humanity but, other than that, this is just a sort of Mad Max for robots.
Post-apocalyptic dystopian robots. This was a great parable for the hubris of man, but also the an interesting thought experiment into whether any other form of intelligence would actually be better. There is a bleakness to this book (which to be fair is common to most post-apocalyptic books) and the absence of humans is keenly felt. We are already extinct in this setting and robots have inherited the world. That inheritance of AI doesn't mean an end to conflict however. Different AI's see different desires, and as soon as something has self awareness it should have self preservation - an idea that will inevitably lead to fighting for resources and things that it needs. The parallels with modern society are only loosely hidden - environmental decimation and the dangers of more powerful countries bullying weaker ones within a world society are clear messages within the story.
AI gone crazy is not necessarily a new concept, but the setting in a purely AI led environment is a novel one and what gives Sea of Rust its unique feel. The writing is engaging and the robots themselves have distinctly non-robotic personalities. But that is the whole point of AI is it not? Despite having an entire cast of robots, the motivations, rivalries and engagement between characters has a human quality, including the semi-messianic mainframe computers taking on a god-like role.
I have always been a fan of dystopian novels and this one is a top quality example of the genre. The characterization and world building are exemplary and the ending suitably ambiguous. Recommended
Suppose that we actually develop Artificial Intelligence for robots. This novel describes a possible future that is all too likely.
It was lighter than I thought, action packed, western vibes and sometimes it felt like Mad Max but with robots. Good read indeed.
A must read for everyone
A very well written, engaging, and interesting story about a post human robot apocalypse. I wasn't excited about the premise before reading, but a few chapters in had me hooked.
I've got such a jumble in my head about this book and I can't really put it in any decent order. So I'm just going to wordvomit a little bit.
If the Mad Max, Terminator, Matrix movies, and Waterworld (without the water) had a baby it would be this.
I need this to be its own movie. Maybe a miniseries because there's a lot going on here.
Holy shit I love good robot scifi.
Why hasn't a Goodreads librarian changed the synopsis to show that Brittle thinks of herself as a female robot?
Would robots really care about gender once humans are extinct? Was it just programming and voiceboxes that had them holding onto gender? I know Cargill tried to explain this but I still think robots might have thrown off human genders. It's a social construct they have no need for. Humans are people but robots are persons so why not a distinct robot pronoun?
I wonder if there's going to be a sequel to this. It wasn't a cliffhanger but it was still pretty open ended. What happened to Brittle was cool. What happened to Mercer was not cool. If there's a sequel we'd better see him again.
A depressing story. The AI nilhistic opinion of (the now extinct) human race fills me with a sense of foreboding. Very well written, but I had to work at enjoying it.
DNF @ 20%
I was really looking forward to a sci-fi western, because I didn't know what to expect.
Now, I'm not rating this because I can see how this is a good book and how people will enjoy it. It just isn't my thing, so I don't feel right rating it and dragging the rating down.
I'm not sure where the book was going, but I was more interesting in the human v. robot war than I was the actual story. I might have gotten far enough in to figure out the point of the story, which makes me think it may be slow-paced, but take this with a cup of salt.
3.25 out of 5 stars – see this review and others at The Speculative Shelf.
My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
Brittle, a lone Caregiver robot, scavenges for functioning parts in the desolate Sea of Rust. Along her journey she encounters factions of robots that have differing visions of how the post-human world should be. It's marketed as something akin to The Martian, but it feels much more like a quirkier story out of The Terminator universe.
This was an interesting take on the post-apocalyptic genre and I enjoyed it quite a bit. The story jumps between pre- and post-robot uprising and I found myself more invested in the chapters that described the history of the world before the apocalypse versus the present day narrative. Every aspect of this “what-if” world is well thought out and nicely conveyed to the reader.
For a story about metal automatons and artificial intelligence, Sea of Rust employs a surprising amount of emotional heft. Brittle's tale is one of angst, loss, and survival. I couldn't help drawing parallels to The Mechanical by Ian Tregillis, a favorite of mine that dives even deeper into the psyche of robotkind and explores what it really means to have free will. Sea of Rust is not at that level, but it is a serviceable and enjoyable ride nonetheless.