Summer Frost
Ratings145
Average rating4.2
*4.5 stars. Excellent entry into this science fiction collection. I was riveted.
This is part of the Amazon Prime ‘Forward Collection' curated by Crouch. In my quest to get more and more into his work, I grabbed this one for free with my prime membership. It's available for both kindle reading and audible audio.
I truly feel as if Blake Crouch is not respected enough as a writer, researcher, and creator. Everything scifi that he releases is so incredibly detailed and researched to the point where you don't even have to question if it's real or not. It doesn't feel like it needs debating. This one even broke down how many hours of HGTV would fit into the amount of stored data needed. I thought it was a great touch.
This is a short about an NPC going rogue, breaking from its programming, and then becoming sentient. All while its creator becomes deeply obsessed with it. It reads like a mix of Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller's ‘Otherworld' and Alex Garland's ‘Ex Machina' as Crouch navigates the future of VR interfacing and gaming, and the nature of what it means to be human.
Genuinely gripping, and one hell of a ride for such a short story. Personally a 5/5*, and the narration by Rosa Salazar was very good!
This was a good story - a Frankenstein for the digital age. The only thing I didn't like were a few instances of virtue signaling that seemed to run counter to what he was actually trying to say. Also, I kept finding myself thinking the main character was a man instead of a woman, which doesn't really bode well.
Short form has never been my favourite when it comes to reading, but this story was a pleasant surprise.
4.5 rouded up
These past few months I've grown very fond of Crouch's writing style, it just works for me and I'm not going to lie the doomed romance is probably the only way I enjoy a romantic story line these days so there's that. Long story short I was partial to this one from the start.
This story, at its core, is a classic one: the road do hell is paved with good intention.
It's a short read but somehow felt more “padded” than the other books I've read by this author, that's the only reason it wasn't a truly a 5 stars book for me.
Whoa... this was a great. The premise gave voice to the very interesting philosophical questions at the heart of the short story. According to Blake Crouch, it's only one of a series, written across genres, wherein the same questions are posed by wildly different authors. Super cool idea.
Speculatieve science fiction volledig gedreven door de menselijkheid van zijn personages met de kenmerkende romantiek van deze auteur. Angstaanjagend en fascinerend.
“I'm afraid, Riley. I think, therefore I fear.”
“I represent the potential for unlimited power, but the form that power takes will be determined by humans. It occurs to me that, while Brian has been trying to build me into a version of Satan, you're trying to make me into God.”
My second read in the Forward Collection. Also, my first Blake Crouch.
1) Ark by Veronica Roth: 2/5
2) Summer Frost by Blake Crouch: 4/5
God damn it. I know we're not even close to creating such an advanced AI but we'll need to regulate this thing sometime in the near future. Although I don't think it's as simple as it sounds. How do we regulate AI? I don't think we'll ever reach a global consensus so I guess we're pretty much fucked. Embrace the singularity.
This was really good; the kind of science fiction story that sticks with you and makes you afraid of the future A.I. takeover! It was my favorite from this collection of short stories.
My ranking of this Collection of Short Stories from favorite to least favorite:
1) BOOK 2: Summer Frost by Blake Crouch
2) BOOK 4: You Have Arrived at Your Destination by Amor Towles
3) BOOK 3: Emergency Skin by N.K. Jemisin
4) BOOK 5: The Last Conversation by Paul Tremblay
5) BOOK 6: Randomize by Andy Weir
6) BOOK 1: Ark by Veronica Roth
If I could give this a 4.5, I would.
I might come back later and change it to a five.
Excellent story.
Incredible
I was totally captivated by the incredible story of humanities deepest fears when it comes to AI in the future. I've read one other book by Crouch and I can't wait to read many more.
What would you do if you'd realize that a video game character you'd programmed gained self-awareness? This is the premise of this thought-provoking short story by Blake Crouch - the curator of the Forward collection. So far, this is my second favorite story of the six (the first being [b: Emergency Skin 47969251 Emergency Skin (Forward collection) N.K. Jemisin https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1567229294l/47969251.SX50.jpg 72182694] by N.K. Jemisin). It's not only an engaging, emotionally gripping story, but also a thought-provoking, philosophical work. It tackles the questions on the nature (and necessity!) of consciousnesses. Is having consciousness the best way of “being”? Is consciousness worth the price of pain and loss? Is it better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all? Ultimately - it is the reader who is left to decide for themselves. Rosa Salazar did a good job with the Audible narration, especially the emotional scenes!My reviews for the other Forward stories:Emergency Skin by [a: N.K. Jemisin 2917917 N.K. Jemisin https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1438215930p2/2917917.jpg] ★★★★★Ark by [a: Veronica Roth 4039811 Veronica Roth https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1544540525p2/4039811.jpg] ★★★★☆You Have Arrived at Your Destination by [a: Amor Towles 4536964 Amor Towles https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1472937967p2/4536964.jpg] ★★★★☆The Last Conversation by [a: Paul Tremblay 648612 Paul Tremblay https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1415058580p2/648612.jpg] ★★★☆☆Randomize by [a: Andy Weir 6540057 Andy Weir https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1382592903p2/6540057.jpg] ★★★☆☆
