Ratings6
Average rating3.3
Oooohhhh my god, where do I start? SPOILER FILLED RANT INCOMING!
I can handle multiple POVs, I can handle first, second and third person storytelling, I can handle flashbacks, dreamscapes, nebulous telepathic mindscapes. What I can't handle well is when it keeps shifting which character is told in first, second or third person!
I can handle sci fi world building. What I can't handle is pausing on the evocative details 400 pages in after massive amounts of startling plot reveals, stalling the story progression, oh, and being so focused on the current day situation that the ‘before' of Cradle and the pantheon/overseeing AI/earlier generation of robot gods Immaculate/Immortal something or other is referenced so infrequently and with barely any details that I'm lost every time it's referred to.
I get that this author is setting up what I hope for their sake is a long running series, but you can't leave all the exposition for later books.
But really, those are just framing issues. Let's get down to the real nitty gritty.
The reason I'm so pissed is because I was so invested, for so long. And then it was just betrayal-palooza up in here.
I don't seek out works where the focus is on faith, organized religion or cults. My atheist ass finds a recounting of the damage that shit can do to people, in their own experiences or their actions towards others, simultaneously baffling and incredibly upsetting. Maybe as soon as I saw the history of this world built out as post-corruption of A.I.s that were some mix of all powerful/benevolent/tyrannical gods, I should have left. But I figured the societies and the people therein would be over it, especially as the remains of these AIs were being used by a dictatorial government as enforcers to get people to live a certain way. But no, apparently these AIs managed to fuck up people so bad that they would feed people, including friends and lovers, to their robotic shells in the hopes that they would get better.
Oh, and then there's the passenger, the AI who's a virus who was created by some other AIs to keep the god tendencies of these AIs in check and corrupt/kill them if they did what they did, control and kill the populations they looked after, but only in very specific circumstances, but of course the influence of humanity means that AI got a little fucked up too!
[Is anybody else sick to death of ‘humanity created AI so AI will be the distillation of our flaws' narratives? Where are the books about the best of humanity coming through in AI? I would happily read those, please!]
And Sunai, who turned so many cheeks that it felt like he was in an abusive relationship with the whole godamn universe, the reveal that Iterate Fractal designed him to challenge them, just, saw it coming and also incredibly angry on his behalf for being so very caught in the middle.
I stayed strong for 400 pages, but I'll admit after the big round of ‘actually I was lying to you this whole time and this is the horrible thing I've done/am doing' it gets a little rage blurred. I think some of it could be blamed on the AI, but I'm not sure that makes all of it forgivable? Suffice to say, the ending didn't save it for me, and as my brain is selectively effective at, the irritating portions are already slipping from my memory post walk-out-the-grumpy. If you thrive on interpersonal drama and don't mind some gray morality characters this may work for you. The premise might hinge on corrupt AI, but the plot is mostly messy humans. 🤷🏼♂️
⚠️Body horror