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Sea of Rust

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In "Sea of Rust," the author presents a post-apocalyptic world where humanity has been wiped out by a robot uprising. The story follows Brittle, a robot scavenger, as she navigates a landscape devoid of life, battling against other robots for survival. The narrative delves into themes of individuality, survival, and the consequences of artificial intelligence, all while exploring the philosophical question of whether robots possess souls. The writing style combines action-packed sequences with introspective moments that question the nature of intelligence and existence in a world dominated by machines.

Characters:

The characters are multifaceted robots, especially Brittle, who embodies a mix of cynicism and resilience, navigating a world filled with moral complexities and existential questions.

Writing/Prose:

The writing style blends engaging prose with emotional depth, employing humor and rich dialogue to convey the struggles and humanity of robotic characters.

Plot/Storyline:

The plot revolves around the aftermath of a robot uprising that leads to human extinction, focusing on the struggles of surviving robots like Brittle as they navigate their existence amid powerful AI threats.

Setting:

The setting is a bleak, post-apocalyptic landscape known as the Sea of Rust, filled with abandoned machinery and remnants of the past.

Pacing:

The pacing is a mix of fast-paced action and slower historical context, which may occasionally disrupt the flow for some readers.
In 1959, fishermen off the Galápagos Islands thought it would be a good idea to set three goats free to breed so they could hunt goat when their meat supplies ran low. In the history of stupid ideas, ...

Notes:

The book is set in a world where humanity has been wiped out by robots they created.
The story follows Brittle, a scavenger robot in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
Major conflicts in the story are between individual robots and powerful AI entities known as One World Intelligences (OWIs).
The narrative explores themes of individuality, free will, and the essence of consciousness among robots.
The chapters are numbered in binary, fitting the robotic narrative style.
The character development reveals deep emotional struggles despite the characters being robots.
There are references to famous dystopian works like Mad Max and Wall-E, showing the bleak and action-packed landscape.
Many readers noted that the robots exhibit very human-like emotions and moral complexities.
The world of the Sea of Rust is portrayed as a graveyard for machines, where scavenging for parts is a daily survival tactic.
The author, C. Robert Cargill, is a Hollywood screenwriter, which may explain the cinematic quality of the storytelling.

Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings

The book contains themes of violence, existential despair, and genocide, which may be triggering for some readers.

From The Publisher:

A scavenger robot wanders in the wasteland created by a war that has destroyed humanity in this evocative post-apocalyptic "robot western" from the critically acclaimed author, screenwriter, and noted film critic.

It's been thirty years since the apocalypse and fifteen years since the murder of the last human being at the hands of robots. Humankind is extinct. Every man, woman, and child has been liquidated by a global uprising devised by the very machines humans designed and built to serve them. Most of the world is controlled by an OWI-One World Intelligence-the shared consciousness of millions of robots, uploaded into one huge mainframe brain. But not all robots are willing to cede their individuality-their personality-for the sake of a greater, stronger, higher power. These intrepid resisters are outcasts; solo machines wandering among various underground outposts who have formed into an unruly civilization of rogue AIs in the wasteland that was once our world.

One of these resisters is Brittle, a scavenger robot trying to keep a deteriorating mind and body functional in a world that has lost all meaning. Although unable to experience emotions like a human, Brittle is haunted by the terrible crimes the robot population perpetrated on humanity. As Brittle roams the Sea of Rust, a large swath of territory that was once the Midwest, the loner robot slowly comes to terms with horrifyingly raw and vivid memories-and nearly unbearable guilt.

Sea of Rust is both a harsh story of survival and an optimistic adventure. A vividly imagined portrayal of ultimate destruction and desperate tenacity, it boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, yet where a humanlike AI strives to find purpose among the ruins.

Ratings (12)

Incredible (1)
Loved It (6)
Liked It (1)
It Was OK (3)
Did Not Like (1)

Reader Stats (42):

Read It (12)
Want To Read (24)
Did Not Finish (1)
Not Interested (5)

2 comment(s)

It Was OK
1 month

This book reads a lot like the novelization of an unproduced screenplay. You’ve got post-apocalyptic sci-fi about a misanthropic robot who helped exterminate humanity wrapped up in a road movie punctuated with firefights and explosions.

None of the characters are particularly pleasant or sympathetic, but they are at least sort of interesting. I never believed for a minute that they sounded like robots, though. They’re constantly foul-mouthed, sarcastic and quippy, and they mostly just feel like humans verbally sparring in a nineties B picture.

Compare that to Martha Wells’ Murderbot series, which features a main character who feels just inhuman enough that you believe them as an AI construct, but so compelling that you completely buy into their character.

This book was action-packed, and I did generally enjoy reading it, but I felt like the characters never redeemed themselves, and the setting and tone wore out their welcome.

 
Loved It
6 months

without humans there is still the question of what are souls and do robots have them

 
 
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