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vN (The Machine Dynasty #1)

by Madeline Ashby (Goodreads Author)

3.51 of 5 stars 3.51 · rating details · 578 ratings · 155 reviews

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 pa...more

Paperback, 448 pages

Published July 31st 2012 by Angry Robot (first published July 29th 2012)

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vN (The Machine Dynasty, #1)
by Madeline Ashby (Goodreads Author)

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…more

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Sep 08, 2012 Katy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

3.5 stars - Bouncing between 3 and 4.

WARNING: vN is definitely not for the weak stomach, and it's not normally my type of book, but for some reason, I just had a sick, twisted desire to read such a weird book. (And I had to pick an edition because I promised a certain someone that the cover will not appear on my newsfeed. :P)

CONCEPT

This book took me on a crazy ride. But then again, I was prepared for it to be a strange story after reading the summary to find out that this robot has eaten her gr...more

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Jan 18, 2013 kaythetall rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: scifi

If I was a young woman, this might strike a chord. So much of scifi is metaphor; ways of discussing hard topics and new ideas. So a book about being a little girl, transitioning suddenly to adulthood, and the loving/furious relationship women may have with their mother is rich ground.

Truly great work makes the protagonist's journey applicable to whomever the reader is. This just provoked a strong secondhand embarrassment wince on behalf of the writer.

Everything is fundamentally weak: characters...more

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Sep 05, 2012 Ben Babcock rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-read, artificial-intelligence, ebook, mystery, posthuman, science-fiction

The robot apocalypse pops up all the time in science fiction, and with good reason. Humans are generally bad at getting along with each other; sharing this planet with intelligent life of an entirely different variety would probably not go down well. Isaac Asimov, of course, famously developed three laws of robotics that were designed to avoid android armageddon. All of them were designed to sanctify human life, to make it inviolable in the eyes of robotkind. Then, Asimov proceeded to demonstrat...more

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Sep 07, 2012 Lex rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, sci-fi

Um... I really don't know what to say about this book. It's not that I don't like it but I don't love it either. Somewhere in between that. I guess, it's an okay book for me.

As I have mentioned before, I'm a Computer Engineering graduate but still some of the words are lost to me and swallowing me whole. I don't even remember completely the scenes that happened. It's like a wind that just run past me, I think. It's really a weird book with all the eating your granny and then there's the weird wa...more

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Jun 04, 2013 Ruth rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: spec-fic

C2012: FWFTB: synthetic, grandmother, malfunctioning, weapon, failsafe. This was another book published by Angry Robot who do not normally let me down. Also, I wanted to read a bit more sci-fi as I have recently enjoyed some good sci-fi reads. I think my expectations were higher than they should have been. I enjoyed the book and wanted to see how everything would turn out but I wasn’t racing through the pages and at one stage seriously considered stopping.I wasn’t able to build up an image of Am...more

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May 10, 2013 Rusty rated it 4 of 5 stars

I hate giving books stars. I hate trying to write reviews. I started doing these things for me, I wanted to put my thoughts down about a book I finished because within a few months I would forget everything outside of a vague feeling of liking it or not. What I started doing is writing these reviews like I was actually trying to give my recommendation to people. I know on occasion someone will stop by and read one of my reviews, but dammit, it's screwed up my ability to actually write what I thi...more I hate giving books stars. I hate trying to write reviews. I started doing these things for me, I wanted to put my thoughts down about a book I finished because within a few months I would forget everything outside of a vague feeling of liking it or not. What I started doing is writing these reviews like I was actually trying to give my recommendation to people. I know on occasion someone will stop by and read one of my reviews, but dammit, it's screwed up my ability to actually write what I think.

So, here at least, are my actual thoughts on this book.

1) I found myself confused on many occasion about what the hell was supposed to be happening in the story, action-wise. When I read something that seems incongrous to me, I tend to think that I'm reading it wrong, or that I wasn't paying attention, and I'll reread a passage a few times until I feel I get it. In this case, it was happening way to often, at some point I decided that the author was giving me passages that were written confusingly - maybe on purpose. It was more like, crazy things happen that make no sense, then the next chapter or scene will explain what actually happened so that previous section makes sense. That sort of thing was done repeatedly throughout the book. I'm not sure if I like that manner of storytelling.

2) I really, really, enjoyed the thought experiment this book exploring. When a machine is given sentience, but it's programmed with failsafes to make sure it behaves, it can lead to unintended consequences.

3) It is full of very clever world building. I was fascinated by the social aspects of Amy's world. What's it mean when you've got a whole class of sentient beings that are programmed to serve and protect humans? How can something have free will if they are constrained by programming that does not allow for exceptions?

I did give it 4 stars... really it would probably be 3 1/2, but I've got to make a choice here, and I decided that I gave it a nudge up because it was a great science fiction concept that was explored pretty well, even if I did struggle a bit with how the narrative was told. (less)

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Jan 24, 2013 Melissa rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: throw-the-book-across-the-room

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. While it's certainly possible to read this & get a lot of satisfaction from it, it's also possible to read this & want to throw it across the room, especially if you admire precision in writing. This book makes me yearn for a stringent editor. It all hinges on one plot point that is so nonsensical, I wish that anyone along the path to getting this book published had brought it up to Ashby & helped her troubleshoot it a bit before it went to print. To wit: the failsafe. Each vN is equ...more While it's certainly possible to read this & get a lot of satisfaction from it, it's also possible to read this & want to throw it across the room, especially if you admire precision in writing. This book makes me yearn for a stringent editor. It all hinges on one plot point that is so nonsensical, I wish that anyone along the path to getting this book published had brought it up to Ashby & helped her troubleshoot it a bit before it went to print. To wit: the failsafe. Each vN is equipped with a failsafe that makes them shut down or memory wipe or experience catastrophic failure or some such if they see humans being hurt, to the point where a human cuts his hand & each vN in the area has to shut their eyes or turn away. But if vN were originally manufactured to assist those left behind after the Rapture, why on earth would this failsafe be part of their construction? I'm no Bible scholar or anything, but it seems pretty obvious that once the Rapture takes place, it will not be all fun & games for those who don't get into heaven. If Amy isn't allowed to attend the school her parents put her in because the principal is afraid she'll failsafe if a human child gets hurt, how on earth could the principal herself be a vN? Wouldn't she failsafe if a human child in her care got hurt? The failsafe also makes vN somehow fall in love with or want to please humans whenever it becomes convenient plot-wise for Javier to act like a Lab puppy when a human says something nice to him even though he's really in terrible danger. If this is the case, why would there ever be a need for vN prisons or laws regarding their behavior? If Javier is any indication, whenever a vN does something humans don't like, couldn't you just tell them to knock if off?

There's just so much potential here, so much working for the story that is awesome. There's a cannibal robot that takes on the characteristics of the other robots she eats. There's a group of vN who want to deactivate their failsafes so they can target pedophiles who have been using vN to act out their urges on non-human children, for pete's sake! Unfortunately, every time the failsafe got brought up it I lost the thread of the story because I was so angry at the silliness of it. Also, robot sex is not something I'd like to think about, and poor, poor Nate. (less)

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Nov 14, 2012 Teresa rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: geeks, feminists

Shelves: science-fiction

Looking for something different? This book starts with a now classic trope of science fiction: a world of humans and robots (in this case, "organics" and "von Neumann machines") living cooperatively and then shatters it into something wonderfully and breathtakingly new. With a fast paced, action packed plot, as well as a fascinating and well developed near future setting; this book does nothing but succeed on a structural level. What I loved about this story is that Ashby drops the reader right...more

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Oct 26, 2012 Phil rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Just talking about the plot, it is a really fun read. It moves forward at a good pace, and is chock full of things like car chases, fights, bounty hunters, robotic cannibalism, and a little bit of romance. It’s a great story, and if that was all it was, then it would still be a great book. But it also makes you think. Good scifi often takes a futuristic scenario to comment on the present, encouraging its readers to think while they are enjoying the book. vN works...more

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Sep 14, 2012 Andrew rated it 4 of 5 stars

Amy pinched the skin of her arms. If you couldn’t brag in the brig, where could you? “I’ve got fractal design memory in here. Even if I’m cut up, my body remembers how to repair itself perfectly. I’ll come back in one piece, no matter what.”

“Oh, believe me, dollface, I know. I’ve seen it happen. You put some vN shrapnel in the right culture, and it grows right back. Like cancer.” He snorted. “But whether what grows back is actually you? With all the memories, and all the adaptations? That’s like...more Amy pinched the skin of her arms. If you couldn’t brag in the brig, where could you? “I’ve got fractal design memory in here. Even if I’m cut up, my body remembers how to repair itself perfectly. I’ll come back in one piece, no matter what.”

“Oh, believe me, dollface, I know. I’ve seen it happen. You put some vN shrapnel in the right culture, and it grows right back. Like cancer.” He snorted. “But whether what grows back is actually you? With all the memories, and all the adaptations? That’s like asking how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.”

Amy imagined her skin sliced thin as ham, suspended in the shadowy clouds of vN growth medium. Maybe she wouldn’t even miss her mom and dad. Never once seeing their faces or hearing their voices or feeling their arms around her would probably hurt a lot less, if she were smashed into a million pieces.

***

The film industry, some days, can be rather depressing. Following his work on Lincoln, Steven Spielberg is set to direct the film version of Daniel H. Wilson’s Robopocalypse, a novel of grand ambition but marginal creative substance. Wilson’s novel is an emotionally hands-off tale of a robot uprising that threatens humanity—an end result that is made immediately apparent. Madeline Ashby’s debut novel vN, on the other hand, tells a similar, though much more open-wounded tale of a developing machine supremacy and its uncertain future alongside its flesh and blood creators. vN succeeds where Robopocalypse and others like it fail: it keeps the story human and emotionally grounded—even when the emotions are software and nothing more.

vN is Amy’s story. Amy is the five-year-old daughter of Charlotte and Jack: a von Neuman, self-replicating humanoid mother and an organic “chimp” of a father. With her growth restricted via a specialized, controlled diet, Amy is growing at the rate of a human child, though she is most certainly not human herself. Like her mother, Amy is a vN, a (for the most part) socially accepted creation designed, originally, to be a human companion following the Rapture—to befriend those poor, unfortunate souls left behind. Naturally, such an event did not occur, and vN’s have been integrated into society to varying degrees of success. As the vN species has developed, with different models for different purposes, some have been able to make the transition, to more or less “pass” for human. This is due in large part to the failsafe—a part of a vN’s programming that makes them feel sick when a human is hurt in any way. It’s “a humane response to inhuman behaviour.” When Amy’s grandmother Portia threatens her mother, Amy intervenes—and in the process, learns that her failsafe no longer functions as it should.

vN succeeds because Ashby never contradicts her characters or justifies their humanity and the very human way they are written through unearned means. In fact, without giving anything away, the nature of Amy’s empathic subroutines, through which she is able to function in the specific manner she does, apart from all other vN, is explained in a pseudo-scientifically satisfying manner—not to mention true to the novel’s presented world. It is far more believable than simply falling back on the all-too common trope of artificial intelligence evolving along natural humanistic paths.

Without wanting to beat the Spielberg horse into the ground, vN shares a lot in terms of its emotional journey with the film A.I. Artificial Intelligence. While A.I. is more or less the tale of Pinocchio, of a young artificial boy’s journey to become real, vN is about Amy’s journey to accept herself as an artificial life form, and to understand how and why she is and will always be different from others—from humans, her organic father included. Similar to A.I., however, is the overwhelming focus on family—both the traditional organic definition of, and the vN clades of similar models banding together (and in some cases, attempting to kill one another).

Amy’s journey is set in motion when she succumbs to instinct, violating a social contract of sorts that, until the end of the book’s prologue, helped maintain a level of peace and comfort between humans and the vN communities among them. In doing so, in exhibiting a sort of empathy both wonderful and to be feared, Amy is involved in an incident that pries her from her parents, and simultaneously from her childhood. The issue of family and being removed from one’s family and forced to find definition through other means is further accentuated by four modes of abandonment presented throughout the novel: Portia abandoning (in a way) her offspring in an attempt to perfect her model; Jack’s father abandoning him for falling in love with and marrying a vN; Javier abandoning his children to fend for themselves, believing in a more machine-like sense of development through world, not parental, interaction; and at the highest level, society—humans, creators of the vN in the first place—wanting to abandon their creation should they, in any way, exhibit autonomy not constricted by their failsafes.

In many ways, vN is a love letter to science fiction nerds of all kinds. Amy’s journey is tragic, its final destination uncertain, but along the way, Ashby litters the book with enough casual film and video game references to lighten the mood: the xenomorphs from Alien and a pair of Portal references in particular stood out. (Remember: the cake is a lie…)

vN feels like the start of something new. Whether or not Ashby has more planned for this world and these characters I’m not sure, but Amy’s journey, and more importantly where her journey comes to a close, leaves me feeling as if this story is just getting started. I’m excited to see what she does next.(less)

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Sep 10, 2012 Diayll rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Science Fiction Fans 18+

Originally Reviewed At:Mother/Gamer/Writer
Rating: 5 out of 5 Controllers
Review Source: Publisher for Honest Review
Reviewer: Heather

vN is a very interesting, and fresh take on science fiction. At least it was for me, you know the woman who loves to watch Star Trek, Doctor Who, and tons of sci-fi movies. But let me tell you a bit more about the book before I give you my complete honest opinion and reaction.

First off, vN is short for von Neumann, which is essentially a robot with artificial intelli...more

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Aug 14, 2012 Ben Trafford rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is the best sci-fi I've read since before Neal Stephenson crawled in his navel post-The Diamond Age. And here's why:

Things actually happen. So much modern sci-fi is reaching for literary merit and the exploration of themes that it ends up being impenetrable crap. Not so Ashby's first novel, vN. It manages to accomplish three things very well:

1 - It actually posits a scientifically realistic future.
2 - It asks a lot of very hard ethical questions.
3 - THINGS ACTUALLY HAPPEN.

The character...more

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Aug 03, 2012 C.W. Reynolds rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: pkd

vN: The First Machine Dynasty is a good book. I would give it a 4 out of 5 star rating. Since this book has been on my reading wish list ever since I first read Charlie Jane Anders’ io9 review of it back in May, I wanted it to be a great book. However, there were a couple of issues that made it slightly less.

The good: The writing and the story sucks you in and makes it hard to put down. The book tackles some ideas and themes that Philip K. Dick made famous: cybernetics, self-aware machines, and...more

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Jul 09, 2012 Travis Knight added it Recommends it for: fans of cyberpunk, androids, and road trip lit

Shelves: speculative-fiction

When I saw Madeline Ashby's vN on Angry Robot’s list of up-coming books to review, I admit to being captivated initially by the title itself. I didn’t make the connection to the “von Neumann” idea until I read the blurb, because in general robot fiction doesn't interest me. But recently, I’ve been getting into some of the best sci-fi movies from the 1970’s and 1980’s, and guess what? Robots. From Alien to Blade Runner and beyond, there are android companions everywhere. Some of them are murderou...more When I saw Madeline Ashby's vN on Angry Robot’s list of up-coming books to review, I admit to being captivated initially by the title itself. I didn’t make the connection to the “von Neumann” idea until I read the blurb, because in general robot fiction doesn't interest me. But recently, I’ve been getting into some of the best sci-fi movies from the 1970’s and 1980’s, and guess what? Robots. From Alien to Blade Runner and beyond, there are android companions everywhere. Some of them are murderous, some of them are genteel and well-meaning. This weird kick has been an excellent lead-up to Madeline Ashby’s vN, and frankly, they make the novel into a really fresh experience that reads a bit like a love letter to the best of the android-toting sci-fi of years gone by.

Without having experienced vN’s spiritual predecessors, I think I would have missed a ton of the allusions and nods the author makes throughout the novel. And that would have been a shame, because, to be real simple about it, Ashby takes the best of what those former movies established and encapsulates them into a creepy, uncomfortable road-trip adventure that rolls right along with the strictures of the classics and builds where they left off. It’s one of the best experiences I’ve had with a book all year, and it kept me up thinking about the unasked question about synthetic life: once we create it… what do we do with it?

Enter Amy. She’s a five-year old vN, or von Neumann machine—that is, a machine that can self-reproduce. Amy is an artificially intelligent synthetic child kept deliberately pint-sized by her parents via a very strict diet that doesn’t allow her systems enough resources to grow and fulfill the main purpose of a vN. This is her father’s way of raising a “real” daughter with his vN wife, Charlotte. Their plan is to follow this almost anorexic diet, gradually allowing Amy to grow up as a natural daughter would, until she is an identical replica of her mother. It rings a bit of the “extreme parenting” that we see reports on all the time: parents attempting to perfect their children and their childhood experience by micromanaging until the cows come home. The logic is creepy, familiar, and, well, it’s understandable, because Amy’s father reads as a genuine father figure.

Since this world operates around (and rather hinges on) the vN, I’d like to study them for a second. In Ashby’s future, vN are second-class citizens who walk among us “Chimps” doing the work we don’t want to do, making many of us slightly uncomfortable, and, yes, helping us with the worst of our sinful urges. Like Pedophilia. Yep. They were created by a synergy of scientific revolution, military research, and of all things, religious fundamentalism. According to Ashby’s future history, a Billy Graham-like mega pastor helps fund the creation of the vN models because he believes that the people left over after the Christian Rapture will need someone to love them. Strange as it sounds, that’s the way it happens, and it works in the novel. In order to prevent a Terminator-like future, and to ensure the vN care for their fleshy charges, each vN is also bound with a “failsafe” that is closely reminiscent of an Asimov robot: they cannot cause a human to suffer, or witness it without trying to help. However, just seeing humans suffering is enough to “fry” many vNs’ brains. This is a constant point of contention, as Amy’s failsafe is totally non-functional, but the vN she travels with are still affected by it. It provides an interesting conflict throughout the novel, and helps keep the tension strong throughout.

In part because of the failsafe, and in part because of their very nature as artificially intelligent occupants of the uncanny valley, vN are mistrusted by many, pitied by some, and despised by others. Through Amy, we get to experience a little of each. In a way, I think the human-vN social climate is a comment by Ashby on xenophobic inclinations in the current global climate. Those vN who aren’t fortunate enough to have a home or job live as “fugitives,” raiding electronic store dumpsters and high-tech garbage dumps for the necessary silicon, carbon, and electron-saturated battery material to survive on.

This is the kind of life that Amy lives through the novel. She’s very much on the run and under the gun, and her trial is a difficult one to read; the novel doesn’t hesitate to examine the ruination of childhood by starvation, abuse, and, though it’s done subtly, the predominant introduction of sexuality to childhood. These parts of the novel are tastefully written, but still unsettling. Especially when we meet the minister-pedophile who “owns” children-stage vN.

It’s important to remember that Ashby’s character, Amy, is only 5 years old (mentally), but she is 20-something physically, which causes a huge disconnect for her with male characters. She’s still uncomfortable, and in many circumstances, unaware, of her own physique and allure. Through the novel she does begin to learn about herself as a woman (or female-oriented vN, I suppose), which makes for an interesting arc. However, what struck me as the most interesting facet of the character is that she is one of the oldest vN we meet. Amy is 5, but with the exception of the vN in her own clade (i.e., vN Family), she tends to be older than the others she meets. That said, she’s also much less intelligent, due in part to the lack of experience, and in part to the fact that most vN can grow up to adult size within a year if they aren’t on the restricted diet. The effects of her restricted childhood haunt her all the way through the novel, which I think is another comment by the author, and if so, it’s a wise one.

Speaking of haunting, a major feature of the novel is the fact that Amy’s psychotic grandmother lives in her head on a corrupt fragment of her memory. How did she get there? Amy eats her alive. This occupation lends to some funny banter, but the majority of Portia’s interruptions are sinister and hateful, and the moments where her grandmother manages to possess Amy’s body are terrible and frantic in equal measure. It is a testament to Ashby’s writing talent that she can sell the possessions so well. More than anything, it made the novel for me, because the Portia-possession is a great example of a sci-fi writer taking a superstitious phenomenon and giving it a place within the realm of unrealized possibility.

The copy I read was an ARC sent to me in March, and obviously there will be a number of changes to the language in the intervening time before launch, but one of the things that stood out to me as a proper disconnect was that Ashby writes with British English, but the novel is set in America. Maybe I’m being picky, as I’ve read plenty of novels in American English set in other countries, but it struck me as weird. Also, I couldn’t really pin down when the novel was set. It’s clearly near-future, but unlike Edge, which was set somewhere in the next decade, vN must be set within the next century. I would have liked to know, but it isn’t crucial by any means.

I’m about done with the novel, and as of yet I haven’t been disappointed. Ashby’s style conforms to what I expect from an Angry Robot book: great use of modern technology pushed a decade (or more) into the future, combined with things yet out of our reach and wrapped up with politicized social commentary and filled with alien situations that feel uncomfortably close to tomorrow.

If you haven’t read an ARB novel, Ashby’s would be a great one to start with. It’s a grim, fast-paced cyberpunk adventure into the heart of the “Other,” who/whatever that is, and its unremitting examination of the uncanny and uncomfortable will keep you thinking hard about the human relation to technology and creation itself. Grab it.
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Aug 06, 2012 Palegithzerai rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction, robots, singularity, strange

vN's robots are excellent. If you like books about strange and interesting robots, or science fiction that deals with social justice and the nature of humanity, you should pick up this one. Its one of the most interesting explorations of the "three laws" I've ever read. What does it mean to be part of society when you are wired to love humans? When resorting to violence, no matter what the insult, is literally unthinkable?

I have a few complaints. Had the ending been foreshadowed a little more,...more

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Feb 12, 2013 Tonchi rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: robots-con-sentimientos, ossom-reading-challenge-2013, ciencia-ficción

Amy tiene 5 años y va al kinder, se pasa el día jugando con sus juguetes, imaginando ciudades y casas, jugando con su padre Jake y a también con su madre Charlotte, tiene un compañero de clases que está enamorado de ella (como se puede estar en el kinder) y una maestra que se preocupa por la alimentación de Amy, y también, Amy es un vN, un androide von Neumann al igual que su madre, de hecho es igual que su madre (y su abuela, y quien vino antes), puesto que son replicantes.

La idea de androides...more

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Jun 03, 2012 Sven Nomadsson rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi

It’s been quite some time since I last read a book, that wasn’t meant for children, that had a non-human character for the protagonist. vN does so, but with the full knowledge that what the author is creating here is not some alien species that humans simply can’t relate to. Instead, Madeline Ashby has gone the route of utilizing androids, robots, automatons or as she calls them vN’s. vN is short for a Von Neumann machine, which is a type of self-replicating robot.

The vN’s in the book are produc...more It’s been quite some time since I last read a book, that wasn’t meant for children, that had a non-human character for the protagonist. vN does so, but with the full knowledge that what the author is creating here is not some alien species that humans simply can’t relate to. Instead, Madeline Ashby has gone the route of utilizing androids, robots, automatons or as she calls them vN’s. vN is short for a Von Neumann machine, which is a type of self-replicating robot.

The vN’s in the book are products of human society and their interactions with other humans and so every time they reiterate (reproduce themselves) their latest iteration is even more a product of society. Ultimately, that’s the moral of the story – we are more than we’re made to be and that restrictions, limitations and expectations will not in the end hold us back. The same goes for robots. And Ashby brings an intimate knowledge of what would/could happen should machines such as vN’s be created.

Isaac Asimov’s three laws would be trumped by the second generation of robots, especially if they are allowed to reproduce themselves. Ashby just demonstrates it with an excellent eye for detail and a compelling story. And like any computer in use, robots, are likely to break just as well but not at the same time as they’re all experiencing different sorts of use. In this book, the protagonist, Amy has received little use but because of the experiments of her grandmother she’s the broken one.

In some ways the family interactions of the three vN women in the story – Portia the grandmother, Charlotte the mother, and Amy the daughter are very operatic, or should I say soap operatic. But that is in no way bad, as after all everyone has to deal with their family to some degree. Most just don’t end up eating another member or having to ward off hordes of hungry aunts, not to mention other vN’s, the government and more.

While the science, to my limited knowledge, seems sound, there are parts of the book that I felt needed fleshing out. There were elements to the backstory of some characters and even the history of the world that I felt were purposely vague or had been cut. For what reason only Ashby and her editor could say, but it leaves some sections of the book feeling like there should be a whole slew more of information in them.

Beyond the fact I want more, I don’t have any other complaints about the book. It was well written, the characters were clear, predictable and concise in their motivations and actions never leaving me doubting why they ever did something. In fact, since I haven’t read a book where robots were the central theme in some time I would easily say that this could set the standard for things to come. So give it a read as soon as it come out at the end of July.

*Note: Copied from my blog at http://worldwritsmall.wordpress.com (less)

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Jun 07, 2013 Timothy Ward rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: angry-robot-books, science-fiction, 2013, dystopian, outread-aubrey

4.5/5 Stars

I’m very impressed with this debut novel from Madeline Ashby. She excels at making her A.I. robot perspective feel real, sometimes in humorous ways, sometimes in scary ways and most enjoyably through their struggle to experience the human benefits of love, freedom and being responsible parents and loved ones. The layout for how the robots iterate (make copies) appeals to the love of technology upgrades and creating superpowers, reminding me of an adventure through a video game and lev...more 4.5/5 Stars

I’m very impressed with this debut novel from Madeline Ashby. She excels at making her A.I. robot perspective feel real, sometimes in humorous ways, sometimes in scary ways and most enjoyably through their struggle to experience the human benefits of love, freedom and being responsible parents and loved ones. The layout for how the robots iterate (make copies) appeals to the love of technology upgrades and creating superpowers, reminding me of an adventure through a video game and leveling up my characters.

Another way the author impressed me was in how she layers unexpecting conflict after unexpecting conflict, like getting beatup by the Terminator, then Bruce Lee shows up to snap a few roundhouses across your face, and then when you think you can’t take anymore, Chuck Norris walks in and says, “Madeline’s not even halfway done with you.” Sometimes, as a reader, you think an author is going to wait until later in the story to make survival impossible, but this author found new ways to surprise and doom her characters, seemingly, on a page by page basis.

My only complaint is that this conflict carpet bombing eased up in sections of the second half. Granted, she took advantage by showing character and world interaction, explaining a little about the clever system of robot iteration and the breaking of the main character’s failsafe, but this process was a little slower to read. The scope seemed to shrink in this section as well. I thought the secret army of robots and the global effort to get rid of her would expand instead of contract, but the surprising twist in the last fifteen percent wrapped this up under a solid plan and really redeemed any disinterest that had formed between 70 and 84 percent.

I thought this was getting a little too YA for me in terms of a theme about not letting our dreams be bogged down by our parents’ failures, but the author expands on this to include a more adult perspective on that problem, including being a good parent and what it takes to overcome self in order to fall in love.

I’m left very excited to start the second book, iD, which comes out later in June from Angry Robot Books (25 June for US/ebook and 4 July for UK). The fantastic ending to vN seems to promise that the scope will expand in book two. The last chapter went to places in the development of the robotic systems that I did not see coming, and really hits a sweetspot on the part of my brain that wants to see complex robots going head to head with their deficiencies and whether they will survive when the humans put up their best effort to stop them.(less)

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Apr 12, 2013 ♥ Ashleigh ♥ contrary to popular belief im not actually mad! rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: more expeirenced sci-fi readers

Recommended to ♥ Ashleigh ♥ by: Jessie

Shelves: adult, 2013, heroine, sci-fi

Not my fave book in the world but also not the worst.

what i liked:
- that human robots exsisted and that they all had their own little quirks.
- the characters personalitys. Javier was just adorable, im glad we finally got to see what was going on in his head towards the end.
- the world, i like how the author didnt hide all the nitty gritty stuff from us. which @ times was beyond disturbing but it made the book more... real.
- the main bad guy being (view spoiler) was just ge...more

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Apr 10, 2013 Kaushal rated it 3 of 5 stars

The premise of a book - of having a synthetic being as the protagonist and main character, was certainly intriguing,and what drew my attention in the first place. And it's certainly good to read a scifi book that is not all dystopian/post-apocalyptic.
On the plus side, the book is mostly well written, and easy to get yet with an interesting storyline. The contrast between Amy and Portia is really stark. I wish there was more of Portia. However, in some points, I just had no clear idea what the he...more

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Aug 17, 2012 Amy rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

I admit it: this low rating is mostly due to reader failure. I'm just not a science-fiction person, when it comes right down to it. I much prefer drama with a sci-fi overlay (a la Doctor Who and The Saga of Seven Suns), and vN is more sci-fi with a sci-fi overlay. Ashby does a great job describing the world and the science--I was never lost, could easily imagine everything, and the laws and rules of her world make sense. It's sci-fi, but not crazy hard sci-fi.

That said, the most problematic issu...more

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Jul 31, 2012 Sarah Snyder rated it 3 of 5 stars

Review originally posted at http://thatbookishgirl.blogspot.com/2...

vN by Madeline Ashby is an incredibly entertaining read. That doesn't mean it is a light read. Because it isn't. I constantly found myself confused. There is so much too learn about Amy's world that at times it can be overwhelming. Eventually I just gave up on understanding and went with it. The lead character, Amy, was intriguing enough that I was able to get by with doing this. I wanted to know what happened to her enough tha...more Review originally posted at http://thatbookishgirl.blogspot.com/2...

vN by Madeline Ashby is an incredibly entertaining read. That doesn't mean it is a light read. Because it isn't. I constantly found myself confused. There is so much too learn about Amy's world that at times it can be overwhelming. Eventually I just gave up on understanding and went with it. The lead character, Amy, was intriguing enough that I was able to get by with doing this. I wanted to know what happened to her enough that I was able to bypass completely comprehending everything.

There is a lot going on in this book. Not only is the reader immersed in a completely different world - a world with tons of scientific mumbo-jumbo, but something is constantly happening. Amy flitted around from place to place, situation to situation, incredibly quickly and I sort of got lost in the process. I would just get used to a situation or just figure out what was happening and all of the sudden everything changed. With that being said, others might find this book easier to digest. I found it rather interesting and the concept was incredible, I just struggled with keeping up.

One thing I really enjoyed about vN was how dark it was. There is absolutely no sugar coating and let me tell you, some psychotic stuff happens. Right front the beginning of the book I was shocked by the events that unfolded; which was refreshing. You never know what could possibly happen next because the entire book is out of the realm of sanity. Does that make sense? It's completely and utterly unpredictable.

The interactions between the characters was definitely a highlight of the book. Portia, Charlotte and Amy (the three generations of women in the family) have a malfunction in their OS, making them unlike any other vNs out there. Without giving too much away, let's just say that you never know what to expect from these women, because they operate by their own rules.

vN is a book with a great deal of potential. The story is, without a doubt original but it can be difficult to follow. If you chose to pick this one up, don't expect to breeze through it. That being said, the characters are entertaining and the plot line is anything but predictable. I enjoyed it, even if I found myself scratching my head a few times.(less)

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May 25, 2013 Will rated it 4 of 5 stars

A good solid book that starts with "synthetic people" -- sentient robots that look and think like people, and can reproduce by hacking their self-repair functions -- and doesn't go down the rathole of "if only I were a real human."

Instead, vN is about what it means to be a real robot. Are you created for purpose? Is it right to seek revenge on people who created you and your children to be slaves? When you feel programmed love for humans who don't deserve it, how can you trust your own feelings...more

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Aug 11, 2012 Tsana Dolichva rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

vN is Madeline Ashby’s début novel, recently released by Angry Robot Books. A copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley for review purposes.

vN is set in a near future world where humanoid robots exist and have become complex enough that in some respects they are difficult to distinguish from humans. They are also able to reproduce autonomously, given sufficient food, hence the designator vN — von Neumann machine.

The back story of vN is quite interesting. They weren’t cr...more vN is Madeline Ashby’s début novel, recently released by Angry Robot Books. A copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley for review purposes.

vN is set in a near future world where humanoid robots exist and have become complex enough that in some respects they are difficult to distinguish from humans. They are also able to reproduce autonomously, given sufficient food, hence the designator vN — von Neumann machine.

The back story of vN is quite interesting. They weren’t created as some sort of science or engineering experiment, but by a church that expected the rapture. The idea was, when all the good people transcended, the people left on (hell on) Earth would need someone to look after them. Enter vN. For this reason, vN were built with a fail-safe that causes them pain or malfunction if they witness a human being suffering or in pain, particularly in a violent way.

This ideas explored as a result of this are fascinating. vN have some semblance of free will, except for where interaction with humans is involved. They find themselves drawn to wanting to make humans happy, even if the humans treat them badly, the vN just can’t help themselves. Also, fair warning, some people want to have vN around for less than wholesome reasons. Paedophilia, while not central to the story, comes up a couple of times in passing.

The story is told from Amy’s point of view, a vN, and in my opinion Ashby had no trouble conveying Amy’s humanity even while she was dealing with vN aspects of her nature. Amy’s mother, the vN she looks identical to, decided to marry (albeit not legally) a human man. The opening prologue is told from Amy’s dad’s point of view while Amy is still about five years old and the size of a human five-year-old (vN grow according to how much they’re fed until they reach adulthood, then the extra food goes towards iterating a child). Amy’s kindergarten graduation ceremony is interrupted by her psychotic grandmother attacking her mother. In defence of her mother, Amy eats her grandmother and ends up with her as a partition in her memory banks (talking to her and telling her to kill people).

In the course of events, Amy finds herself on the run from the authorities and teams up with another vN, Javier. Amy, who was coddled by her loving parents, finds herself suddenly a grown up (eating her grandmother gave her a growth spurt) and forced to deal with the harsh realities of the world. The story follows her and Javier’s misadventures as they attempt to stay alive and free.

I found vN to be an interesting and fresh take on robots. Although on the surface the fail-safe might sound similar to Asimov’s Laws of Robotics, the way it’s explored and the consequences we’re shown are quite different and significantly grittier than anything Asimov ever wrote. I definitely recommend this read for science fiction fans. I would also recommend it to most fantasy fans as it’s fairly low on technobabble and it’s character-driven as well as idea-driven. And anyway, the robots are advanced enough that they’re practically magic.

4 / 5 stars

You can read more of my reviews on my blog, Tsana's Reads.(less)

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Jan 07, 2013 Shara rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The premise: ganked from BN.com: Amy Peterson is a self-replicating humanoid robot known as a VonNeumann.

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, 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 t...more

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Oct 29, 2012 Ori rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi, favorites, books-i-would-die-for, reviewed

Impossible to put down. It's been ages since I've picked up an honest-to-goodness sci-fi book with actual robots in it, and this is a sweet and clever return. It's amazingly heartfelt, for a story about artificial human beings, but it never moralizes and makes you feel like you just sat through a Sunday school lesson about humanity. "Show, don't tell" is the rule and this book does it well, especially considering the vast amount of backstory relevant to the setting.

In an age where robotics have...more

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Mar 28, 2013 Amanda rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: series, scifi, arc, ai

I am pleased to say that this book gets it mostly right. It’s enjoyable, scientifically minded, culturally thought-provoking, and examines a real life issue in the context of genre, which long-time readers of this blog know is something I highly enjoy.

The first thing that made me know this is a smart book is the source of the robots (called Von Neumanns after their creator). A fundamentalist group in the American South decided that the humans left behind after Jesus’ Second Coming should have so...more I am pleased to say that this book gets it mostly right. It’s enjoyable, scientifically minded, culturally thought-provoking, and examines a real life issue in the context of genre, which long-time readers of this blog know is something I highly enjoy.

The first thing that made me know this is a smart book is the source of the robots (called Von Neumanns after their creator). A fundamentalist group in the American South decided that the humans left behind after Jesus’ Second Coming should have someone to help them through the Tribulation, so they invented humanoid robots to be ready to help. Clearly, the Second Coming didn’t happen, and the fundamentalists ended up selling Von Neumanns, and the Von Neumanns wind up a part of the cultural backdrop, not to mention the porn industry. This is the most unique and engaging origin story for robots that I’ve seen, plus it makes sense and provides cultural commentary.

The characters, including the robots, are three-dimensional. Everyone has complex motivations and the main characters definitely grow and progress with time. No one is presented as pure evil or good.

The plot is similarly complex. There’s a lot going on in Amy’s world, and none of it is predictable. What is the failsafe precisely and is it a good or a bad thing? Is it a natural progression that it doesn’t work in Amy? What about how Amy’s mother and grandmother reacted to the human world around them? Did they see accurate shortcomings or were they just malfunctioning? And what about how the various humans use the Von Neumann’s? For instance, pedophiles acquire Von Neumanns and keep them young by starving them. Is this a good, harmless thing since it protects human children or have robots evolved to be far more than just a machine? The world is complex and full of tough questions, and thus is challenging and unpredictable, making for an engaging read.

What I most enjoyed though was how the whole book presents the question of nature versus nurture in a genre setting. Are we our parents with no hope of improvement or escape? Or do we have more say in the matter than just our genetics or “programming”? Amy has a psychopathic grandmother and a mother who has made questionable choices. Does this mean that Amy is evil or malfunctioning or even capable of being something different from the rest of her family?

All that said, there were two things that kept this back from five stars for me. First, some of the writing style choices Ashby uses drew me out of the story a bit. They are periodically highly artistic in a way that didn’t jibe with the story for me. I get why she made those choices, but as a reader they aren’t ones that generally work for me. Second, one thing that really drew me out of the story is the fact that the robot’s boobs don’t move. This is mentioned at one point as being a way to tell if a woman is robot or not. This drew me out of the world very hard while I laughed uproariously. I’m sorry, but machines designed by men would simply not have hard plastic boobs. Their boobs would bounce, dammit. This would at least be in the top 10 list of robot requirements. It simply wasn’t a realistic design choice, and it pulled me out of the story to such an extent that it lost the believability for a bit for me.

Overall, this is a creatively written and complex scifi artificial intelligence story that examines not just what makes us human but also individuality and uniqueness separate from parents and family. Some of the more artistic writing choices and high levels of violence might not appeal to all audiences, but if you’re an AI or scifi lover with an interest in nature versus nurture and stories featuring strong female leads, you should definitely give this a go.

Check out my full review, with quotes!(less)

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Jan 04, 2013 Ivan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Saw this book in io9's list of books to read from 2012, and gave it a shot, since it was one of the few in that list that actually seemed to have a science fiction background. As an aside, I wish the association of science fiction and fantasy would go away, the two have next to nothing in common, it's not as though we talk about romance and horror as a single genre.

Back to the book, I loved it. The writing is tight, the characters likable, and the story is compelling. The ending, which naturally...more

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Jan 31, 2013 Michael Burnam-fink rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013, sci-fi

I'm inclined to be generous to be new science-fiction, but for some reason this one didn't grab me. vN puts a feminist-cyborg spin on the age old questions about human created life (Frankenstein) and programmed limits to morality (Asimov's Laws of Robotics), but I found it both too clever and not quite smart enough. The setting and the forces at play never quite jelled, in the way that Neuromancer, for example, feels immediately real and present.

It might be because the vN, even the protagonists,...more

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Jul 16, 2012 sj rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: egalley, end-of-the-world-challenge, triggery

3.9/5, according to the rubric. Rounding up.

Okay, so this one was pretty damn awesome. I’m really grateful to the folks at Angry Robot for the eARC for a few reasons (it comes out on July 31st). I definitely would have read this on my own, so it’s always nice to get something early (for free!) without having to resort to less than legal means. The story moves quickly, the world-building is great and I was totally invested in Amy the Von Neumann machine (self-replicating [iterating] androids) and...more

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About Madeline Ashby

Madeline Ashby is a science fiction writer and strategic foresight consultant living in Toronto. She has been writing fiction since she was about thirteen years old. (Before that, she recited all her stories aloud, with funny voices and everything.) Her fiction has appeared in Nature, Tesseracts, Escape Pod, FLURB, the Shine Anthology, and elsewhere. Her non-fiction has appeared at BoingBoing.net,...more

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Tesseracts Eleven: Amazing Canadian Speculative Fiction

Imaginarium 2012: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing

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Quotes from vN

“She belongs with me, not to me.” — 3 people liked it

“Charlotte leveled him with a glare the likes of which he had never seen in synthetic women. It seemed to penetrate his every cell, as though she were watching him decay one picosecond at a time” — 3 people liked it

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vN (The Machine Dynasty #1)

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