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Love in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
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Set in a near-future LA, a man falls in love with a beautiful android—but when she is kidnapped and sold piecemeal on the black market, he must track down her parts to put her back together.
Bad luck for Eliot Lazar, he fell in love with an android, a beautiful C-900 named Iris Matsuo. That’s the kind of thing that can get you killed in late 21th century Los Angeles or ...more
Bad luck for Eliot Lazar, he fell in love with an android, a beautiful C-900 named Iris Matsuo. That’s the kind of thing that can get you killed in late 21th century Los Angeles or ...more
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This proved to be an excellent sci-fi noir story. The story was engaging and thought provoking. Judd Trichter used his near future sci-fi setting as the platform to offer some social commentary on plenty of issues relevant today. It was also a loose retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, which I enjoyed. The world building was excellent and I loved the dark, melancholy, and tense feel of the story.
This was set in late 21th century Los Angeles. It is a time when humanoid androids live side ...more
This was set in late 21th century Los Angeles. It is a time when humanoid androids live side ...more
On the bright side, it is clear that Trichter works in the entertainment business, as this novel is stream-lined and paced at a brisk jog. It reads like it is written for the screen. On the down side, the protagonist was an unlikeable jerk and the world was such an ugly, unpalatable mess that I was ready to cheer the robot revolution (sadly, we never get to see this). Plus, you know, the casual sexism and racism.
An attempt at noir (here meaning a sense of gritty cynicism and the word "broad" ...more
An attempt at noir (here meaning a sense of gritty cynicism and the word "broad" ...more
The technical skill level folded into this novel is unreal. This is a big and complicated world Trichter invented here, and I both bought into it and fully understood it within the first three pages of the book. He also managed to write a deeply wounded protagonist who is fueled by his painful desperation for the proper recipient of his love, which normally would make me want to die and punch things, but in the case of this novel, I legitimately believed Eliot's drive to be righteous,
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Fair warning: this will be a brutal review for a brutal read. There will be spoilers, and I'm going to have to swear. If you don't like those things, stop reading here and take the stars for what they are.
Okay, so... (view spoiler) ...more
Okay, so... (view spoiler) ...more
Jun 12, 2015
Nick Ohrn
rated it
really liked it
Recommends it for:
sci-fi lovers
Recommended to Nick by:
Angela Ohrn
I read this book with my wife and, for the most part, enjoyed it. The premise was interesting, if a bit dystopian, and the characters were well-developed, especially in their flaws. You get the sense, when reading the book, that everything is definitely not ok in the world and that, while humanity has advanced in some ways in the past century, it has taken a huge step back in others.
Throughout the book, it was very, very obvious the parallels that the author was trying to make with the current ...more
Throughout the book, it was very, very obvious the parallels that the author was trying to make with the current ...more
Wow. What an incredible debut for Judd Trichter, who has written one of the best dystopian robot novels I have ever read. I gulped this down with the same keen sense of excitement I felt when I originally read Neuromancer by William Gibson and Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan. You just know that these once-in-a-blue-moon novels blaze a bad-ass trail across the literary firmament.
When we meet Eliot Lazar, he is in love with a C-900 android called Iris Matsuo. Iris goes missing in rather dramatic ...more
When we meet Eliot Lazar, he is in love with a C-900 android called Iris Matsuo. Iris goes missing in rather dramatic ...more
Three and a half stars: A book with many philosophical ponderings on life and death when it comes to androids.
Eliot Lazar and his android lover sneak a few stolen moments beneath the marred Hollywood sign. Eliot spins another story about the paradise called Inverness, where the two hope to escape and live free of societal constraints. As it is, a heartbeat who loves a robot are at risk of being hunted down and killed. Before Eliot and Iris can realize their dream, tragedy strikes. Iris goes ...more
Eliot Lazar and his android lover sneak a few stolen moments beneath the marred Hollywood sign. Eliot spins another story about the paradise called Inverness, where the two hope to escape and live free of societal constraints. As it is, a heartbeat who loves a robot are at risk of being hunted down and killed. Before Eliot and Iris can realize their dream, tragedy strikes. Iris goes ...more
This novel was everything I was hoping it would be- a dark love story of the lengths people can go for love and how sadly racism will always exist in one form or another. While not technically biopunk like Jeffrey Thomas's Punktown, this novel feels and lives in the grimy brutality and disturbing worlds of biopunk while still eschewing closely to cyberpunk.
There is just so much going on here as our main character searches for the stolen parts of the robot he loves in the hopes that if he finds ...more
There is just so much going on here as our main character searches for the stolen parts of the robot he loves in the hopes that if he finds ...more
This was such a depressing robot story. Eliot may have a noble and sad quest trying to collect the pieces of his missing robot girlfriend, but his “ends justify the means” attitude was not very pleasant.
Due to his attitude, Eliot himself is not a very likable character. His drug addiction doesn’t help his case, no matter how sympathetic he is to the robot discrimination that permeates his world. The fact that he doesn’t care what he needs to do in order to put Iris back together is not noble, ...more
Due to his attitude, Eliot himself is not a very likable character. His drug addiction doesn’t help his case, no matter how sympathetic he is to the robot discrimination that permeates his world. The fact that he doesn’t care what he needs to do in order to put Iris back together is not noble, ...more
Too many questions after finished reading this novel
1. Why androids could feel actual pain
2. Why the android who caught by the police was interrogated with the ancient method of law and order. Why not just hacked his memory drive for information?
3. How can android's hardware made of metal can be exposed to the virus and not the software?
4. Etc
and the ending???? just like that??
1. Why androids could feel actual pain
2. Why the android who caught by the police was interrogated with the ancient method of law and order. Why not just hacked his memory drive for information?
3. How can android's hardware made of metal can be exposed to the virus and not the software?
4. Etc
and the ending???? just like that??
Head over to the HEA blog to check out an interview with the narrator :)
http://www.usatoday.com/story/happyev...
http://www.usatoday.com/story/happyev...
Jesus Christ, was this book hard to read. I took about a month long break with ~100 pages left and finally decided that I should force my way to the end of this book, lest the mystery remain unsolved.
Every character in this book is unlikable and the story is lackluster. It's played off as murder-mystery/seek-and-find when in reality the mystery is solved less than a quarter of the way through the book. The rest of the story is just Eliot going from place to place collecting Iris' pieces with ...more
Every character in this book is unlikable and the story is lackluster. It's played off as murder-mystery/seek-and-find when in reality the mystery is solved less than a quarter of the way through the book. The rest of the story is just Eliot going from place to place collecting Iris' pieces with ...more
At its spine this is a golden fleece story set in the noir dystopian ghost of Los Angeles future. Around that spine Trichter coils steel threads of insight on race, labor, consumerism, media, politics, family, love, sex, addiction, police work and prizefighting. Trichter has a lot to say but it rarely feels like a lecture, just a very messy world we hurtle through while he points out the most fucked up features along the way. The result is a fast paced thriller that makes you laugh, think and
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The premise of this book was very intriguing to me, and reminded me of the film 'Ex Machina' which I just recently watched and really enjoyed. Unfortunately the narrative was kind of all over the place, and I found it difficult to get invested in the characters or the story line. The author does a good job building up this world, and I liked some of the words he made up for things, but I could never really tell where the story was going. The connection between the main character and the robot he
...more
This book would make a terrific action science fiction film, in the style and genre of The Fifth Element or Blade Runner.
This was tense, pulpy, and a bit dark. The protagonist's devotion to his illicit relationship with his bot girlfriend leads him to some shattering conflicts. If bots are now sentient, and able to be manufactured by other bots as well as humans, what's the new nature of society? Who has rights? Who's "real" and deserving of dignity? What is murder when bot parts can be put ...more
This was tense, pulpy, and a bit dark. The protagonist's devotion to his illicit relationship with his bot girlfriend leads him to some shattering conflicts. If bots are now sentient, and able to be manufactured by other bots as well as humans, what's the new nature of society? Who has rights? Who's "real" and deserving of dignity? What is murder when bot parts can be put ...more
Before writing my review, I decided to look at a few of the others and I found a few people questioning the "science" of the robots. While this book is certainly science fiction, it is first and foremost a hero's journey through a future world and this is where the author, Judd Trichter succeeds.
The world we explore is Los Angeles, a city I happen to live in, but a city that is both familiar and alien in this future dystopian world. More importantly, it's not about the science, it's about the ...more
The world we explore is Los Angeles, a city I happen to live in, but a city that is both familiar and alien in this future dystopian world. More importantly, it's not about the science, it's about the ...more
I’ve been wanting to review this book for such a long time I just haven’t had the time until now. Yay. I’m going to try to keep this short (meaning gifs will not be used :( oh well.)
Considering I don’t really read adult novels, just because I don’t like to, I am really glad I won the ARC from the Goodreads giveaway because I can honestly say tat I loved this book. I took forever in reading it because I had already decided in my mind that it was going to be bad, since it was an adult book, but in ...more
Considering I don’t really read adult novels, just because I don’t like to, I am really glad I won the ARC from the Goodreads giveaway because I can honestly say tat I loved this book. I took forever in reading it because I had already decided in my mind that it was going to be bad, since it was an adult book, but in ...more
This was almost a 5 star book. It had many things going for it: futuristic L.A. on the brink of social breakdown, a conflicted protagonist that is still sympathetic, and interesting perspectives on humanity/science/our future. I knocked off a star because this is a sci-fi book about androids, and the sci-fi element was decidedly weak at times (e.g. it makes *no sense at all* for an android's personality to be determined by her individual parts; what happens when she needs repairs?). Shortcomings
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I very much enjoyed the premise of this book. However it wasn't well-paced or crafted. The characters were flat and unremarkable, and the story didn't seem able to decide if it was a dystopic thriller, a love story, a commentary on the ills of too much reliance on machines, or a combination. Instead it jumped from one attitude to another about its own purpose and wrapped up unsatisfactorily in a manner of a few paragraphs. This book would be a great first draft but isn't much of a final product.
Written by an old classmate so I figured I'd give it a try. Could not put it down—I read it all in one sitting! Judd creates a highly original and, sadly, all-too-believable futuristic society. I empathized with the protagonist's plight and yet struggled, as he does, with the moral implications of his actions.
There are books that you love to read. And there are books that take you on such a whirlwind ride, exploring difficult and contentious issues with characters that are flawed, sometimes unlikeable, that offer no easy answers to the moral quandaries they pose. 'Love' isn't quite the word I'd use to describe my feelings about this book. But 'blown away' definitely comes to mind.
I couldn't believe this was a debut. Trichter creates a convincing and horrific world - a near future L.A. that's ...more
I couldn't believe this was a debut. Trichter creates a convincing and horrific world - a near future L.A. that's ...more
"Eliot’s father built androids; the son will rebuild them, or at least he'll rebuild this one as best he can. With whatever parts he can recover."
Eliot's android girlfriend is kidnapped and dismembered, her parts sold off to various places. This is completely legal since Iris didn't belong to anyone - she was a free agent - and the police only concern themselves with wrongs against "heartbeats", not bots. So Eliot becomes obsessed with finding all her parts and getting his girlfriend back.
I ...more
Eliot's android girlfriend is kidnapped and dismembered, her parts sold off to various places. This is completely legal since Iris didn't belong to anyone - she was a free agent - and the police only concern themselves with wrongs against "heartbeats", not bots. So Eliot becomes obsessed with finding all her parts and getting his girlfriend back.
I ...more
A few decades into the future, the mass production of androids has revolutionized the world. They do manual labor, creative work, pretty much everything short of management. They have virtually no rights. Bot/human tensions are high; bot/human relationships tend to be a death sentence for both parties. Against this backdrop a so-called "spinner" is kidnapped, dismembered, and sold as spare parts. Her human boyfriend scours the state for her components in a longshot attempt at reconstituting her.
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Love sucks, love sucks hard, especially when you're in love with a robot in a society that disdains such feelings. Such is the premise of Love in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. Now I picked this up off the cover alone and, while the adage may hold true for some books, this book's cover lived up to its contents.
On its own, the plot seems to be a bit thin. Love? Robots? That's it? Really? Oh, but no it is not it, there's so much more! The world building, or future building I suppose it would ...more
On its own, the plot seems to be a bit thin. Love? Robots? That's it? Really? Oh, but no it is not it, there's so much more! The world building, or future building I suppose it would ...more
Judd Trichter's debut novel is a good one. It had elements of various scifi ideas, but not so blatantly out there that you're thinking, "Oh wow, he just ripped that off from..." Since this book deals with a near future where humans exist alongside androids, the major influence that comes to my mind is Isaac Asimov. Trichter's robot world doesn't exactly follow Asimov's 3 Laws, but you can tell he knows about them. I especially liked his idea of how an android's whole personality could change
...more
Love in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction: A Novel
Judd Trichter
This was a different novel, to say the least. It's set in near-future (late 21st century) LA, and the world is made up of humans and androids. Even humans can have enhanced parts for whatever reason they might have. Eliot Lazar is obsessed with androids, specifically one named Iris Matsuo. He's fallen in love, but this is not something that's readily accepted by society. Unfortunately for Lazar, Matsuo has been kidnapped and parted ...more
Judd Trichter
This was a different novel, to say the least. It's set in near-future (late 21st century) LA, and the world is made up of humans and androids. Even humans can have enhanced parts for whatever reason they might have. Eliot Lazar is obsessed with androids, specifically one named Iris Matsuo. He's fallen in love, but this is not something that's readily accepted by society. Unfortunately for Lazar, Matsuo has been kidnapped and parted ...more
This is one book that I did judge by the cover. I mean look at it. It's pretty cool!! I am a bit picky when it comes to book covers. I guess this has to do from my days of collecting comics. Every book store that had this book in stock, for some reason the dust jacket was all crumpled or torn. Shame these stores can't keep books in good shape. Well it kept me from buying the book. I was about to buy it for my Nook when I was at a random B&N and saw a great copy. I was excited and quickly
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Science Fiction is one of the genres that I really try to avoid. Yet, something compelled me to read this novel. What I enjoyed most about it was that it read like a suspense/thriller that just so happened took place in a Sci-Fi setting. In this case, the setting was Los Angeles, in the future, where androids that look surprisingly, flawlessly like humans are commonplace. Unfortunately, the androids (a.k.a. bots), tired of being abused and mistreated by the humans who created them, are now
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I received an advanced copy of the book, and by the second chapter I was captivated and had trouble putting it down. For starters, this is NOT a romance novel. I sincerely hope people look past the title and read the description before writing it off as one because they would seriously miss out. The main character, Eliot, will not bore you with his feelings and woe over losing his android girlfriend, Iris. Instead this book is all action and follows a guy who is actually going to do things to
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How do you move on when the woman you love is unexpectedly ripped away from you? Or in this case ripped apart? We have no choice but to move on with our lives the best we know how. But, Eliot Lazar has another option because the woman he loves is an android. He vows to find all of Iris’ parts to put her back together just the way she was, preserving her personality. Unfortunately, some of her parts have already been integrated into other androids. Do you murder an android to reassemble another?
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“Unsettling because it reveals some possible branch of evolution in which sex organs will no longer exist. The bots won’t need them, and perhaps without them, the entire concept of gender will disappear.”
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“Strange, Eliot thinks, that the androids take to religion. After all they aren’t plagued by the unknowns that draw heartbeats to temples, bibles, and holy men. There is no mystery as to who created the bots, no absence of meaning for their existence as there is with men. If a bot wants to know why he was put here, all he has to do is ask. The engineers who created them, men like Eliot’s father, could tell them, yes, I know exactly why you’re here. You’re here to shovel, to mine, to gather, to build, to plant, to harvest, to fish, to sew, to stitch, to mend, to weld, to solder, to cook, to slaughter, to render, to load, to carry, to steer, to fight, to clean – to serve.”
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