108 books
—
58 voters
Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.
Start by marking “The Other Kind of Life” as Want to Read:
The Other Kind of Life
by
THE THING THEY SAID COULDN'T HAPPEN, HAPPENED.
Fresh out of jail, Max finds himself drawn into the mystery of what's gone wrong with the robots in his city. He's forced to rely on the help of Jennifer/Andrew, a body hopping robot driven to solve the case before her product line is recalled.
They need to figure out what went wrong while staying one step ahead of the c
...moreGet A Copy
Kindle Edition, 376 pages
Published
November 27th 2018
by Twenty Sided Books
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Reader Q&A
To ask other readers questions about
The Other Kind of Life,
please sign up.
Be the first to ask a question about The Other Kind of Life
Community Reviews
Showing 1-30
Start your review of The Other Kind of Life
An enjoyable mix of some light-cyberpunk sf with a light-noir mystery. Good characters, good story, and some light musing on the nature of AI which shows the author has put some thought into it. He takes us deeper than the usual "3 laws" version, and for all that it's clearly speculation - since we don't have AI yet - his speculation rings true, and is consistent with my 20-year-old grasp of the research.
The story is set in a fictional country in the near-future modern world, and occasionally tr ...more
The story is set in a fictional country in the near-future modern world, and occasionally tr ...more
I am really torn about this, because there was a lot of potential and some pretty cool characters, but ultimately things fell apart a bit due to over-attention to some details and missing wide-swaths of other stuff, and a lack of internal consistency that betrayed some of the fundamentals that would have someone read the book to its conclusion.
The overall scenario played out in a way that I was almost waiting for one more plot twist, because much was made of how certain things were difficult to ...more
The overall scenario played out in a way that I was almost waiting for one more plot twist, because much was made of how certain things were difficult to ...more
Old-school Sci-fi for a Modern Audience
This is an amazing book. It has the sensibilities of old-school hard sci-fi, while keeping it interesting for a modern audience. It manages to explore serious and very technical questions in such an engaging and approachable way, that it's hard to put the book down. Questions like the nature of AI, how it interacts with us, what intelligence is, the nature of crime, and many others, are all explored in a very understandable way.
A noir cyberpunk aesthetic is ...more
This is an amazing book. It has the sensibilities of old-school hard sci-fi, while keeping it interesting for a modern audience. It manages to explore serious and very technical questions in such an engaging and approachable way, that it's hard to put the book down. Questions like the nature of AI, how it interacts with us, what intelligence is, the nature of crime, and many others, are all explored in a very understandable way.
A noir cyberpunk aesthetic is ...more
A sci-fi noir, light on cyberpunk and heavy on AI speculation. Max, a recently-released techno-thief criminal, falls headfirst into a robot murder conspiracy, one that involves foreign governments, corrupt police, mega-casinos, underground hackers, and body-hopping artificial intelligences. The author, whose works I have been following for a long time, loves to ask of fictional settings 'But what do they eat?", and if you have ever looked at a sci-fi video game, movie, or book and felt that ther
...more
Intelligent and riveting.
Usually, when robots are involved in literature, it's the same old story retold with updated technology. This book approaches machine intelligence with actual intelligence, leaving you with believable characters, intriguing actions, and a remarkably engaging setting. The story is also a great blend of detective mystery and crime drama. ...more
Usually, when robots are involved in literature, it's the same old story retold with updated technology. This book approaches machine intelligence with actual intelligence, leaving you with believable characters, intriguing actions, and a remarkably engaging setting. The story is also a great blend of detective mystery and crime drama. ...more
Worth Reading
A really intesting book that I couldn't put down. A bit self-indulgent in but in all the right ways, going off on interesting tangents and explaining the setting in a little more detail than you'd expect. It was actually a little disappointing when things got a bit more linear and quickly resolved towards the end, but it was still a great book! ...more
A really intesting book that I couldn't put down. A bit self-indulgent in but in all the right ways, going off on interesting tangents and explaining the setting in a little more detail than you'd expect. It was actually a little disappointing when things got a bit more linear and quickly resolved towards the end, but it was still a great book! ...more
This is a tough one.
On the one hand, I enjoyed the setting and the characters and the plot and a lot of the little touches that fleshed out the world this book was set in.
On the other hand, I absolutely fucking hated that the book was written in the third person present tense. It was so jarring, and so weird that it constantly kept breaking me out of the story.
On the one hand, I enjoyed the setting and the characters and the plot and a lot of the little touches that fleshed out the world this book was set in.
On the other hand, I absolutely fucking hated that the book was written in the third person present tense. It was so jarring, and so weird that it constantly kept breaking me out of the story.
More of an SF noir than cyber punk
As I hoped and expected, the world of the book is consistent and believable, the characters are full dimensional with relatable motivations and actions. I would very much like to see a sequel or related story from this setting.
As I hoped and expected, the world of the book is consistent and believable, the characters are full dimensional with relatable motivations and actions. I would very much like to see a sequel or related story from this setting.
Philosophy as thriller
Young does a great job of contemplating the ethics and contradictions inherent in AI and robots by wrapping the whole thing in a compelling story
Young does a great job of contemplating the ethics and contradictions inherent in AI and robots by wrapping the whole thing in a compelling story
A who-done-it and how-done-it with cyberpunk elements. Definitely a universe I want to see a sequel in - not even necessarily with the same characters as protagonists.
Sci-fi noir
An instant classic of gritty streets and clever dialogue wrapped up in a shiny science fiction mystery that leaves the reader wanting more
An instant classic of gritty streets and clever dialogue wrapped up in a shiny science fiction mystery that leaves the reader wanting more
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Readers also enjoyed
Shamus Young is a programmer specializing in old-school graphics techniques. He's the author of the blog Twenty Sided. He's the creator of the webcomics DM of the Rings and Stolen Pixels. He's one of the hosts of the videogame commentary series Spoiler Warning. He's tired of writing about himself in the third person.
...more
Related Articles
Sometimes the monster in your life looks a lot like you. Or exactly like you, but better.
This is the case of Evelyn Caldwell. An...
41 likes · 5 comments
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
