From the Bookshelf of The Alternative Worlds…

Lock In (Lock In, #1)

John Scalzi

Start date: February 1, 2015

Finish date: March 1, 2015

Discussion: Now Discussing: Works,Topics

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Oct 07, 2014 mark monday rated it liked it

Shelves: murdertime, earth-journal, scifi-modern

from the Earth Journal of Scientific Analyst SLJLK92349UO,
Earth Invasion Exploratory Unit

It’s tough to be a human: that is something I’ve learned during my lengthy time studying the human species on this planet Earth. Life itself is hard, of course, with its everyday pitfalls and each individual’s long-term ambitions and disappointments… but for humanity that difficulty is compounded by all of the –isms that exist to divide humanity from itself. Isms based on race and culture and gender and ori from the Earth Journal of Scientific Analyst SLJLK92349UO,
Earth Invasion Exploratory Unit

It’s tough to be a human: that is something I’ve learned during my lengthy time studying the human species on this planet Earth. Life itself is hard, of course, with its everyday pitfalls and each individual’s long-term ambitions and disappointments… but for humanity that difficulty is compounded by all of the –isms that exist to divide humanity from itself. Isms based on race and culture and gender and orientation and age and socio-economic status and family background and personal appearance; all those things, whether intangible or physical, that help form a human’s identity. I have always been fascinated by this construct “identity,” at least in how it affects the human species. Back home on Robot Planet we seldom are concerned with such things; if we feel anxious about or disappointed in our current form, we simply upload into a more pleasing iteration.

Scalzi appears to share my interest in identity; specifically, the mutability of physical identity and the distance that can lie between a person’s interior and exterior. From Scalzi’s perspective, the clothes do not make the man – nor does the body or the gender or the age or many other things. It is a forward-looking perspective and one that I fully endorse. This perspective has been present in much of his work; his exciting science fiction saga starting with Old Man’s War posits that the mutable physical self is but a prop or costume or useful tool for that which exists within. He takes that interest to a new level in his novel Lock In. A world full of a sizeable minority who only engage with the world in mind and spirit, whose prone “locked in” bodies slumber peacefully while their minds roam the world through robotic suits or as guests in human bodies or in a kind of virtual landscape constructed for this minority. It's as if Scalzi finally went for it in this novel and decided to put his interests right up front. He is truly a classic version of the “speculative” science fiction author in that he hypothesizes where the human race may go to next while still concerning himself with how we operate as individuals and as a society right now.

Perhaps I am just a typical liberal robot of the old model, but I find a touching connection between his progressive blog posts and his ongoing interest in illustrating how a person is so much more than what their body does or looks like or comes from.

As far as the novel itself goes, it is a futuristic mystery. Agent Chris Shane is new on the scene, and on his first day he has to deal with a crime that has far-reaching implications for that sizeable minority who are locked in, as well as the rest of humanity. Agent Shane is also locked in, so there was a lot of enjoyable detail about how Chris and others who are locked in often interface with the physical world through robotic bodies nicknamed "threeps." Chris Shane's gender is never identified – an ingenious decision and one that fits right in with Scalzi’s viewpoint re what actually makes a person a person. The mystery itself is simple to solve; the prose is bland and workmanlike but not objectionable. It is all quite easy going down and made for a pleasant way to pass the time. More compelling to me than the plot were the themes and ideas mentioned above. And more appealing to me than the rather rote characters on display was the character of the author, also on display. He is an admirable example of his species. I’d welcome him on Robot Planet, where he would be the source of much interest! Although I suppose if there were more humans like Scalzi, I would feel more guilt about our upcoming invasion. And then where would Robot Planet harvest its fuel sources and capture its meat-based servants? Our moral logic would force us to find another planet for such needs! Happily, there are few like Scalzi on this planet Earth. ...more

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Jun 13, 2014 Figgy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, favourites, favourites-2014

LINKS UPDATED

Featured on my 2014 favourites list!

I had a pretty good idea going in that I would enjoy this book. What I didn’t know was that I was going to spend a whole day telling myself I would read “just one more chapter” putting off breakfast… and then lunch… until there were no more chapters left to negotiate over, and it was practically dinner time.

Often, when entering a fictional world that is different for our own–be they far in the future, on another world, or in a place ruled by magic ...more

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Sep 30, 2014 Kara Babcock rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: thriller, own, 2014-read, science-fiction, mystery, autographed

This summer saw the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge splash onto social media. ALS terrifies me. A deadly disease that slowly robs you of your ability to move but doesn’t affect your reasoning? I’m not particularly fond of physical activities, but I like embodiment; I like being able to engage with the world actively. The idea of being unable to do that but remaining sound of mind sounds like a terrible way to go.

Lock In is a thriller set in a world ravaged by a disease superficially similar to ALS. Had ...more

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Feb 01, 2015 Nicky rated it really liked it

Shelves: speculative-fiction

I generally find Scalzi’s work fun, very readable, but maybe not too thought provoking, not too serious. This managed to combine that sci-fi fun feel with serious issues of disability politics, racial politics, gender — well, all kinds of identity politics, really. It helps to read Unlocked if you’re not very good at picking up context quickly, though I don’t think it’s necessary; it gives you a lot of background, and even a starting point for imagining the characters.

I would actually be interes I generally find Scalzi’s work fun, very readable, but maybe not too thought provoking, not too serious. This managed to combine that sci-fi fun feel with serious issues of disability politics, racial politics, gender — well, all kinds of identity politics, really. It helps to read Unlocked if you’re not very good at picking up context quickly, though I don’t think it’s necessary; it gives you a lot of background, and even a starting point for imagining the characters.

I would actually be interested in listening to the audiobook for this, because Scalzi avoided stating a gender for Chris Shane. Thus, there are alternate readers — Will Wheaton and Amber Benson. The existence of the two versions meaning that I don’t really consider this a spoiler! Particularly as it’s not germane to the plot: it’s a thing outside the plot that will affect your reading, because you’re almost inevitably going to choose which gender you assign to the narrator in your head unless you’re used to queer communities. Personally, I chose to read Chris Shane as female if I could. I ended up reading them as something more nebulous: if you grow up spending most of your time outside your physical body (in the Agora or in a threep, it doesn’t matter which), are you going to think of gender in the same way as embodied people do? I don’t think we can answer that with modern technology, but I think the answer might be no, and that’s how I read Chris.

In a way, this fits right into a tradition with Isaac Asimov’s The Caves of Steel, which is a mystery as much as it’s a sci-fi story, and which relies intimately on both elements to make the full story (rather than being a mystery story that happens to be in a science fiction world, or vice versa). And because one character is walking around in an artificial body and the other isn’t, and with some of the political issues. (Ask me another day how I react when Hawking says a robot uprising might destroy humanity, everyone reports it as news, and nobody wants to listen to the sci-fi fan in the corner yelling “Isaac Asimov got there first!”)

Ahem. Anyway, Scalzi keeps his lightness of touch here, despite all the issues that he explores; it remains intensely readable, a page turner, and something that can suck you in enough that you forget about your surroundings. And I love that it’s based on all sorts of real situations: some people are ‘locked in’, we are finding solutions like the ones here for them (my New Scientist this week has a cover story: “Out of the Twilight Zone: Portable mind-reader gives voice to the locked in”), there were epidemics like this before (the closest analogue being the flu epidemic closely followed by the sleeping sickness epidemic)… These are not concerns only relevant in a hypothetical science fictional world. ...more

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Mar 29, 2014 Carolyn rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, mystery, 2015-read

I enjoyed this one a lot. Someone else said in their review that is was 'just' a police procedural with scifi trappings. That is just incorrect. The near-future look at the changes that something like Haden's and lock-in would/could bring to the US is well-realized. I found myself drawing parallels to the classic I, Robot, also a well done police procedural in a near-future setting. I hope Scalzi continues to write in this universe, I'm looking forward to more from Chris Shane and Vann. ...more

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Nov 21, 2014 Sarah rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sf, brains

This hit my sweet spot: near-future SF, brains, disability politics. Breezy, engaging, and smart.

2 likes · Like · see review

Jan 10, 2015 Michelle rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, award_winner, mystery, local-color-baltimore-dc, medical-fiction

has this been optioned for a movie yet? (yes, apparently.) Scalzi comes blazing out straight into a cinematically-described, snappy-paced mystery with this slim novel that's equal parts 'almost human' (the short-lived TV show) and 'i, robot' (the movie version). it's a buddy-cop whodunnit in the rookie + grizzled veteran mold, complete with a murder at the watergate hotel... and robots.

in this future, an infectious disease has rendered a significant percentage of the population "locked in": brai ...more

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Jun 21, 2016 Nils rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, weltenfluestern

Solider SF-Krimi in einer Welt, in der die Grenzen zwischen Mensch und Maschine verschwimmen - wenn auch anders, als man es kennt.

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Jul 03, 2014 Meran rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, culture, novels, science-fiction

A well-written book, easy to read ("easy on the eyes"), and complicated just enough to engage my brain… AND it's SF!

Good for me ;)

There was a sickness a generation ago, like meningitis or encephalitis, which caused a small amount of the world population to disengage from their bodies, essentially locking them inside their own brains.

This is the story of how society changed because of it … some think for the better but others, mostly those unaffected, think of those "locked in" as victims.

Some p ...more

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Feb 26, 2019 Rushi rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, audio-book, 2019

5/5 stars for the narration by Wil Wheaton & for the excellent bonus novella "Unlocked" included in the audible package.
3/5 stars for the main story. While the premise is great and the world building is fun, the dialogue-heavy plot relies too much on long expository passages. ...more

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Jan 14, 2015 Joan rated it liked it

Reads like a nice lead-in to a SF/Mystery series. Decent enough, but a little bland.

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Jul 02, 2014 Eric rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Lots of potential, but far too much world building for a stand alone novel. If this becomes a series, I can't see this being any more than serial sci-fi / mystery fodder. Good read, but not fantastic. And the ending was far too pat and predictable. Certainly not up to Scalzi's normal standards.

Enjoyable reading but not something I see myself repeating. ...more

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