What's the Name of That Book??? discussion
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Books with: Sentient weapons, living spaceships, or talking objects with a role large enough to be its own character in Adult Fiction
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Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson features a sentient sword, who's main goal is convincing it's bearer to destroy evil. The sword, named Nightblood, also appears in another related series by the same writer. It only appears in book 3 of that series though, Oathbringer. (The whole Cosmere by Brandon Sanderson is pretty amazing if you like extensive fantasy worlds).
I was going to comment on The Ship Who Sang, too.
Kimberlyn wrote: "Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson features a sentient sword, who's main goal is convincing it's bearer to destroy evil. The sword, named Nightblood, also appears in another related series by the same...""Warbreaker" looks like something I'd like and it seems to have gotten some great reviews, so I'm definitely going to read it soon. Thanks!
Nora wrote: "Embers of War""Embers of War" also sounds really good. I love sentient ships! I haven't read this one yet. My favorite sentient ship sci fi book so far is from the Linesman trilogy, with the 3rd book, called "Confluence" being the best.
Linesman by S.K. Dunstall
LauraW wrote: "
"Thanks guys! I have read some of "The Ship Who" books many years ago.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...In Lindsay Buroker's Dragon Blood series one of the major characters is a magic sword containing the soul of a dead magician who is still perfectly capable of casting spells from it.
Check out Starship Waking by C. Gockelhttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
They are going after the 'hibernating' ship that is sentient. The next book is almost out which should have more of the ship... I do t think it talks, but has a personality and communicates with one or two of the characters...
All Systems Red and the rest of the Murderbot series are fantastic reads and should work for you. The main character is a security android and it's a great character. And lot of the tech in the setting is bots and such with varying degrees of sentience and personality and since the main character is as well it gets a fair bit of attention through the series.Book 2 has a ship called ART that is a pretty entertaining character and a few of the subsequent books have other synthetic AI-type beings that manage to be really interesting and distinctly non-human.
⬆️⬆️ sorry, I was concentrating on ships... The whole Archangel Project series has sentient AI's. Starship Waking is book4 I think. Book5 fives due out this week. I love the whole series. Book1
Check out Archangel Down by C. Gockel
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
Aerulan, Murderbot looks good. Funny, I never think of myself as reading these types of books, but turns out I read quite a few and have enjoyed most of them. Will have to go thru everyone else's suggestions too ;)
Path of the Fury by David Weber. A female super soldier, an ancient Greek Goddess, and an AI (female) ship form a revenge seeking triumvirate.
Keith Laumer wrote a number of stories about futuristic tanks called Bolos. The earlier versions were just robots, but later they developed true intelligence. Many of his stories are collected in the book Bolo, logically enough. My favorite of his stories, Field Test, is available free online and marks the moment the Bolos stopped being machines and became soldiers:https://www.baen.com/Chapters/1439133...
There are also a number of Bolo novels by other authors. A title search for Bolo should bring them up.
David wrote: "https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...In Lindsay Buroker's Dragon Blood series one of the major characters is a magic sword containing the soul of a dead magici..."
Thanks David, I've seen this series while browsing but wasn't sure what it was about. It does indeed look like something I'd like! I just downloaded it. Actually, if anyone else is interested, books 1-3 of the Dragon Blood series is one of the FREEBIES under Epic Fantasy Bestsellers on Amazon right now. The purchase price for the box set is $0.00
Here's the link:
https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-K...
MJ wrote: "Check out Starship Waking by C. Gockelhttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
They are going after the 'hibernating' ship that is sentient. The next book is almost out which should have mor..."
MJ, Thanks for each of your recommendations! I think Starship Waking AND Skyward both look really good with the sentient ship stuff. I'm adding both authors/books to my list!
Aerulan wrote: "All Systems Red and the rest of the Murderbot series are fantastic reads and should work for you. The main character is a security android and it's a great character. And lot of the..."Thanks Aerulan, I also think the Murderbot books look fun and I've never read anything like it so I'll start there.
Basically, I like both fantasy which may have enchanted swords or sentient weapons AND science fiction with sentient ships or living tanks or misc technology. I do also like SOME artificial intelligence stuff but more so when it's NOT because humans created it from a computer program and now it wants to kill off all the organics and take over the world! Why do humans seem so very surprised by such an outcome?
But bots or androids with more self-awareness than the norm ARE something I would probably like. I do tend to favor books with a random quirky character thrown in that makes a great sidekick or a very unique lead character with an unusual perspective. It sounds like All Systems Red by Martha Wells would be exactly that.
I'm reading the first Murderbot book right now and am really enjoying it! I've also got "Warbreaker" next in my lineup for a fantasy read.Thanks to everyone for the recs, I didn't realize there would be so many good options that I'd never even heard of. Keep them coming if you have any more. This is great!
Amy*skye.rhyme wrote: "I'm reading the first Murderbot book right now and am really enjoying it! I've also got "Warbreaker" next in my lineup for a fantasy read. Thanks to everyone for the recs, I didn't realize there ..."
Yay I'm so glad to hear it!! Wells has been a favorite author of mine for years and I'm always happy to see someone else enjoy her books too. And those ones are so much fun.
Thanks for creating this thread, I've found some new books I wanna try too.
Ancillary Justice has the AI of a warship as a main character and is really, really good. It's the first of a trilogy.
Bryn (Plus Others) wrote: "Ancillary Justice has the AI of a warship as a main character and is really, really good. It's the first of a trilogy."Thank you Bryn. This is another book/author that is brand new to me, so I'll definitely check it out! Thanks.
OMG! Who knew following a depressed, anxious, bored robot around could be so good!?!?! Thank you to this thread for Murderbot. I started yesterday and am already up to the last one. I want to know what happens, but don't want to have to leave him behind.
Fortunately there's a full Murderbot novel coming in 2020!
The Turing Hopper mysteries by Donna Andrews. Turing Hopper is an AI who becomes a detective. Start with the first one, You've Got Murder You've Got Murder
For some classics:2001: A Space Odyssey
Christine
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
and maybe The Color of Magic (the luggage), although its more of a major character in the sequel, The Light Fantastic.
Bryn... You are my new hero! I just finished Murderbot Exit Protocol and was like NOOOOOOO.... IT CANT BE OVER!!!!! Lol. Now to have a look-see thru the rest of these suggestions and see what else there is.
MJ wrote: "Bryn... You are my new hero! I just finished Murderbot Exit Protocol and was like NOOOOOOO.... IT CANT BE OVER!!!!! Lol. Now to have a look-see thru the rest of these suggestions and see what els..."
I recommend Ann Leckie's Ancillary books to you too! They are different from Murderbot in lots of ways, but there is some underlying similarity for me that I can't pin down -- maybe just that Leckie & Wells are both women writing sf right now and so some of their over-arching interests feel similar to me, even though the actual books are fairly different.
Winds of Fate is the first book in the "Mage Winds" trilogy by Mercedes Lackey. One of the characters carries a sentient sword named Need.Need first appears in The Oathbound, but she is not awake yet.
"Who knew following a depressed, anxious, bored robot around could be so good!?!?!"Marvin from Hitchhiker's Guide to Galaxy comes to mind.
Not what the OP seeks, most probably, and not to everyone's taste, but just to throw it in:
The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyThe late Douglas N. Adams style is comparable to the movies and TV-shows of Monty Python - if I remember it right, he wrote scripts or ideas for them, too and knew the cast.
So some is dark humour and strange and very UK-like, just so you know what you get if you check it out.
Mod
The Misenchanted Sword while the sword isn't exactly intelligent or anything, the enchantment placed on it makes it an interesting "character".
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and the sequel A Closed and Common Orbit.First book has a spaceship AI "Lovelace" with a definite personality. The second book follows "her" when she ends up in a android body and has to adapt.
Dark Horse(Class 5 #1)
by Michelle Diener
The Armageddon Inheritance trilogy by David Weber has a sentient ship. Only the first 2 books really deal with it and it's not the MC but the stories are well written. David Weber has to be one of my all-time fav authors.
You could try the Bobiverse novels by Dennis Taylor. They're kinda fun, about a man who has his brain transplanted into a spaceship. The first one is We Are Legion
What's the Name of That Book???
Books mentioned in this topic
We Are Legion (We Are Bob) (other topics)The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (other topics)
A Closed and Common Orbit (other topics)
The Misenchanted Sword (other topics)
Lords of the Middle Dark (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Ray Bradbury (other topics)Keith Laumer (other topics)
Here are a few examples that are close enough to what I'm looking for. Most of them are a series and I can't remember WHICH book it first appeared in, so have just listed the first in series. If you can be more specific with your recommendations about when in the series it starts, that would be even better.
(Alien Guardians of Earth #1, sentient blade/living artifact)
(Eon Warriors #1, sentient/symbiont alien weapons)
Linesman by S.K. Dunstall
(Linesmen #1, sentient ships)
(The Kurtherian Gambit #13, sentient ships and A.I.)
(The Unbelievable Mr. Brownstone #1, sentient necklace/weapon/armour)
(The Death Prophecies #1, sentient ships at some point, I think)