"The Salvage Crew" by Yudhanjaya Wijeratne (BR)

[Ryan]

The Amazin' Eights challenge participants chose The Salvage Crew as our third book! Anyone else who'd like to join in the BR, please be welcome! We love a necropost!

[Ryan]

Having read the foreword (view spoiler)[where the author talks about how significant a role AI played in creating this story I'm now expecting the most generic scifi story imaginable. Suppose I should be happy that it won't be another Tay. (hide spoiler)]

Let's see how this (thought?) experiment goes.

[Soo]

I recommend the audiobook. Nathan Fillion did a great job. =)

Interested to see what people think of the story.

[Ryan]

Hah! There's been some talk in the Amazing Eights thread about the audiobook to the contrary.

[Soo]

Really? Weird. I thought he was great. The only thing I had to do was to slow him down on audio speed because he's narration speed is fast. He was solid on adding emotional nuances, juggling character voices/tone and making the story fun to listen.

Personally, I think NF's narration made the story more cohesive from a character standpoint.

I normally listen to audiobooks at 2.55-3x speed. I knocked this one down to 2.05x.

[Ryan]

Turns out this story isn't what I feared in post #2. Thankfully.

[Ryan]

I'm reading the ebook and I can't see how Nathan Fillion would mess up the narration of this story. If it's not Nathan Fillion-esque, it's Matt Damon.
I say that because... well... (chapter 11)(view spoiler)[there's something called the UNSC Damn Right I Ate the Apple. (hide spoiler)] Other reasons too, but that stands out.

[Soo]

lol I thought he did a great job. The story is written in a style that fits Nathan Fillion/Firefly.

Curious to see what you think about the book as a whole.

[Ryan]

I forgot that I'm meant to be reading this. I'm on chapter 23 :/

[Ryan]

Le fin!
(view spoiler)[
Gave me the same vibe as Jeff Vandermere's Annihilation though I enjoyed this a tad more.

Wondering if I missed out by eye reading it as Nathan Fillions narration would probably have helped give it a more upbeat feel. The universe described by OC was dystopian and the other characters were less than endearing, which made this fairly easy to put down and not rush back to.

The human turned AI thing felt like a passable workaround for Wijeratne to write a story from the perspective of an omnipresent but not omniscient being. But only just passable. There were a few times where I was annoyed with OCs close mindedness that wouldn't have happened with more commonly known iterations of high functioning AI. Then I got to the end and had the authors intended 'oh...' moment where I realised it was deliberate. Appreciated the revelation but it didn't make the book more enjoyable. Being frustrated doesn't become less irritating for knowing that it was planned.

It's a well executed story in that regard. Just wish it had more warmth. (hide spoiler)]

[Meredith]

I'm planning to read this but I have to finish The Steerswoman first (so, in a couple days)

Editing to add: And, I really need to finish Vanishers Palace too.

[Ryan]

Only one of those statements are true!

[Meredith]

Lol! I wondered if someone would chime in with that opinion!

[Ryan]

Steerswoman over everything!

[Nicol]

I like the first part of the book more, the new world, trying to survive with mystery woven in - but never liked any of the characters much. I felt like the ending came to quick and didn't make much sense to me. I wonder too about maybe Nathan F making it better even though the reviews were bad on audible but I ended up getting the ebook because it was cheaper that way. I would read something else by this author though.

[Meredith]

I've read the first two chapters, (view spoiler)[ I'm finding the 'voice' of the narrator (I'm eye-reading) feels very rushed in how they are presenting information, dropping little quips and asides, and I'm worried it will be kind of exhausting to read. (hide spoiler)]

[Ryan]

He's folksy...

[Meredith]

I'm settling into it, 7 chapters in now, (view spoiler)[ I like the introduction of the native wildlife, plus information on the economics of the planetary systems and how local communities are impacted by the wars and trade corporations. (hide spoiler)]

[Sha]

Just starting

[Midiain]

I finished this yesterday but I wanted to give it a little time before forming a final opinion. Overall I enjoyed it quite a bit.

(view spoiler)[Really liked OC's blend of not-quite-human thought process and emotions, world-weariness, semi-Buddhist ideology, sense of isolation, and attempts at expression through poetry. So caught up in the little details and what was expected that they missed the big picture entirely.

I don't think we got to know any of the human characters well enough for them to be particularly sympathetic. They were mostly annoying, but that's also because we were seeing them entirely through OC's perceptions.

The world-building was great. A whole planet of strange and convincingly alien flora and fauna and yet it managed to feel claustrophobic.

The ending seemed a little predictable and it was a little irritating that the characters kept missing what seemed like huge clues. My perceptions might have been influenced by just having read another book that talked a lot about cascade failures on a planetary scale though. It was still a satisfying ending and the poetry was an excellent twist. I don't think I've read anything before with AI poetry quite like that. (hide spoiler)]

[Ines, Resident Vampire]

I'm at chapter 17 and enjoying it. The worldbuilding is nice, I like how information is presented, but I'm not sure about the overall (view spoiler)[witty, sarcastic (hide spoiler)] tone. Which is weird, because I loved the narrator's voice in (view spoiler)[the Murderbot series (hide spoiler)], and I don't know exactly why this one seems different to me. Maybe it's a bit too much.

I find the characters interesting, and I want to find out more about them, but I don't know if I feel with them yet.

[Melanie, the neutral party]

I'm nearly done with the book but have some thoughts to share.

First the narration debate. I can understand how some would be disappointed if they were expecting a Nathan Fillion persona all the way through. I think the flaw is in the writing not him as a narrator. The character OC does not stay sufficiently or consistently sarcastic throughout the book. It has a strong start in that direction but does not stay in that headspace. Nathan switches tone when the writing does.

Second- Buddhists. Is making OC a Buddist just an excuse to makes jokes about being reborn? He is awfully judgey and, dare I say, greedy. It is possible I need to recalibrate my concept of Buddism especially as IRL Bangledest things are happening that don't seem very zen.

Third -character backstories. (view spoiler)[I thought they'd integrate earlier into the story, but they didn't come up until halfway through. And then they were all back-to-back as sequential interludes. I think it would have served the story better to sprinkle them throughout. (hide spoiler)]

Fourth- the poetry. I don't think it's very good. But since poetry is subjective, it's probably just me.

I am basically liking the story and hope to finish sometime today.

[Nicol]

Melanie wrote: "I'm nearly done with the book but have some thoughts to share.

First the narration debate. I can understand how some would be disappointed if they were expecting a Nathan Fillion persona all the ..."

I wasn't a huge fan of the poetry either, and found myself just skimming or skipping it all together. And I don't think it added anything to the story, but perhaps I'm being too harsh. I guess I prefer poetic writing as opposed to poems inserted into the narrative, if that makes sense.

[Ryan]

Who'd have thought the machine uprising would be started by harsh criticism of AI generated poetry?

For awhile I thought Wijeratne's writing was using selected bits of glorious AI generated poetry to guide the stories direction. I abandoned that thought at the fourth or fifth inclusion.

(I've never thought of machines as dumb or disposable. Please spare me, robot overlords!)

[Melanie, the neutral party]

I made that comment before I had gotten to that plot point. Even so, I still think it's bad poetry but now I wonder if it is INTENTIONALLY bad or if the author thinks it was awesome poetry??

[Midiain]

For machine generated poetry it's fantastic. What I've seen before of computers trying to write poems, stories, or script pages is a jumble of words and concepts that are pretty funny. Human imagination and abstract thinking don't translate well to AIs yet.

I think that it wasn't meant to be "good" as much as it was meant to suit the plot and to be actually written by an AI. At one point (or maybe a couple of times) OC even says that it's bad poetry.

Our future robot overlords will be more offended by Boston Dynamics kicking and taunting their antecedents than by criticism of their poetry but I suppose it would depend on what kind of AI achieved sentience first.

[Ines, Resident Vampire]

I finished this a while ago, but I had to think about ... well, what I think about it. It's good and has a lot of elements I like, but somehow there was something that didn't make me really excited about this book. I still don't know exactly, but I think it's the pacing, which is very different in the first and second half.

[Allison]

I'm just starting today!! Kind of worried given the faint praise here, but I'm jumpin in!

[Ines, Resident Vampire]

Don't let me keep you from enjoying this, Allison! As I said, there are a lot of ideas in this book that I loved! I think the story is very original and fresh.

[Melanie, the neutral party]

Allison wrote: "I'm just starting today!! Kind of worried given the faint praise here, but I'm jumpin in!"

It won't annoy you like some other club picks of late, but it probably won't wow you either.

[Allison]

I'm only a few chapters in, but it's making me laugh. I like the harried robot voice.

[Kaa]

I'm trying to start this book, and I'll do it if I don't get sucked into a Boatmurdered internet rabbit hole first.

[Melanie, the neutral party]

Kaa wrote: "I'm trying to start this book, and I'll do it if I don't get sucked into a Boatmurdered internet rabbit hole first."

Multi-task?

[John]

Allison wrote: "I'm only a few chapters in, but it's making me laugh. I like the harried robot voice."

Same here, just started so have not read the thread. Will come back in a few days, scan and then comment.

[Allison]

I got a bit further in. Simon is on my shit list.

[Lowell]

ok. I'm 30% in.. and it's... fine? it's fine. I'm not sucked in, but it's easy to read thus far... just not enticing me to come back.

The poetry is an amusing conceit, though.

However, there was a line that really bothered me:

"I’ve seen a star with green crystal rain; a mineral called olivine, a magnesium iron silicate, sprayed out, sucked back in by gravity, an eternal rainstorm of refraction."

This is lovely imagery but feels wrong to me because, well.. olivine is, yes, green and crystal.. but Common AF. both of the minerals that make up olivine have melting temperatures that are below 2k Celcius, which means that even the coolest of actual stars would melt the crystals and you'd just have an iron-rich vapor.. except that the coolest of stars are red dwarves and don't have a whole hecking lot of iron to deal with anyway!

AH! sorry. pedant science brain gets in the way of science fiction sometimes when it comes to geology....

[Lowell]

ok, finished last night. The book really picks up somewhere near the half way mark and just takes you on a rollercoaster of expanding scope. 2 stars for the first half averaged with 4 stars for the second... so a solid 3 star read for me.

[Sha]

Sorry for the silence; busy month or two irl

Review here.

Probably my favorite of all the challenge winners so far, even though I think Vanisher's Palace was better written (just not necessarily a better story).

[Kaa]

It has taken me from March until now to read this book, which is probably reflected a bit in my rating. I recall enjoying the first bit, but then it started to feel like a strategy game (view spoiler)[at the point where things start to go wrong and you start to get cascading failures. Which seems like it may have been the intention, and kudos to the author for capturing that feeling very well, I just didn't particularly enjoy reading it. (hide spoiler)] And the ending (view spoiler)[felt disjointed from the rest in a way that rarely works for me. Huge reveals close to the end can sometimes work, but usually not if they introduce some major new idea that is not sufficiently (for me) foreshadowed previously in the book. (hide spoiler)] Anyway, I thought the author's approach was interesting, but sort of brought home to me the fact that I do appreciate different narrative styles and features depending on the storytelling format - (view spoiler)[this felt to me that it leaned heavily on things that might work for me in gaming, but I didn't appreciate as much in more linear story format. (hide spoiler)]