Sophie Lau > Recent Status Updates

Sarya describes the speed of which her home ship departed. The author writes, "she might have said without a trace. But that's not true; there is a trace" (Jordan 276). (PARADOX)

At the end of my reading today, a robot intelligence named Roche explains the difference in livelihood between robots and other creatures. Jordan writes, "Immortality, for the non-Network mind, is unattainable--or at least illegal. But for that tiny disregarded drone, death is not the end." (Jordan 269) In the story, robot intelligences are not given the same freedom compared to others, but they can live infinitely.

During my most recent read, Sarya's sense of space is greatly confused. She has recently moved to a much bigger ship than the one she was on before, with the population so diverse and largely numbered that she can't handle it. This is going to sound evil, but I like that the author added a mental breakdown into this portion of the book. Sarya has gone through many traumas previously, and wasn't given time to grieve.

Sandy, a higher intelligence in this book, She constantly believes that she is controlling other people because of her high intellect, but this can lead her to not see certain things coming. She becomes more vulnerable as the other characters start to understand her, and her situation.

With Eleven, Sarya's suit, describing the vast number of ships and creatures out in the Network, Sarya's shocked reaction shows us that she might be less intelligent than Eleven, a barely legal intelligence. Having Eleven get the chance for independence was a nice touch to connect us with Sarya's relationship with him.

I thought that this book became more confusing around this point, mainly because of all the new characters. Each character has their own backstory, and they can sometimes get really lengthy and hard to follow. In the past chapter, Sandy, a previously mention character, gets her own childhood flashback. Her character was JUST mentioned, and I don’t think it was necessary to reflect on her so much.

After reading today's chunk of text, I realized just how serious Sarya's injuries were. She had severely torn her arm's tendons, and now has to wear a false arm. The meaning of the Widow phrase "pain without fear" is far more extreme than I initially thought. At first, I believed that a cut on the hand was bad, but the true meaning includes murder, or extreme self-harm.

I wonder what happened to an entity called "the Librarian," an encyclopedia that swallows(literally) information. In a sudden rage to protect Sarya, Shenya the Widow throws the Librarian out of the ship, which could potentially be very dangerous for everyone, because it could go around absorbing anything it sees.

As Sarya slowly plays back her mother's memories, we see that they are organized by how her opinion would compare to them. Starting off with "neutral memories," we see that her mother's memories of her childhood were neutral, which I found strange because she struggled to decide if she should keep Sarya, so I thought this would be a more controversial memory.

I think it's interesting that Sarya's mother in this story also had an intelligence(brain connected assistant) to guide her. As Sarya makes her mother's memories her own, we learn how her mother processed and understood humans, and how she also needed to rely on her intelligence at times, showing hidden weaknesses.

The descriptions in this book really convey feelings very strongly. Sarya, the main character, must match an emotion that she felt years ago, "pain without fear." She decided to do this by severely hurting her arm, not in hatred, but in desperation. When the author describes her looking at the "glistening surface of her own bone," it shows truly how much damage she had done to her body, and how determined she was.

A new character was introduced named Sandy, a very high level intelligence. She invades Sarya's new residence, and frighteningly could almost read her mind. As Sarya attempts to uncover her past, I found it very strange that Sandy could analyze her life so quickly and give Sarya the personal answers that she had been looking for for a while.

Sarya is befriended by a very high intelligence being, who although is a literal ball of eyes, is smart and accepting of her. Sarya's reaction to seeing its intelligence was very cautious. When seeing a higher intelligence, lower tiered species rarely ever communicate with them, which makes this interaction special.

Sarya was saved yet again by a sentient smart-suit, and she begins to sympathize with lower level technology. Living without her mother now, I believe this shows Sarya's need for reliability and stability. She is constantly looking for a emotional "safe place," which makes losing her mother even more difficult.

After losing her mother, Sarya begins to question even more than before, who is she? A human or a Widow(her adoptive mother's species)? A Widow, who is strong and fearless, or a human, who cares for others and is fearful? The loss of her mother leads to a lack of assurance and stability. Left alone, Sarya's mental state depletes so badly she attempts to freeze herself to death.

The way that Sarya and her mother show love in this book is different from normal mother-daughter dynamics. They care for one another immensely, but her mother's species, "Widow," is very non-emotional. They don't thank each other for good deeds, but they show appreciation with gifts. A gift that Sarya was given from her mother was a "Network" implant, which allowed her to communicate seamlessly with any species.

The bond between Sarya and her mother is very important throughout this book. They stay by each other's side and protect one another, and in the past few pages that I have read, Sarya's mom almost dies from trying to protect her from the world realizing that she is human.

The main character, Sarya, seems to have issues with trusting people. Even though she is a human, she has gained many traits from her adoptive mother, whose culture is very cautious and untrusting. This leaves Sarya confused, choosing between her people, or her chosen family's beliefs, which affects her decision making.

I believe that the robots in this story are influential, because they show their intelligence compared to the other various species in the story. The intelligence levels of these different characters demonstrates the divide between the citizens of the Network.

A reason why I chose this book is because of its genre, and because the writing style immerses you in a new world, describing the feeling of seeing people's thoughts and conversations. This story has lived up to my expectations because the setting has it's own specific facts and details, which allows me to read as if I am experiencing the events that occur.

A prediction that I have for this book is that one of the "higher tiered" creatures will destroy a planet/s with the water shipment that they have received. I believe this because the character has obvious negative intentions with their shipment of water.

A significant place in this book is called Watertower Station, which is a quiet, grey location, with tons of different species walking about. Although this place is a seemingly empty expanse, the digital world around Sarya, the main character, is very new and alive once she finally can see it. This place is important to her because she can finally see what everyone else has seen, a colorful crossroad of creatures.

I admire the main character of this book, Sarya, because she is the only human in her area. feeling so alone is difficult to go through, but makes it all the more impressive that she can stay calm throughout her day-to-day life. Her courage in this book is also admirable because of her coolness, as she accepts her mother's harsh punishments so calmly, with no fear.

The lead in this book uses sensory details to begin the story. It starts by describing the cold, dark setting around one of the main characters, and compares it to how their society is so bland and cold.

At the beginning of this book, two main characters are both shown to have specific circumstances that lead them to have memory chips surgically added to their heads. Although they don't know each other, it helps introduce the main idea in the story. I wish I had an artificially altered memory :(