2024 science fiction. Mal is a free AI (he prefers "Silico-American"),
watching the war between two factions of monkeys from the safety of
infospace. But while he's occupying a body to look for salvage, access
to infospace is cut off, and he's stuck in the middle of a
battlefield…
There's some Murderbot-style snark in here, but this reminded me
more of Sladek's Tik-Tok, a picaresque discovery of a world to which
Mal has previously paid little attention. The Federals have all the
tech, while the Humanists have some biochauvinist idea of purity; so
how is it the Humanists seem to be winning?
The group also accrues Kayleigh, a girl whose mother bought her an
extended lifespan package with slow maturation, so she's an
18-year-old in a toddler's body; Asher, a Humanist soldier but not one
of those crazy redneck extremists with their burn pits; and Chuck, who
just wanted pornography in his head, but it turns out that hardware
can be used for other things too.
Kayleigh laughs. "Uh-huh. We are a charming pair."
"We are," Mal says. "Well, together we are, in any case. You look
charming, but are actually a soulless monster. I look like a
monster, but am actually delightful in every way. Between the two of
us, we should be able to win anyone over."
Kayleigh snickers, but doesn't respond.
This should all be very much the sort of book I enjoy, but somehow it
didn't quite engage me. I like Mal's and Kayleigh's snark, I like the
views we get of the world, but there were very few surprises, and once
I'd read the first few chapters I had a pretty detailed idea of how it
was going to turn out.
It's not bad, but Martha Wells does it better; Sierra Greer does it
better.