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x0pherl's review
3.0
I am not a huge mystery fan and I didn't love the sports angle of this book. However, the story carried me along and made me think about some things.
talljustin's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
danaisreading's review against another edition
4.0
I absolutely love these characters and series. I don't know anything about the science behind Haden's Syndrome or the technology of the threeps, so I can't say how accurate it is. But it reads as being very plausible and grounded in the real world. I really like the partnership between Chris and Leslie, and the mystery/story is very well plotted. If there are any holes in the story, someone smarter or more observant than me will have to point them out.
I know that Chris' gender probably won't ever be revealed, so really I have just two questions: When's the next book coming out? And how many threeps will Chris destroy before the series ends?
I know that Chris' gender probably won't ever be revealed, so really I have just two questions: When's the next book coming out? And how many threeps will Chris destroy before the series ends?
bri_'s review
4.0
Can we have 10 more please?
This quote here is something that really comes through in his work (not just about today's sports issues vs Hilketa as he's talking about in the quote, but with many themes all throughout). The way that so much of what you are reading really is very evocative of so many issues that exist in our world and this shows you a natural extension of that or a sidebranch of it that really makes you think without making it feel like you're being beat over the head and preached to. The skill with which he does this is what really makes me want to read more of his work in the future:
"It's not a one to one but it's very definitely evocative, which is what you want to do because science fiction works pretty much to the extent that a person who is reading it can kind of put themselves in that situation. Someone who is reading about hilketa is going to imagine what's going on in the sports world today. They're going to see the parallels and they're going to make their understanding kind of fit into what they already know. Like I said, it's the responsible extrapolation forward."
- https://www.denofgeek.com/us/books/john-scalzi/272694/john-scalzi-on-gender-sports-and-representation-in-sci-fi
(a good article/interview! Worth reading)
This quote here is something that really comes through in his work (not just about today's sports issues vs Hilketa as he's talking about in the quote, but with many themes all throughout). The way that so much of what you are reading really is very evocative of so many issues that exist in our world and this shows you a natural extension of that or a sidebranch of it that really makes you think without making it feel like you're being beat over the head and preached to. The skill with which he does this is what really makes me want to read more of his work in the future:
"It's not a one to one but it's very definitely evocative, which is what you want to do because science fiction works pretty much to the extent that a person who is reading it can kind of put themselves in that situation. Someone who is reading about hilketa is going to imagine what's going on in the sports world today. They're going to see the parallels and they're going to make their understanding kind of fit into what they already know. Like I said, it's the responsible extrapolation forward."
- https://www.denofgeek.com/us/books/john-scalzi/272694/john-scalzi-on-gender-sports-and-representation-in-sci-fi
(a good article/interview! Worth reading)
jolea_is_awesome's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
yevolem's review against another edition
3.0
This books claims to be a standalone, but I wouldn't say it is.
A large part of the beginning is an infodump about a sport created for this book called Hilketa, which is Basque for "murder". It's like if the NES game Base Wars was about football instead of baseball. The objective is to behead the randomly chosen threep/android and score by taking their head to the other side. Overall I felt there was too much focus on this sport in comparison to everything else.
This book features greater variation of body types, mostly by players of Hilketa, but there are mentions of androids with genitalia and how none of the major manufacturers want anything to do with that.
Once again there's a murder that initially doesn't seem like a murder and is part of a much larger criminal plot than is thought. The protagonist is the same. Considering how many android bodies they go through over the course of both books, it's fortunate they don't die when they are killed. Maybe the recklessness is a symptom of that though.
A decent near future crime solving science fiction novel that doesn't focus enough on the crime solving.
A large part of the beginning is an infodump about a sport created for this book called Hilketa, which is Basque for "murder". It's like if the NES game Base Wars was about football instead of baseball. The objective is to behead the randomly chosen threep/android and score by taking their head to the other side. Overall I felt there was too much focus on this sport in comparison to everything else.
This book features greater variation of body types, mostly by players of Hilketa, but there are mentions of androids with genitalia and how none of the major manufacturers want anything to do with that.
Once again there's a murder that initially doesn't seem like a murder and is part of a much larger criminal plot than is thought. The protagonist is the same. Considering how many android bodies they go through over the course of both books, it's fortunate they don't die when they are killed. Maybe the recklessness is a symptom of that though.
A decent near future crime solving science fiction novel that doesn't focus enough on the crime solving.
jaeru33's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
baronvonwaffle's review
adventurous
funny
informative
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
tanasay's review
5.0
Excellent sci fi. Scalzi does a great job of making the impossible seem believable. In fact, the insane tech these people have makes way more sense to me than Chris’s bottomless pockets. Those threeps don’t grow on trees, bud.