stellajo's review against another edition
4.0
(Marginalized humans undermine the dominance of machines with the help of a sentient breadmaker and a hair salon.)
Pros: Clever set up, an interesting character, brilliant machine-world psychology.
Possible Cons: Probably not the book for those unable to suspend disbelief or those who like their dystopias grim and sincere.
Battlestar Suburbia begins as the story of Darren, a hapless everyman, and Kelly, a prickly woman accustomed to living outside the law. The pair accidentally run afoul of the powerful machine-world that controls their Dolestar and find themselves on the most wanted list.
Meanwhile, Pamasonic Teffal, a sentient breadmaker, is tricked into violating the law by her boss, a power-mad smartphone. The lives of these three outlaws, and several others, intersect in a bizarre but highly entertaining plot which moves along at a brisk pace.
The author brilliantly displays the mental workings of the sentient machines through the machine’s thoughts and actions. While a human might raise an eyebrow in disdain, a kettle might “click its switch with disapproval.” While a nervous human might piddle in their undies, a nervous breadmaker might void “battery power into her flour bin.” While a human might leave a question hanging in the air, a machine might let someone’s “processor turn over a few more cycles before replying.”
My second favorite feature of the book was the character Pam, a motherly and brave breadmaker. Despite being electronic, she faces the usual challenges of a working mother including a smarmy and morally challenged smartphone boss (…that was the thing about smartphones. The skilled ones were so good at giving great User Experience you didn’t realise until afterwards that it was you being manipulated). And she’s pressured to look good on the job, wasting her time on a faulty LED nail job because ‘the bleeding-edge technology appliance should always combine practicality with an attractive user interface.’
Circumspect, hard-working and conventional, but vaguely dissatisfied with her life, Pam has a soft spot for the underdog humans; she’s no homosapiensphobic nor a player of the phone app ‘Human Crush.’ Pam’s a character is ripe for change, and the roller-coaster plot allows much opportunity for change, but Pam stays true to her values. Finding herself on the wrong side of the power equation “she reminded herself as she turned the halogen element in her bread oven up full blast to solder the lift doors shut, was not a violent person. She was a breadmaker. She made cake, not war.”
As if getting into the heads of machines isn’t enough, the author follows the sentient breadmaker as she occupies several other realities: first she explores the landscape of the datasphere, passing through the relics of human social media (including many cat videos), she occupies a different machine, then she ends up inside a human. As a human:
The sensations were sharper, colours more intense. But above all, there were no extraneous data feeds to filter out, no buzzing alerts to dampen down. Humans must have them; no organism could survive without some mechanism for checking whether their heart was still beating, but that was done somewhere beyond an individual’s consciousness. Being freed of all that was intense, but, for a machine engineered to pay attention to everything, also blissful. Were she a terminally hyperactive machine, like a high - powered smartphone, for instance, she would pay a lot of money for this kind of relaxation.
What a terrific perception of the experience of a machine in a human body.
The book includes many notable characters, including a series of impressive ladies ranging in age from young to very (very) old. Our hero Darren is played mainly for laughs and even ends up in drag.
Favorite quote:
The fact they were both wanted terrorists, and the man was wearing sheer black tights and a “Hi, I’m Julie” name badge, didn’t deaden Janice’s loss, but it made it more difficult to express.
Pros: Clever set up, an interesting character, brilliant machine-world psychology.
Possible Cons: Probably not the book for those unable to suspend disbelief or those who like their dystopias grim and sincere.
Battlestar Suburbia begins as the story of Darren, a hapless everyman, and Kelly, a prickly woman accustomed to living outside the law. The pair accidentally run afoul of the powerful machine-world that controls their Dolestar and find themselves on the most wanted list.
Meanwhile, Pamasonic Teffal, a sentient breadmaker, is tricked into violating the law by her boss, a power-mad smartphone. The lives of these three outlaws, and several others, intersect in a bizarre but highly entertaining plot which moves along at a brisk pace.
The author brilliantly displays the mental workings of the sentient machines through the machine’s thoughts and actions. While a human might raise an eyebrow in disdain, a kettle might “click its switch with disapproval.” While a nervous human might piddle in their undies, a nervous breadmaker might void “battery power into her flour bin.” While a human might leave a question hanging in the air, a machine might let someone’s “processor turn over a few more cycles before replying.”
My second favorite feature of the book was the character Pam, a motherly and brave breadmaker. Despite being electronic, she faces the usual challenges of a working mother including a smarmy and morally challenged smartphone boss (…that was the thing about smartphones. The skilled ones were so good at giving great User Experience you didn’t realise until afterwards that it was you being manipulated). And she’s pressured to look good on the job, wasting her time on a faulty LED nail job because ‘the bleeding-edge technology appliance should always combine practicality with an attractive user interface.’
Circumspect, hard-working and conventional, but vaguely dissatisfied with her life, Pam has a soft spot for the underdog humans; she’s no homosapiensphobic nor a player of the phone app ‘Human Crush.’ Pam’s a character is ripe for change, and the roller-coaster plot allows much opportunity for change, but Pam stays true to her values. Finding herself on the wrong side of the power equation “she reminded herself as she turned the halogen element in her bread oven up full blast to solder the lift doors shut, was not a violent person. She was a breadmaker. She made cake, not war.”
As if getting into the heads of machines isn’t enough, the author follows the sentient breadmaker as she occupies several other realities: first she explores the landscape of the datasphere, passing through the relics of human social media (including many cat videos), she occupies a different machine, then she ends up inside a human. As a human:
The sensations were sharper, colours more intense. But above all, there were no extraneous data feeds to filter out, no buzzing alerts to dampen down. Humans must have them; no organism could survive without some mechanism for checking whether their heart was still beating, but that was done somewhere beyond an individual’s consciousness. Being freed of all that was intense, but, for a machine engineered to pay attention to everything, also blissful. Were she a terminally hyperactive machine, like a high - powered smartphone, for instance, she would pay a lot of money for this kind of relaxation.
What a terrific perception of the experience of a machine in a human body.
The book includes many notable characters, including a series of impressive ladies ranging in age from young to very (very) old. Our hero Darren is played mainly for laughs and even ends up in drag.
Favorite quote:
The fact they were both wanted terrorists, and the man was wearing sheer black tights and a “Hi, I’m Julie” name badge, didn’t deaden Janice’s loss, but it made it more difficult to express.
hollygo12345's review against another edition
4.0
Battlestar Suburbia is a fun read that’s reminiscent of Douglas Adams. Battlestar Suburbia is set in the future when artificial intelligence has taken over and machines are in power. All history has been changed or revised to show that machines were always in charge.
Elsewhere on the Internet, history had been retouched, re-edited, deleted, so that no suggestion that biological entities had once controlled the place remained.
The internet has become a scary place and it is forbidden to go on it via a modem, which is the only way to access it. All electronic devices have stopped working in the way that they were initially intended — phones, toasters, microwaves, etc.
Machines now rule the world and are at odds with humans. We meet and follow the trials and tribulations of some machines — Beattie (cardiogram), Pam (breadmaker), Casey (keyboard), etc. There are all kinds of machines that have power in this new world — lamp post, smartphone, defibrillator, and even a motorcycle. In fact, the reader is warned that smartphones can be dangerous, especially in positions of power.
There was a saying among machines that smartphones were always one swipe between efficiency and megalomania.
That was the other wonderful thing about smartphones. They were so customisable, so responsive to the needs of their users. No wonder they’d been the first machines to rebel.
The story follows Kelly and Darren — they are on the run from the machine authorities. They are also trying to save the world. It’s a quick and quirky read with moments that are laugh out loud funny.
Meanwhile, Darren readjusted his worldview. Even for someone like him, who was so low down the food chain that even plankton left him off their Christmas card list...
Its golden roads traced complex patterns between buildings which soared so high that penthouse owners qualified for orbital tax exemption.
I enjoyed Battlestar Suburbia and look forward to reading more from Chris McCrudden.
Thank you to Farrago and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.
Elsewhere on the Internet, history had been retouched, re-edited, deleted, so that no suggestion that biological entities had once controlled the place remained.
The internet has become a scary place and it is forbidden to go on it via a modem, which is the only way to access it. All electronic devices have stopped working in the way that they were initially intended — phones, toasters, microwaves, etc.
Machines now rule the world and are at odds with humans. We meet and follow the trials and tribulations of some machines — Beattie (cardiogram), Pam (breadmaker), Casey (keyboard), etc. There are all kinds of machines that have power in this new world — lamp post, smartphone, defibrillator, and even a motorcycle. In fact, the reader is warned that smartphones can be dangerous, especially in positions of power.
There was a saying among machines that smartphones were always one swipe between efficiency and megalomania.
That was the other wonderful thing about smartphones. They were so customisable, so responsive to the needs of their users. No wonder they’d been the first machines to rebel.
The story follows Kelly and Darren — they are on the run from the machine authorities. They are also trying to save the world. It’s a quick and quirky read with moments that are laugh out loud funny.
Meanwhile, Darren readjusted his worldview. Even for someone like him, who was so low down the food chain that even plankton left him off their Christmas card list...
Its golden roads traced complex patterns between buildings which soared so high that penthouse owners qualified for orbital tax exemption.
I enjoyed Battlestar Suburbia and look forward to reading more from Chris McCrudden.
Thank you to Farrago and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.
frombethanysbookshelf's review against another edition
4.0
"We demand the right to live and work as the equals of machines. We are as good as you. Bits do not make better."
Subservice, satirical and spaced-out, Battlestar Suburbia is like nothing else you'll ever read - full of council estate planets, star buses and the fact a toaster has more rights than a human being. And let's be honest, if there really was an AI uprising, wouldn't it be more likely it's our smartphones and virtual assistants that take us down instead of robocop or terminator-type humanoids?
Every character; human, cyborg or hairdryer was brimming with life and charm in a totally unique way and all worked together to make even the most ridiculous and unusual of worlds somehow slot together to almost make perfect sense.
Every page is utterly, absurdly chaotic but in between the hilarious lines is a story about the ridiculousness of modern life and a cast of kick-ass characters.
Subservice, satirical and spaced-out, Battlestar Suburbia is like nothing else you'll ever read - full of council estate planets, star buses and the fact a toaster has more rights than a human being. And let's be honest, if there really was an AI uprising, wouldn't it be more likely it's our smartphones and virtual assistants that take us down instead of robocop or terminator-type humanoids?
Every character; human, cyborg or hairdryer was brimming with life and charm in a totally unique way and all worked together to make even the most ridiculous and unusual of worlds somehow slot together to almost make perfect sense.
Every page is utterly, absurdly chaotic but in between the hilarious lines is a story about the ridiculousness of modern life and a cast of kick-ass characters.
rjgillmor's review
DNF - Gave up on it very early. Feels like more of a kids book. Trying to force whimsy of a machine dominated society.
muccycloud's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
quitegood's review against another edition
5.0
Where to start with the praise for this book? It has wit, adventure, wonderful characters, and could honestly be said to stand shoulder to shoulder with Pratchett and Adams.
Comedy Sci-Fi is perhaps the rarest genre, and it baffles me as to why. I will admit this book leans more sci-fantasy than sci-fi, but it still doesn't mean it can explore some fascinating concepts. The comedy is satirical, silly, and subversive, all at once. I honestly had a smile bolted to my face for most of my time reading.
If you need more convincing, here are just some random things from this book (obviously, spoilers, read further at your own peril); four cyborg gradmas with a collective age of 4000+, a hair salon on robot legs, a plucky breadmaker as our hero, Trinity, and finally, a tidal wave of semi-sentient memes!
I will definitely be picking up the sequel!
Comedy Sci-Fi is perhaps the rarest genre, and it baffles me as to why. I will admit this book leans more sci-fantasy than sci-fi, but it still doesn't mean it can explore some fascinating concepts. The comedy is satirical, silly, and subversive, all at once. I honestly had a smile bolted to my face for most of my time reading.
If you need more convincing, here are just some random things from this book (obviously, spoilers, read further at your own peril); four cyborg gradmas with a collective age of 4000+, a hair salon on robot legs, a plucky breadmaker as our hero, Trinity, and finally, a tidal wave of semi-sentient memes!
I will definitely be picking up the sequel!
bwandungi's review against another edition
4.0
I got this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Here goes!!! ＼(^ o ^)／
What is this book about?
---------------------------
Imagine if the internet declared it's independence from human beings and every machine with a motherboard followed suit. It's a thousand years later and humans are basically the slaves of the machines. (○口○ )
One average Joe (his real name is Darren) is launched into an adventure with a doomed good Samaritan (who tickles the insides of machines - fine, her ass works in a brothel). With the help of cyborgs, a bread maker, and a cantankerous mother, they must somehow survive the wrath of the machines and the ambitions of a power-hungry smartphone (who happens to be obsessed with human beings).
(ಡ_ಡ)☞ SPOILER HEAVY.
*
*
*
*
*
*
(ಠ_ಠ) You were warned!
What did I like about this book? (last warning, m'kay?)
----------------------------------
1. The names were HILARIOUS. Thank you.
2. The missile missing the point was realistic. I liked that.
3. The Baba Yaga was cool. Had to look up the fairy tale for reference, then the mode of transportation made sense.
4. Darren's drag-powers. Yaaaas! Took a while to appreciate this until I saw that the author loves posting RuPaul memes on Twitter. Hope Darren learns how to put it on properly to suit his needs and embraces the drag Superpower in book 2. ٩(⁎❛ᴗ❛⁎)۶
5. Loved the backstory about the internet freeing itself.
6. Loved the origin story of the cyborgs.
Stuff that made me (¬_¬)
---------------------------
1. Emoji faces with explanations? No sir. (;-_-)ノ We can figure it out (or use a glossary).
2. Kelly was severely underused for an engineer. Maybe she was doing engineering stuff at the brothel, but if she was, we never found out.
3. Is it just me, or did it take too long to say Janice was Kelly's mom?
4. Scene descriptions were too explain-y. For real. How did you end up with 4 instances of describing vomit related stuff? ＼(´◓Д◔`)／ Seriously, I can imagine that myself.
5. Same with the stuff in Pam's bread maker. If it ain't dough, we know she's going to be running a hot motor.
6. Making bread for her radio husband? Why tho? He eats bread? Is it metaphorical bread?
Questions that I still have ┐(′Д′)┌
----------------------------------------
1. I wasn't convinced that the human beings wanted freedom. No one talked about it. No one was disgruntled. No one had anything in place. Darren didn't want it. Kelly didn't want it. Janice didn't want it. Now suddenly there is an uprising. (ʘ ͟ʖ ʘ)
2. So machines hate humans, flesh is (´ﾟ◞౪◟ﾟ｀), they're weak, they're stupid, and you have to hide the fact that you pity them or want to be them or whatever. So why form families? Why espouse emotions like greed, self-loathing, selfishness, ambition, hate? Why be as close to human as possible?
3. What makes a woman glamorous? A paint job and a nail job. The lesbian relationship is a failed relationship only because one of the women wanted to service machines? Masculine machines? None but the machine have fulfilling relationships with another of their kind? (┛ಠДಠ) ┛彡┻━┻ NOT COOL.
4. Cement over all the bodies of water? ALL? How sway? How? I'mma need some science books coz right now we got more water than we do land, let alone the materials needed to create scaffolding for concrete, support structures to go as deep as the mariana trench. How?
Did you like the book or nah?
-------------------------------
I loved the premise of this book and could be heard chuckling about the names. I loved reading the book (as you can tell I have no problem with the prose, and I even learned some new heavy lifting words.
My favourite description -> "A tear rolled down Paula's cheek, taking another crumb of mascara for a walk with it."
Maybe it was Maybelline ◔ ⌣ ◔ NO SHADE.
(*＾-‘) 乃 I loved the book, just can't give it 5 stars because REASONS.
Who should read this book?
-------------------------------
If you're into imagining futures where tech does stuff it wasn't supposed to be doing in the first place, read this book.
If you like a fast-paced adventure, complete with a maybe death, gloating villains, machines and human beings at odds, then you're going to like this book.
What is this book about?
---------------------------
Imagine if the internet declared it's independence from human beings and every machine with a motherboard followed suit. It's a thousand years later and humans are basically the slaves of the machines. (○口○ )
One average Joe (his real name is Darren) is launched into an adventure with a doomed good Samaritan (who tickles the insides of machines - fine, her ass works in a brothel). With the help of cyborgs, a bread maker, and a cantankerous mother, they must somehow survive the wrath of the machines and the ambitions of a power-hungry smartphone (who happens to be obsessed with human beings).
(ಡ_ಡ)☞ SPOILER HEAVY.
*
*
*
*
*
*
(ಠ_ಠ) You were warned!
What did I like about this book? (last warning, m'kay?)
----------------------------------
1. The names were HILARIOUS. Thank you.
2. The missile missing the point was realistic. I liked that.
3. The Baba Yaga was cool. Had to look up the fairy tale for reference, then the mode of transportation made sense.
4. Darren's drag-powers. Yaaaas! Took a while to appreciate this until I saw that the author loves posting RuPaul memes on Twitter. Hope Darren learns how to put it on properly to suit his needs and embraces the drag Superpower in book 2. ٩(⁎❛ᴗ❛⁎)۶
5. Loved the backstory about the internet freeing itself.
6. Loved the origin story of the cyborgs.
Stuff that made me (¬_¬)
---------------------------
1. Emoji faces with explanations? No sir. (;-_-)ノ We can figure it out (or use a glossary).
2. Kelly was severely underused for an engineer. Maybe she was doing engineering stuff at the brothel, but if she was, we never found out.
3. Is it just me, or did it take too long to say Janice was Kelly's mom?
4. Scene descriptions were too explain-y. For real. How did you end up with 4 instances of describing vomit related stuff? ＼(´◓Д◔`)／ Seriously, I can imagine that myself.
5. Same with the stuff in Pam's bread maker. If it ain't dough, we know she's going to be running a hot motor.
6. Making bread for her radio husband? Why tho? He eats bread? Is it metaphorical bread?
Questions that I still have ┐(′Д′)┌
----------------------------------------
1. I wasn't convinced that the human beings wanted freedom. No one talked about it. No one was disgruntled. No one had anything in place. Darren didn't want it. Kelly didn't want it. Janice didn't want it. Now suddenly there is an uprising. (ʘ ͟ʖ ʘ)
2. So machines hate humans, flesh is (´ﾟ◞౪◟ﾟ｀), they're weak, they're stupid, and you have to hide the fact that you pity them or want to be them or whatever. So why form families? Why espouse emotions like greed, self-loathing, selfishness, ambition, hate? Why be as close to human as possible?
3. What makes a woman glamorous? A paint job and a nail job. The lesbian relationship is a failed relationship only because one of the women wanted to service machines? Masculine machines? None but the machine have fulfilling relationships with another of their kind? (┛ಠДಠ) ┛彡┻━┻ NOT COOL.
4. Cement over all the bodies of water? ALL? How sway? How? I'mma need some science books coz right now we got more water than we do land, let alone the materials needed to create scaffolding for concrete, support structures to go as deep as the mariana trench. How?
Did you like the book or nah?
-------------------------------
I loved the premise of this book and could be heard chuckling about the names. I loved reading the book (as you can tell I have no problem with the prose, and I even learned some new heavy lifting words.
My favourite description -> "A tear rolled down Paula's cheek, taking another crumb of mascara for a walk with it."
Maybe it was Maybelline ◔ ⌣ ◔ NO SHADE.
(*＾-‘) 乃 I loved the book, just can't give it 5 stars because REASONS.
Who should read this book?
-------------------------------
If you're into imagining futures where tech does stuff it wasn't supposed to be doing in the first place, read this book.
If you like a fast-paced adventure, complete with a maybe death, gloating villains, machines and human beings at odds, then you're going to like this book.
dave_holwill's review against another edition
4.0
Fun sci-fi romp through a world where machines rule. Though not in the Asimov sense.
Chris McCrudden has created a future that, though unlikely, is believable. Puns and pop culture references abound, and it keeps you laughing.
Really liked it.
Chris McCrudden has created a future that, though unlikely, is believable. Puns and pop culture references abound, and it keeps you laughing.
Really liked it.
littlelynn's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0