A review by pandaorb
Activation Degradation by Marina J. Lostetter
3.0
To make a nod to the book, I'll say there were some aspects of it that I violently liked and some that I violently disliked. It averaged out to a three star rating in the end.
Things I violently liked:
- Action sequences. Holey moley, the start of this book in particular is spectacular, and the action you get plays out in such a way that the pages go flying by. Lostetter conveys the tension of these scenes incredibly well.
- Subversion. Telling this story from the perspective of Unit Four allowed for some great moments in which both the reader and Unit Four have the entire narrative turned on its head. I loved these twists and think they was the most successful thing about the book.
Things I violently disliked:
- Pronoun inconsistency. If you're going to be so overt about pronouns to the point that you get speeches from two separate characters about the selection of 'it' as a pronoun THEN BE CONSISTENT ABOUT THEM. Unit Four makes a point of sticking with 'it' because 'it' is the standard for all platform units. But guess what? It constantly refers to other platform units as its sisters and randomly will switch between calling any given unit either 'it' or 'them'. And that's not even to mention the magical moment that editing somehow missed where the narrative actually refers to Unit Four's voice as 'his' voice.
- Romance. There's a 'one look and I just knew' kind of romance subplot that plays out. It felt kind of silly and I thought my eyes would roll out of my head every time it was in focus.
- World building. There wasn't much world building - in fact, it was mostly what you'd expect except for MELASSANI'S CRYSTALS (in caps because the characters always yell this phrase), which felt added in solely so characters could have something to swear by.
Another note: Not sure why the publishing blurb compares this to Murderbot. Other than the main character being a bot with soft parts there's no relation. This story has got its own thing going on and it was done a disservice to be compared!
Things I violently liked:
- Action sequences. Holey moley, the start of this book in particular is spectacular, and the action you get plays out in such a way that the pages go flying by. Lostetter conveys the tension of these scenes incredibly well.
- Subversion. Telling this story from the perspective of Unit Four allowed for some great moments in which both the reader and Unit Four have the entire narrative turned on its head. I loved these twists and think they was the most successful thing about the book.
Things I violently disliked:
- Pronoun inconsistency. If you're going to be so overt about pronouns to the point that you get speeches from two separate characters about the selection of 'it' as a pronoun THEN BE CONSISTENT ABOUT THEM. Unit Four makes a point of sticking with 'it' because 'it' is the standard for all platform units. But guess what? It constantly refers to other platform units as its sisters and randomly will switch between calling any given unit either 'it' or 'them'. And that's not even to mention the magical moment that editing somehow missed where the narrative actually refers to Unit Four's voice as 'his' voice.
- Romance. There's a 'one look and I just knew' kind of romance subplot that plays out. It felt kind of silly and I thought my eyes would roll out of my head every time it was in focus.
- World building. There wasn't much world building - in fact, it was mostly what you'd expect except for MELASSANI'S CRYSTALS (in caps because the characters always yell this phrase), which felt added in solely so characters could have something to swear by.
Another note: Not sure why the publishing blurb compares this to Murderbot. Other than the main character being a bot with soft parts there's no relation. This story has got its own thing going on and it was done a disservice to be compared!