Silicon Man (Audible Audio Edition) Joe Hempel WH Massa Critical Mass Publishing Books
Download As PDF : Silicon Man (Audible Audio Edition) Joe Hempel WH Massa Critical Mass Publishing Books
A global pandemic has cut the human population in half. An android workforce fills the void left by the devastation. But some of the AIs have grown tired of being slaves. Some want freedom. An underground movement of runaways has sprung up and wages a shadow war with a simple objective - equal rights for artificial people.
Enter Commander Cole Marsalis, head of the AI-TAC first response team trained to deal with the rogue robots. Now he has been tasked with the ultimate undercover mission - infiltrate the android underground. But to do so, he will have to become that which he hates the most....
A machine!
Silicon Man (Audible Audio Edition) Joe Hempel WH Massa Critical Mass Publishing Books
What I would have liked to know before I bought this book. (no spoilers)1. What type of book is it: action, drama, etc? This is an easy to read action driven book that doesn't forsake drama.
2. What is the story about, in general? The story is about Commander Cole Marsalis, a man who hates rogue androids with justifiable passion, and who becomes a machine to hunt them down. But, nothing is as it seems.
3. What/Who is the target audience? In my opinion, Hollywood and a general male audience. The book is written in a manner that can be easily turned into a movie script. It's a deliberate affectation.
4. Is there character development? Yes, quite a lot. The book is written to question the spirit of man and the preconceptions society has built around it. Cole is the center of that contention, and, along with it, he evolves as both a character and the focus of contention.
5. Are the characters likable? I think the main characters are more interesting than they are likable. That doesn't say much. I didn't feel deep empathy to the characters themselves because I felt their background tragedies had a staged feel to them. The staged feel gains a touch of prominence given the quickness of the story. My connection with the story was greater with the intriguing question of: Can machines have souls? I sometimes browsed because the supporting characters were so ... undeveloped .... I felt only vague interest in them. It's a strange reaction given the fast pacing.
6. Does the story keep its pacing? Yes and no. I'd like to say that the first chapter of this book is powerful. It is, IMO, a short story all on its own! I was amazed, even thrilled, at the compelling poetry and synergy within it. I even told myself "THIS IS AWESOME!"
And then the rest of the book happened ....
This story suffers from a very fast pace that, again, I attribute to an action flick. The pacing sacrificed an unhealthy amount of scene mood for expediency and devalues character backgrounds by not providing a stable setting foundation worthy of their severity. This limitation of quick pacing, paradoxically, may trigger apathy towards certain prominent characters.
The plot felt very familiar and I attributed it to a mixture of certain movies (not telling you which ones) I have seen which allowed me to predict particular story twists accurately. Now, is it a badly executed book? NO. Though I might have issues with some of the methodologies, the story isn't bad.
7. Do you have to suspend disbelief? Well, yes and no. I find it difficult to believe in the single consistent methodology of detecting androids. There are other methods, but not, supposedly, as accurate. Sorry for the vagueness, I have a no spoiler tag. There is also the issue of immortality in a robot body ... but that might be out of scope for the book. Everything else I found quite within the world logic. Thus, my disbelief was rather minor.
8. Is the book worth the asking price? $3 for a small book. I think it's a good price.
In conclusion: The story is as close to a movie script as a novel can get, yet it's a movie I wouldn't mind seeing. The story plot has a certain degree of predictability but balances it with a compelling existential controversy. Character evolution is roughly limited to the main protagonist(s). Many scenes suffer from a lack of description because of the rushed pacing, thus triggering a degree of apathy. The apathy in turn caused many secondary characters to feel like mere acquaintances, even uninteresting. The world building is interesting and in most cases keeps within the realm of plausibility. The ebook price is cheap, though the book length is rather short. This volume is a solid read and the story pacing, though rushed, has enough strength to overshadow some of the development flaws which may catch reader attention. I think readers will still be generally entertained.
3.2 stars
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Silicon Man (Audible Audio Edition) Joe Hempel WH Massa Critical Mass Publishing Books Reviews
Blade Runner is one of the seminal science fiction movies and books of all time. The story follows a cop, or Blade Runner, as he chases four escaped androids trying to steal the last little bit of their time for themselves. Silicone Man adopts a similar concept, and being only familiar with the movie Blade Runner and not the book, I must say i was impressed with how the author went in different directions and explored the same themes as Blade Runner, while keeping them fresh.
As with Blade Runner, Silicone Man's main character is a cop, an AI-tech, whose job it is to hunt androids who have "jumped their programming." There is an underground network, much like the Underground Railroad, who help these androids, born into servitude, escape to places like Japan where legislation has been passed granting them equal rights. The company who manufactures the human-ish slaves does not want their products to receive equal rights and free will. They are after all a product, meant to serve specified functions. They enlist their top AI-tech, Cole Marsalis, to infiltrate the underground network and bring it down. To do this he must himself become a synthetic. They scan his consciousness and upload it to a silicone version of himself, where he will find and attempt to bring down the resistance leader, a synthetic himself named Solus wink wink.
Silicon Man, like Blade Runner and all great science fiction stories deal with the topic of what really makes us human. If an android can differentiate between right and wrong, does that make it human? Where does the line get drawn and who says where the line is drawn? The Resistance takes the concept of the Underground Railroad and updates the terminology for an new era, in which slaves are made. They have upgraded the models through the years to look, act and react as human. But do they have the right to freewill? To be able to tell abusive, degrading masters no? These are the questions raised in Silicone Man.
Filled with interesting ideas and twists, the story was action packed throughout, but it still took the time to ask these very profound questions and giving us layered, sympathetic characters, both human and synthetic to care about. This is William Massa's third book and of the three I would say this is easily his best. While likely to draw comparisons to Blade Runner like I have, it is its own story and a rousing one at that.
A fantastic science fiction story with a kick ass cover, Massa will be hard pressed to write a better fourth book
What I would have liked to know before I bought this book. (no spoilers)
1. What type of book is it action, drama, etc? This is an easy to read action driven book that doesn't forsake drama.
2. What is the story about, in general? The story is about Commander Cole Marsalis, a man who hates rogue androids with justifiable passion, and who becomes a machine to hunt them down. But, nothing is as it seems.
3. What/Who is the target audience? In my opinion, Hollywood and a general male audience. The book is written in a manner that can be easily turned into a movie script. It's a deliberate affectation.
4. Is there character development? Yes, quite a lot. The book is written to question the spirit of man and the preconceptions society has built around it. Cole is the center of that contention, and, along with it, he evolves as both a character and the focus of contention.
5. Are the characters likable? I think the main characters are more interesting than they are likable. That doesn't say much. I didn't feel deep empathy to the characters themselves because I felt their background tragedies had a staged feel to them. The staged feel gains a touch of prominence given the quickness of the story. My connection with the story was greater with the intriguing question of Can machines have souls? I sometimes browsed because the supporting characters were so ... undeveloped .... I felt only vague interest in them. It's a strange reaction given the fast pacing.
6. Does the story keep its pacing? Yes and no. I'd like to say that the first chapter of this book is powerful. It is, IMO, a short story all on its own! I was amazed, even thrilled, at the compelling poetry and synergy within it. I even told myself "THIS IS AWESOME!"
And then the rest of the book happened ....
This story suffers from a very fast pace that, again, I attribute to an action flick. The pacing sacrificed an unhealthy amount of scene mood for expediency and devalues character backgrounds by not providing a stable setting foundation worthy of their severity. This limitation of quick pacing, paradoxically, may trigger apathy towards certain prominent characters.
The plot felt very familiar and I attributed it to a mixture of certain movies (not telling you which ones) I have seen which allowed me to predict particular story twists accurately. Now, is it a badly executed book? NO. Though I might have issues with some of the methodologies, the story isn't bad.
7. Do you have to suspend disbelief? Well, yes and no. I find it difficult to believe in the single consistent methodology of detecting androids. There are other methods, but not, supposedly, as accurate. Sorry for the vagueness, I have a no spoiler tag. There is also the issue of immortality in a robot body ... but that might be out of scope for the book. Everything else I found quite within the world logic. Thus, my disbelief was rather minor.
8. Is the book worth the asking price? $3 for a small book. I think it's a good price.
In conclusion The story is as close to a movie script as a novel can get, yet it's a movie I wouldn't mind seeing. The story plot has a certain degree of predictability but balances it with a compelling existential controversy. Character evolution is roughly limited to the main protagonist(s). Many scenes suffer from a lack of description because of the rushed pacing, thus triggering a degree of apathy. The apathy in turn caused many secondary characters to feel like mere acquaintances, even uninteresting. The world building is interesting and in most cases keeps within the realm of plausibility. The ebook price is cheap, though the book length is rather short. This volume is a solid read and the story pacing, though rushed, has enough strength to overshadow some of the development flaws which may catch reader attention. I think readers will still be generally entertained.
3.2 stars
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