Review: Machine (White Space #2)
Machine by Elizabeth Bear
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Second novel in the White Space universe, Machine follows Dr. Llyn Jens, a doctor at a major medical space station called Core General. Llyn (short for Brookllyn, a name gifted her by her old-fashioned parents) is a human syster (species) is descended from Terrans who survived what short-sighted humans had done to the earth. She lives with chronic pain, managed by her medical exo suit, which also lets her work in differing conditions. As Machine opens, Llyn and her colleague Tsosie are on a rescue mission to answer a distress signal from an aged Terran ox ship Big Rock Candy Mountain when they receive a distress signal from a methane breather ship I Bring Tidings from Afar. With pressure on to investigate Big Rock Llyn and her co-worker find something of a mystery- a long-dead captain, a huge crew in poorly designed cryo containers, and an archaic AI named Helen who is in a corporeal form. By the time they investigate Afar they find its shipmind is basically comatose and seems like it may have been infected by rogue code. The fact that it's been sending out "rescue me" packets is worrisome, as they, too, might be able to spread the virus. Things get weirder when back at Core Gen. It turns out one of the cryo containers is different from the others they have rescued. It looks more modern and the person it holds is, in some ways, far less damaged than the other Terrans. Upon waking the person up, Calliope Jones is identified as a Specialist First Rank. But medical scans reveal some rather interesting things about Calliope. This, along with a mysterious wing at Core Gen that Llyn has begun to question, sets Llyn on a collision course with a dark secret in the White Space world.
I really loved the first book in this series and enjoyed this book as well, though I found the pacing to be a bit slow at times. The mystery in this novel felt far less personal than did what had happened to Haimey Dz. Here things are broader in scope and deal with social injustices and inequity in healthcare that evidently still plague the world even in the far-flung future. Nevertheless, I really enjoy this series, and its skillfully built AIs and their personhood. Llyn is a fascinating character, a doctor who specializes in trauma but has handled her own by compartmentalizing and dissociation. (There is a classic "physician, heal thyself" scenario here...) Cheeirilaq, a character I enjoyed so much in Ancestral Night, was a prominent character here. (We also get to see more of Singer!) Helen, the archaic AI who is allowed to bring herself up to a new speed, was also a marvelous evolution. I'm fascinated by the species complexity and "bigness," for wont of a better word, of Bear's universe. I hope there will be more in the series?
And now for the audiobook. Sigh. The first novel in the series, Ancestral Night was marvelously read by Nneka Okoye, who conveyed Haimey Dz's confused memories and made me love Cheeirilaq's stridulations. While it's hardly surprising that we have a different narrator for a different protagonist, it is very clear that Adjoa Andoh did not listen to the first book and did not, therefore, absorb the established character name pronunciations, like that of Cheeirilaq. Further on the topic of pronunciation, there is also the pronunciation of the name Calliope, long-established anywhere that I have looked, as Ca-LYE-o-pee, and not Callie-ope. That might be a minor annoyance for a minor character but given Calliope's ultimate importance in this novel, the continual mispronunciation of a classical Greek name was more than a bit annoying- it was jarring. It's rare that I take issue with audiobook narration, but pronunciation, especially in series, is part of listening continuity. If there are further books in this series and we see Llyn, Helen, and Calliope, are we stuck with Callie-ope forever? *shivers* And how does no one in sound production and editing question pronunciation of classical names? Disappointing, I have to say.
I received a digital review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
~ ~ ~
Want the digital audiobook of Machine to benefit your local independent bookstore? Click HERE.
Second novel in the White Space universe, Machine follows Dr. Llyn Jens, a doctor at a major medical space station called Core General. Llyn (short for Brookllyn, a name gifted her by her old-fashioned parents) is a human syster (species) is descended from Terrans who survived what short-sighted humans had done to the earth. She lives with chronic pain, managed by her medical exo suit, which also lets her work in differing conditions. As Machine opens, Llyn and her colleague Tsosie are on a rescue mission to answer a distress signal from an aged Terran ox ship Big Rock Candy Mountain when they receive a distress signal from a methane breather ship I Bring Tidings from Afar. With pressure on to investigate Big Rock Llyn and her co-worker find something of a mystery- a long-dead captain, a huge crew in poorly designed cryo containers, and an archaic AI named Helen who is in a corporeal form. By the time they investigate Afar they find its shipmind is basically comatose and seems like it may have been infected by rogue code. The fact that it's been sending out "rescue me" packets is worrisome, as they, too, might be able to spread the virus. Things get weirder when back at Core Gen. It turns out one of the cryo containers is different from the others they have rescued. It looks more modern and the person it holds is, in some ways, far less damaged than the other Terrans. Upon waking the person up, Calliope Jones is identified as a Specialist First Rank. But medical scans reveal some rather interesting things about Calliope. This, along with a mysterious wing at Core Gen that Llyn has begun to question, sets Llyn on a collision course with a dark secret in the White Space world.
I really loved the first book in this series and enjoyed this book as well, though I found the pacing to be a bit slow at times. The mystery in this novel felt far less personal than did what had happened to Haimey Dz. Here things are broader in scope and deal with social injustices and inequity in healthcare that evidently still plague the world even in the far-flung future. Nevertheless, I really enjoy this series, and its skillfully built AIs and their personhood. Llyn is a fascinating character, a doctor who specializes in trauma but has handled her own by compartmentalizing and dissociation. (There is a classic "physician, heal thyself" scenario here...) Cheeirilaq, a character I enjoyed so much in Ancestral Night, was a prominent character here. (We also get to see more of Singer!) Helen, the archaic AI who is allowed to bring herself up to a new speed, was also a marvelous evolution. I'm fascinated by the species complexity and "bigness," for wont of a better word, of Bear's universe. I hope there will be more in the series?
And now for the audiobook. Sigh. The first novel in the series, Ancestral Night was marvelously read by Nneka Okoye, who conveyed Haimey Dz's confused memories and made me love Cheeirilaq's stridulations. While it's hardly surprising that we have a different narrator for a different protagonist, it is very clear that Adjoa Andoh did not listen to the first book and did not, therefore, absorb the established character name pronunciations, like that of Cheeirilaq. Further on the topic of pronunciation, there is also the pronunciation of the name Calliope, long-established anywhere that I have looked, as Ca-LYE-o-pee, and not Callie-ope. That might be a minor annoyance for a minor character but given Calliope's ultimate importance in this novel, the continual mispronunciation of a classical Greek name was more than a bit annoying- it was jarring. It's rare that I take issue with audiobook narration, but pronunciation, especially in series, is part of listening continuity. If there are further books in this series and we see Llyn, Helen, and Calliope, are we stuck with Callie-ope forever? *shivers* And how does no one in sound production and editing question pronunciation of classical names? Disappointing, I have to say.
I received a digital review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
~ ~ ~
Want to buy a copy of Machine from your local independent bookstore? Click HERE.
Want the digital audiobook of Machine to benefit your local independent bookstore? Click HERE.
Want your ebook purchase of Machine to benefit independent bookstores in general? Click HERE.
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