Helpful Score: 1
I have had this book to review since last year. I like to review books the month before they release so I finally read it this month. I ended up being fairly disappointed. The idea behind the story is interesting but there are too many inconsistencies throughout. Unfortunately this is going to be a tough one to review without spoilers, but I will try. I will also call out later in the review the section that contains spoilers.
The whole concept of this book is that parts of a giant robot are being found throughout the world. A secret entity is taking it upon itself to collect these parts and assemble to robot as a whole.
The whole book is done in an interview/journal format. In the majority of the entries feature the main characters being interviewed by an unknown third party. It was an interesting format for a novel and made it so that the reader had to piece different perspectives together to get the whole story. However, as a result of this format it's tough to engage with the characters and really understand their motivations.
I also really enjoyed all the science in the book. There is a lot of linguistic theory, math theory, physics, and some genetics as well. None of it is all that tough to follow, there's just enough to allow the reader to learn some new things. At times all this info does come off as a bit of a data dump, but that didn't bother me all that much.
Okay, so let's move on to what did bother me...and there is quite a bit. There are a number of inconsistencies throughout the story. I am talking blatant inconsistencies that were major plot drivers which had me incredibly frustrated (I'll go into detail in the spoiler section).
Additionally I really found the author's attitude to the whole scenario to be very pessimistic and disturbing. Basically this whole book focuses on the negative of every aspect. The humans involved with finding the pieces of the giant are selfish and conniving. The governments involved; rather than getting their technical communities to band together (as they do in The Martian) decide to threaten with World War IV. Everything is so incredibly negative.
------------------------SPOILERS START
The biggest inconsistency that drove me bonkers was the way the robot helmets could heal people. They healed the main pilot of her eye wounds and a head wound. The helmet basically made her healthy enough to run her portion of the robot. However when Vincent has his legs driven into and broken, a huge amount of the plot is spent dealing with this set back (since he runs the robot legs). He goes through surgery and rehabilitation etc etc. I kept thinking...uh why don't you just put the helmet on him and have it heal him? I didn't understand why the helmet healed one thing but not another; it was random and inconsistent. Additionally a huge amount of the story was based around the fact that Vincent needed all this surgery to heal.
Okay next annoyance. Why did the initial leg pilot decide to run Vincent over with a truck? What did I miss here? Yes he was jealous of Vincent I get that. But it was totally out of character for him and never explained well.
Oh and then all these super smart characters are like, OMG this robot can be used as a weapon?! Holy cow imagine that...we are stunned with surprise!
Lastly why was the crazy geneticist allowed so much power over this program? I don't get it. The unnamed third party had complete control over everything including many first world governments...so why couldn't this third party control a rogue crazy geneticist? It was weird and inconsistent and just soooo stupid.
------------------------SPOILERS END
The book ends on a cliffhanger, which I thought was predictable and lame. By the end of the book I was incredibly frustrated by the stupidity of these characters with supposed genius level intelligence. The whole writing style seemed poorly paced and didn't flow well. I think this whole book is best described as a bad giant robot anime; it just wasn't that well done.
Overall this was a readable, but definitely flawed giant robot sci-fi story. It's being dubbed as World War Z meets the Martian and this is not an accurate portrayal of the story at all. It's more like a mash of Days of our Lives meets Mobile Suit Gundam (sorry Gundam). I wouldn't recommend and am not sure what all the hype was about.
The whole concept of this book is that parts of a giant robot are being found throughout the world. A secret entity is taking it upon itself to collect these parts and assemble to robot as a whole.
The whole book is done in an interview/journal format. In the majority of the entries feature the main characters being interviewed by an unknown third party. It was an interesting format for a novel and made it so that the reader had to piece different perspectives together to get the whole story. However, as a result of this format it's tough to engage with the characters and really understand their motivations.
I also really enjoyed all the science in the book. There is a lot of linguistic theory, math theory, physics, and some genetics as well. None of it is all that tough to follow, there's just enough to allow the reader to learn some new things. At times all this info does come off as a bit of a data dump, but that didn't bother me all that much.
Okay, so let's move on to what did bother me...and there is quite a bit. There are a number of inconsistencies throughout the story. I am talking blatant inconsistencies that were major plot drivers which had me incredibly frustrated (I'll go into detail in the spoiler section).
Additionally I really found the author's attitude to the whole scenario to be very pessimistic and disturbing. Basically this whole book focuses on the negative of every aspect. The humans involved with finding the pieces of the giant are selfish and conniving. The governments involved; rather than getting their technical communities to band together (as they do in The Martian) decide to threaten with World War IV. Everything is so incredibly negative.
------------------------SPOILERS START
The biggest inconsistency that drove me bonkers was the way the robot helmets could heal people. They healed the main pilot of her eye wounds and a head wound. The helmet basically made her healthy enough to run her portion of the robot. However when Vincent has his legs driven into and broken, a huge amount of the plot is spent dealing with this set back (since he runs the robot legs). He goes through surgery and rehabilitation etc etc. I kept thinking...uh why don't you just put the helmet on him and have it heal him? I didn't understand why the helmet healed one thing but not another; it was random and inconsistent. Additionally a huge amount of the story was based around the fact that Vincent needed all this surgery to heal.
Okay next annoyance. Why did the initial leg pilot decide to run Vincent over with a truck? What did I miss here? Yes he was jealous of Vincent I get that. But it was totally out of character for him and never explained well.
Oh and then all these super smart characters are like, OMG this robot can be used as a weapon?! Holy cow imagine that...we are stunned with surprise!
Lastly why was the crazy geneticist allowed so much power over this program? I don't get it. The unnamed third party had complete control over everything including many first world governments...so why couldn't this third party control a rogue crazy geneticist? It was weird and inconsistent and just soooo stupid.
------------------------SPOILERS END
The book ends on a cliffhanger, which I thought was predictable and lame. By the end of the book I was incredibly frustrated by the stupidity of these characters with supposed genius level intelligence. The whole writing style seemed poorly paced and didn't flow well. I think this whole book is best described as a bad giant robot anime; it just wasn't that well done.
Overall this was a readable, but definitely flawed giant robot sci-fi story. It's being dubbed as World War Z meets the Martian and this is not an accurate portrayal of the story at all. It's more like a mash of Days of our Lives meets Mobile Suit Gundam (sorry Gundam). I wouldn't recommend and am not sure what all the hype was about.
I can only quote the author: AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRHHHHHHHH (page 92)
This started, ok-ish, with a Prologue in traditional narrative style that demonstrates that Neuvel can write, when he chooses. I was a little surprised to find that the story thereafter was told in the form of selected documents from the titular Themis Files. Surprised, but not put off, initially: the opening interviews with key players in the project, especially scientist Rose Franklin and ace Army helicopter pilot, Chief Warrant Officer Kara Resnik, and conducted by a mysterious and satisfyingly snarky figure, are readable and do enough to allow something like characters and plot to emerge from the chit chat.
But then, but then ... Interviews alternate with personal journal entries and transcriptions of audio logs and this is where, for me, it became unreadable: clunky and cliche-ridden padding that is supposed, I guess, to help us relate to the characters, but just serves to confuse. Neuvel isn't sure whether he wants Kara Resnik to be the gifted pilot that nobody wants to work with, because of her bad attitude and anti-social ways, or the sweetheart who loves and is loved by all, once she finds the right team. He goes to some pains to assure us that she is HOT, so that's ok.
The search for and research into the the semi-humanoid portions of a gigantic, alien-tech robot is just completely ridiculous. The search spreads mayhem, death and destruction that would be impossible to cover up for long -- as anyone with half a brain could have told them. And the research into the purpose and operation of the robot .... well, let's say, as charitably as possible, that the research can be summed up as "Gosh, I wonder what this bit does? I think I'll put it on my head. AAAAAAAHHHHHRRRRR." (Page 101 -- and please do note the subtle tweak of the consonants. Swapping the Rs and the Hs makes all the difference ...)
That's exactly what you want to do with alien tech that has been primed, millennia ago, to activate with no consideration for the life that might have developed in the meantime. That happened twice, before this I gave up as a very, very bad deal and abandoned at page 124.
This started, ok-ish, with a Prologue in traditional narrative style that demonstrates that Neuvel can write, when he chooses. I was a little surprised to find that the story thereafter was told in the form of selected documents from the titular Themis Files. Surprised, but not put off, initially: the opening interviews with key players in the project, especially scientist Rose Franklin and ace Army helicopter pilot, Chief Warrant Officer Kara Resnik, and conducted by a mysterious and satisfyingly snarky figure, are readable and do enough to allow something like characters and plot to emerge from the chit chat.
But then, but then ... Interviews alternate with personal journal entries and transcriptions of audio logs and this is where, for me, it became unreadable: clunky and cliche-ridden padding that is supposed, I guess, to help us relate to the characters, but just serves to confuse. Neuvel isn't sure whether he wants Kara Resnik to be the gifted pilot that nobody wants to work with, because of her bad attitude and anti-social ways, or the sweetheart who loves and is loved by all, once she finds the right team. He goes to some pains to assure us that she is HOT, so that's ok.
The search for and research into the the semi-humanoid portions of a gigantic, alien-tech robot is just completely ridiculous. The search spreads mayhem, death and destruction that would be impossible to cover up for long -- as anyone with half a brain could have told them. And the research into the purpose and operation of the robot .... well, let's say, as charitably as possible, that the research can be summed up as "Gosh, I wonder what this bit does? I think I'll put it on my head. AAAAAAAHHHHHRRRRR." (Page 101 -- and please do note the subtle tweak of the consonants. Swapping the Rs and the Hs makes all the difference ...)
That's exactly what you want to do with alien tech that has been primed, millennia ago, to activate with no consideration for the life that might have developed in the meantime. That happened twice, before this I gave up as a very, very bad deal and abandoned at page 124.
