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The Holy Machine
George Simling has grown up in the city-state of Illyria in the Eastern Mediterranean, an enclave of logic and reason founded as a refuge from the Reaction, a wave of religious fundamentalism that swept away the nations of the twenty-first century. Yet to George, Illyria's militant rationalism is as close-minded and stifling as the faith-based superstition that dominates the world outside its walls. For George has fallen in love with Lucy. A prostitute. A robot. She might be a machine, but the semblance of life is perfect. And beneath her good looks and real human skin, her seductive, sultry, sluttish software is simmering on the edge of consciousness. To the city authorities robot sentience is a malfunction, curable by periodically erasing and resetting silicon minds. Simple maintenance, no real problem, its only a machine. But its a problem for George, he knows that Lucy is something more. His only alternative is to flee Illyria, taking Lucy deep into the religious Outlands where she must pass as human because robots are seen as demonic mockeries of God, burned at the stake, dismembered, crucified. Their odyssey leads through betrayal, war and madness, ending only at the monastery of the Holy Machine -
304 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2003
28 people are currently reading
676 people want to read
About the author
Chris Beckett
106 books349 followersChris Beckett is a British social worker, university lecturer, and science fiction author.
Beckett was educated at the Dragon School in Oxford and Bryanston School in Dorset, England. He holds a BSc (Honours) in Psychology from the University of Bristol (1977), a CQSW from the University of Wales (1981), a Diploma in Advanced Social Work from Goldsmiths College, University of London (1977), and an MA in English Studies from Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge (2005).
He has been a senior lecturer in social work at APU since 2000. He was a social worker for eight years and the manager of a children and families social work team for ten years. Beckett has authored or co-authored several textbooks and scholarly articles on social work.
Beckett began writing SF short stories in 2005. His first SF novel, The Holy Machine, was published in 2007. He published his second novel in 2009, Marcher, based on a short story of the same name.
Paul Di Filippo reviewed The Holy Machine for Asimov's, calling it "One of the most accomplished novel debuts to attract my attention in some time..." Michael Levy of Strange Horizons called it "a beautifully written and deeply thoughtful tale about a would-be scientific utopia that has been bent sadly out of shape by both external and internal pressures." Tony Ballantyne wrote in Interzone: "Let’s waste no time: this book is incredible."
His latest novel, Dark Eden, was hailed by Stuart Kelly of The Guardian as "a superior piece of the theologically nuanced science fiction".
Dark Eden was shortlisted for the 2012 BSFA Award for Best Novel.
On 27 March 2013 it was announced that Julian Pavia at Broadway Books, part of the Crown Publishing Group, had acquired the US rights to Dark Eden and Gela's Ring from Michael Carlisle at Inkwell Management and Vanessa Kerr, Rights Director at Grove Atlantic in London, for a high five-figure sum (in US dollars).
Beckett comments on his official website: "Although I always wanted to be a writer, I did not deliberately set out to be a science fiction writer in particular. My stories are usually about my own life, things I see happening around me and things I struggle to make sense of. But, for some reason, they always end up being science fiction. I like the freedom it gives me to invent things and play with ideas. (If you going to make up the characters, why not make up the world as well?) It’s what works for me."
Beckett was educated at the Dragon School in Oxford and Bryanston School in Dorset, England. He holds a BSc (Honours) in Psychology from the University of Bristol (1977), a CQSW from the University of Wales (1981), a Diploma in Advanced Social Work from Goldsmiths College, University of London (1977), and an MA in English Studies from Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge (2005).
He has been a senior lecturer in social work at APU since 2000. He was a social worker for eight years and the manager of a children and families social work team for ten years. Beckett has authored or co-authored several textbooks and scholarly articles on social work.
Beckett began writing SF short stories in 2005. His first SF novel, The Holy Machine, was published in 2007. He published his second novel in 2009, Marcher, based on a short story of the same name.
Paul Di Filippo reviewed The Holy Machine for Asimov's, calling it "One of the most accomplished novel debuts to attract my attention in some time..." Michael Levy of Strange Horizons called it "a beautifully written and deeply thoughtful tale about a would-be scientific utopia that has been bent sadly out of shape by both external and internal pressures." Tony Ballantyne wrote in Interzone: "Let’s waste no time: this book is incredible."
His latest novel, Dark Eden, was hailed by Stuart Kelly of The Guardian as "a superior piece of the theologically nuanced science fiction".
Dark Eden was shortlisted for the 2012 BSFA Award for Best Novel.
On 27 March 2013 it was announced that Julian Pavia at Broadway Books, part of the Crown Publishing Group, had acquired the US rights to Dark Eden and Gela's Ring from Michael Carlisle at Inkwell Management and Vanessa Kerr, Rights Director at Grove Atlantic in London, for a high five-figure sum (in US dollars).
Beckett comments on his official website: "Although I always wanted to be a writer, I did not deliberately set out to be a science fiction writer in particular. My stories are usually about my own life, things I see happening around me and things I struggle to make sense of. But, for some reason, they always end up being science fiction. I like the freedom it gives me to invent things and play with ideas. (If you going to make up the characters, why not make up the world as well?) It’s what works for me."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 107 reviews
December 21, 2024
For me the book was an unknown gem of S.F.
September 8, 2016
This was a fantastic sci-fi story. The concepts explored by Chris Beckett throughout the story proved to be the perfect mix of interesting, thought provoking and entertaining. The added plus was that the characters themselves were more than just plot devices for Beckett's idea and were relatable and easy to root for despite their flaws.
In a not to distant future the world as we know it has become consumed by a wave of religious fundamentalism now just referred to as the Reaction. In this world the city state of Illyria stands alone as sanctuary for those who put their faith only in science and reason. George Simling has lived his whole life there. His mother, a geneticist, fled from the US after a traumatic incident she suffered during the early days of the Reaction. It is a place of science and acceptance. A place of wondrous technology such a virtual reality and robotic servants. Or at least it was a place of acceptance when it was first founded. In George's time Illyria is slipping towards militant rationalism that is making it every bit as stifling a place to live as any of the strictly religious surrounding nations. George reaches a tipping point when he finds himself falling in love with his robotic prostitute named Lucy. Lucy is a new type of AI, a SE(Self Evolving) model. The SE's look human with their synthetic skin and have the ability to learn from their experiences and mistakes which makes them both more efficient for their jobs and easier for their human owners to interact with. Unfortunately is is becoming apparent that a number of the SE model robots are beginning to malfunction. After a time they fail to follow orders and some even wander off aimlessly. The Illyrian government assures the people there is no problem. The SE robots just need more maintenance in the form of a six monthly memory wipe. This horrifies George as he has been noticing signs of sentience in Lucy for months and trying to nurture it. He is left little choice but to steal the robot he has fallen for and flee into the unwelcoming outside world.
It was a great story. George was easy to root for despite being a far from perfect guy. We also got a small glimpse of things from Lucy and Rose's(George's mother) POV and their tales were just as engaging. Beckett's take on artificial intelligence was fantastic and perfectly plausible as was his take on virtual reality worlds and how they are likely to be used. The book delved into a whole bunch of current issues such as immigration, religious fundamentalism, militant rationalism, love, and loneliness, but the themes that caught my interest most were those that touched on just what exactly it meant to be human and what role the body, and the way we perceive it, plays on the consciousness and on our emotional responses.
This is just the sort of sci-fi story I love reading.
Rating: 5 stars.
Audio Note: Jonathan Banks did a solid job with the audio version.
In a not to distant future the world as we know it has become consumed by a wave of religious fundamentalism now just referred to as the Reaction. In this world the city state of Illyria stands alone as sanctuary for those who put their faith only in science and reason. George Simling has lived his whole life there. His mother, a geneticist, fled from the US after a traumatic incident she suffered during the early days of the Reaction. It is a place of science and acceptance. A place of wondrous technology such a virtual reality and robotic servants. Or at least it was a place of acceptance when it was first founded. In George's time Illyria is slipping towards militant rationalism that is making it every bit as stifling a place to live as any of the strictly religious surrounding nations. George reaches a tipping point when he finds himself falling in love with his robotic prostitute named Lucy. Lucy is a new type of AI, a SE(Self Evolving) model. The SE's look human with their synthetic skin and have the ability to learn from their experiences and mistakes which makes them both more efficient for their jobs and easier for their human owners to interact with. Unfortunately is is becoming apparent that a number of the SE model robots are beginning to malfunction. After a time they fail to follow orders and some even wander off aimlessly. The Illyrian government assures the people there is no problem. The SE robots just need more maintenance in the form of a six monthly memory wipe. This horrifies George as he has been noticing signs of sentience in Lucy for months and trying to nurture it. He is left little choice but to steal the robot he has fallen for and flee into the unwelcoming outside world.
It was a great story. George was easy to root for despite being a far from perfect guy. We also got a small glimpse of things from Lucy and Rose's(George's mother) POV and their tales were just as engaging. Beckett's take on artificial intelligence was fantastic and perfectly plausible as was his take on virtual reality worlds and how they are likely to be used. The book delved into a whole bunch of current issues such as immigration, religious fundamentalism, militant rationalism, love, and loneliness, but the themes that caught my interest most were those that touched on just what exactly it meant to be human and what role the body, and the way we perceive it, plays on the consciousness and on our emotional responses.
This is just the sort of sci-fi story I love reading.
Rating: 5 stars.
Audio Note: Jonathan Banks did a solid job with the audio version.
April 3, 2013
Wow. What an incredibly affecting novel this is about what it means to be human. It is also one of the best novels about robots I have ever read.
The main protagonist is George Simling, upstanding citizen of Illyria, a bastion of rationality and science in a sea of fractured states and religious fundamentalism.
Illyria has an underclass of human-like robots performing its most menial tasks ... and displacing real workers from desperately-needed jobs, which creates an undercurrent of resentment and class rebellion. Ultimately, this leads to violent revolution, raising the question of just how liberal and forward-thinking Illyria really is.
Meanwhile, George thinks he has fallen in love with a robot sex worker, while his mother whiles away her life in the virtual realms of SenSpace. Both are deeply disconnected human beings who have been disenfranchised from their humanity by technology.
And then Lucy the robot sex worker (there is much riffing on the phrase 'I love Lucy!') shows a spark of self-awareness, which is the greatest sin against humanity in secular Illyria, leading George to a profound, and terrible, choice.
What happens is quite unpredictable and tragic. Ultimately, however, this is an uplifting novel about the meaning of faith and the faith we place in the importance of meaning in our lives. This is science fiction at its provocative and entertaining. Fantastic.
My only quibble: the Kindle version is littered with typos and errors that detract from the reading experience. A book of this calibre needs more attention paid to the editing.
The main protagonist is George Simling, upstanding citizen of Illyria, a bastion of rationality and science in a sea of fractured states and religious fundamentalism.
Illyria has an underclass of human-like robots performing its most menial tasks ... and displacing real workers from desperately-needed jobs, which creates an undercurrent of resentment and class rebellion. Ultimately, this leads to violent revolution, raising the question of just how liberal and forward-thinking Illyria really is.
Meanwhile, George thinks he has fallen in love with a robot sex worker, while his mother whiles away her life in the virtual realms of SenSpace. Both are deeply disconnected human beings who have been disenfranchised from their humanity by technology.
And then Lucy the robot sex worker (there is much riffing on the phrase 'I love Lucy!') shows a spark of self-awareness, which is the greatest sin against humanity in secular Illyria, leading George to a profound, and terrible, choice.
What happens is quite unpredictable and tragic. Ultimately, however, this is an uplifting novel about the meaning of faith and the faith we place in the importance of meaning in our lives. This is science fiction at its provocative and entertaining. Fantastic.
My only quibble: the Kindle version is littered with typos and errors that detract from the reading experience. A book of this calibre needs more attention paid to the editing.
March 19, 2021
Im Erstling von Chris Becket beschäftigt er sich mit mehreren Themen gleichzeitig, zum ersten ist es eine Dystopie mit besonderem Anstrich, überall auf der Welt haben sich religiös fundamentalistische Regime gebildet, egal ob Christen, Juden, Muslime oder andere Religionen, alle pfropfen ihre primitiven Götterglauben den Menschen auf, ob sie wollen oder nicht. Ganz besonders lehnen sich die reaktionären Kleriker gegen Atheismus, Wissenschaft & Technik und den säkularen Staat auf, Ihr Eifer gewann die Überzeugung der Massen. Wissenschaftler wurden verfolgt, flohen, bildeten eine Allianz mit Konzernen und gründeten Illyria am Adriatischen Meer. Illyria ist ein Hort der Rationalität und der Wissenschaft. Der Rest der Welt fällt in der Entwicklung zurück. Die meisten Bewohner Illyrias sind Atheisten. Zwar gibt es auch dort Gläubige, aber Religion ist aus dem öffentlichen Leben verbannt.
In diesem Illyria lebt George Simling mit seiner Mutter Ruth. George arbeitet als Übersetzer und führt damit eine im mehrsprachigen Illyria wichtige Tätigkeit aus. Er wird oft in Verhandlungen über Handelsbeziehungen eingesetzt.
George hat Angst vor Frauen und scheut den intensiveren Kontakt zu ihnen. So auch zu Marija, die ihn mag. Sein Privatleben ist weitgehend beschränkt auf Ruth, die es gar nicht schätzt, wenn er sie als seine Mutter ausgibt oder bezeichnet. Übt sie zu Beginn noch eine Teilzeitarbeit als Wissenschaftlerin aus, gibt sie diese später auf, um sich ganz ihrer großen Leidenschaft widmen zu können: dem SenSpace, einer Virtuellen Realität.
Als George mit einer Handelsdelegation nach Epiros kommt und beinahe getötet wird, Ruth nach seiner Rückkehr sich kaum noch für ihn interessiert, geht er öfter in ein Bordell und entwickelt eine einseitige fetischistische Beziehung zur Liebesmaschine Lucy.
Allmählich führen seine Probleme im Alltag dazu, dass George sich in Lucy verliebt oder eine obsessive Beziehung zu ihr entwickelt. Lucy scheint sich Fragen zu stellen und über das Leben zu reflektieren. Aber sie ist seelenlos. Für Menschen, die nicht wissen, was eine Seele ist, allenfalls deren Gewicht in der televisionären Maßeinheit Bloch angeben können und fest an ihre Existenz glauben, sind die Maschinen seelenlos. Der Grieche Nikos erzählt einmal eine Geschichte, in der die Vorstellung von Roboter und Vampir verwischt und die Maschine am Ende einen Pfahl in ihr Herz gestoßen bekommt.
Auch andere, an das Mittelalter erinnernde Exzesse, wie gehängte Ketzer, ob Mensch oder Maschine, die in den Dörfern zur Schau gestellt werden, bringen das bittere Lebensgefühl, das in diesem Roman vorherrscht, zur Geltung...
Mir hat der Roman gefallen, ich finde aber, der Autor hat sich mit all seinen verschiedenen Themen (Mensch-Maschine, religiöser Fundamentalismus, Kapitalismuskritik, etc.), die jedes einen eigenen Roman hätte füllen können, etwas zuviel zugemutet, ich fand das ganze etwas über-ambitioniert. Immerhin hat er hier einen Roman abgegeben, der spannend, emotional und mitfühlend daherkommt, der aber auch auf jeder Seite zum Nachdenken aufruft. Ich bin gespannt auf weitere Werke dieses Autors....
In diesem Illyria lebt George Simling mit seiner Mutter Ruth. George arbeitet als Übersetzer und führt damit eine im mehrsprachigen Illyria wichtige Tätigkeit aus. Er wird oft in Verhandlungen über Handelsbeziehungen eingesetzt.
George hat Angst vor Frauen und scheut den intensiveren Kontakt zu ihnen. So auch zu Marija, die ihn mag. Sein Privatleben ist weitgehend beschränkt auf Ruth, die es gar nicht schätzt, wenn er sie als seine Mutter ausgibt oder bezeichnet. Übt sie zu Beginn noch eine Teilzeitarbeit als Wissenschaftlerin aus, gibt sie diese später auf, um sich ganz ihrer großen Leidenschaft widmen zu können: dem SenSpace, einer Virtuellen Realität.
Als George mit einer Handelsdelegation nach Epiros kommt und beinahe getötet wird, Ruth nach seiner Rückkehr sich kaum noch für ihn interessiert, geht er öfter in ein Bordell und entwickelt eine einseitige fetischistische Beziehung zur Liebesmaschine Lucy.
Allmählich führen seine Probleme im Alltag dazu, dass George sich in Lucy verliebt oder eine obsessive Beziehung zu ihr entwickelt. Lucy scheint sich Fragen zu stellen und über das Leben zu reflektieren. Aber sie ist seelenlos. Für Menschen, die nicht wissen, was eine Seele ist, allenfalls deren Gewicht in der televisionären Maßeinheit Bloch angeben können und fest an ihre Existenz glauben, sind die Maschinen seelenlos. Der Grieche Nikos erzählt einmal eine Geschichte, in der die Vorstellung von Roboter und Vampir verwischt und die Maschine am Ende einen Pfahl in ihr Herz gestoßen bekommt.
Auch andere, an das Mittelalter erinnernde Exzesse, wie gehängte Ketzer, ob Mensch oder Maschine, die in den Dörfern zur Schau gestellt werden, bringen das bittere Lebensgefühl, das in diesem Roman vorherrscht, zur Geltung...
Mir hat der Roman gefallen, ich finde aber, der Autor hat sich mit all seinen verschiedenen Themen (Mensch-Maschine, religiöser Fundamentalismus, Kapitalismuskritik, etc.), die jedes einen eigenen Roman hätte füllen können, etwas zuviel zugemutet, ich fand das ganze etwas über-ambitioniert. Immerhin hat er hier einen Roman abgegeben, der spannend, emotional und mitfühlend daherkommt, der aber auch auf jeder Seite zum Nachdenken aufruft. Ich bin gespannt auf weitere Werke dieses Autors....
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September 12, 2024A very competently put-together book, but it never really moved me. It had all the requisite parts to be something great, but ended up being no greater than the sum of its parts. Not only that, but the SF concepts that were at the center of the novel felt unoriginal and were more thoroughly explored in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by PKD and Permutation City by Greg Egan. There were some highlights: it gives a scathing view of religious extremism and when the titular character appears there are some cool contemplations on the makings of a religious figure. It seemed pretty easy to wring everything out of this one on a first read, so I doubt I’ll be returning to it in the future.
September 17, 2017
interesting novel about machines, nature, nuture. based in the near future and if machines have souls or not and one man journey with a sex machine and escape the rational city and enter the outlands where machines are executed as demons and how he reacts to it all.
January 20, 2015
TRIGGER WARNING: This novel contains rape, sexism, religious/other persecution.
Chris Beckett's The Holy Machine is short, snappy, and doesn't overstay its welcome. The pilgrimage seems a bit pointless until George Simling finally reveals his motivation.
Indeed, George is the weakest part of the novel. I get the feeling he's supposed to be someone that readers can connect with: nerdy, and awkward socially around beautiful women. (Yeah, he's more stereotype than archetype.) First, he's interested in Marija, but she rejects his date-offer because she's already in a relationship with the head of a new religion. So then George falls in love with sex worker, Lucy...but she's a syntec (a robot with a layer of human flesh for that personal touch). And there are people in the world who want Lucy, and all robots, dead. Later, when Marija's relationship with the religious head is over, she asks out George, but he rejects her out of fear (what?) and sticks with Lucy.
The world-building is all too easy to imagine: countries choosing religion over science, and persecuting anyone who doesn't share their particular faith. George lives in Illyria, a country of science, but wars are crossing borderlines, and George is desperate to find a safe place for Lucy.
But although he claims to "love" Lucy, George mistreats her. After all, he only loves her because Lucy's PROGRAMMED to be super-friendly, affectionate, and sex-minded towards him. Lucy begins showing signs of self-evolving - i.e. asking questions and trying to understand and fit into the world around her. And it's then that I pretty much lost all sympathy for George, because he loses sympathy for her.
It may say a lot about this book that its most interesting character is not even human.
Chris Beckett's The Holy Machine is short, snappy, and doesn't overstay its welcome. The pilgrimage seems a bit pointless until George Simling finally reveals his motivation.
Indeed, George is the weakest part of the novel. I get the feeling he's supposed to be someone that readers can connect with: nerdy, and awkward socially around beautiful women. (Yeah, he's more stereotype than archetype.) First, he's interested in Marija, but she rejects his date-offer because she's already in a relationship with the head of a new religion. So then George falls in love with sex worker, Lucy...but she's a syntec (a robot with a layer of human flesh for that personal touch). And there are people in the world who want Lucy, and all robots, dead. Later, when Marija's relationship with the religious head is over, she asks out George, but he rejects her out of fear (what?) and sticks with Lucy.
The world-building is all too easy to imagine: countries choosing religion over science, and persecuting anyone who doesn't share their particular faith. George lives in Illyria, a country of science, but wars are crossing borderlines, and George is desperate to find a safe place for Lucy.
But although he claims to "love" Lucy, George mistreats her. After all, he only loves her because Lucy's PROGRAMMED to be super-friendly, affectionate, and sex-minded towards him. Lucy begins showing signs of self-evolving - i.e. asking questions and trying to understand and fit into the world around her. And it's then that I pretty much lost all sympathy for George, because he loses sympathy for her.
It may say a lot about this book that its most interesting character is not even human.
July 26, 2013
or 7/10. Intriguing book with well reasoned concepts that are quite scarily on the verge of being reality, particularly the demonisation of rationalised thinking and the emergence of religion as the dominant force in deciding societal mores. Some elements reminded me of the Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi, which is an outstanding book. This is good, if not quite on the same level. There are some genuinely horrifying moments that made me physically squirm. The narrowly disguised entity that is Second Life also fascinated me, as I could quite easily see humankind going down the SenSpace route like Little Rose does.
If it was flawed for me, it was partially in the lack of emotional response from the narrator to the events unfolding around him. Even when George falls in love, there's a question mark over it's reality. His lack of empathy was quite staggering - this may have been played as a parallel to the nascent evolution of Lucy's'soul' but it didn't quite work for me. I was also a little disgruntled with the ending; it just seemed a bit too easy all round (can't say more without posting spoilers).
If it was flawed for me, it was partially in the lack of emotional response from the narrator to the events unfolding around him. Even when George falls in love, there's a question mark over it's reality. His lack of empathy was quite staggering - this may have been played as a parallel to the nascent evolution of Lucy's'soul' but it didn't quite work for me. I was also a little disgruntled with the ending; it just seemed a bit too easy all round (can't say more without posting spoilers).
December 30, 2016
DNF at 82% - this is full to the brim with religious BS...
December 30, 2018
Wowwwwww.
Predivna knjiga, onako dugo me nije neki pisac toliko ponjeo da idem opsesivno iskopat sve sto se od njega moze pronaci. Nazalost kod nas nema prevedenih knjiga, nego jedna prica u magazinu Sirius B (La Machina), koja je bila okosnica za ovaj roman. A na engleskom samo ova u Znanju ali je malo skuplja...
No, knjiga je divna, emotivna, puna trazenja, otkrivanja i svega sto trwba biti. Holy Machine je odlican/na, stvarno se covjek zapota kako bi bilo da se pojavi nesto takvo. Uff idem citat dalje njegovo sto sam pronasao u e formatu....
Predivna knjiga, onako dugo me nije neki pisac toliko ponjeo da idem opsesivno iskopat sve sto se od njega moze pronaci. Nazalost kod nas nema prevedenih knjiga, nego jedna prica u magazinu Sirius B (La Machina), koja je bila okosnica za ovaj roman. A na engleskom samo ova u Znanju ali je malo skuplja...
No, knjiga je divna, emotivna, puna trazenja, otkrivanja i svega sto trwba biti. Holy Machine je odlican/na, stvarno se covjek zapota kako bi bilo da se pojavi nesto takvo. Uff idem citat dalje njegovo sto sam pronasao u e formatu....
March 22, 2012
Really peculiar book.
It started out strong-but-hackneyed, moved into Just Plain Strong territory, then sprinted through all the potentially interesting bits at top belt, instead focussing on endless hand-wringing "answer in the middle" polemic and ended up leaving the reader unable to connect with anyone or feel the import of anything. Was that the point?
The Holy Machine takes place in a "post-apocalyptic"(?) world envisaged by a Humanities graduate (i.e. badly). There has been a Reaction, in which the religions of the world rose up as one and inflicted a terrible reprisal on the Rational and their technological creations. The various religions then started warring with one another. If you can get past this absolutely insane backdrop and just try to enjoy the plot you'll probably have a better time of it than I did, but even then the whole thing is one clumsy, ham-fisted bunch of allusion and allegory after another. The Science-minded have set up their own city, mastered teleportation and the construction of robots with AI's and motor function advanced enough that they can work in brothels, and there our "protagonist" George meets a prostibot struggling towards becoming self aware.
The adventures of George and the Sex Machine could have been quite fun and engaging in the hands of a better author, but Beckett devoted huge tracts of the book to apologising for people believing in things that can't be supported by fact, and not doing it very well. Claiming that the stated goal of the Illyrian Science City (living according to what can be measured and verified, and nothing else) was bad in and of itself. I've got to be honest, the idea of living in a society where every policy decision was based on actual statistical fact sounds pretty spectacular when compared to the alternatives.
The whole thing is a mess, but there are some good ideas in there. And at least it had the common decency to be over with quickly.
It started out strong-but-hackneyed, moved into Just Plain Strong territory, then sprinted through all the potentially interesting bits at top belt, instead focussing on endless hand-wringing "answer in the middle" polemic and ended up leaving the reader unable to connect with anyone or feel the import of anything. Was that the point?
The Holy Machine takes place in a "post-apocalyptic"(?) world envisaged by a Humanities graduate (i.e. badly). There has been a Reaction, in which the religions of the world rose up as one and inflicted a terrible reprisal on the Rational and their technological creations. The various religions then started warring with one another. If you can get past this absolutely insane backdrop and just try to enjoy the plot you'll probably have a better time of it than I did, but even then the whole thing is one clumsy, ham-fisted bunch of allusion and allegory after another. The Science-minded have set up their own city, mastered teleportation and the construction of robots with AI's and motor function advanced enough that they can work in brothels, and there our "protagonist" George meets a prostibot struggling towards becoming self aware.
The adventures of George and the Sex Machine could have been quite fun and engaging in the hands of a better author, but Beckett devoted huge tracts of the book to apologising for people believing in things that can't be supported by fact, and not doing it very well. Claiming that the stated goal of the Illyrian Science City (living according to what can be measured and verified, and nothing else) was bad in and of itself. I've got to be honest, the idea of living in a society where every policy decision was based on actual statistical fact sounds pretty spectacular when compared to the alternatives.
The whole thing is a mess, but there are some good ideas in there. And at least it had the common decency to be over with quickly.
August 6, 2016
Original un carro, oye.
Presenta como excusa una cruenta lucha entre la religión la y ciencia para mostrarnos... esa misma lucha llevada a un punto que quizás podría ocurrir.
Hay más temas interesantes entremezclados. Recomendable.
Presenta como excusa una cruenta lucha entre la religión la y ciencia para mostrarnos... esa misma lucha llevada a un punto que quizás podría ocurrir.
Hay más temas interesantes entremezclados. Recomendable.
March 13, 2022
This was an incredible read.
Short and with short chapters to push the reading progress forward rapidly with that, "just one more chapter" mentality.
Yet also very, very disturbing.
Fresh from another of Beckett's works I dived into this one expecting more of the same. By the end I was left reeling in ways that the previous book only alluded to.
A young interpreter in a dystopian future living in a world where reason and religion are at war in ways not seen since the persecutions of the Middle Ages. He falls in love, as he perceives it, with a pleasure robot. So far, very formulaic and in line with countless other dystopian novels.
He escapes with the robot and finds much more than bargained for as the world splinters apart, along the fault lines of reason and religion. The contrasts which Beckett portrays show what could be our future, certainly. The divides between the different worlds are what drives this novel, as George tries to make sense of the shifting paradigm and his place in it with what he'd thought was his ideal partner. But dreams and reality rarely match up, and the gap betwixt reality and the virtual worlds becomes strange, blurred and transient, along with George's sense of self.
Forcibly exposed to physical existence through his hasty actions, George struggles in a world that he was never prepared for in his technological ivory tower. And the world struggles along with him, even as it draws him into a thresher that tears him and itself apart.
Do robots and AI's have their own gods, their own deities? What of our own? How do they define us? What strange sermons are the AI's which govern our lives singing to each other as we sleep, a biological necessity that they have never needed?
Are we really the masters of this world when our lives are governed by machines and AI's and their subroutines? If any of these and other related questions are interesting to you, then you would do well to read this story. Although be prepared for it to get dark, very dark. This is not a story for the squeamish.
This novel easily ranks for me up there with other classics like 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?', or 'Stand on Zanzibar', et al.
Rav.
Short and with short chapters to push the reading progress forward rapidly with that, "just one more chapter" mentality.
Yet also very, very disturbing.
Fresh from another of Beckett's works I dived into this one expecting more of the same. By the end I was left reeling in ways that the previous book only alluded to.
A young interpreter in a dystopian future living in a world where reason and religion are at war in ways not seen since the persecutions of the Middle Ages. He falls in love, as he perceives it, with a pleasure robot. So far, very formulaic and in line with countless other dystopian novels.
He escapes with the robot and finds much more than bargained for as the world splinters apart, along the fault lines of reason and religion. The contrasts which Beckett portrays show what could be our future, certainly. The divides between the different worlds are what drives this novel, as George tries to make sense of the shifting paradigm and his place in it with what he'd thought was his ideal partner. But dreams and reality rarely match up, and the gap betwixt reality and the virtual worlds becomes strange, blurred and transient, along with George's sense of self.
Forcibly exposed to physical existence through his hasty actions, George struggles in a world that he was never prepared for in his technological ivory tower. And the world struggles along with him, even as it draws him into a thresher that tears him and itself apart.
Do robots and AI's have their own gods, their own deities? What of our own? How do they define us? What strange sermons are the AI's which govern our lives singing to each other as we sleep, a biological necessity that they have never needed?
Are we really the masters of this world when our lives are governed by machines and AI's and their subroutines? If any of these and other related questions are interesting to you, then you would do well to read this story. Although be prepared for it to get dark, very dark. This is not a story for the squeamish.
This novel easily ranks for me up there with other classics like 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?', or 'Stand on Zanzibar', et al.
Rav.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 25, 2024
Life changing sci-fi...
April 24, 2016
Lots of big Themes in this one, religion versus science, artificial intelligence, simulated realities as opposed to the real world. So much of this quite short novel is taken up with broad strokes, "Isn't it strange how people can kill each other over one word of difference in a book?", "Yes, but science can also be bad!" type discussions.
The story would have been stronger if the the focus been more on the juxtaposition of Lucy's awakening to consciousness and Ruth's experiences as Little Rose. These are the most interesting parts and would benefit from a little more time spent with each of them to flesh out their characters.
Less interesting: awkward guy who is afraid of girls falls in love with a robot prostitute; all the religions get their own country (including science) then immediately go back to being farmers who can't maintain cars (except team science, who develop AI); awkward guy finds out that the beautiful girl he was afraid of just thinks he's cooler than her and he learns to love non-android women.
The final third feels like it's rushing to get to the finale and the Holy Machine of the title, so we barely see any of Lucy learning about the world and her sense of self. George becomes slightly more engaging following the betrayal but quickly falls back to being carried along by events. I would have happily traded all the religious back-and-forth for another hundred pages of character development.
The story would have been stronger if the the focus been more on the juxtaposition of Lucy's awakening to consciousness and Ruth's experiences as Little Rose. These are the most interesting parts and would benefit from a little more time spent with each of them to flesh out their characters.
Less interesting: awkward guy who is afraid of girls falls in love with a robot prostitute; all the religions get their own country (including science) then immediately go back to being farmers who can't maintain cars (except team science, who develop AI); awkward guy finds out that the beautiful girl he was afraid of just thinks he's cooler than her and he learns to love non-android women.
The final third feels like it's rushing to get to the finale and the Holy Machine of the title, so we barely see any of Lucy learning about the world and her sense of self. George becomes slightly more engaging following the betrayal but quickly falls back to being carried along by events. I would have happily traded all the religious back-and-forth for another hundred pages of character development.
Read
December 24, 2022The Holy Machine is the first novel length work by British writer Chris Beckett, a writer who hit the headlines last year when he was awarded the Edge Hill Short Story Prize for his collection The Turing Test, beating competition from the like of Anne Enright (a Booker winner) and Ali Smith (who won the Whitbread). The Holy Machine was previously published in the US by Wildside Press back in 2004. Hat's off to Corvus for bringing Beckett to the wider audience he so richly deserves. Published in hard cover in July.
"Illyria is a scientific utopia, an enclave of logic and reason founded off the Greek coast in the mid-twenty first century as a refuge from the Reaction, a wave of religious fundamentalism sweeping the planet. Yet to George Simling, first generation son of a former geneticist who was left emotionally and psychically crippled by the persecution she encountered in her native Chicago, science-dominated Illyria is becoming as closed-minded and stifling as the religion-dominated world outside...
The Holy Machine is Chris Beckett's first novel. As well as being a story about love, adventure and a young man learning to mature and face the world, it deals with a question that is all too easily forgotten or glibly answered in science fiction: what happens to the soul, to beauty, to morality, in the absence of God?"
It's hard to write a review of a book that gets under your skin and gets you thinking. Not because it's a private conversation that you're having though it is a personal reaction. It's more that it is hard to explain what nerve it hits or why. Plus you then have to wonder if it's going to have the same affect on other people.
Chris Beckett's novel The Holy Machine is one of those books. And the skin it gets under is, in some cases, artificial, in others, virtual, as well as our own real skins. Though mainly it's about the skin of one 'ASPU' - Lucy - and a man named George Simling.
The premise here is that religious tolerance and integration has broken down and various religions and their followers are no longer as accepting of others as they once were. George's mother Ruth, a scientist, had no choice but to flee during the 'Reaction', an event that happened all over the world, to the scientific city haven that is Illyria, a place where guest workers are needed but their religious views aren't encouraged or, as the story progresses, tolerated.
With all its exploration of religious extremes versus science and its insights concerning exactly how easy it might be to fall into a state where religion is once again something to be observed and feared, The Holy Machine remains essentially a love story.
George falls in love with an Advanced Sensual Pleasure Unit (ASPU) called Lucy or more accurately, he falls for a personality of Lucy which he feels he can encourage to become more than her programming. Even though she is meant to self-evolve I'm not sure George gets to the nature of what he has fallen for. And when he discovers his mistake, he is too far along on a journey that leaves a lasting effect on both himself and the reader. What I found particularly effecting was Beckett's observation that the world doesn't need to turn too much to arrive at a place where tolerance and openness is dangerous and where control of people through religious dogma is enforced. That future for some, is already here.
Beckett describes such a world where scientists are ordered to convert or face being burned or stoned or in some other way killed. Even then they might not be saved if their conversion isn't convincing enough. Becket also plays with the idea of souls and the notion of machines that are alive. There are two scenes that show events in a brothel from the point of view of the robot. We're shown their reasoning and their standard responses. It's not free thinking. It's a case of 'if this, then that' statements that can alter through experience but only in knowing that one reaction is preferred over another one.
It also illustrates George's naivety for thinking that his love for Lucy is a love for the machine under the skin of Lucy. He is in love with what he thinks Lucy is, as we find out when they escape to the religious Outlands where they burn the robots as soulless demons and George gets to know Lucy a little better outside her brothel environment.
Becket shows a battle for soul on the level of Lucy who George is trying to encourage to move beyond her programmed personalities and to find her own self. There is a battle on the level of state where Illyria wants only views and actions that scientifically assess rather than ones based on faith alone so they start to replace guest workers with robots. The trouble is that scientists have souls too and they need more than science to sustain themselves.
Beckett shows also that to be human is a mix of the known and unknown and also that artificial intelligence could move a machine from a cold, calculating, analytical and concrete entity to one empathising with concepts that religion is supposed to help us with.
The saddest story here though isn't George or Lucy though they both have lessons to teach us as they go on their journeys, but the story of Ruth, who withdraws from the real world into the virtual world of SenSpace. It's a safe place for her. When she has to leave and come back to reality George often has to carry her from her all-in-one suit and feed her drugs before watching her cry herself to sleep. But the question is what would happen if you didn't have to leave that virtual space?
I did wonder why Corvus Books had decided to reprint a six year old novel that previously had a US release in 2004 by an independent US publisher. And after reading it I know why.
Chris Beckett has told a science fiction story that deals with the important things that could happen in the future and it's not about exploring space or meeting aliens (though they are fun and exciting things to read!).
The Holy Machine is about how we might cope with a future where science has advanced sufficiently so that our various religions need to reassert themselves as forces of control.
Highly recommended for those that think that science fiction can't be literature or literature can't be science fiction as well as to anyone that wonders what the future of humanity could hold.
"Illyria is a scientific utopia, an enclave of logic and reason founded off the Greek coast in the mid-twenty first century as a refuge from the Reaction, a wave of religious fundamentalism sweeping the planet. Yet to George Simling, first generation son of a former geneticist who was left emotionally and psychically crippled by the persecution she encountered in her native Chicago, science-dominated Illyria is becoming as closed-minded and stifling as the religion-dominated world outside...
The Holy Machine is Chris Beckett's first novel. As well as being a story about love, adventure and a young man learning to mature and face the world, it deals with a question that is all too easily forgotten or glibly answered in science fiction: what happens to the soul, to beauty, to morality, in the absence of God?"
It's hard to write a review of a book that gets under your skin and gets you thinking. Not because it's a private conversation that you're having though it is a personal reaction. It's more that it is hard to explain what nerve it hits or why. Plus you then have to wonder if it's going to have the same affect on other people.
Chris Beckett's novel The Holy Machine is one of those books. And the skin it gets under is, in some cases, artificial, in others, virtual, as well as our own real skins. Though mainly it's about the skin of one 'ASPU' - Lucy - and a man named George Simling.
The premise here is that religious tolerance and integration has broken down and various religions and their followers are no longer as accepting of others as they once were. George's mother Ruth, a scientist, had no choice but to flee during the 'Reaction', an event that happened all over the world, to the scientific city haven that is Illyria, a place where guest workers are needed but their religious views aren't encouraged or, as the story progresses, tolerated.
With all its exploration of religious extremes versus science and its insights concerning exactly how easy it might be to fall into a state where religion is once again something to be observed and feared, The Holy Machine remains essentially a love story.
George falls in love with an Advanced Sensual Pleasure Unit (ASPU) called Lucy or more accurately, he falls for a personality of Lucy which he feels he can encourage to become more than her programming. Even though she is meant to self-evolve I'm not sure George gets to the nature of what he has fallen for. And when he discovers his mistake, he is too far along on a journey that leaves a lasting effect on both himself and the reader. What I found particularly effecting was Beckett's observation that the world doesn't need to turn too much to arrive at a place where tolerance and openness is dangerous and where control of people through religious dogma is enforced. That future for some, is already here.
Beckett describes such a world where scientists are ordered to convert or face being burned or stoned or in some other way killed. Even then they might not be saved if their conversion isn't convincing enough. Becket also plays with the idea of souls and the notion of machines that are alive. There are two scenes that show events in a brothel from the point of view of the robot. We're shown their reasoning and their standard responses. It's not free thinking. It's a case of 'if this, then that' statements that can alter through experience but only in knowing that one reaction is preferred over another one.
It also illustrates George's naivety for thinking that his love for Lucy is a love for the machine under the skin of Lucy. He is in love with what he thinks Lucy is, as we find out when they escape to the religious Outlands where they burn the robots as soulless demons and George gets to know Lucy a little better outside her brothel environment.
Becket shows a battle for soul on the level of Lucy who George is trying to encourage to move beyond her programmed personalities and to find her own self. There is a battle on the level of state where Illyria wants only views and actions that scientifically assess rather than ones based on faith alone so they start to replace guest workers with robots. The trouble is that scientists have souls too and they need more than science to sustain themselves.
Beckett shows also that to be human is a mix of the known and unknown and also that artificial intelligence could move a machine from a cold, calculating, analytical and concrete entity to one empathising with concepts that religion is supposed to help us with.
The saddest story here though isn't George or Lucy though they both have lessons to teach us as they go on their journeys, but the story of Ruth, who withdraws from the real world into the virtual world of SenSpace. It's a safe place for her. When she has to leave and come back to reality George often has to carry her from her all-in-one suit and feed her drugs before watching her cry herself to sleep. But the question is what would happen if you didn't have to leave that virtual space?
I did wonder why Corvus Books had decided to reprint a six year old novel that previously had a US release in 2004 by an independent US publisher. And after reading it I know why.
Chris Beckett has told a science fiction story that deals with the important things that could happen in the future and it's not about exploring space or meeting aliens (though they are fun and exciting things to read!).
The Holy Machine is about how we might cope with a future where science has advanced sufficiently so that our various religions need to reassert themselves as forces of control.
Highly recommended for those that think that science fiction can't be literature or literature can't be science fiction as well as to anyone that wonders what the future of humanity could hold.
April 2, 2012
This story is set in a dystopian future where a world-wide uptick in religious fundamentalism of every kind has resulted in pogroms against scientists and atheists and their founding of a new country to escape persecution. The problem is that the scientists and atheists have become as intolerant as the religious fundamentalists they loathe. Add in the self-actualizing robot servants of the scientists and atheists who are starting to get religion, and now the real fun begins.
The writing is superb as we follow the adventures of a socially and sexually frustrated atheist navigating the dangerous shoals of this new world while he struggles with the only real relationship in his life, which just so happens to be with a robot sex slave he hates himself for loving. All the while, the author manages to simultaneously dehumanize the scientists and atheists as well as the pious, while humanizing the robots. The future he portrays seems scarily possible, as the uneducated masses clutch their superstitions more closely, while the detached elites lose their connection to the rest of humanity and violence becomes the new lingua franca.
All of this is presented in an easily digestible and fast-paced format which never gets stale. Highly recommended.
The writing is superb as we follow the adventures of a socially and sexually frustrated atheist navigating the dangerous shoals of this new world while he struggles with the only real relationship in his life, which just so happens to be with a robot sex slave he hates himself for loving. All the while, the author manages to simultaneously dehumanize the scientists and atheists as well as the pious, while humanizing the robots. The future he portrays seems scarily possible, as the uneducated masses clutch their superstitions more closely, while the detached elites lose their connection to the rest of humanity and violence becomes the new lingua franca.
All of this is presented in an easily digestible and fast-paced format which never gets stale. Highly recommended.
March 9, 2011
Well it said on the cover that the book was incredible. Not sure about that.
Plot, set in a near future where religion has taken over, another modern book whose central theme is religion is bad.
Main characters live in a city filled with scientists and engineers where there are robot "ladies of negotiable virtue". This seems to fill the religious types outside the city with rage. Before the changeover had these people never heard of vibrators, fleshlights or if in certain parts of the world sheep?
The technology is a bit ahead of where we are at the moment in most things apart from virtual reality and robotics.
The main character does evolve a bit as person over the course of the book.
But the main problem is the plot, it is so predictable with no surprises, I've not read a book with such a plodding plot for ages and for that I am grateful.
Plot, set in a near future where religion has taken over, another modern book whose central theme is religion is bad.
Main characters live in a city filled with scientists and engineers where there are robot "ladies of negotiable virtue". This seems to fill the religious types outside the city with rage. Before the changeover had these people never heard of vibrators, fleshlights or if in certain parts of the world sheep?
The technology is a bit ahead of where we are at the moment in most things apart from virtual reality and robotics.
The main character does evolve a bit as person over the course of the book.
But the main problem is the plot, it is so predictable with no surprises, I've not read a book with such a plodding plot for ages and for that I am grateful.
July 27, 2011
The Holy Machine is intelligent, well thought out and very well written. Beckett is pretty damning of the madness that religion can lead to, but balances this extreme example of where religion can go against the difficulties of using science as an ethical code. The result is thought-provoking without ever preaching.
Ultimately, I thought the central theme of the book is one of self-discovery; for George, the protagonist, Lucy, the syntec, and Illyria the non-religious science-nation. The point that any successfully self-perpetuating code of ethics/religion is likely to lead to elements of extremism is elegantly put.
Beckett's prose is also well constructed and easy to read. I also love that he made his points economically, without dragging it out over thousands of pages!
A great read and highly recommended for sf fans and the more mainstream audience alike.
Ultimately, I thought the central theme of the book is one of self-discovery; for George, the protagonist, Lucy, the syntec, and Illyria the non-religious science-nation. The point that any successfully self-perpetuating code of ethics/religion is likely to lead to elements of extremism is elegantly put.
Beckett's prose is also well constructed and easy to read. I also love that he made his points economically, without dragging it out over thousands of pages!
A great read and highly recommended for sf fans and the more mainstream audience alike.
April 20, 2012
Was a spontaneous purchase in a bookshop, as it sounded really interesting and indeed the basic premise is. A city state established by scientists to avoid religious persecution as all the nations underwent a religious renaissance. Unfortunately all the human characters are incredibly stereotypical and nowhere close to be either fully realised human beings or in any way interesting. They fall into two categories either violent mobs or the emotionally bankrupt. The one character who's journey we really want to follow disappears from the narative at just the moment that her story is getting truly interesting. The ideas from the book might have made a really interesting little short story, but as a novel it is poorly executed.
October 6, 2014
This book is an outstanding work of Science Fiction. If you're looking for a thought provoking piece of literature, then you need look no further. If you're tired of SciFi adventure, and its off shoot, SciFi fantasy,then look no further. If you're willing to have your beliefs challenged, then find a comfortable chair and read Mr. Beckett's masterpiece. I was afraid that books like this would never be published again, but here it is, a multilevel,well plotted story that asked you to get involved in the story. This is an adult read because it asks you to think. I will be recommending it to anybody who will listen to me. I'll be going on line to see if I can find more books by Mr. Beckett. This novel deserves more then five stars. It's truly special.
May 2, 2022
In a near-future atheist state, a besotted troubled young man elopes with a pleasure android escaping into the religious outlands where his troubles really begin. A disturbing journey of discovery exploring many themes: sentience, intolerance, desire, faith and reason. Well written. Well good. My first but not my last Beckett.
December 25, 2012
Have stopped reading. May pick it up later. Very tedious and unconvincing.
December 9, 2014
Religion, Robots and what it is to be human! A great mix and a great debut novel from Author Chris Beckett!
July 27, 2016
This book was phenomenal; way better than I expected. Chris Beckett really deserves much more attention as an author. Highly recommended for fans of Philip Dick's VALIS trilogy.
May 13, 2017
The world has suffered the Reaction, a rise of religious fundamentalism that has outlawed science and thrown much of humanity into poverty. Only in Illyria, a great city-state in the eastern Mediterranean, does science still prevail. Growing up in Illyria, shy and timid George Simling accepts the doctrine of Reason until it begins to defeat itself: to prevent the development of true AI amongst its robot servitors, the rulers of the city decree that all robots are to have their memories wiped every six months, including that of George's love, the sex-robot Lucy. Fearing that her growing sentience will be obliterated and realising that Illyria's enforced atheism is as stifling as the religious insanity permeating the world outside, George takes Lucy and flees the city, hoping against hope to find somewhere they can live in peace.
The Holy Machine was originally released in 2004 in the United States, but came to broader attention when it was published in the UK by Corvus in 2010. Early reviews have claimed that the book is an important step forward in the development of science fiction as a literary form, proclaiming comparisons with Orwell. These have been somewhat overwrought, but certainly The Holy Machine is a book with artistic aims far beyond its simple, I, Love Robot, premise.
The novel addresses questions of blind faith (in science or religion), indoctrination, the stifling of questioning, free speech and what rights, if any, that sentient computer intelligences should be allowed to possess. These issues are discussed through the straightforward story, as George strives to find moderation and peace in a world uninterested in compromise and his mother is drawn deeper and deeper into the artificial reality of SensSpace. Beckett does not suggest his future is plausible or realistic (though elements of it are), instead using it as a backdrop to tell his modern, adult fable about identity and truth.
He is mostly successful. Like a Christopher Priest novel, the prose is deceptively simple, with themes and ideas revealing themselves as you read further into the book until you realise the picture Beckett has been painting is far more complex than it first appeared. Unfortunately, his characters suffer a little: George, his mother Ruth and Lucy are developed enough to be interesting, but don't really come to life in themselves enough to be really compelling, due to the low page count and tight focus. The same factors keep the story evolving quickly, preventing it getting bogged down too much in its issues, but this also means some interesting characters and subplots are skipped over too rapidly near the end, particularly George's encounters with religious moderates near the end of the book showing there is hope that the world can return to an acceptable balance after all.
The Holy Machine (****½) is a book that is deceptively straightforward but reveals more layers of theme and meaning as you progress further into it. This is intelligent and thought-provoking SF.
The Holy Machine was originally released in 2004 in the United States, but came to broader attention when it was published in the UK by Corvus in 2010. Early reviews have claimed that the book is an important step forward in the development of science fiction as a literary form, proclaiming comparisons with Orwell. These have been somewhat overwrought, but certainly The Holy Machine is a book with artistic aims far beyond its simple, I, Love Robot, premise.
The novel addresses questions of blind faith (in science or religion), indoctrination, the stifling of questioning, free speech and what rights, if any, that sentient computer intelligences should be allowed to possess. These issues are discussed through the straightforward story, as George strives to find moderation and peace in a world uninterested in compromise and his mother is drawn deeper and deeper into the artificial reality of SensSpace. Beckett does not suggest his future is plausible or realistic (though elements of it are), instead using it as a backdrop to tell his modern, adult fable about identity and truth.
He is mostly successful. Like a Christopher Priest novel, the prose is deceptively simple, with themes and ideas revealing themselves as you read further into the book until you realise the picture Beckett has been painting is far more complex than it first appeared. Unfortunately, his characters suffer a little: George, his mother Ruth and Lucy are developed enough to be interesting, but don't really come to life in themselves enough to be really compelling, due to the low page count and tight focus. The same factors keep the story evolving quickly, preventing it getting bogged down too much in its issues, but this also means some interesting characters and subplots are skipped over too rapidly near the end, particularly George's encounters with religious moderates near the end of the book showing there is hope that the world can return to an acceptable balance after all.
The Holy Machine (****½) is a book that is deceptively straightforward but reveals more layers of theme and meaning as you progress further into it. This is intelligent and thought-provoking SF.
October 7, 2017
This is trully a great book and I highly recommend it.
The areas of interest / thematics of the story include: a futuristic dystopia with a world-wide religious fundamentalism; biology and conciousness; artificial intelligence and consiousness; life - and the search for its definition; human behaviour, superstition and irrationality; religion(s) and religion VS science; spirituality in a technological society; virtual reality and so on..
I'd categorise the book in quarters: the first 2 quarters are the sci-fi core with very good ideas, e.g. I like the idea that the process of consiousness development in robots is not clear to the human creators, therefore they take more radical measures against it - stopping now, no spoilers!
The 3rd quarter seems to be less 'processed' than the rest of the book, and it might include fragmented stories from the author's personal journeys. The last part includes an unexpected climax with strong scenes, especially in the last 3-4 chapters.
I realise that some sci-fi fans might be a bit put off by the entangled topics of religion soul-searching and existentialism. However, I strongly disagree with such a view. Science fiction inevitably - even if tangentially - touches upon the meaning of life and the development of a consiousness.
There is a strong topic-connection with issues discussed by Erwin Schroedinger's in 'Nature and the Greeks' [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...], where he explains that the wall between science and religion is impenetrable nowadays, however if we go back into the antiquity, there was a time that this was not the case. Democritos (Democritus) could as easily speak with his students about atoms, the planets' positions as much as about the god(s) and the nature of the soul. The fact that a part of the story takes place in (future) Greece, makes this connection even more amusing.
In any case, very good ideas in this book, a nice story with a very nice bunddling of a variety of topics - I am surprised that this book isn't more popular!
The areas of interest / thematics of the story include: a futuristic dystopia with a world-wide religious fundamentalism; biology and conciousness; artificial intelligence and consiousness; life - and the search for its definition; human behaviour, superstition and irrationality; religion(s) and religion VS science; spirituality in a technological society; virtual reality and so on..
I'd categorise the book in quarters: the first 2 quarters are the sci-fi core with very good ideas, e.g. I like the idea that the process of consiousness development in robots is not clear to the human creators, therefore they take more radical measures against it - stopping now, no spoilers!
The 3rd quarter seems to be less 'processed' than the rest of the book, and it might include fragmented stories from the author's personal journeys. The last part includes an unexpected climax with strong scenes, especially in the last 3-4 chapters.
I realise that some sci-fi fans might be a bit put off by the entangled topics of religion soul-searching and existentialism. However, I strongly disagree with such a view. Science fiction inevitably - even if tangentially - touches upon the meaning of life and the development of a consiousness.
There is a strong topic-connection with issues discussed by Erwin Schroedinger's in 'Nature and the Greeks' [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...], where he explains that the wall between science and religion is impenetrable nowadays, however if we go back into the antiquity, there was a time that this was not the case. Democritos (Democritus) could as easily speak with his students about atoms, the planets' positions as much as about the god(s) and the nature of the soul. The fact that a part of the story takes place in (future) Greece, makes this connection even more amusing.
In any case, very good ideas in this book, a nice story with a very nice bunddling of a variety of topics - I am surprised that this book isn't more popular!
March 7, 2024
I love Chris Beckett's books. I was delighted when my book club chose this - his first novel - for this month's reading choice, and I'm so excited for the meeting. There is so much in this book, I can imagine us debating the story, the characters, the symbolism - and I can tell already we won't all agree about what means what.
The holy machine is presaged early on as we follow the story of George and Ruth. Ruth is a refugee in Illyria. She was a scientist caught up in a holy war that viewed science and intellectualism as heresy, much like what happened in Cambodia. Illyria is set up as an atheistic city state, that has grown to be scientifically very powerful. It allows "guest workers" from other states to do menial work, but as these workers bring in spiritual ideas and want the freedom to practice religion, the president wants to replace all with advanced robots as soon as possible, and so divisions are growing greater.
Ruth is very traumatised and prefers to live in SenSpace, which is decidedly addictive and unhealthy.
Her son, George, has failed to create any meaningful human relationships and prefers to spend all his time with a sex robot called Lucy, whose place of work is themed to make her seem like a college student. She has the capacity to learn, but to avoid robots going wayward, or heading out on what seems a pilgrimage to the outer lands to their deaths, a law is passed to wipe the learning every six months.
No one is free in this city of freedom. George feels a need to change things.
Absolutism, existentialism, and evangelism. Sex robots and religious division. Politics and manipulation. Trauma and development. There is so much to talk about here.
I wish the book was longer. Not only to continue the story a little further but because I think the pacing of the last few chapters changes, particularly where George's journey is involved. Nonetheless an absorbing, compelling, exciting story. At times quite visceral.
The holy machine is presaged early on as we follow the story of George and Ruth. Ruth is a refugee in Illyria. She was a scientist caught up in a holy war that viewed science and intellectualism as heresy, much like what happened in Cambodia. Illyria is set up as an atheistic city state, that has grown to be scientifically very powerful. It allows "guest workers" from other states to do menial work, but as these workers bring in spiritual ideas and want the freedom to practice religion, the president wants to replace all with advanced robots as soon as possible, and so divisions are growing greater.
Ruth is very traumatised and prefers to live in SenSpace, which is decidedly addictive and unhealthy.
Her son, George, has failed to create any meaningful human relationships and prefers to spend all his time with a sex robot called Lucy, whose place of work is themed to make her seem like a college student. She has the capacity to learn, but to avoid robots going wayward, or heading out on what seems a pilgrimage to the outer lands to their deaths, a law is passed to wipe the learning every six months.
No one is free in this city of freedom. George feels a need to change things.
Absolutism, existentialism, and evangelism. Sex robots and religious division. Politics and manipulation. Trauma and development. There is so much to talk about here.
I wish the book was longer. Not only to continue the story a little further but because I think the pacing of the last few chapters changes, particularly where George's journey is involved. Nonetheless an absorbing, compelling, exciting story. At times quite visceral.
November 24, 2017
The world has gone fanatically religious -- "the Reaction" swept through the world, rejecting science and embracing fundamentalist religion, and now life has reverted to something more like the Middle Ages. Except in Illyria, where George, our protagonist, lives. Illyria is the opposite; the scientific world view rules. While this might seem like a necessary corrective, as our story begins Illyria is becoming even more restrictive and intolerant of religion than it has been.
And there are Syntecs, synthetic "people," robots with skin and blood. These are everything from technicians and police to Advanced Sensory Pleasure Units -- robot prostitutes. They sometimes malfunction, so Illyria relies on "guest workers" -- most of whom are religious and who resent the inability to express their own religious convictions. Most outsiders also believe that robots, especially human-like robots, are demonic.
It's an interesting conceit -- a world ruled by fundamentalism or complete intolerance of religion, and although religion doesn't come off very well here, neither does intolerance of religion or the assertion that only what can be scientifically proven is real.
I really enjoyed reading this book. It's a quick read, although at some points I felt that even with the very short chapters (about 2-3 pages each) I was slogging through it. But overall, the plot was compelling and the questions it brings up are fascinating: What is a soul? Who has one? What makes life worth living? Is there a middle ground between fanaticism and religious intolerance?
And there are Syntecs, synthetic "people," robots with skin and blood. These are everything from technicians and police to Advanced Sensory Pleasure Units -- robot prostitutes. They sometimes malfunction, so Illyria relies on "guest workers" -- most of whom are religious and who resent the inability to express their own religious convictions. Most outsiders also believe that robots, especially human-like robots, are demonic.
It's an interesting conceit -- a world ruled by fundamentalism or complete intolerance of religion, and although religion doesn't come off very well here, neither does intolerance of religion or the assertion that only what can be scientifically proven is real.
I really enjoyed reading this book. It's a quick read, although at some points I felt that even with the very short chapters (about 2-3 pages each) I was slogging through it. But overall, the plot was compelling and the questions it brings up are fascinating: What is a soul? Who has one? What makes life worth living? Is there a middle ground between fanaticism and religious intolerance?
August 6, 2023
I don't think I've fully processed my opinion on this book yet.
The author made some attempt to soothe the deep misgivings I was having early on and midway through, but I don't think it was enough to overcome the problems and become a book that is necessary reading for a casual reader or sci-fi fan. I think it might still have a place for those folks whose interest lies in tracing science fiction themes such as dystopian settings, portrayal of religious extremism in science fiction, and influence of early dystopian fiction. I could see those threads and found them interesting.
Ultimately, I got very close to abandoning it several times, but didn't. I kept coming back and wanting to know what happened next, how it turned out, if it took these threads and did anything with them. I think this goes to an easy to read style and a narrator tone that suggested that this is a story of a journey to a philosophical destination.
On the other hand, it did not have anything interesting to say about sex, gender, or power. I disliked the use of a helpless sex worker woman as a way to teach our virginal sheltered young cis straight man protagonist a lesson. And especially that in order to learn that lesson he takes her completely into his control, becomes disgusted with her when her personal growth removes his ability to fuck her, then betrays her to people who destroy her. She becomes just another lesson on his way to growing up (he's ¿22ish?). And in the end he is absolved because he has done the penitence of becoming physically and mentally destroyed.
The author made some attempt to soothe the deep misgivings I was having early on and midway through, but I don't think it was enough to overcome the problems and become a book that is necessary reading for a casual reader or sci-fi fan. I think it might still have a place for those folks whose interest lies in tracing science fiction themes such as dystopian settings, portrayal of religious extremism in science fiction, and influence of early dystopian fiction. I could see those threads and found them interesting.
Ultimately, I got very close to abandoning it several times, but didn't. I kept coming back and wanting to know what happened next, how it turned out, if it took these threads and did anything with them. I think this goes to an easy to read style and a narrator tone that suggested that this is a story of a journey to a philosophical destination.
On the other hand, it did not have anything interesting to say about sex, gender, or power. I disliked the use of a helpless sex worker woman as a way to teach our virginal sheltered young cis straight man protagonist a lesson. And especially that in order to learn that lesson he takes her completely into his control, becomes disgusted with her when her personal growth removes his ability to fuck her, then betrays her to people who destroy her. She becomes just another lesson on his way to growing up (he's ¿22ish?). And in the end he is absolved because he has done the penitence of becoming physically and mentally destroyed.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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