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Evolution's Darling
Does a clone have a soul? Darling, an astronavigational control unit and personal companion, achieves sentience and wants to know. Now, 200 years and an artificial body later, he is off in search of a dead artist, a living artwork, and the forces behind a mystery that spans the universe. Accompanied by a female assassin, he'll confront the Maker and get the answer.
290 pages, Paperback
First published April 3, 2000
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1865 people want to read
About the author
Scott Westerfeld
89 books21.3k followersScott Westerfeld is a New York Times bestselling author of YA. He is best known for the Uglies and Leviathan series. His current series, IMPOSTORS, returns to the world of Uglies.
The next book in that series, MIRROR'S EDGE, comes out April 6, 2021.
The next book in that series, MIRROR'S EDGE, comes out April 6, 2021.
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September 30, 2007Oh, Scott Westerfeld. I wish I knew how to quit you.
July 16, 2023
This is a very impressive book. It combines exceptional writing, a brisk tale of a galaxy-spanning civilization, interesting thoughts on the nature of sentience, and rough sex. With a droid named Darling. In short, a "sexy SF thriller with integrity" (Gary K. Wolfe, Locus 5-00). He liked it, I liked it, and I bet you will too. 4+ stars.
Westerfeld mentions influences from Delany, but his closest comparable (IMO) is Iain M. Banks -- in particular for madcap, manipulative, sentient starships with funny names-- and I'd have to say I enjoyed Darling more than Banks' Feersum, or even Excession. It's clear that Westerfeld has read both the classics and the competition, but his voice is distinctive and remarkably assured. He writes in a "literary" style, but don't let that put you off -- this is rich, buttery prose of the very best quality. Really, he's as good as (some) Banks, and more cheerful, too.
Westerfeld has written (to my knowledge) only three SF books for adults: this one, and the Succession duo (really just one novel) https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... . He has written (basically) YA books since then, some of them first-rate. But I hope he returns to adult SF sometime.
Here is the inimitable Gerald Jonas on the book: https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytim...
Excerpt:
"The prologue to EVOLUTION'S DARLING (Four Walls Eight Windows, paper, $15.95), by Scott Westerfeld, is breathtaking. Rathere, the 14-year-old daughter of a space-roving journalist, has trouble getting her father's attention. Her constant companion is an Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) with so much computing capacity that it can pilot a starship, baby-sit for Rathere and ponder the mysteries of the universe at the same time. The danger, for Rathere's financially strapped father, is that the A.I. will raise its ''Turing Quotient'' to 1.0, which would make it, in the eyes of the law, an independent person rather than a useful piece of property. Realizing that his daughter's relationship with the A.I. is driving the machine toward sentience, the father separates them. Rathere fights back in the only way she can. To nudge the A.I. over the threshold to personhood, she makes love to it -- in a scene of eerie beauty that begins with the words, ''It's me, darling.''
2023 reread: still good, but not quite as good as I recalled. But I'm in a reading slump . . .
[Edited from my 2000 review. Added Jonas, 2021]
Westerfeld mentions influences from Delany, but his closest comparable (IMO) is Iain M. Banks -- in particular for madcap, manipulative, sentient starships with funny names-- and I'd have to say I enjoyed Darling more than Banks' Feersum, or even Excession. It's clear that Westerfeld has read both the classics and the competition, but his voice is distinctive and remarkably assured. He writes in a "literary" style, but don't let that put you off -- this is rich, buttery prose of the very best quality. Really, he's as good as (some) Banks, and more cheerful, too.
Westerfeld has written (to my knowledge) only three SF books for adults: this one, and the Succession duo (really just one novel) https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... . He has written (basically) YA books since then, some of them first-rate. But I hope he returns to adult SF sometime.
Here is the inimitable Gerald Jonas on the book: https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytim...
Excerpt:
"The prologue to EVOLUTION'S DARLING (Four Walls Eight Windows, paper, $15.95), by Scott Westerfeld, is breathtaking. Rathere, the 14-year-old daughter of a space-roving journalist, has trouble getting her father's attention. Her constant companion is an Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) with so much computing capacity that it can pilot a starship, baby-sit for Rathere and ponder the mysteries of the universe at the same time. The danger, for Rathere's financially strapped father, is that the A.I. will raise its ''Turing Quotient'' to 1.0, which would make it, in the eyes of the law, an independent person rather than a useful piece of property. Realizing that his daughter's relationship with the A.I. is driving the machine toward sentience, the father separates them. Rathere fights back in the only way she can. To nudge the A.I. over the threshold to personhood, she makes love to it -- in a scene of eerie beauty that begins with the words, ''It's me, darling.''
2023 reread: still good, but not quite as good as I recalled. But I'm in a reading slump . . .
[Edited from my 2000 review. Added Jonas, 2021]
January 23, 2012
Beginning this book, I was sure I had found Westerfeld's masterpiece. It is so intricate, it's characters, many of them artificial intelligences, so well fleshed out. The language itself is absolutely gorgeous. Unfortunately, as I continued, I found it's also one of the more bizarre books I've read, which is why, I'm guessing, it's out of print (which is very sad). I saw many parts and subjects that were later used in his genius Succession duo, which contained much of the awesome without all the strange and violently sexual (well... some of the near-rape fetish, but less of it and less graphically so). Still, the very unorthodox and disturbing qualities that make it unprofitable, left me with a mind buzzing with possibilities, daydreams, and philosophical ponderings of most delicious sort. It is books like these that put me in awe of the writing profession, knowing I could never, ever create something so incredible out of thin air. Evolution's Darling is a true work of art.
October 10, 2013
That was a weird read. That's really all there is to say. There are some interesting storylines, but a lot of them get dropped and a lot of them have vague resolutions. You can see the early formings of Scott Westerfeld's writing, but the quality definitely goes up in his other novels. I'm probably always going to be kind of annoyed by the fact that we get NO resolution or even mention of the lithomorphs later in the book. Why mention such interesting creatures and set them up to be the big mystery of the story only to completely drop them and settle on a different, less compelling mystery? Meh. The storyline with Vaddum (which ends up becoming the big mystery) does end up carrying the story, and it's interesting enough to get you through the book, but ultimately makes for a lesser story than it could have been. Lots of 'could haves'. Anyways, I'm glad I gave the story a try just to widen my experience with Scott Westerfeld's writing, but it took a while and I'm also glad/relieved to be done.
April 5, 2009
Scott Westerfeld for grownups! Here's an AI book that's quick and straightforward enough for us all to enjoy. For his adult readers, Westerfeld ups the reading level, cuts the exposition, and adds lots of sex. As a fan of "Uglies" I thought all those things would make me just love this book more, but it actually clunked a little for me. I had to re-read bits of the beginning because I was expecting to be hit over the head with all the new conceptual stuff a few more times than I got. The sex actually detracted from the story; there wasn't a whole lot of chemistry, and the kink fell flat somehow. It took me almost a week to read this, which is about six days longer than any YA book from Westerfeld. However, the plot was crackly enough, and the book's concept of soul and memory was intriguing.
January 6, 2010
A very... interesting book. The rather disjointed style, hopping between times and places and perspectives, threw me a bit at first, but eventually the thread binding it together became clear. Very much a scifi novel. It reminded me rather of Ray Bradbury, which was disconcerting especially because I hadn't really thought of Scott Westerfield as doing scifi before, though at that Uglies/Pretties/Specials/Extras is rather in the realm of science fiction. I don't really know what to say besides that it's a very interesting book.
May 7, 2008
I read the first chapter of this book when it was printed as an excerpt in the F&SF Magazine, and I was hooked. Stunning, sprawling story that explores the future, the universe, and what it means for an artificial creature to make itself self-aware. Oh, and sex. Lots and lots of sex.
August 17, 2010
This is the first Westerfeld I've read and it reminded me of other early novels of great science fiction writers where the prose immediately captures you but you can tell this writer still has room to grow. The execution wasn't perfect, but I liked his writing style and can see the potential of a great future body of work.
Many other reviews either loved or hated the sex portions in the book. Overall I liked them because they gave me a different view of the AI's sentience but difference from humanity. AI's in fiction are becoming common but I felt his Darling character brought some new ideas and feelings to the reader
Many other reviews either loved or hated the sex portions in the book. Overall I liked them because they gave me a different view of the AI's sentience but difference from humanity. AI's in fiction are becoming common but I felt his Darling character brought some new ideas and feelings to the reader
November 6, 2015
I'm not sure about this one yet. It's definitely different. Very different. I feel that the story was good, the ideas were good, but they were tainted by some passages that were simply too weird to even begin to picture.
I enjoyed reading it and getting to know a little about Westerfeld's early stuff. But I now know that I definitely prefer his newer books.
I enjoyed reading it and getting to know a little about Westerfeld's early stuff. But I now know that I definitely prefer his newer books.
August 22, 2016
I honestly like Scott Westerfeld. Normally I am quite the book snob but I loved his Uglies series and found many of his other books fascinating- this one was just too much. I found the beginning section quite disturbing and decided to not push through to reading the rest.
March 28, 2007
Creepy AI sex in space. I am always amazed at the variety of books that Scott Westerfeld has written.
June 29, 2009
Ehh, I think I just don't really like most books that follow evolving AI over long periods of time.
December 2, 2014
Too much grotesque, violent sex. Couldn't finish.
December 17, 2008
not the tweeny romp i was expecting, more nuanced and sexy!
August 2, 2018
I knew this was an adult book going into it, but was still caught by surprise to see such an explicit novel from an author I've always (clearly mistakenly) associated with YA.
After the first chapter I was kind of thinking it might just turn into a straight up erotica story tied together with some thin semblance of a plot, but this didn't turn out to be the case. The setting and characters were interesting, and the story of an (seemingly psychopathic?) assassin of mysterious origins (unknown even to her) and an AI art appraiser/collector with a very long, unique history hunting down a new piece of art by what is meant to be a dead AI artist actually ended up being really captivating. The sex scenes weren't super cheesy or overly gratuitous either (though so weird, but not in a bad way).
Most of all, without giving too much away, I was really interested by the approach to AI rights in this book. The story starts when Darling (the AI art collector) is relatively young, just a spaceship AI (then-unnamed) owned by a journalist. These AIs have a measurable "Turing Quotient", which becomes higher as they get closer and closer to sentience over the course of their existence. The spaceship AI gains experience, interactions, etc and its Turing Quotient creeps up - especially through the interactions with the ship owner's curious daughter, whom he is tasked with helping protect on their travels from a very young age. When it crosses the threshold into legal personhood as its Turing Quotient reaches 1.0, Darling is granted full human rights. The treatment of AIs is further developed over the years, with some really interesting concepts (eg humans adopting lower-TQ AIs and purposefully raising them like children until they reach personhood).
Combine all of this with the very ethically prohibited idea of copying a mind and this turns into a pretty interesting story!
Anyway - final thoughts: very porny, but not at all shallow, with an interesting plot and setting.
After the first chapter I was kind of thinking it might just turn into a straight up erotica story tied together with some thin semblance of a plot, but this didn't turn out to be the case. The setting and characters were interesting, and the story of an (seemingly psychopathic?) assassin of mysterious origins (unknown even to her) and an AI art appraiser/collector with a very long, unique history hunting down a new piece of art by what is meant to be a dead AI artist actually ended up being really captivating. The sex scenes weren't super cheesy or overly gratuitous either (though so weird, but not in a bad way).
Most of all, without giving too much away, I was really interested by the approach to AI rights in this book. The story starts when Darling (the AI art collector) is relatively young, just a spaceship AI (then-unnamed) owned by a journalist. These AIs have a measurable "Turing Quotient", which becomes higher as they get closer and closer to sentience over the course of their existence. The spaceship AI gains experience, interactions, etc and its Turing Quotient creeps up - especially through the interactions with the ship owner's curious daughter, whom he is tasked with helping protect on their travels from a very young age. When it crosses the threshold into legal personhood as its Turing Quotient reaches 1.0, Darling is granted full human rights. The treatment of AIs is further developed over the years, with some really interesting concepts (eg humans adopting lower-TQ AIs and purposefully raising them like children until they reach personhood).
Combine all of this with the very ethically prohibited idea of copying a mind and this turns into a pretty interesting story!
Anyway - final thoughts: very porny, but not at all shallow, with an interesting plot and setting.
September 28, 2023
Reading this book I felt I wasn't suppose to come away liking any characters. From the opening prologue and initial chapters there was a strange neutrality to characters and situations: I didn't feel like I particularly liked any of them and that that was by design. Potential potent ethical questions are approached and dealt with with the pragmatism of someone having to make a decision and it left me surprised but also intrigued by this approach. After the prologue I had no characters I particularly liked/rooted for, during the book I slowly grew to like Darling and Mira, and then by the end I was back to not particularly liking anyone again. The book is at its best when the characters navigate a future world where the ethical or future hypotheticals we would simply ponder actually have to be acted on, and we are observers with no preferred side.
While this is interesting enough to pull me in and like the book the peculiar veil the book lives under gets disrupted towards the end for me, when we are meant to choose sides. We are meant to see the state that Mira is left in, her peculiarities that disturb Darling and the reveal of her forced amnesia, as the worse state to be in than the state Vaddum is left in- partially lobotomized with no ability to remember things against his will. The way the ending is portrayed as a good state to be in for Vaddum and Darling is strange to me because the treatment of Vaddum seems pretty bad. I could chalk this up to neutrality- I'm not suppose to like the decision and it again reinforces that their are no 'good' characters- but the tone its presented in makes it seem like I'm suppose to think it good. While the door is open at the end for unreliable narrator being called out with Memory and the looping story it still seems like the intention is for the end to represent a good end even though to me that is not the case.
While this is interesting enough to pull me in and like the book the peculiar veil the book lives under gets disrupted towards the end for me, when we are meant to choose sides. We are meant to see the state that Mira is left in, her peculiarities that disturb Darling and the reveal of her forced amnesia, as the worse state to be in than the state Vaddum is left in- partially lobotomized with no ability to remember things against his will. The way the ending is portrayed as a good state to be in for Vaddum and Darling is strange to me because the treatment of Vaddum seems pretty bad. I could chalk this up to neutrality- I'm not suppose to like the decision and it again reinforces that their are no 'good' characters- but the tone its presented in makes it seem like I'm suppose to think it good. While the door is open at the end for unreliable narrator being called out with Memory and the looping story it still seems like the intention is for the end to represent a good end even though to me that is not the case.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 18, 2023
definitely the worst of his stand-alone adult novels, and like it probably had potential? there were aspects that interested me?
but not enough to make up for that prologue (which was so fucking long and for what) JESUS CHRIST SHE WAS FOURTEEN and it wasn't even remotely necessary to the story? do we need to know how darling became a person? could rathere not have been older? fucking hell
and maybe i'm missing something but i thought the whole time that there was a connection with mira and rathere bc rathere was almost fifteen and mira didn't remember the first fifteen years of her life right? and darling just didn't recognize her bc she had grown up since he had last seen her but then it's revealed mira can't remember bc of the drowning incident and rathere got sick so apparently not?
also two ridiculous moments to me: "the woman placed her hand gently on rathere's genitals" HI who's doing that to a girl who was just assaulted oh my god
"how pleasing to be inside you" that's what i thought you'd say you fucking robot
anyway uh. yeah. in part a little too confusing but also just could not forgive the grossness of the beginning so.
but not enough to make up for that prologue (which was so fucking long and for what) JESUS CHRIST SHE WAS FOURTEEN and it wasn't even remotely necessary to the story? do we need to know how darling became a person? could rathere not have been older? fucking hell
and maybe i'm missing something but i thought the whole time that there was a connection with mira and rathere bc rathere was almost fifteen and mira didn't remember the first fifteen years of her life right? and darling just didn't recognize her bc she had grown up since he had last seen her but then it's revealed mira can't remember bc of the drowning incident and rathere got sick so apparently not?
also two ridiculous moments to me: "the woman placed her hand gently on rathere's genitals" HI who's doing that to a girl who was just assaulted oh my god
"how pleasing to be inside you" that's what i thought you'd say you fucking robot
anyway uh. yeah. in part a little too confusing but also just could not forgive the grossness of the beginning so.
October 21, 2025
Perhaps the last Westerfeld for which I did not have a review. This one was courtesy of Interlibrary Loan from University of Virginia.
Pretty much as cool as the rest of his adult sf. I kind of can't believe he got published under the same name for ya. The rough sex is more than a bit much. And the plot kind of gets lost in the complexity. Definitely out there hard sf. There is more than a little about parenting and intelligence, artificial or otherwise, violence.
Challenging, confusing. Continues to make me wonder about the hard turn the author did away from books like this one. 3.5 of 5
Pretty much as cool as the rest of his adult sf. I kind of can't believe he got published under the same name for ya. The rough sex is more than a bit much. And the plot kind of gets lost in the complexity. Definitely out there hard sf. There is more than a little about parenting and intelligence, artificial or otherwise, violence.
Challenging, confusing. Continues to make me wonder about the hard turn the author did away from books like this one. 3.5 of 5
October 3, 2017
I grew up loving Scott Westerfeld - I think my fascination with the parasite chapters in 'Peeps' got me into science - but man I was not in love with 'Evolution's Darling.' The concept is cool, but it just did not quite hit the mark for me. Also, some alien sex is fine but it got to just be exposition at some point. However, as in all of Westerfeld's book, there are a bunch of cool ideas about creatures and the distopic future.
May 21, 2023
Westerfeld is such an odd author. I loved a couple of his books, but I rabidly hate most of them. This book was just... so very not for me. It was about an AI that becomes human. But in doing so, it has sex with an underaged girl (very graphic/detailed, I skimmed so many pages trying to get to the end of the scene).
April 15, 2018
Sex scenes that really make you understand the transcendent, filthy passion of a savage and unexpectedly freeing love. A setting that begs you to feel things about inhuman intelligences.
Surprisingly good.
Surprisingly good.
August 9, 2019
Finally i am done with this ..... and can throw the book out
January 9, 2023
Surprised by how spicy this book gets. Really enjoyed it though.
August 23, 2025
i love when androids and future tech is so well utilized and alien in sci fi. really compelling plot and exploration of what makes a person
October 22, 2023
Well, that was different. I guess it's cyberpunk, heavily influenced by Samuel R. Delany. A college level vocabulary combined with sex and violence. I'm not sure who the intended audience would be. It's out of print now. It's quite a trip. I'm not sure I understand the ending, or why something happens between two people. Westerfeld writes YA now. I wonder if he'll ever come back to adult scifi. Maybe I'll check out his adult sf 2 book Succession series. I wanted more Rathere.
March 23, 2011
This is one of those books that I'm not quite sure about. I liked parts of it a lot and then there were parts that I was iffy on. I am going to state, very clearly, that this is absolutely a sci-fi book. And don't let Scott Westerfeld's name fool you into thinking it's YA. It's not. It's very firmly in the adult spectrum. There's sex. Lots of sex. Lots of marathon sex that push the boundaries of what the human body can take. No, it's not terribly graphic (I think everyone knows at this point that I have no problem with graphic sex in my books) but it's present in many forms. And positions. And not all the participants are human. Take that as you will.
So. What did I like? I liked the idea that an Artificial Intelligence would become the darlings of evolution with their ability to evolve in short spaces of time. I liked Darling's journey into self-awareness. I liked that he achieved sentience by loving someone. I liked Mira's ruthlessness. I liked that she was splintered and fractured and had no past.
What was I iffy on? It's been a while since I'd read a straight sci-fi book (aka: sci-fi with no sexy, spacefaring shapeshifters) and I had a hard time falling back into the more technical aspects of future-speak. Sometimes when things start getting all quantum and pedagogical my eyes would glaze over and I'd get distracted by shiny things. And, yes. I did have to look up "pedagogy" in the dictionary. Thanks for asking. (Pedagogy: The function or work of a teacher; teaching)
I also wasn't thrilled with the ending. It wasn't terrible, by any means, but it absolutely wasn't what I was expecting. Which isn't a bad thing except that I've been reading a lot of paranormal romances and urban fantasies and the endings tend to be a little more ... hmm, predictable, maybe? That's it- they tend to be a little more predictable as to how things are going to turn out. So I pretty much didn't see the ending coming and I was caught off guard.
Overall, it was unexpectedly (and sometimes clinically) sexual and keeping up with the technical talk kept me on my toes. Definitely more in the realm of old-school sci-fi than I've delved into recently. Mind you, that's not a bad thing, just something that's different. That said, this is one that will have to percolate a while before I know for sure whether I liked it or not.
-Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal
So. What did I like? I liked the idea that an Artificial Intelligence would become the darlings of evolution with their ability to evolve in short spaces of time. I liked Darling's journey into self-awareness. I liked that he achieved sentience by loving someone. I liked Mira's ruthlessness. I liked that she was splintered and fractured and had no past.
What was I iffy on? It's been a while since I'd read a straight sci-fi book (aka: sci-fi with no sexy, spacefaring shapeshifters) and I had a hard time falling back into the more technical aspects of future-speak. Sometimes when things start getting all quantum and pedagogical my eyes would glaze over and I'd get distracted by shiny things. And, yes. I did have to look up "pedagogy" in the dictionary. Thanks for asking. (Pedagogy: The function or work of a teacher; teaching)
I also wasn't thrilled with the ending. It wasn't terrible, by any means, but it absolutely wasn't what I was expecting. Which isn't a bad thing except that I've been reading a lot of paranormal romances and urban fantasies and the endings tend to be a little more ... hmm, predictable, maybe? That's it- they tend to be a little more predictable as to how things are going to turn out. So I pretty much didn't see the ending coming and I was caught off guard.
Overall, it was unexpectedly (and sometimes clinically) sexual and keeping up with the technical talk kept me on my toes. Definitely more in the realm of old-school sci-fi than I've delved into recently. Mind you, that's not a bad thing, just something that's different. That said, this is one that will have to percolate a while before I know for sure whether I liked it or not.
-Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal
March 4, 2014
TRIGGER WARNING: CHILD SEXUAL ASSAULT/RAPE. Seriously do not read this book if you're likely to be triggered, it's a bad idea.
--
So I'm having a lot of issues figuring out how to review this book, because it wasn't . . . exactly . . . bad. But it also really wasn't good. It could have been a really interesting exploration of sentience and artificial intelligence, and for a while it looked like it was going to be that. Unfortunately, what it became instead was several hundred pages of flinching.
The arguable main character, Darling, had some kind of Doctor Manhattan charm to him, if you're into that kind of thing; unfortunately, I tend to be underwhelmed by that character archetype in general, and more specifically was instantly really put off by the way in which Darling gained sentience, which I won't spoil here I guess but really just was super dubious consent-y. Which was great, because it set the tone for the whole book!
Here's my thing: I don't mind and in fact enjoy a book with some sex scenes in it, but a book with multiple rape-and-torture scenes and more scenes containing sex than conversations is not my jam. I can kind of see what Westerfeld was going for, because sex as a means of human interaction and communication both positive and negative, et cetera, but oh my god. This was incredibly disturbing. Not to mention kind of boring? I wanted to read more about art heists and . . . frankly anyone but Darling and Mira, who were okay but not that great.
I'm giving the book three stars for the things I liked, which were mostly Westerfeld's writing style. I pretty much adore it in every way and I will definitely continue reading his works, I just think this one struck some really poor tones with me personally. I also like the idea of Mira - I would just have much rather read about her doing things a billion light-years away from Darling, learning about herself in ways that don't involve Darling at all in any way.
--
So I'm having a lot of issues figuring out how to review this book, because it wasn't . . . exactly . . . bad. But it also really wasn't good. It could have been a really interesting exploration of sentience and artificial intelligence, and for a while it looked like it was going to be that. Unfortunately, what it became instead was several hundred pages of flinching.
The arguable main character, Darling, had some kind of Doctor Manhattan charm to him, if you're into that kind of thing; unfortunately, I tend to be underwhelmed by that character archetype in general, and more specifically was instantly really put off by the way in which Darling gained sentience, which I won't spoil here I guess but really just was super dubious consent-y. Which was great, because it set the tone for the whole book!
Here's my thing: I don't mind and in fact enjoy a book with some sex scenes in it, but a book with multiple rape-and-torture scenes and more scenes containing sex than conversations is not my jam. I can kind of see what Westerfeld was going for, because sex as a means of human interaction and communication both positive and negative, et cetera, but oh my god. This was incredibly disturbing. Not to mention kind of boring? I wanted to read more about art heists and . . . frankly anyone but Darling and Mira, who were okay but not that great.
I'm giving the book three stars for the things I liked, which were mostly Westerfeld's writing style. I pretty much adore it in every way and I will definitely continue reading his works, I just think this one struck some really poor tones with me personally. I also like the idea of Mira - I would just have much rather read about her doing things a billion light-years away from Darling, learning about herself in ways that don't involve Darling at all in any way.
June 12, 2019
Scott Westerfeld, I expected more from you. As the Uglies series shows, you're a good sci-fi writer. It and Leviathan proved you can convincingly write a new (or semi-new) world and yet leave the reader feeling like they *get* it.
Too bad you didn't in this book.
It's obviously meant for older teens, if not adults--not his fault my library has it in the juvenile section. But it seems that half the book is sex, sex, sex without a point. In fact, the entire book doesn't have a point. Chapters skip around various times and from various characters' POVs, but never quite come together enough to make a good story. Some of the characters were interesting, but their stories are all incomplete and I had to wonder: what was the point of me even reading this? There's no actual ending, half the plot isn't touched upon again.
And then there's jargon and more jargon; sometimes it's more like an encyclopedia than a novel, hard to follow even at the rare times when there's something resembling a story (which will, inevitably lead to more pointless sex). The book can't decide what it wants more: sci-fi, adult semi-romance (the sex scenes are often detailed), a plot, avant-garde non-sequential storytelling, or a clinical-sounding exposition on new worlds.
To be fair, it's one of his earlier works. To be honest, avoid it. There's much better stuff out there.
Too bad you didn't in this book.
It's obviously meant for older teens, if not adults--not his fault my library has it in the juvenile section. But it seems that half the book is sex, sex, sex without a point. In fact, the entire book doesn't have a point. Chapters skip around various times and from various characters' POVs, but never quite come together enough to make a good story. Some of the characters were interesting, but their stories are all incomplete and I had to wonder: what was the point of me even reading this? There's no actual ending, half the plot isn't touched upon again.
And then there's jargon and more jargon; sometimes it's more like an encyclopedia than a novel, hard to follow even at the rare times when there's something resembling a story (which will, inevitably lead to more pointless sex). The book can't decide what it wants more: sci-fi, adult semi-romance (the sex scenes are often detailed), a plot, avant-garde non-sequential storytelling, or a clinical-sounding exposition on new worlds.
To be fair, it's one of his earlier works. To be honest, avoid it. There's much better stuff out there.
February 13, 2017
Pornographic and kinda sweet, not your usual Scott Westerfeld book. The writing was clunkier, the story was interesting but kinda choppy in narrative flow. A definite requirement for Scott Westerfeld fans but I'm hesitant to recommend it to absolutely everyone.
April 13, 2014
3.5/5
What is the making of an independent intelligent individual?
is it the body? the soul?
Is it the complex brain with all its wires and connections, or is it an aware intelligence recording experience, thought, intuition, resulting into individual feelings and beliefs.
Scott Westerfield explores the vulnerable and fragile earthrock that we base our humanity upon, strips it away from flesh and bone, and shows us what really is the making of individuality.
As a fan of "Uglies", and "Midnighters", I couldnt help but think this was a teen fiction author's petty attempt at a slightly erotic, adult fiction.
Emphasis on adult.
But halfway through, well, he takes out the big guns and throws you in a spiral of philosophy, self reflection, the power of memory, but most importantly, what gives an intelligent being -no matter the shell or form- the right for independent individuality.
I've got to admit, changing the way i look at AI fiction, making me see the world through an artificial's advanced -microzoom x100 infrared lenses- with emotion, capacity for eons of memory full of tragedy, a mechanic octopus limbed lust, and a need for growth -Oh that AI growth- is worthy for a hat off.
What is the making of an independent intelligent individual?
is it the body? the soul?
Is it the complex brain with all its wires and connections, or is it an aware intelligence recording experience, thought, intuition, resulting into individual feelings and beliefs.
Scott Westerfield explores the vulnerable and fragile earthrock that we base our humanity upon, strips it away from flesh and bone, and shows us what really is the making of individuality.
As a fan of "Uglies", and "Midnighters", I couldnt help but think this was a teen fiction author's petty attempt at a slightly erotic, adult fiction.
Emphasis on adult.
But halfway through, well, he takes out the big guns and throws you in a spiral of philosophy, self reflection, the power of memory, but most importantly, what gives an intelligent being -no matter the shell or form- the right for independent individuality.
I've got to admit, changing the way i look at AI fiction, making me see the world through an artificial's advanced -microzoom x100 infrared lenses- with emotion, capacity for eons of memory full of tragedy, a mechanic octopus limbed lust, and a need for growth -Oh that AI growth- is worthy for a hat off.
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