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The Medusa Cycle #1
Medusa Uploaded
The Executives control Oichi’s senses, her voice, her life. Until the day they kill her.
An executive clan gives the order to shoot Oichi out of an airlock on suspicion of being an insurgent. A sentient AI, a Medusa unit, rescues Oichi and begins to teach her the truth—the Executives are not who they think they are. Oichi, officially dead and now bonded to the Medusa unit, sees a chance to make a better life for everyone on board.
As she sets things right one assassination at a time, Oichi becomes the very insurgent the Executives feared, and in the process uncovers the shocking truth behind the generation starship that is their home.
An executive clan gives the order to shoot Oichi out of an airlock on suspicion of being an insurgent. A sentient AI, a Medusa unit, rescues Oichi and begins to teach her the truth—the Executives are not who they think they are. Oichi, officially dead and now bonded to the Medusa unit, sees a chance to make a better life for everyone on board.
As she sets things right one assassination at a time, Oichi becomes the very insurgent the Executives feared, and in the process uncovers the shocking truth behind the generation starship that is their home.
317 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2018
148 people are currently reading
3588 people want to read
About the author
Emily Devenport
36 books192 followersLook for MEDUSA UPLOADED, published by Tor, available in paper, ebook, and audio. MEDUSA IN THE GRAVEYARD is due out from Tor in July 2019.
I've been published under three pen names: as Emily Devenport, I wrote SHADE, LARISSA, SCORPIANNE, EGGHEADS, THE KRONOS CONDITION, and GODHEADS. As Maggy Thomas, I wrote BROKEN TIME, which was nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award. As Lee Hogan I wrote BELARUS and ENEMIES. My books have been published in the U.S., the U.K., Italy, and Israel. I'm writing as Emily Devenport again, and I have two titles available exclusively in ebook: THE NIGHT SHIFTERS and SPIRITS OF GLORY. (Okay -- almost exclusively. TNS is also available in audio.)
I'm an undergraduate studying Geology, a volunteer at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, and a buyer for the Heard Museum book store.
I've been published under three pen names: as Emily Devenport, I wrote SHADE, LARISSA, SCORPIANNE, EGGHEADS, THE KRONOS CONDITION, and GODHEADS. As Maggy Thomas, I wrote BROKEN TIME, which was nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award. As Lee Hogan I wrote BELARUS and ENEMIES. My books have been published in the U.S., the U.K., Italy, and Israel. I'm writing as Emily Devenport again, and I have two titles available exclusively in ebook: THE NIGHT SHIFTERS and SPIRITS OF GLORY. (Okay -- almost exclusively. TNS is also available in audio.)
I'm an undergraduate studying Geology, a volunteer at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, and a buyer for the Heard Museum book store.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 295 reviews
May 17, 2018
I think the Generation Ship fad may have peaked last year. Sage Walker’s The Man in the Tree, Marina J. Lostetter’s Noumenon, and Rivers Solomon’s An Unkindness of Ghosts all offered exceptional and engaging riffs on the age-old SF trope, leaving Emily Devenport’s new novel Medusa Uploaded with a lot to live up to. The twist in Devenport’s take comes in hardware form – the novel’s hero, Oichi, has the help of an artificially intelligent armor-suit called Medusa to aid in her mutiny against the Executives, an oppressive hegemony that rules over the generation starship Olympia. Medusa is a cool piece of tech, and the mythology Devenport builds around it is intricate. It’s not hard to get behind Oichi’s goals – she wants to avenge her parents’ death and free “worms” like herself from the Executives’ shackles – and I was especially impressed by the amount of history and detail Devenport imbued in the novel’s setting. By the end, though, my gripes had compounded: Medusa is near-ubiquitous, a perpetual easy-out for Oichi every time she gets into a scrape, and at no point did I feel that Oichi was in any real danger; “spacing” people out of an airlock is apparently the only method anyone can think up to kill someone in Olympia, and this becomes redundant to the point of tedium; the incessant pop culture references are distracting; there is an inordinate amount of exposition, and it reaches critical mass during the expected “they’ve been lying to us this whole time” finale. Medusa Uploaded is a pretty good effort but can’t quite keep up with the richer examples of its sub-genre.
March 1, 2021
This one rang all my chimes. If you like real SF, with some character development, High Concepts out the Wazoo, cuddly AI's (well, murderous too) -- plus, exploding spaceships! -- Medusa's the book for you. Really, put this one on your list. Very, very impressive -- and a whole lot of fun, once it gets rolling.
I was a bit worried it would be too bloody-minded for my taste. NOT, though the body-count gets pretty appalling, as do the Bad Guys. Here's Annalee Newitz's accurate blurb:
"Fascinating courtly intrigue and bloody power games set on a generation ship full of secrets―Medusa Uploaded is an imaginative, intense mystery about family dramas and ancient technologies whose influence reverberates across the stars. Disturbing, exciting, and frankly kind of mind-blowing.” #1 of a new series.
The ending is a supercool setup for #2, in which I devoutly hope she can deliver something of this quality. An enormous Graveyard of Ships! Hints re the Forerunners! Who are those pesky Weapons Clan folks, anyway? Stay tuned!
I had last read Emily Devenport in her "Eggheads" era (circa 1996), which I didn't much care for. She's grown a lot in writing craft since those days.
And here's the cover reveal. Snaky, Geiger-esque art by Sam Weber. I like it a lot. Those eyes!
https://www.torforgeblog.com/2017/09/...
Author's comments: https://www.torforgeblog.com/2018/04/... "....my character, Oichi, showed up in one of my dreams. She was in a tough spot, but she also had a lot of useful attributes—and a powerful friend: Medusa. I could see that revenge wasn’t their motivation, but I admit—it was mine. Like any god, I had selfish impulses when I set my avatars in motion. I wanted revenge on the people who oppressed them...."
I was a bit worried it would be too bloody-minded for my taste. NOT, though the body-count gets pretty appalling, as do the Bad Guys. Here's Annalee Newitz's accurate blurb:
"Fascinating courtly intrigue and bloody power games set on a generation ship full of secrets―Medusa Uploaded is an imaginative, intense mystery about family dramas and ancient technologies whose influence reverberates across the stars. Disturbing, exciting, and frankly kind of mind-blowing.” #1 of a new series.
The ending is a supercool setup for #2, in which I devoutly hope she can deliver something of this quality. An enormous Graveyard of Ships! Hints re the Forerunners! Who are those pesky Weapons Clan folks, anyway? Stay tuned!
I had last read Emily Devenport in her "Eggheads" era (circa 1996), which I didn't much care for. She's grown a lot in writing craft since those days.
And here's the cover reveal. Snaky, Geiger-esque art by Sam Weber. I like it a lot. Those eyes!
https://www.torforgeblog.com/2017/09/...
Author's comments: https://www.torforgeblog.com/2018/04/... "....my character, Oichi, showed up in one of my dreams. She was in a tough spot, but she also had a lot of useful attributes—and a powerful friend: Medusa. I could see that revenge wasn’t their motivation, but I admit—it was mine. Like any god, I had selfish impulses when I set my avatars in motion. I wanted revenge on the people who oppressed them...."
June 25, 2018
4.5 stars
I really, really enjoyed this one. For a book about class differences, insurgencies, conspiracy, and murder it actually felt surprisingly upbeat. That is largely because Oichi isn't the tortured and angry type, but rather someone who just pulls it together and gets shit done and keeps a positive attitude while doing it. I also loved how she never seemed to lose her appreciation for new and interesting things, which is consistent with her character's insatiable curiosity.
The generation ship is one of my favourite settings, and I have read a few good ones lately, like Noumenon by Marina J. Lostetter. Medusa Uploaded is completely different, and I loved it. The writing was personal and made me feel attached to the characters and the unfolding of events. It was complex without being so complicated that I lost track of what was going on. The sentient AIs here - the Medusa units - were so interesting and I loved the concept of them.
The book is supposed to start a series, but it does wrap up nicely enough that it could be read as a standalone while still leaving lots of fertile ground to follow up on. This is a series I will definitely continue.
I really, really enjoyed this one. For a book about class differences, insurgencies, conspiracy, and murder it actually felt surprisingly upbeat. That is largely because Oichi isn't the tortured and angry type, but rather someone who just pulls it together and gets shit done and keeps a positive attitude while doing it. I also loved how she never seemed to lose her appreciation for new and interesting things, which is consistent with her character's insatiable curiosity.
The generation ship is one of my favourite settings, and I have read a few good ones lately, like Noumenon by Marina J. Lostetter. Medusa Uploaded is completely different, and I loved it. The writing was personal and made me feel attached to the characters and the unfolding of events. It was complex without being so complicated that I lost track of what was going on. The sentient AIs here - the Medusa units - were so interesting and I loved the concept of them.
The book is supposed to start a series, but it does wrap up nicely enough that it could be read as a standalone while still leaving lots of fertile ground to follow up on. This is a series I will definitely continue.
July 1, 2018
Class struggle and mystery aboard a far-future generation ship where a young woman goes from being the lowest class of inhabitant to becoming an alien-technology-enhanced freedom fighter.
Oichi is a recent immigrant to Olympia and survivor of the destruction of the Titania, Olympia's sister ship. She's also the recipient of gifts from her parents that mean she's not quite as helpless as other "worms", which is handy because the Executives of Olympia kill at the drop of a hat. Soon, Oichi is out of an airlock and having an encounter with something really unexpected (the titular Medusa) and things get interesting from there.
Oichi's voice is light and compelling despite the dire situations she finds herself in. The way she sees many of the people she encounters during her insurgency is quite positive, even when they're acting against her. The narrative is also quite non-linear, although it becomes less so as the book progresses. That can make it a little hard to follow what's happening early on, but all the digressions wrap-up nicely.
Oichi is a recent immigrant to Olympia and survivor of the destruction of the Titania, Olympia's sister ship. She's also the recipient of gifts from her parents that mean she's not quite as helpless as other "worms", which is handy because the Executives of Olympia kill at the drop of a hat. Soon, Oichi is out of an airlock and having an encounter with something really unexpected (the titular Medusa) and things get interesting from there.
Oichi's voice is light and compelling despite the dire situations she finds herself in. The way she sees many of the people she encounters during her insurgency is quite positive, even when they're acting against her. The narrative is also quite non-linear, although it becomes less so as the book progresses. That can make it a little hard to follow what's happening early on, but all the digressions wrap-up nicely.
June 15, 2018
[I received this from MacMillan in exchange for an honest review.]
If you're a fan of Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn, this is the book for you! There's quite a few similarities: badass female assassin, family saga, elitist rich jerks, class struggle, revolution and more.
The story follows Oichi, a grunt on a generation ship whose death has been ordered. She becomes woke, as the kids say, and discovers the inner machinations of the ship and its elite overlords, if you will. Oichi has been bred for the purpose of taking them down and this she attempts. Many a violent death ensues.
In a way this is revenge fantasy. Countless assholes get their comeuppance. If you like seeing victims destroying bullies, set to classical music along with some Japanese names for color, this book has got all that in spades!
All in all, I found Medusa Uploaded more interesting than exciting. Certainly there are some moments of heart-pounding action, but much of the time the narration feels like exposition. Perhaps that's because all too often the author states results before the action has taken place. And then I killed him! Now let me tell you how. That kind of storytelling never packs much punch. Still though, the book is full of enjoyable sci-fi details that should serve author and reader well as the saga continues!
If you're a fan of Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn, this is the book for you! There's quite a few similarities: badass female assassin, family saga, elitist rich jerks, class struggle, revolution and more.
The story follows Oichi, a grunt on a generation ship whose death has been ordered. She becomes woke, as the kids say, and discovers the inner machinations of the ship and its elite overlords, if you will. Oichi has been bred for the purpose of taking them down and this she attempts. Many a violent death ensues.
In a way this is revenge fantasy. Countless assholes get their comeuppance. If you like seeing victims destroying bullies, set to classical music along with some Japanese names for color, this book has got all that in spades!
All in all, I found Medusa Uploaded more interesting than exciting. Certainly there are some moments of heart-pounding action, but much of the time the narration feels like exposition. Perhaps that's because all too often the author states results before the action has taken place. And then I killed him! Now let me tell you how. That kind of storytelling never packs much punch. Still though, the book is full of enjoyable sci-fi details that should serve author and reader well as the saga continues!
May 21, 2018
Yeah, yeah. I know. I'm the author's husband, so I'm not objective, but it's still one helluva book, dammit!
November 14, 2025
Behaviorists say that killers aren’t born in a vacuum. But I was born on a generation ship. Our journey is between the stars, and as massive as those gravity wells can be, the space in between them is vacuum. And I’m not the only killer on this ship. Let me tell you about some of the others.
Let me tell you - my impatience for this book was completely justified. Oichi Angelis is a "worm" aboard the generation ship Olympia, and she was recently murdered by being thrown from an airlock; a not uncommon fate for those who cross a member of the Executive class (absolutely including other Executives). You might think this would interfere with her plans for avenging the murder of her parents; but she has an unexpected ally who will ensure otherwise.
If you thought that paragraph was complicated, just wait until you get into this book. While not my first generation ship in fiction (there's definitely not enough of those around), it was the first time I truly felt the sheer massive size of all that would be needed to undertake moving a viable population through space. The plot itself is similarly massive, though seen through Oichi's eyes the reader can only be aware of that in the way that we know icebergs are much bigger beyond what we can currently see. We nibble around the edges until the full shape is finally revealed - and what a reveal.
that’s how I learned that there are two kinds of hunger: the one you suffer because there’s not enough and the one you suffer because there’s too much. With the first, you simply endure because you have no choice. With the second, the choices torment you just about every waking moment.
Oichi herself is a chameleon, and it's through the personas she takes on that we start getting a glimpse of who she really is. Further glimpses are shown as she begins to form relationships and build a small and very secret resistance around herself; as time goes on we're even allowed glimpses of a playful side. She's an enigma even to herself, but an interesting one.
Finally, the soundtrack - music and movies in particular are referenced throughout the book and absolutely enhanced the reading of it. The pieces were clearly chosen carefully and thoughtfully; they weave into the narrative, and enhance characters by revealing personality where otherwise it would be hard to define. I've ended up with almost twenty highlights just to keep track of the ones I enjoyed the most.
This was a fantastic book and one that absolutely should be read multiple times; the writing itself is wonderful and the entire experience of reading this book was an absolute joy.
9/04/18
Read an excerpt on Tor - now May 1st seems forever away. Every word was exactly what I wanted this to be, and the "soundtrack" was perfect. Siiiiiigh I hate waiting.
Let me tell you - my impatience for this book was completely justified. Oichi Angelis is a "worm" aboard the generation ship Olympia, and she was recently murdered by being thrown from an airlock; a not uncommon fate for those who cross a member of the Executive class (absolutely including other Executives). You might think this would interfere with her plans for avenging the murder of her parents; but she has an unexpected ally who will ensure otherwise.
If you thought that paragraph was complicated, just wait until you get into this book. While not my first generation ship in fiction (there's definitely not enough of those around), it was the first time I truly felt the sheer massive size of all that would be needed to undertake moving a viable population through space. The plot itself is similarly massive, though seen through Oichi's eyes the reader can only be aware of that in the way that we know icebergs are much bigger beyond what we can currently see. We nibble around the edges until the full shape is finally revealed - and what a reveal.
that’s how I learned that there are two kinds of hunger: the one you suffer because there’s not enough and the one you suffer because there’s too much. With the first, you simply endure because you have no choice. With the second, the choices torment you just about every waking moment.
Oichi herself is a chameleon, and it's through the personas she takes on that we start getting a glimpse of who she really is. Further glimpses are shown as she begins to form relationships and build a small and very secret resistance around herself; as time goes on we're even allowed glimpses of a playful side. She's an enigma even to herself, but an interesting one.
Finally, the soundtrack - music and movies in particular are referenced throughout the book and absolutely enhanced the reading of it. The pieces were clearly chosen carefully and thoughtfully; they weave into the narrative, and enhance characters by revealing personality where otherwise it would be hard to define. I've ended up with almost twenty highlights just to keep track of the ones I enjoyed the most.
This was a fantastic book and one that absolutely should be read multiple times; the writing itself is wonderful and the entire experience of reading this book was an absolute joy.
9/04/18
Read an excerpt on Tor - now May 1st seems forever away. Every word was exactly what I wanted this to be, and the "soundtrack" was perfect. Siiiiiigh I hate waiting.
June 7, 2018
I really wish I had enjoyed this more, but I had too many issues with it. For starters, the time-jumps were terribly confusing, and maybe it’s a personal thing, but I disliked all the foreshadowing in this and the way Oichi (the main character) would address the reader directly and say something like,
“Don’t ya love it? Happy ending. We beat the bad guys. Okay, they blew themselves up, but still. We can’t be blamed for thinking we had won a victory.
But we should have known it wasn’t going to be that easy.”
Another problem I found was the type of language used in the book. For instance, the chapter titles did not match the tone of the story at all:
“Why I’m a Big Jerk (in Dazzling Detail)”
and
“Wait... What?”
The colloquialisms and the constant references to music/movies of our time right now was similarly strange since the language kept shifting.
Additionally, Medusa was always there to save the day if Oichi ever got into trouble, which was a lot, and the way she jumped to conclusions was way too easy.
However the most irritating bit was the discussion about eyes. No one can recognize someone by only their eyes. Seriously, there was even a color change.
That’s not to say I hated the book or anything. Some of it was very enjoyable, especially the world building. I loved the detail and history, and I did like the twist concerning three powerful creatures. Overall, it was an okay read (but if you like fantastic chapter titles, consider Gail Carriger’s).
“Don’t ya love it? Happy ending. We beat the bad guys. Okay, they blew themselves up, but still. We can’t be blamed for thinking we had won a victory.
But we should have known it wasn’t going to be that easy.”
Another problem I found was the type of language used in the book. For instance, the chapter titles did not match the tone of the story at all:
“Why I’m a Big Jerk (in Dazzling Detail)”
and
“Wait... What?”
The colloquialisms and the constant references to music/movies of our time right now was similarly strange since the language kept shifting.
Additionally, Medusa was always there to save the day if Oichi ever got into trouble, which was a lot, and the way she jumped to conclusions was way too easy.
However the most irritating bit was the discussion about eyes. No one can recognize someone by only their eyes. Seriously, there was even a color change.
That’s not to say I hated the book or anything. Some of it was very enjoyable, especially the world building. I loved the detail and history, and I did like the twist concerning three powerful creatures. Overall, it was an okay read (but if you like fantastic chapter titles, consider Gail Carriger’s).
May 4, 2018
(Disclaimer: I received this free book as a gift. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
I don't feel clever enough to review this book. Medusa Uploaded is brimming with wealth, with promise, and with technology. There's so much to unpack, so many levels on which it stands above all. I'm not saying it's the one book to rule them all, but it has this quiet intelligence. Despite it being a heavily science based science fiction, there's this fantastical whimsical nature to it. It's like a mouthful of something that is equally sweet and spicy. There is enough science to get lost in, to do a lecture of its own on, but then there's this very human aspect. At war with this dense world is a real sense of injustice, gritty characters, and dangerous stakes.
full review: https://utopia-state-of-mind.com/revi...
I don't feel clever enough to review this book. Medusa Uploaded is brimming with wealth, with promise, and with technology. There's so much to unpack, so many levels on which it stands above all. I'm not saying it's the one book to rule them all, but it has this quiet intelligence. Despite it being a heavily science based science fiction, there's this fantastical whimsical nature to it. It's like a mouthful of something that is equally sweet and spicy. There is enough science to get lost in, to do a lecture of its own on, but then there's this very human aspect. At war with this dense world is a real sense of injustice, gritty characters, and dangerous stakes.
full review: https://utopia-state-of-mind.com/revi...
July 3, 2018
4.5 stars.
Oichi Angelis is a Worm. A serial killer. Subversive. Smart.
I read Emily Devenport's The Servant in Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 107, before reading this, and I was a little surprised by how much of the short story is in this novel. "Medusa Uploaded" has so much more on the ship's culture of Executives and Servants, and the politicking amongst the Executive families and how they resolve some of their differences. There is a high body count in this book, thanks to both the Executive families and to Oichi. While she acknowledges her murderous actions, there is also so much more to Oichi, including her origins and her plots, in which she is aided by an AI, Medusa.
Music plays a big part in this story, and in Oichi’s plots. I loved the many references to specific pieces, primarily classical, that figure throughout this book.
Devenport also opened up the story to much larger mysteries about the ship's start and its destination, and why they're headed where they're going. While the mysteries aren't resolved in this book, Oichi and Medusa effect a number of changes to some of the people on board. Oichi's and Medusa's relationship is great, and their interactions with a couple of odd and faintly sinister, ghostly presences on the ship was both fascinating and a little creepy. I'm definitely interested in following Oichi and Medusa to book 2.
Oichi Angelis is a Worm. A serial killer. Subversive. Smart.
I read Emily Devenport's The Servant in Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 107, before reading this, and I was a little surprised by how much of the short story is in this novel. "Medusa Uploaded" has so much more on the ship's culture of Executives and Servants, and the politicking amongst the Executive families and how they resolve some of their differences. There is a high body count in this book, thanks to both the Executive families and to Oichi. While she acknowledges her murderous actions, there is also so much more to Oichi, including her origins and her plots, in which she is aided by an AI, Medusa.
Music plays a big part in this story, and in Oichi’s plots. I loved the many references to specific pieces, primarily classical, that figure throughout this book.
Devenport also opened up the story to much larger mysteries about the ship's start and its destination, and why they're headed where they're going. While the mysteries aren't resolved in this book, Oichi and Medusa effect a number of changes to some of the people on board. Oichi's and Medusa's relationship is great, and their interactions with a couple of odd and faintly sinister, ghostly presences on the ship was both fascinating and a little creepy. I'm definitely interested in following Oichi and Medusa to book 2.
Read
May 12, 2018Oichi is a 'worm' - a servant class in an enormous generation spaceship where the Executive class gets all the privileges, and the servant class are at the whim of anyone more powerful - with a swift journey out of an airlock a common method of execution and murder. Oichi, survivor of a sabotaged sister ship, is set on revenge and revolution.
I had a few complicated reactions to this one. I really liked the Medusas, and think they'd be spectacular to watch. I was constantly jerked out of the world by the tone of the narration and contradictions in the worldbuilding. This is a generation ship that's been journeying at least a century, and is not apparently from Earth, which is a long-ago place in these people's histories. Oichi has been denied a full education, while the Executive has access to enough information to be writing papers on early Russian art and has what is claimed to be original Japanese silk screens. The Executive families are divided by what seems country - there's a French named clan who likes French things, a Japanese name clan that has Japanese things (and look Japanese, etc). Despite all the learned papers, we're also told that none of the travellers have access to etymologies, and use idioms without knowing their origins, and that they have only a cut-down selection of music, and all movies were destroyed.
I kept wondering if it was a fake spaceship (and was mildly annoyed by the tendency for Oichi to discover people who Knew All, all along) and was particularly pulled out of the text when Oichi (centuries in the future, raised as a servant, orphaned young, denied formal education, relying on a secret cache of hidden music - and later movies) used the phrase "Resting Smirk Face".
So I was being constantly jarred by the tone of the narration, and also by fact that (rather like Ready Player One) 100% of the cultural artifacts Oichi refers to exist now. No-one on the ship seems to create anything, and no-one who set the ship in motion and put the databases together seems to have used a single piece of music, film or literature that does not currently exist.
So, mixed feelings on this one. An interesting read, but too much jarring for me to properly enjoy it.
I had a few complicated reactions to this one. I really liked the Medusas, and think they'd be spectacular to watch. I was constantly jerked out of the world by the tone of the narration and contradictions in the worldbuilding. This is a generation ship that's been journeying at least a century, and is not apparently from Earth, which is a long-ago place in these people's histories. Oichi has been denied a full education, while the Executive has access to enough information to be writing papers on early Russian art and has what is claimed to be original Japanese silk screens. The Executive families are divided by what seems country - there's a French named clan who likes French things, a Japanese name clan that has Japanese things (and look Japanese, etc). Despite all the learned papers, we're also told that none of the travellers have access to etymologies, and use idioms without knowing their origins, and that they have only a cut-down selection of music, and all movies were destroyed.
I kept wondering if it was a fake spaceship (and was mildly annoyed by the tendency for Oichi to discover people who Knew All, all along) and was particularly pulled out of the text when Oichi (centuries in the future, raised as a servant, orphaned young, denied formal education, relying on a secret cache of hidden music - and later movies) used the phrase "Resting Smirk Face".
So I was being constantly jarred by the tone of the narration, and also by fact that (rather like Ready Player One) 100% of the cultural artifacts Oichi refers to exist now. No-one on the ship seems to create anything, and no-one who set the ship in motion and put the databases together seems to have used a single piece of music, film or literature that does not currently exist.
So, mixed feelings on this one. An interesting read, but too much jarring for me to properly enjoy it.
June 21, 2018
4.5 stars! This was a great surprise. There are flaws but nothing that takes away from the unpeeling of layers and twists. The main character wasn’t unreliable but we see the generation ship through her eyes and, like in real life, when new information is revealed perspective shifts.
I read this over several weeks. It’s not that long and I wanted to just sit and read but life didn’t allow that free time. I think it would be a good reread one day.
I read this over several weeks. It’s not that long and I wanted to just sit and read but life didn’t allow that free time. I think it would be a good reread one day.
May 8, 2018
Pros: fascinating characters, excellent world building, layered mysteries
Cons:
Oichi Angelis is a murderess and conspirator upon the generation spaceship Olympia. Using a Medusa unit, she’s been taking out key members of the Executive class. But the Executives aren’t the only threats to her mission to overturn the ship’s rigid class system.
The back cover synopsis for this book calls Oichi a ‘worm’, which I’d misinterpreted as meaning she was either a computer program or A.I. of some sort. So I was surprised to discover she was a human, and that ‘worm’ was a slur for low level people on the ship. Oichi is a fascinating character, who’s completely unapologetic about the live’s she’s taken (who are mostly horrible people), that you can’t help but like her. In many ways it’s her connection with Medusa, a partly biological machine, that allows her to be such a good assassin.
The world-building is great. The author manages to explain the ship’s history in ways that felt organic but not intrusive. For example, there’s a scene where Oishi is pretending to study for school while she’s actually doing something else. So the narrative is interrupted by occasional digressions of the video that’s playing on her screen. At other times we learn about the ship as she does, especially with regards to the executives and their dealings.
There are several overlapping mysteries, all introduced in layers. One mystery is a snippet of conversation Oishi overhears as a child. As she grows up she tries to understand what the Executives were saying, but her interpretation changes as she learns more and more.
Chapters are written in a circuitous way, starting with foreshadowing of what’s going to happen, then a linear narrative leading back to what was hinted at or stated earlier. I was impressed at how well the author managed to guide you through the narrative. There was only one spot where I was confused about when an event happened, and that was cleared up quickly. As Oichi learns more about one mystery, others - so many others - come to light. The book keeps you guessing about everyone’s motivations.
I really enjoyed this and can’t wait for the next book.
Cons:
Oichi Angelis is a murderess and conspirator upon the generation spaceship Olympia. Using a Medusa unit, she’s been taking out key members of the Executive class. But the Executives aren’t the only threats to her mission to overturn the ship’s rigid class system.
The back cover synopsis for this book calls Oichi a ‘worm’, which I’d misinterpreted as meaning she was either a computer program or A.I. of some sort. So I was surprised to discover she was a human, and that ‘worm’ was a slur for low level people on the ship. Oichi is a fascinating character, who’s completely unapologetic about the live’s she’s taken (who are mostly horrible people), that you can’t help but like her. In many ways it’s her connection with Medusa, a partly biological machine, that allows her to be such a good assassin.
The world-building is great. The author manages to explain the ship’s history in ways that felt organic but not intrusive. For example, there’s a scene where Oishi is pretending to study for school while she’s actually doing something else. So the narrative is interrupted by occasional digressions of the video that’s playing on her screen. At other times we learn about the ship as she does, especially with regards to the executives and their dealings.
There are several overlapping mysteries, all introduced in layers. One mystery is a snippet of conversation Oishi overhears as a child. As she grows up she tries to understand what the Executives were saying, but her interpretation changes as she learns more and more.
Chapters are written in a circuitous way, starting with foreshadowing of what’s going to happen, then a linear narrative leading back to what was hinted at or stated earlier. I was impressed at how well the author managed to guide you through the narrative. There was only one spot where I was confused about when an event happened, and that was cleared up quickly. As Oichi learns more about one mystery, others - so many others - come to light. The book keeps you guessing about everyone’s motivations.
I really enjoyed this and can’t wait for the next book.
July 28, 2018
4,5/5
Medusa Uploaded is set on a generation ship housing class struggle, politics and mysteries. It follows Oishi, a young woman working to dismantle the system, she’s a killer, a spy, a chameleon… She’s also a very funny, curious, positive and nice person to follow. The way she narrates her killings and the way she navigates the ship, her life and other interactions made me like her a lot and makes for a very entertaining novel. The fact that she teams up with some kind of cool AI is another box ticked on my favourite things to find in books!
The narration of the novel can be quite complicated, going back and forth in the past present and future, the only indication being who’s dead or not yet. I read this book in a short period of time and discussing it with a friend and I think it’s the best way to go. I was still confused on several occasions and even after finishing it I’m still not sure I understood all of it. It’s the kind of book that doesn’t explain everything plainly and trusts the reader to figure things out and remember important informations. It’s something I really like, even if I think I might have missed some details once or twice.
I really liked the way musics and movies were used in the novel. It makes for a lot of classic and pop culture reference that, even when not being familiar with all of them, was very enjoyable.
The amount of people being killed (or almost killed) by being spaced out of airlocks is a bit comical when looking back but it sure sounds very useful and a cleaner way to go.
The way Oishi brings people together and around herself was one of my favourite thing, which reminded me slightly of Breq from the Imperial Radch trilogy.
The author said on goodreads that “It’s a stand-alone book set in the same universe as the upcoming sequel.” which makes me think there might not be more of Oishi, but at least the complexity of this book can make for a very interesting re-read, as well as the joy to be back with a cool-headed, compassionate, badass scheming woman.
Content warnings: gang rapes, suicide, mass killing
Medusa Uploaded is set on a generation ship housing class struggle, politics and mysteries. It follows Oishi, a young woman working to dismantle the system, she’s a killer, a spy, a chameleon… She’s also a very funny, curious, positive and nice person to follow. The way she narrates her killings and the way she navigates the ship, her life and other interactions made me like her a lot and makes for a very entertaining novel. The fact that she teams up with some kind of cool AI is another box ticked on my favourite things to find in books!
The narration of the novel can be quite complicated, going back and forth in the past present and future, the only indication being who’s dead or not yet. I read this book in a short period of time and discussing it with a friend and I think it’s the best way to go. I was still confused on several occasions and even after finishing it I’m still not sure I understood all of it. It’s the kind of book that doesn’t explain everything plainly and trusts the reader to figure things out and remember important informations. It’s something I really like, even if I think I might have missed some details once or twice.
I really liked the way musics and movies were used in the novel. It makes for a lot of classic and pop culture reference that, even when not being familiar with all of them, was very enjoyable.
The amount of people being killed (or almost killed) by being spaced out of airlocks is a bit comical when looking back but it sure sounds very useful and a cleaner way to go.
The way Oishi brings people together and around herself was one of my favourite thing, which reminded me slightly of Breq from the Imperial Radch trilogy.
The author said on goodreads that “It’s a stand-alone book set in the same universe as the upcoming sequel.” which makes me think there might not be more of Oishi, but at least the complexity of this book can make for a very interesting re-read, as well as the joy to be back with a cool-headed, compassionate, badass scheming woman.
Content warnings: gang rapes, suicide, mass killing
Want to read
May 14, 2018Some Giger-ish chick holding vacuum cleaner hose on cover!!! How could I possibly not add this???
October 4, 2021
Generation ship stories seem to be having a moment in SF, but they're a classic trope and I haven't grown tired of them, and Medusa Uploaded looked pretty cool with that Gigeresque cover.
The basic story is fairly typical: a generation ship (two, actually) set off from the homeworld so long ago that no one knows the details, and over time an Executive class has risen to power, living lives of privilege and plenty while ruling over the oppressed "worms" who do all the work.
The main character, Oichi Angelis, is a worm who was thrown out an airlock for some trivial offense. Instead of dying, she was rescued by a self-aware powered exoskeleton called Medusa. It turns out the Olympia has a bunch of these things hiding away in storage, waiting to be activated by a select few individuals like Oichi.
The author does a credible job of explaining where these mech-suits came from, why they've been undiscovered until now, and how Oichi got one is one of the major twists in the story. The tech is cool and the worldbuilding is detailed and intricate. The plot heads in interesting directions, and this book (only part one of the story, naturally) ends with several big reveals and game-changers.
Despite all the things that should have had me really enjoying it, I found Medusa Uploaded annoying in a number of ways.
First, this is supposedly an adult novel. The author takes her time developing the setting and the plot, making it a "heavier" than most YA novels. And it gets dark in ways that few YA novels will. One of the Executive clans has a clique that routinely gang-rapes their own young kinsmen.
Yet the reasoning behind this seemed only to establish that these people are Really Really Evil, so that when Oichi casually assassinates men, women, and teenagers right and left, sometimes because they just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, we can be assured that they all deserved it.
Indeed, this entire book read like a revenge fantasy against the rich and powerful by the author. The Executives are almost all cartoonishly evil; the ones who aren't literally rapists and murderers are just assholes who casually abuse their servants and space anyone who twitches in response. There are a lot of people thrown out of airlocks in this book. The Executive clans play petty, vicious, and murderous games with each other too, so occasionally Oichi feels sympathy for some of them, like the boy who was forced to watch his mother get spaced without showing any reaction, or the woman who was gang-raped by older members of her clan when she was 10. But which ones turn out to be redeemable and which ones get kacked anyway seems pretty random, and mostly we just get the sense that all these assholes are begging to meet Madame Guillotine, or in this case, Medusa.
Which brings me to the second point that bugged me: Oichi's friendly sentient super-suit is a deux ex machina. It can tap into the ship's system anywhere, and Oichi is constantly being advised by "ghosts" in the form of other AIs (whose origins, to be fair, are pretty interesting) as she begins creating and disposing of alternate identities, moving throughout the ship and pretending to a servant, an Executive, or whatever serves her purpose for her current scheme. She's planning a revolution to free the worms, which sounds noble enough, except the whole murdering anyone who gets in her way aspect, which as I said, the story tries to make seem less terrible (even though Oichi herself lampshades this by wrestling a bit with her angst over being a "serial killer") by making all her victims super-terrible. Meanwhile, Medusa is such an deux ex machina that even in the few situations where Oichi is threatened and can't immediately call on Medusa for help, there is never any sense that she's really in danger. Whenever she gets thrown out an airlock (which happens repeatedly — apparently the Executives have forgotten how to kill people any other way), Medusa is always there to save the day, even if Oichi spends a few minutes sucking vacuum.
Lastly, the "voice" is just unrelentingly YA, notwithstanding all the rape and murder. Oichi talks, complains, and wisecracks like a teenage girl. She uses contemporary idioms constantly, and when she and her friends (and Medusa) start digging into old media libraries, the references are all from 20th and 21st century Earth. Oichi and Medusa have conversations about Inception, Kwaidan, and Akira Kurosawa's Dreams, making me think that these are almost certainly some of the author's favorite films. Oichi is a homicidal little vengeance-pixie, but one who felt like every other YA revolutionary. Her moments of reflection and introspection are never deep; when she's not figuring out what the bad guys are up to, she's a snarky teenager.
I wanted to like this book more, but while I can root for a revolutionary who delivers come-uppance to bad guys, I did not feel like it quite lived up to its promise as a SF novel. I'm not sure I'm interested enough to read the next book.
The basic story is fairly typical: a generation ship (two, actually) set off from the homeworld so long ago that no one knows the details, and over time an Executive class has risen to power, living lives of privilege and plenty while ruling over the oppressed "worms" who do all the work.
The main character, Oichi Angelis, is a worm who was thrown out an airlock for some trivial offense. Instead of dying, she was rescued by a self-aware powered exoskeleton called Medusa. It turns out the Olympia has a bunch of these things hiding away in storage, waiting to be activated by a select few individuals like Oichi.
The author does a credible job of explaining where these mech-suits came from, why they've been undiscovered until now, and how Oichi got one is one of the major twists in the story. The tech is cool and the worldbuilding is detailed and intricate. The plot heads in interesting directions, and this book (only part one of the story, naturally) ends with several big reveals and game-changers.
Despite all the things that should have had me really enjoying it, I found Medusa Uploaded annoying in a number of ways.
First, this is supposedly an adult novel. The author takes her time developing the setting and the plot, making it a "heavier" than most YA novels. And it gets dark in ways that few YA novels will. One of the Executive clans has a clique that routinely gang-rapes their own young kinsmen.
Yet the reasoning behind this seemed only to establish that these people are Really Really Evil, so that when Oichi casually assassinates men, women, and teenagers right and left, sometimes because they just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, we can be assured that they all deserved it.
Indeed, this entire book read like a revenge fantasy against the rich and powerful by the author. The Executives are almost all cartoonishly evil; the ones who aren't literally rapists and murderers are just assholes who casually abuse their servants and space anyone who twitches in response. There are a lot of people thrown out of airlocks in this book. The Executive clans play petty, vicious, and murderous games with each other too, so occasionally Oichi feels sympathy for some of them, like the boy who was forced to watch his mother get spaced without showing any reaction, or the woman who was gang-raped by older members of her clan when she was 10. But which ones turn out to be redeemable and which ones get kacked anyway seems pretty random, and mostly we just get the sense that all these assholes are begging to meet Madame Guillotine, or in this case, Medusa.
Which brings me to the second point that bugged me: Oichi's friendly sentient super-suit is a deux ex machina. It can tap into the ship's system anywhere, and Oichi is constantly being advised by "ghosts" in the form of other AIs (whose origins, to be fair, are pretty interesting) as she begins creating and disposing of alternate identities, moving throughout the ship and pretending to a servant, an Executive, or whatever serves her purpose for her current scheme. She's planning a revolution to free the worms, which sounds noble enough, except the whole murdering anyone who gets in her way aspect, which as I said, the story tries to make seem less terrible (even though Oichi herself lampshades this by wrestling a bit with her angst over being a "serial killer") by making all her victims super-terrible. Meanwhile, Medusa is such an deux ex machina that even in the few situations where Oichi is threatened and can't immediately call on Medusa for help, there is never any sense that she's really in danger. Whenever she gets thrown out an airlock (which happens repeatedly — apparently the Executives have forgotten how to kill people any other way), Medusa is always there to save the day, even if Oichi spends a few minutes sucking vacuum.
Lastly, the "voice" is just unrelentingly YA, notwithstanding all the rape and murder. Oichi talks, complains, and wisecracks like a teenage girl. She uses contemporary idioms constantly, and when she and her friends (and Medusa) start digging into old media libraries, the references are all from 20th and 21st century Earth. Oichi and Medusa have conversations about Inception, Kwaidan, and Akira Kurosawa's Dreams, making me think that these are almost certainly some of the author's favorite films. Oichi is a homicidal little vengeance-pixie, but one who felt like every other YA revolutionary. Her moments of reflection and introspection are never deep; when she's not figuring out what the bad guys are up to, she's a snarky teenager.
I wanted to like this book more, but while I can root for a revolutionary who delivers come-uppance to bad guys, I did not feel like it quite lived up to its promise as a SF novel. I'm not sure I'm interested enough to read the next book.
February 9, 2021
The are many sci-fi stories about generation ships traveling from a homeworld to some destination in the stars over hundreds of years. Medius Uploaded is one of the best I’ve read. (Marrow by Robert Reed is also an excellent generation ship read.)
The ships in Medusa are on a two hundred year journey from a deliberately murky homeworld to a new unnamed system. The ships are governed by Executives, wealthy one-percenters, who spend most of their time giving elaborate parties and throwing people—frequently their own—out of airlocks when displeased. Oichi is a worm, one of the desperately poor 99% who maintain the ship. She is however a worm with a difference. She is implanted with a “chip” that enables her to see, hear and affect everything on the ship. It also connects her to an AI linked exoskeleton for prowling the interior and exterior. She uses these tools, and multiple identities, to execute a viscous Machiavellian scheme to overthrow the Executives. Throughout new mysteries are revealed. Who else is on the ship? What is their purpose? Is the history she’s been told even correct?
Oichi's character is well drawn, reminiscent of Baru from one of my favorite reads of 2019, The Traitor Baru Commorant. Davenport’s plotting and pacing are mostly excellent. Medusa kept me highly engaged and guessing until…ugh The final chapters resolve to a silly ending out of character with the rest of the book. Of the hundreds of paths the story could have taken to the same end state, Davenport picks this one? One of those let’s wrap this up in ten pages because I’ve reached my page limit endings that infuriate readers. Even so, I do recommend this novel. 99% of it is very good. I’ll definitely read the sequel. On my buy, borrow, skip scale, a strong borrow, maybe a buy. 3.5 stars.
The ships in Medusa are on a two hundred year journey from a deliberately murky homeworld to a new unnamed system. The ships are governed by Executives, wealthy one-percenters, who spend most of their time giving elaborate parties and throwing people—frequently their own—out of airlocks when displeased. Oichi is a worm, one of the desperately poor 99% who maintain the ship. She is however a worm with a difference. She is implanted with a “chip” that enables her to see, hear and affect everything on the ship. It also connects her to an AI linked exoskeleton for prowling the interior and exterior. She uses these tools, and multiple identities, to execute a viscous Machiavellian scheme to overthrow the Executives. Throughout new mysteries are revealed. Who else is on the ship? What is their purpose? Is the history she’s been told even correct?
Oichi's character is well drawn, reminiscent of Baru from one of my favorite reads of 2019, The Traitor Baru Commorant. Davenport’s plotting and pacing are mostly excellent. Medusa kept me highly engaged and guessing until…ugh The final chapters resolve to a silly ending out of character with the rest of the book. Of the hundreds of paths the story could have taken to the same end state, Davenport picks this one? One of those let’s wrap this up in ten pages because I’ve reached my page limit endings that infuriate readers. Even so, I do recommend this novel. 99% of it is very good. I’ll definitely read the sequel. On my buy, borrow, skip scale, a strong borrow, maybe a buy. 3.5 stars.
June 4, 2024
I bought Medusa Uploaded a few years ago in a whim as it had such a tempting blurb! I’ve no idea why I dawdled to get to it so long as this one did live up to the promise. The story was an enthralling blend of space opera and social commentary set in a twisted dystopian society. It also benefited from having an atypical main character in Oichi Angelis who proved to be a great blend of unique, interesting, and complex.
The setting was a real fun one. The story took place aboard the generation ship Olympia. I remain an absolute sucker for sci-fi tales set on generation ships as they are almost always a fun setting. In this one we got a full on dystopian society that barely remembered their roots on earth or their previous non-space home. The story unfolds in a society divided between the privileged Executives and the oppressed Worker class (or Worms as the elites insultingly call them). Our POV character, Oichi, is a member of the Workers. She initially appears to be little more than a mere technician but she harbours a secret: she has allied herself with the Medusas, advanced artificial intelligences that empower her to seek justice and vengeance.
Devenport's writing is engaging and it was easy to get sucked into the dark and complex happenings on Olympia. The pacing was good with plenty of suspenseful moments that kept me on the edge of my seat. The tale was driven by Oichi's quest to dismantle the oppressive regime of the Executives and avenge her family's death. Her transformation from subjugated worker/slave to a formidable kick-ass heroine driving a rebellion was both believable and compelling to follow.
The worldbuilding was great. Devenport painted a vivid picture of life aboard the Olympia detailing its technological marvels and the disparities between its social classes. The Medusa units themselves were fascinating as they blended elements of biotechnology and AI in ways that felt fresh and very cool. Their symbiotic relationship with Oichi, and the power that gave her and rebels, added layer of depth to the story that raised fun questions about autonomy, identity, and the ethics of power.
Oichi was a great character. She was complex, resilient, and driven by both a strong sense of justice and her desire for vengeance. Her inner musings provided insight into her motivations and fears which made her an easy character to relate to despite the extraordinary circumstances she faced and the fact that she could definitely be a bit cold and calculating at times. The supporting cast is equally well-crafted. Oichi had some interesting allies and a host of diverse enemies to battle over the course of the story. I particularly enjoyed the Minis’.
This book was not without its flaws. I thought the use of the flashback storytelling occasionally disrupted the flow of the story as events were not always presented in chronological order. It was a particular issue for me as it could be a tad confusing while listening to the story in audiobook format where visual cues are absent that could have helped indicate a jump from one time to another!
Another slight issue is that despite the compelling storyline, I sometimes found myself reluctant to pick the book up after putting it down. It was weird as the story was engaging and well-written but there was definitely a certain inexplicable inertia when it came to resuming reading. The result is I’ve taken a weirdly long time to complete this one despite being on a good run of reading before picking it up. I still can’t explain why that happened as I did enjoy this one when I did get around to picking it up!
This sci-fi tale also managed to hit one of my pet peeves. It had the characters talking long and often about music and movies from our era of Earth history. It is always so jarring to the world-building when the characters in a tale so far removed from out time and planet still talk about the things the author read or listened to rather than anything from tens of thousands of years of their own history. Especially when those same characters barely have any knowledge of Earth as we know it! I’ve no idea why so many modern sci-fi books indulge in this as it pulls me out of the story and setting every single time. The horrors of this dystopian society are nothing compared to the fact folks are still watching Jeepers Creepers movies and Creeper Woody Allen movies…
I still think this was a very good sci-fi tale. Devenport did a great job of delving into issues of class struggle, the abuse of power, and the pursuit of justice all while maintaining a fast-paced and compelling story. Devenport did not shy away from depicting the brutal realities of revolution and the moral ambiguities involved in fighting an oppressive system but nor did she let the story get too dark. I always enjoy it when an author nails both the balance of hope and despair in a tale and the balance of compelling story and interesting characters with equally interesting themes and ideas. Thought provoking but still an enjoyable story which is the very best type of sci-fi tale.
All in all Medusa Uploaded was a very solid science fiction story. The first real sci-fi I’ve picked up in a while and it was an enjoyable return to the adult sci-fi genre for me. I’ll definitely move straight on to the sequel as my next read as I’m sufficiently caught up in this tale.
Rating: 4 stars.
Audio Note: I’m a definite fan of Caitlin Davies. She gave a great performance of this one.
The setting was a real fun one. The story took place aboard the generation ship Olympia. I remain an absolute sucker for sci-fi tales set on generation ships as they are almost always a fun setting. In this one we got a full on dystopian society that barely remembered their roots on earth or their previous non-space home. The story unfolds in a society divided between the privileged Executives and the oppressed Worker class (or Worms as the elites insultingly call them). Our POV character, Oichi, is a member of the Workers. She initially appears to be little more than a mere technician but she harbours a secret: she has allied herself with the Medusas, advanced artificial intelligences that empower her to seek justice and vengeance.
Devenport's writing is engaging and it was easy to get sucked into the dark and complex happenings on Olympia. The pacing was good with plenty of suspenseful moments that kept me on the edge of my seat. The tale was driven by Oichi's quest to dismantle the oppressive regime of the Executives and avenge her family's death. Her transformation from subjugated worker/slave to a formidable kick-ass heroine driving a rebellion was both believable and compelling to follow.
The worldbuilding was great. Devenport painted a vivid picture of life aboard the Olympia detailing its technological marvels and the disparities between its social classes. The Medusa units themselves were fascinating as they blended elements of biotechnology and AI in ways that felt fresh and very cool. Their symbiotic relationship with Oichi, and the power that gave her and rebels, added layer of depth to the story that raised fun questions about autonomy, identity, and the ethics of power.
Oichi was a great character. She was complex, resilient, and driven by both a strong sense of justice and her desire for vengeance. Her inner musings provided insight into her motivations and fears which made her an easy character to relate to despite the extraordinary circumstances she faced and the fact that she could definitely be a bit cold and calculating at times. The supporting cast is equally well-crafted. Oichi had some interesting allies and a host of diverse enemies to battle over the course of the story. I particularly enjoyed the Minis’.
This book was not without its flaws. I thought the use of the flashback storytelling occasionally disrupted the flow of the story as events were not always presented in chronological order. It was a particular issue for me as it could be a tad confusing while listening to the story in audiobook format where visual cues are absent that could have helped indicate a jump from one time to another!
Another slight issue is that despite the compelling storyline, I sometimes found myself reluctant to pick the book up after putting it down. It was weird as the story was engaging and well-written but there was definitely a certain inexplicable inertia when it came to resuming reading. The result is I’ve taken a weirdly long time to complete this one despite being on a good run of reading before picking it up. I still can’t explain why that happened as I did enjoy this one when I did get around to picking it up!
This sci-fi tale also managed to hit one of my pet peeves. It had the characters talking long and often about music and movies from our era of Earth history. It is always so jarring to the world-building when the characters in a tale so far removed from out time and planet still talk about the things the author read or listened to rather than anything from tens of thousands of years of their own history. Especially when those same characters barely have any knowledge of Earth as we know it! I’ve no idea why so many modern sci-fi books indulge in this as it pulls me out of the story and setting every single time. The horrors of this dystopian society are nothing compared to the fact folks are still watching Jeepers Creepers movies and Creeper Woody Allen movies…
I still think this was a very good sci-fi tale. Devenport did a great job of delving into issues of class struggle, the abuse of power, and the pursuit of justice all while maintaining a fast-paced and compelling story. Devenport did not shy away from depicting the brutal realities of revolution and the moral ambiguities involved in fighting an oppressive system but nor did she let the story get too dark. I always enjoy it when an author nails both the balance of hope and despair in a tale and the balance of compelling story and interesting characters with equally interesting themes and ideas. Thought provoking but still an enjoyable story which is the very best type of sci-fi tale.
All in all Medusa Uploaded was a very solid science fiction story. The first real sci-fi I’ve picked up in a while and it was an enjoyable return to the adult sci-fi genre for me. I’ll definitely move straight on to the sequel as my next read as I’m sufficiently caught up in this tale.
Rating: 4 stars.
Audio Note: I’m a definite fan of Caitlin Davies. She gave a great performance of this one.
May 21, 2019
I wanted to like this. (That's never a good start).
Frankly, it's wasn't so much bad as just disappointing. The story and the main character had potential.
First, the writing tricks grated. Number 1 - this author is obsessed with in media res. It starts with one to show how much the main character is a murderer for the cause. The action of the ending ges an in media res preview somewhere in the middle of the book. And there were more minor in media res/heavy handed foreshadowing of where we'll end up by the end of the chapter. It took so much of the tension out of the book, distracting me.
And I couldn't really stand the voice of the main character/narrator. It didn't come out too often, but at times it was just over the top.
Then there was obsession with name dropping and comparing everything to music and movies. There's a music/movie database that gets given to people inside an implant--that also holds the key to upgrading humanity. So there's a plot reason for it to come up. But there are problems.
All the media (as far as I could tell--I didn't try to look everything up) is stuff that could be known and enjoyed today. As if nothing will be produced in the future worth remembering. It's mostly geek fare, and Japanese cinema fare. It really felt like the author was dropping names for everything she enjoyed, whether or not it would help the reader along at all.
And, for Pete's sake, there's a Lord of the Rings chess set. In space. Who knows how many millenia or eons down the road.
There were issues with the story itself. I probably could have forgiven them if it weren't for the above. The ending is not one, but two, Deus ex Machina resolutions. The second ending, that gets some in media res preview, is tensionless, not only because of that, but also because of a non-chase. There's a joke in the text that the only way it could have been less dramatic was if "The Girl from Ipanema" was playing in the background. All that is sad because the rest of the novel (stripping out the above gimmicks) was solid, at least for what it was trying to be.
And the main character was wasted. She's built up at the beginning of a murder, involved in retribution and plotting and what not else. There's a whole thing about she kills people who are evil but in a way that their descendants won't realize they were evil and thus will strive to be like (what they thought) their ancestor was like.
Yeah, no. Or if anything like that happens, it never gets spoken of again. It wouldn't matter if their descendents look up to them anyway because the ending means that really doesn't matter.
Apparently this started life as a novella. Clearly someone liked the concept and told her it would make a good novel. Maybe it would have, but this author wasn't capable of writing that novel. If you're still interested, I might suggest trying to seek out the novella instead of reading this.
Frankly, it's wasn't so much bad as just disappointing. The story and the main character had potential.
First, the writing tricks grated. Number 1 - this author is obsessed with in media res. It starts with one to show how much the main character is a murderer for the cause. The action of the ending ges an in media res preview somewhere in the middle of the book. And there were more minor in media res/heavy handed foreshadowing of where we'll end up by the end of the chapter. It took so much of the tension out of the book, distracting me.
And I couldn't really stand the voice of the main character/narrator. It didn't come out too often, but at times it was just over the top.
Then there was obsession with name dropping and comparing everything to music and movies. There's a music/movie database that gets given to people inside an implant--that also holds the key to upgrading humanity. So there's a plot reason for it to come up. But there are problems.
All the media (as far as I could tell--I didn't try to look everything up) is stuff that could be known and enjoyed today. As if nothing will be produced in the future worth remembering. It's mostly geek fare, and Japanese cinema fare. It really felt like the author was dropping names for everything she enjoyed, whether or not it would help the reader along at all.
And, for Pete's sake, there's a Lord of the Rings chess set. In space. Who knows how many millenia or eons down the road.
There were issues with the story itself. I probably could have forgiven them if it weren't for the above. The ending is not one, but two, Deus ex Machina resolutions. The second ending, that gets some in media res preview, is tensionless, not only because of that, but also because of a non-chase. There's a joke in the text that the only way it could have been less dramatic was if "The Girl from Ipanema" was playing in the background. All that is sad because the rest of the novel (stripping out the above gimmicks) was solid, at least for what it was trying to be.
And the main character was wasted. She's built up at the beginning of a murder, involved in retribution and plotting and what not else. There's a whole thing about she kills people who are evil but in a way that their descendants won't realize they were evil and thus will strive to be like (what they thought) their ancestor was like.
Yeah, no. Or if anything like that happens, it never gets spoken of again. It wouldn't matter if their descendents look up to them anyway because the ending means that really doesn't matter.
Apparently this started life as a novella. Clearly someone liked the concept and told her it would make a good novel. Maybe it would have, but this author wasn't capable of writing that novel. If you're still interested, I might suggest trying to seek out the novella instead of reading this.
September 14, 2018
Heroine is a rebel par excellence.
May 3, 2022
The Giger-esque cover and the book blurb did their job: I got hooked. But upon reading the story, it struck me as far less dark than it was made out to be. Oh sure, we had the nefarious dystopian aristocracy which gets to control servants through their cybernetic implants, overwrite security protocols seemingly at will, spy on everyone, and flush people out the airlock with impunity, but I found them to be caricatures ripped from some 18th century aristocratic drama like Dangerous Liasions.
Still, I wanted to find out how this civilization came to be on a kilometers-long generation ship. But as information is tightly controlled by the Executive class and Oichi was a worm—the derogatory term for the lowest class of workers who maintain life aboard the ship—it was a mystery for her to solve. We learn right away that this civilization has incredible cybernetic technology. Everyone seems to have a chip in their heads that they use to access communications and limited data. Some others have artificial eyes, voice boxes, and hearing (hence the Executives' ability to control their servants so that they don't disrupt their dinner parties). And Oichi has a chip in her skull that enables her to 'bond' with Medusa, the sentient AI.
But for all of their amazing tech, they abuse the hell out their airlocks. The Executives use them to murder and assassinate people all the time. They override the safety protocols (so what good are they) and flush out the bodies, sacrificing breathable air and biomass to the void. This is so stupid. I don't care how big the ship is. If you're going to flush out 800 cubic feet of air (sometimes more), the atmosphere on board your ship is getting that much thinner. And the 100 to 200 lbs of biomass is also wasted. Everything on a generation ship gets recycled. Everything. It's one less mouth to feed now, but all that calcium, water, and organic matter? You're not getting that back. Why not suffocate the victims in the airlock (since no one literally wants blood on their hands) and take the body to the waste reclamation unit where it can be ground up and anaerobically digested? Not as dramatic, perhaps, but after the airlock scene plays out several times, it loses its ability to shock the reader.
Another problem was with the voice of the narrator, Oichi. She flitted from "adolescent waitress" to "big sister" to "impressionable debutante" to "happy-go-lucky sociopath." She interrupted her own narrative constantly by name dropping classical music pieces whenever she had a moment of reflection or introspection or just for the hell of it. At times, the interactions between Oishi and some bots created by kids—and her interaction with one kid in particular—popped images of cutesy anime into my mind. It undercut the seriousness of the plot.
One last complaint: I couldn't get a sense of how much time passed. There were flashbacks and flash-forwards dictated to us by Oichi, but the way they were presented I wasn't always certain when "now" was. Late in the novel, she matter-of-factually states that several years had passed, but it seemed like only a few months.
To summarize, I loved the tech, the concept, the plot, and the mysteries, but the narrator's constantly shifting tone, 18th century aristocrats, anime cuteness, and wanton airlock abuse irritated me.
2.5 stars rounded down to 2 due to disappointment.
Still, I wanted to find out how this civilization came to be on a kilometers-long generation ship. But as information is tightly controlled by the Executive class and Oichi was a worm—the derogatory term for the lowest class of workers who maintain life aboard the ship—it was a mystery for her to solve. We learn right away that this civilization has incredible cybernetic technology. Everyone seems to have a chip in their heads that they use to access communications and limited data. Some others have artificial eyes, voice boxes, and hearing (hence the Executives' ability to control their servants so that they don't disrupt their dinner parties). And Oichi has a chip in her skull that enables her to 'bond' with Medusa, the sentient AI.
But for all of their amazing tech, they abuse the hell out their airlocks. The Executives use them to murder and assassinate people all the time. They override the safety protocols (so what good are they) and flush out the bodies, sacrificing breathable air and biomass to the void. This is so stupid. I don't care how big the ship is. If you're going to flush out 800 cubic feet of air (sometimes more), the atmosphere on board your ship is getting that much thinner. And the 100 to 200 lbs of biomass is also wasted. Everything on a generation ship gets recycled. Everything. It's one less mouth to feed now, but all that calcium, water, and organic matter? You're not getting that back. Why not suffocate the victims in the airlock (since no one literally wants blood on their hands) and take the body to the waste reclamation unit where it can be ground up and anaerobically digested? Not as dramatic, perhaps, but after the airlock scene plays out several times, it loses its ability to shock the reader.
Another problem was with the voice of the narrator, Oichi. She flitted from "adolescent waitress" to "big sister" to "impressionable debutante" to "happy-go-lucky sociopath." She interrupted her own narrative constantly by name dropping classical music pieces whenever she had a moment of reflection or introspection or just for the hell of it. At times, the interactions between Oishi and some bots created by kids—and her interaction with one kid in particular—popped images of cutesy anime into my mind. It undercut the seriousness of the plot.
One last complaint: I couldn't get a sense of how much time passed. There were flashbacks and flash-forwards dictated to us by Oichi, but the way they were presented I wasn't always certain when "now" was. Late in the novel, she matter-of-factually states that several years had passed, but it seemed like only a few months.
To summarize, I loved the tech, the concept, the plot, and the mysteries, but the narrator's constantly shifting tone, 18th century aristocrats, anime cuteness, and wanton airlock abuse irritated me.
2.5 stars rounded down to 2 due to disappointment.
January 2, 2021
(very tiny spoils down there)
I was very frustrated by this book and decided to stop at the half.
Many things I loved: the story shows lots of imagination and personality, and tells an intriguing and promising story.
Alas more intriguing then promising at the end (well the half) and badly edited for some crucial points.
The worst were certainly the absurd references, so modern.
It would have been so simple to invent some music and stories! Or to find some explanation, even a half cooked one to let the reader suspend their disbelief!
Some things were obscure, particularly the motivations of some people. For instance the rapes: the explanation didn't convince me, much too far fetched.
The heroine isn't always credible. In the beginning she's half psychopath half inhuman (in a very satisfying way, reminding me of Murderbot All Systems Red) then she's more and more your standard YA character.
The descriptions are sometimes lacking, to describe Medusa's face for instance. The justification is cloudy, how is she able to change her face to look like someone else, as her nose and mouth don't seem to be alterable?
One point was especially annoying: the "alien". Who's described... well, who isn't described more than having a heart beating quicker than a human's one, and having white skin and very pale hair. He's also über sexy.
Soo...maybe he's an alien exactly like a human? But...alien? Because?...
(I made some wild suppositions, as maybe he was plain humain and the others were post humans with slower hearts, but it seems that no more explanation is given in the book - I asked).
The writer cheats frequently, in fact: the works aren't worms at all, it's just a nickname-insult, the alien is a pale human, the period between our and the book's is foggy, non existent, etc.
To summarise I had the impression that the author had fantastic ideas but couldn't resist to add all the things she loved, music, movies, books, modern banter, etc., without taking account of credibility and coherence. Because of that I was frequently brutally snatched from my read till I couldn't bear it anymore and decided to stop, at about half the book.
I was annoyed. Frustrated and annoyed -_-
I was very frustrated by this book and decided to stop at the half.
Many things I loved: the story shows lots of imagination and personality, and tells an intriguing and promising story.
Alas more intriguing then promising at the end (well the half) and badly edited for some crucial points.
The worst were certainly the absurd references, so modern.
It would have been so simple to invent some music and stories! Or to find some explanation, even a half cooked one to let the reader suspend their disbelief!
Some things were obscure, particularly the motivations of some people. For instance the rapes: the explanation didn't convince me, much too far fetched.
The heroine isn't always credible. In the beginning she's half psychopath half inhuman (in a very satisfying way, reminding me of Murderbot All Systems Red) then she's more and more your standard YA character.
The descriptions are sometimes lacking, to describe Medusa's face for instance. The justification is cloudy, how is she able to change her face to look like someone else, as her nose and mouth don't seem to be alterable?
One point was especially annoying: the "alien". Who's described... well, who isn't described more than having a heart beating quicker than a human's one, and having white skin and very pale hair. He's also über sexy.
Soo...maybe he's an alien exactly like a human? But...alien? Because?...
(I made some wild suppositions, as maybe he was plain humain and the others were post humans with slower hearts, but it seems that no more explanation is given in the book - I asked).
The writer cheats frequently, in fact: the works aren't worms at all, it's just a nickname-insult, the alien is a pale human, the period between our and the book's is foggy, non existent, etc.
To summarise I had the impression that the author had fantastic ideas but couldn't resist to add all the things she loved, music, movies, books, modern banter, etc., without taking account of credibility and coherence. Because of that I was frequently brutally snatched from my read till I couldn't bear it anymore and decided to stop, at about half the book.
I was annoyed. Frustrated and annoyed -_-
September 3, 2019
I haven’t read many generational ship books yet, though I like the idea. This book has a lot of interesting ideas, and the writing is solid and shows real talent. But I think it could have used another revision.
I was confused a lot of the time. There are zero descriptions in this book. It’s as if the author was so afraid of info-dumping that she avoided exposition completely. I don’t know what the ship(s) looked like, what they were made of, how big they were, how big the hallways were, what color anything was. I still don’t get how the servants’ clothes worked. I can extrapolate a full visual image from just a little information, but I need that foundation. It’s like I was expected to explore this world blindfolded, but I failed at that.
Medusa is one of many androids that you wear. Again, without any descriptions, this was difficult to visualize. The Medusa androids can be worn like suits yet they are their own AI persons. I really don’t know how this works.
The society is broken into Executives — an aristocracy — and Worms, the servants. Oichi is a Worm. (I thought this meant she was a non-corporeal AI at first; again, no descriptions or explanations.) This society is waaaaaayy too airlock-happy. The ship appears to have about 200 airlocks. (Why so many??) They are used almost every day for executions, murders, and suicides. They are never monitored, guarded, or locked, apparently.
As a music teacher, I appreciated Oichi’s dedication to music. It WILL make kids’ brains smarter.
But I never knew what her goals were beyond sharing music with everyone else. Social equality? General knowledge? It just felt like she was meandering around, collecting other outcasts and getting tossed out of airlocks repeatedly. Also, the author doesn’t know what ‘reticent’ and ‘disinterested’ actually mean. A decent editor should have fixed that.
Nice audio performance.
Reader’s Choice Nominee, Summer 2019
Book Blog
I was confused a lot of the time. There are zero descriptions in this book. It’s as if the author was so afraid of info-dumping that she avoided exposition completely. I don’t know what the ship(s) looked like, what they were made of, how big they were, how big the hallways were, what color anything was. I still don’t get how the servants’ clothes worked. I can extrapolate a full visual image from just a little information, but I need that foundation. It’s like I was expected to explore this world blindfolded, but I failed at that.
Medusa is one of many androids that you wear. Again, without any descriptions, this was difficult to visualize. The Medusa androids can be worn like suits yet they are their own AI persons. I really don’t know how this works.
The society is broken into Executives — an aristocracy — and Worms, the servants. Oichi is a Worm. (I thought this meant she was a non-corporeal AI at first; again, no descriptions or explanations.) This society is waaaaaayy too airlock-happy. The ship appears to have about 200 airlocks. (Why so many??) They are used almost every day for executions, murders, and suicides. They are never monitored, guarded, or locked, apparently.
As a music teacher, I appreciated Oichi’s dedication to music. It WILL make kids’ brains smarter.
But I never knew what her goals were beyond sharing music with everyone else. Social equality? General knowledge? It just felt like she was meandering around, collecting other outcasts and getting tossed out of airlocks repeatedly. Also, the author doesn’t know what ‘reticent’ and ‘disinterested’ actually mean. A decent editor should have fixed that.
Nice audio performance.
Reader’s Choice Nominee, Summer 2019
Book Blog
January 27, 2019
This is a SF novel published in 2018, therefore eligible for Hugo, Nebula and other awards. It has been already listed by several critics as a distinguished work. In short, I disagree.
The novel starts with a confession of serial and mass murderer, but is isn’t Darkly Dreaming Dexter. Actually, it is a symbiotic unit, Medusa (hence the name), who kills, and everything happens on a generation ship. The author drops concepts by dozen: symbiotic octopus-like units, implants with music and secret information, strict society with Clans at the top and worms (ordinary workers) at the bottom. From the first pages we’re aware that the protagonist is not the only killer, there was a sister-ship with huge population that was destroyed by someone.
Introduction of more and more shiny things is what the author does great. Where she fails is the continuation on them. A lot of setting is facetious: e.g. a strict unequal society (of course!) calls for revolution, but we don’t really see that worms have any interest in changing their status. The tech-levels also jump like mad without any regard of their effect on the society.
A unique ‘thing’ of the novel are constant links to (mostly classical) music and old movies (from Kwaidan to Kill Bill). There is no rationale on why those are limited by the 20th century – I highly doubt that between now and the time of the novel (which at least a few centuries in the future) there will be no new music or movies worth mentioning. For me, it distracted from the book instead of adding to it.
The novel starts with a confession of serial and mass murderer, but is isn’t Darkly Dreaming Dexter. Actually, it is a symbiotic unit, Medusa (hence the name), who kills, and everything happens on a generation ship. The author drops concepts by dozen: symbiotic octopus-like units, implants with music and secret information, strict society with Clans at the top and worms (ordinary workers) at the bottom. From the first pages we’re aware that the protagonist is not the only killer, there was a sister-ship with huge population that was destroyed by someone.
Introduction of more and more shiny things is what the author does great. Where she fails is the continuation on them. A lot of setting is facetious: e.g. a strict unequal society (of course!) calls for revolution, but we don’t really see that worms have any interest in changing their status. The tech-levels also jump like mad without any regard of their effect on the society.
A unique ‘thing’ of the novel are constant links to (mostly classical) music and old movies (from Kwaidan to Kill Bill). There is no rationale on why those are limited by the 20th century – I highly doubt that between now and the time of the novel (which at least a few centuries in the future) there will be no new music or movies worth mentioning. For me, it distracted from the book instead of adding to it.
May 27, 2018
I think I'm being nice with the 3 🌟. Medusa Uploaded was easy to read but hard to picture from my opinion. The science fiction part was explained enough. There was a bit mystery, suspense on when will someone die next or be tossed out the lock. Lots of tossing enemies out the lock. Smdh.
Too much telling not enough during. It got to the point Oichi can be talking to her victim then next thing you know she'll say, "and I killed him" I was like what? No explaining how? Yeah that's how it became.
Lots of politics with those separated in to classes.
Oichi had to change her identity a few times due she's supposed to be dead/killed. Mostly it's her spying on the executives and trying to find out information on the Medusas and who could she trust to upload them to their own Medusa.
Just okay read. But I wanted more mainly when the description of the book says, "Oichi begins to rebalance power one assassination at a time" that word assassination I was hoping for a better detail on the killing.
I don't think I'm read book 2. This didn't leave me excited for more of this story.
Too much telling not enough during. It got to the point Oichi can be talking to her victim then next thing you know she'll say, "and I killed him" I was like what? No explaining how? Yeah that's how it became.
Lots of politics with those separated in to classes.
Oichi had to change her identity a few times due she's supposed to be dead/killed. Mostly it's her spying on the executives and trying to find out information on the Medusas and who could she trust to upload them to their own Medusa.
Just okay read. But I wanted more mainly when the description of the book says, "Oichi begins to rebalance power one assassination at a time" that word assassination I was hoping for a better detail on the killing.
I don't think I'm read book 2. This didn't leave me excited for more of this story.
May 14, 2018
Me ha flipado muy fuerte. Me ha gustado una barbaridad. Estoy por releerlo ya mismo.
July 3, 2019
Lots of great ideas and a good story, but the characters don't meet up with grand setting...
May 31, 2018
Well...I was expecting a linear entry in the Belarus series. After all, I've been stalking [er, asking, nee begging] Emily for years to write the sequel, thinking that there would be at least two more chapters in the saga of the Mirenenko clan [even though a lot of them met their demise in Enemies, hopefully not too much of a spoiler], the Enhanced Special Agents, Tally Korsakova, ESA Grigory, the evil [but in his mind, misunderstood] serial killer John [and Emily, the perfect actor to play John is Jim Parsons--now you'll never look at Sheldon the same way, bwahahaha!!!] and of course, the Enemies...
...but I neglected to take Emily's truly devious mind into account. Be aware, fellow Belarus junkies, Emily takes a right-angle approach to sequels. I'm not sure if this is a prequel, a parallel track, a sequel or what??? So, peeps, my advice is to forget about the Mirenenkos [for now anyway] and the sprites and such and just go for the joyride that is Medusa Uploaded.
BTW, Medusa is also a recurring character in the Belarus series, so I'm guessing that eventually, someday, hopefully before I meet my natural demise, that this and the next book[s] in the Medusa cycle will converge with the Belarus cycle.
So now that the rant is done: As I said before, get ready for a roller-coaster ride of a novel. Few are what-or whom-they seem. Oichi, the protagonist, changes hair, eye color and nearly everything else about her with each new identity she assumes in her quest for justice for her murdered parents and about 700,000 or 800,000 murdered residents of Titania, the sister ship to the Olympia. The generation ship is about halfway on its journey to new lands from the Homeworld-whatever that is. [you'll learn more]
Oichi is aided in this seemingly hopeless quest by Medusa, a very self-aware AI who fights for the Forces of Good, always. At least the last three books she has anyway...I can't speak for what may or may not happen next. But, if this is the same Medusa in the family of AIs created by George Bernstein, well they're all working for the betterment of humanity. [yes, another Belarus reference--for heaven's sake, friends, read the book already!]
Oichi does indeed encounter a Mirenenko--but this one has a secret. [don't they all?] She also encounters characters who are totally evil, some who are somewhat evil, some who actually change and grow, some who are not who they seem at all, and some who just want to keep their families intact and their kids safe at night. Kind of like real life.
If you haven't read the rest of Emily's books, you will be a bit taken aback at first by her 20th and 21st century references-but I think those are for a reason: to make her worlds more intelligble to us earthbound types.
So, folks, get this book, get Belarus and Enemies, and impatiently wait for the next one. And I'll go head to her Day Job and go beseech her to please finish the next one. [Emily, I'm coming for you--with more questions about the book and when to expect my favorites to show up again!]
...but I neglected to take Emily's truly devious mind into account. Be aware, fellow Belarus junkies, Emily takes a right-angle approach to sequels. I'm not sure if this is a prequel, a parallel track, a sequel or what??? So, peeps, my advice is to forget about the Mirenenkos [for now anyway] and the sprites and such and just go for the joyride that is Medusa Uploaded.
BTW, Medusa is also a recurring character in the Belarus series, so I'm guessing that eventually, someday, hopefully before I meet my natural demise, that this and the next book[s] in the Medusa cycle will converge with the Belarus cycle.
So now that the rant is done: As I said before, get ready for a roller-coaster ride of a novel. Few are what-or whom-they seem. Oichi, the protagonist, changes hair, eye color and nearly everything else about her with each new identity she assumes in her quest for justice for her murdered parents and about 700,000 or 800,000 murdered residents of Titania, the sister ship to the Olympia. The generation ship is about halfway on its journey to new lands from the Homeworld-whatever that is. [you'll learn more]
Oichi is aided in this seemingly hopeless quest by Medusa, a very self-aware AI who fights for the Forces of Good, always. At least the last three books she has anyway...I can't speak for what may or may not happen next. But, if this is the same Medusa in the family of AIs created by George Bernstein, well they're all working for the betterment of humanity. [yes, another Belarus reference--for heaven's sake, friends, read the book already!]
Oichi does indeed encounter a Mirenenko--but this one has a secret. [don't they all?] She also encounters characters who are totally evil, some who are somewhat evil, some who actually change and grow, some who are not who they seem at all, and some who just want to keep their families intact and their kids safe at night. Kind of like real life.
If you haven't read the rest of Emily's books, you will be a bit taken aback at first by her 20th and 21st century references-but I think those are for a reason: to make her worlds more intelligble to us earthbound types.
So, folks, get this book, get Belarus and Enemies, and impatiently wait for the next one. And I'll go head to her Day Job and go beseech her to please finish the next one. [Emily, I'm coming for you--with more questions about the book and when to expect my favorites to show up again!]
April 1, 2019
One of the best science fiction books I have read in a while. The story follows Oichi a "worm" who belongs to a servant class on a generation ship (the Olympia). The top honchos on the ship are called the Executives and the govern cruelly with little regard for lives. There was a another generation ship (the Titania), where Oichi’s originally was from that was blown away with all her family and friends and lots of others on board. Oichi is a cold blooded killer and an insurgent, however she is more emphatic and remorseful than the one's who are on the right side of the ship's laws.
The world building is very elaborate, yet very organically integrated in a fast paced plot. The twists kept on coming till the very end of the book, and I will be waiting for the next installment of the Medusa Cycle.
The world building is very elaborate, yet very organically integrated in a fast paced plot. The twists kept on coming till the very end of the book, and I will be waiting for the next installment of the Medusa Cycle.
June 26, 2018
Oichi is quite a character, cold and focused, but also capable of so much empathy. She tries to control all the variables she can toward her goal, and yet there are so many powers at play her situation resembles a deadly trap laden maze.
Lies and treachery abound, but so do moments of beauty and friendship. The world building is mostly centered on a single ship, but still is vast and complex. Social roles play a big part, with Oichi a chameleon, imitating whatever suits her best, and her puzzling the secrets helps to unfold the structure without an info dump. Exciting and full of danger and drama (and more than a few people shoved out of airlocks). I'm quite curious to see where the next book will go.
Lies and treachery abound, but so do moments of beauty and friendship. The world building is mostly centered on a single ship, but still is vast and complex. Social roles play a big part, with Oichi a chameleon, imitating whatever suits her best, and her puzzling the secrets helps to unfold the structure without an info dump. Exciting and full of danger and drama (and more than a few people shoved out of airlocks). I'm quite curious to see where the next book will go.
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