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All the Stars Are Suns #1
All the Stars Are Suns
Sincerity Espinoza didn't go looking for trouble, it found her. All she wants out of life is the chance to go to the stars but she is caught in a web of misunderstandings, political & legal maneuvering, and the growing threat of terrorist plots by religious fanatics. She has a secret that if found out too soon could mean not only her own death but the ruin of the hope for humanity ever going to the stars. But even amidst momentous events, life is still about the small moments of love, laughter, and sadness.
Written by a Seaby Brown, a successful Silicon Valley entrepreneur and high tech inventor, the story is as much a prediction of where we will be in the future as it is a work of fiction. It melds social, political, and tech trends into a realistic portrayal of advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics, cybernetics, aerospace engineering, genetics engineering, and neural interface technology that will become common place. In a world that has grown cynical about "progress", All The Stars Are Suns is a hopeful and optimistic look into our future.
Written by a Seaby Brown, a successful Silicon Valley entrepreneur and high tech inventor, the story is as much a prediction of where we will be in the future as it is a work of fiction. It melds social, political, and tech trends into a realistic portrayal of advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics, cybernetics, aerospace engineering, genetics engineering, and neural interface technology that will become common place. In a world that has grown cynical about "progress", All The Stars Are Suns is a hopeful and optimistic look into our future.
- GenresScience Fiction
283 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 15, 2017
15 people are currently reading
56 people want to read
About the author
Seaby Brown
4 books33 followersSeaby Brown is an internationally recognized leader, entrepreneur, executive, and technologist / inventor in the flat panel display and microelectronic industries. She is a regularly invited speaker at international conferences, industry symposia, and universities. She has held engineering and managerial posts in leading semiconductor firms as well as start-up ventures. She has founded several technology companies and led industry research consortia programs. Seaby has over a hundred US patents issued, with more pending. She was awarded the Otto Schade Prize for her work in color displays, particularly PenTile subpixel rendering. In her forty year career, she has served in nearly every capacity from secretary to CEO / Chairman of the Board.
As well as writing science fiction novels, Seaby contributed a chapter to a technology textbook and a business book.
Seaby grew up in Silicon Valley (Sunnyvale and Los Altos, California) where she was imbued with the entrepreneurial and innovative spirit. She has two daughters, Elizabeth and Cassandra, both now grown. She and her husband, Jeff, live in Santa Rosa, California, where they are restoring the historic Comstock House.
When not puttering in her half acre garden or finger picking out folk tunes on her mountain dulimer, Seaby can be found at the local airport where she is a flight instructor (CFI, CFII, MEI). Seaby owns and flies a Piper Cherokee and a Piper Aztec she uses to travel across America.
As well as writing science fiction novels, Seaby contributed a chapter to a technology textbook and a business book.
Seaby grew up in Silicon Valley (Sunnyvale and Los Altos, California) where she was imbued with the entrepreneurial and innovative spirit. She has two daughters, Elizabeth and Cassandra, both now grown. She and her husband, Jeff, live in Santa Rosa, California, where they are restoring the historic Comstock House.
When not puttering in her half acre garden or finger picking out folk tunes on her mountain dulimer, Seaby can be found at the local airport where she is a flight instructor (CFI, CFII, MEI). Seaby owns and flies a Piper Cherokee and a Piper Aztec she uses to travel across America.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
April 13, 2018
Interesting tale of taking the first step toward colonizing space. The world-building is incredibly detailed and the science all seems very plausible given how it’s described. Offers great insights into the challenges of colonization.
December 16, 2018
Written by a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, “All the Stars are Suns” is the author’s estimation of what the future will hold as humans evolve and shape the technology around them. At its core, this book is a look at the relationship between man and machine and how the different religious groups and governing bodies view that changing relationship. It offers a portrayal of how the world becomes ever smaller, blending cultures and languages into one big hodgepodge of dialects and races as well as the acceptance of different sexual orientations. As someone who is entrenched in the changing tech world the way Brown is, it’s no surprise that her story follows that of a true sentient artificial life form and the perils that come with being different from others, all while striving to colonize the stars when terrorist and idealist fanatics stand in the way. And, indeed, that’s what the synopsis has you believe as well, and while the book is about all these things, it’s not as… tense, shall we say, as the synopsis portrays. This is no hair raising race to the stars before the main character(s) secrets are found out, but more a slow, methodical chess game to show where all the players are as they converge on Sincerity/Quan.
This is a pretty hard science fiction book in that the author spends a great deal of time on the technological side of things and explaining the new biochemistry etc. that is being formulated; again not surprising given the authors background. But it does go into the weeds on these topics, so you have to really enjoy the hard science side or this book may be a bit boring. There are also a lot of characters that the reader is given the perspective of—like a lot—and some have very similar names to others, so it got a bit hard to keep them all apart, especially as you only see them a bit here and there. If the novel had been longer and we got more of each character, this may not have been a problem as we could have seen more of their motivations outside of just their roles within this world, but as that’s not the case, I had a bit of a hard time. This is one of those books you have to really pay attention to in order to keep things straight, and if you don’t do that, things will get confusing.
That being said, the premise and the philosophical questions Brown brings up are great, it’s definitely something I can see our society struggling with as robots become more and more sophisticated and holding up only the smartest people in a society becomes problematic for those without, say, an aptitude for engineering. I enjoyed those debates and seeing how the different groups felt about sentient robots. My issue was that it was hard to care about the characters. The book reads more like a theoretical paper and not like a plot or even character driven story. The “action” doesn’t appear until close to the 70% mark of the book and the resolution felt a bit flimsy to me compared to the sheer amount of set up and backstory that’s given as to how humanity got to a certain point. If I don’t have an emotional investment in any of the characters, it’s very hard for a book to keep my attention and while the questions raised are interesting and the author is clearly very smart, I just couldn’t get into this story the way I thought I would based on the synopsis.
The book brings up interesting points, but I just wasn’t interested in it, if that makes sense? With a story that is so science heavy, you really need—in my opinion—a character or a storyline that’s going to make wading through the rather dry stuff worth it, or it makes for a dry read. And, because certain cultures have combined their languages, the dialogue can be hard to read sometimes, which just made things even more difficult for me to keep characters apart, and just really start liking any of them. Is it an interesting premise? Yes, I love the philosophical questions about humans’ relationships with future AI. If you love hard science fiction, you may still really enjoy this novel. But for me personally, characters come first and without that, everything else just falls apart. Ultimately, I don’t think this was the story I was expecting to read, which left me disappointed, which is why I’m giving this 2.5 stars. However, if you are interested in more of the theoretical debates the author brings up, definitely give this book a try! And thanks to the author for providing me with a copy for review.
This is a pretty hard science fiction book in that the author spends a great deal of time on the technological side of things and explaining the new biochemistry etc. that is being formulated; again not surprising given the authors background. But it does go into the weeds on these topics, so you have to really enjoy the hard science side or this book may be a bit boring. There are also a lot of characters that the reader is given the perspective of—like a lot—and some have very similar names to others, so it got a bit hard to keep them all apart, especially as you only see them a bit here and there. If the novel had been longer and we got more of each character, this may not have been a problem as we could have seen more of their motivations outside of just their roles within this world, but as that’s not the case, I had a bit of a hard time. This is one of those books you have to really pay attention to in order to keep things straight, and if you don’t do that, things will get confusing.
That being said, the premise and the philosophical questions Brown brings up are great, it’s definitely something I can see our society struggling with as robots become more and more sophisticated and holding up only the smartest people in a society becomes problematic for those without, say, an aptitude for engineering. I enjoyed those debates and seeing how the different groups felt about sentient robots. My issue was that it was hard to care about the characters. The book reads more like a theoretical paper and not like a plot or even character driven story. The “action” doesn’t appear until close to the 70% mark of the book and the resolution felt a bit flimsy to me compared to the sheer amount of set up and backstory that’s given as to how humanity got to a certain point. If I don’t have an emotional investment in any of the characters, it’s very hard for a book to keep my attention and while the questions raised are interesting and the author is clearly very smart, I just couldn’t get into this story the way I thought I would based on the synopsis.
The book brings up interesting points, but I just wasn’t interested in it, if that makes sense? With a story that is so science heavy, you really need—in my opinion—a character or a storyline that’s going to make wading through the rather dry stuff worth it, or it makes for a dry read. And, because certain cultures have combined their languages, the dialogue can be hard to read sometimes, which just made things even more difficult for me to keep characters apart, and just really start liking any of them. Is it an interesting premise? Yes, I love the philosophical questions about humans’ relationships with future AI. If you love hard science fiction, you may still really enjoy this novel. But for me personally, characters come first and without that, everything else just falls apart. Ultimately, I don’t think this was the story I was expecting to read, which left me disappointed, which is why I’m giving this 2.5 stars. However, if you are interested in more of the theoretical debates the author brings up, definitely give this book a try! And thanks to the author for providing me with a copy for review.
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January 20, 2018I'm the author, so of course I think the book is terrible ...
I've gotten several messages from people who think that the book has many typos... but when I review them, although there were a few, most were NOT typos, but my written attempt to show how people who speak "International Chinese English" speak. Mandarin has no verb conjugation, no articles (the, a, an), nor gender (not even for second person pronouns... everyone has the same gender). ICE has many of the same features as Mandarin. The book WAS copy edited by a professional, but even then a few real typos did get through.
In writing the book, I started with the assumption that just like today, many in the future will dream of seeing humanity going into and living in space. What will that look like? No seriously, from the technological, economic, and political standpoints, what will that look like. And will everyone be happy about it?
You may recall that many folks were angry about the US spending money on the Apollo program. Imagine when the moon, near earth orbit, and the nearby planets all have economically valuable colonies. Who will benefit? Who will be unhappy because they do not.
I also assumed that many will dream of sending humanity to colonize other worlds around other suns, to make all the stars suns shining down on other human homes. Who will want to do it? Who will want to stop them?
Finally, as one who truly wants to see this future and as one who has a background in developing technology from conception to shipping hundreds of millions of smartphones, tablets, laptops, and TVs... I wanted to explore just HOW we could do it in real life... no, not just what the ship will look like, but who will crew it, what will they do when they get to their new home, how will they turn a barren and lifeless rock into an inviting ecosystem, an inviting home for our great grandchildren... and tell a tale of the future that feels real.
I hope you read and enjoy my tale as much as I had in dreaming it up.
I've gotten several messages from people who think that the book has many typos... but when I review them, although there were a few, most were NOT typos, but my written attempt to show how people who speak "International Chinese English" speak. Mandarin has no verb conjugation, no articles (the, a, an), nor gender (not even for second person pronouns... everyone has the same gender). ICE has many of the same features as Mandarin. The book WAS copy edited by a professional, but even then a few real typos did get through.
In writing the book, I started with the assumption that just like today, many in the future will dream of seeing humanity going into and living in space. What will that look like? No seriously, from the technological, economic, and political standpoints, what will that look like. And will everyone be happy about it?
You may recall that many folks were angry about the US spending money on the Apollo program. Imagine when the moon, near earth orbit, and the nearby planets all have economically valuable colonies. Who will benefit? Who will be unhappy because they do not.
I also assumed that many will dream of sending humanity to colonize other worlds around other suns, to make all the stars suns shining down on other human homes. Who will want to do it? Who will want to stop them?
Finally, as one who truly wants to see this future and as one who has a background in developing technology from conception to shipping hundreds of millions of smartphones, tablets, laptops, and TVs... I wanted to explore just HOW we could do it in real life... no, not just what the ship will look like, but who will crew it, what will they do when they get to their new home, how will they turn a barren and lifeless rock into an inviting ecosystem, an inviting home for our great grandchildren... and tell a tale of the future that feels real.
I hope you read and enjoy my tale as much as I had in dreaming it up.
January 18, 2018
To begin with a confession: I have known the author for many years, on and off.
The discovery that she had written a novel made me very happy; the discovery that it was self-published caused me some concern. In the end, both feelings were correct.
You see, it's actually quite a good book; but it desperately wants copyediting.
In a twenty-third century where many of the problems of our time have been solved, there are (of course) new problems. Millions, perhaps billions, of people live on the Universal Minimum Income because there simply are no jobs for them. Intelligent machines do most of the unskilled and skilled but non-creative work more cheaply and "better" than a human worker could do.
In this world we meet Quan Yin, who, in the first chapter, easily disables three men who attempt to rape her. This is probably just as well for them, because it quickly turns out that Quan has no sexual organs of any type. She is man-made.
But she isn't an android, or a robot. She's something new, an entire prosthetic body linked to an optoelectronic analogue of a human brain. She has emotions, thoughts, desires, and as much free will as any human being.
Quan has been purpose-built as the first of a kind that will pilot and crew interstellar "seedships," which will, over thousands of years, terraform the planets of a new sun and plant an entire ecosystem, suitable for human habitation. Then, they will raise human infants to inhabit them -- which is why crew who could feel human emotions were necessary in the first place.
The rape attempt brings Quan, previously a secret, to the public attention, and much of the book is about the business and political maneuvering that results from the discovery. Brown has created a lovely set of factions for her 23d century, including "neo-Luddites" who want jobs returned to humans and religious - or perhaps religiose - "Dominionists" who believe humans have no business off the Earth. (There are thriving colonies on Luna and Venus, and one starting on Mars, as the story takes place.) Each has its part to play in a complex and potentially deadly game whose prize is the fate of the Diaspora Foundation, the century-old nonprofit organization behind the seedships.
Not only the factions, but the characters are plausible and full of life. Particularly intriguing are Dr. M'Beke, who designed Quan's brain, and the Honorable Rufus Quinn, who seems at first to be a villain but is actually much more complex than that.
Unfortunately for all this goodness, the book is riddled with typoes, grammar errors, and infelicitous word choices which any good copy editor would have flagged for Brown to fix. It is a truth universally accepted that nobody can proofread their own manuscript.
The discovery that she had written a novel made me very happy; the discovery that it was self-published caused me some concern. In the end, both feelings were correct.
You see, it's actually quite a good book; but it desperately wants copyediting.
In a twenty-third century where many of the problems of our time have been solved, there are (of course) new problems. Millions, perhaps billions, of people live on the Universal Minimum Income because there simply are no jobs for them. Intelligent machines do most of the unskilled and skilled but non-creative work more cheaply and "better" than a human worker could do.
In this world we meet Quan Yin, who, in the first chapter, easily disables three men who attempt to rape her. This is probably just as well for them, because it quickly turns out that Quan has no sexual organs of any type. She is man-made.
But she isn't an android, or a robot. She's something new, an entire prosthetic body linked to an optoelectronic analogue of a human brain. She has emotions, thoughts, desires, and as much free will as any human being.
Quan has been purpose-built as the first of a kind that will pilot and crew interstellar "seedships," which will, over thousands of years, terraform the planets of a new sun and plant an entire ecosystem, suitable for human habitation. Then, they will raise human infants to inhabit them -- which is why crew who could feel human emotions were necessary in the first place.
The rape attempt brings Quan, previously a secret, to the public attention, and much of the book is about the business and political maneuvering that results from the discovery. Brown has created a lovely set of factions for her 23d century, including "neo-Luddites" who want jobs returned to humans and religious - or perhaps religiose - "Dominionists" who believe humans have no business off the Earth. (There are thriving colonies on Luna and Venus, and one starting on Mars, as the story takes place.) Each has its part to play in a complex and potentially deadly game whose prize is the fate of the Diaspora Foundation, the century-old nonprofit organization behind the seedships.
Not only the factions, but the characters are plausible and full of life. Particularly intriguing are Dr. M'Beke, who designed Quan's brain, and the Honorable Rufus Quinn, who seems at first to be a villain but is actually much more complex than that.
Unfortunately for all this goodness, the book is riddled with typoes, grammar errors, and infelicitous word choices which any good copy editor would have flagged for Brown to fix. It is a truth universally accepted that nobody can proofread their own manuscript.
March 4, 2018
The book paints the author’s vision of the future and the beginning of deep space colonization and exploration. It tries to tell the story of religious, political and social issues associated with moving forward into the stars, and secret organizations that are for and against it. In this future, World peace has been achieved and society is a mixture of the entire world with Chinese and English forming a common language. Once establishing that “International Chinese English” is the main language, some characters mix several languages such as Mandarin and English which is commented on, but not actually written. Then out of nowhere I find, what I assume is Russian words printed using the Cyrillic alphabet, with no explanation of the words… Why? Various Cyrillic words appear in sentences throughout the book, again without meaning. You, as the reader, have to deduce what the word is based on how it’s used in the sentence. This is totally unnecessary and added nothing to the story, but in-fact was a detractor.
Overall my main issue with the book is that it was just boring. I felt no emotion throughout the entire story. Not wanting to give away any spoilers, but the attempted rape scene at the story’s beginning should have grabbed me (the reader) and brought me into the story, it didn’t. Later in the book the sabotage at the genetics labs on Venus and of the Seed ships should have been the climax of the story, I was almost falling asleep. After reading the Epilogue, I had to ask myself, was the book just to set the stage for a future book that takes place on one of the worlds where the seed ships land so the author can explain the how the super intelligent birds came to be?
This is copy of my Amazon review
Overall my main issue with the book is that it was just boring. I felt no emotion throughout the entire story. Not wanting to give away any spoilers, but the attempted rape scene at the story’s beginning should have grabbed me (the reader) and brought me into the story, it didn’t. Later in the book the sabotage at the genetics labs on Venus and of the Seed ships should have been the climax of the story, I was almost falling asleep. After reading the Epilogue, I had to ask myself, was the book just to set the stage for a future book that takes place on one of the worlds where the seed ships land so the author can explain the how the super intelligent birds came to be?
This is copy of my Amazon review
February 15, 2021
Characters
There are a lot of characters in the book, and the cast is diverse. They come from different countries and backgrounds, they believe in different things, some of them are fanatics, one of them is neuroatypical. There are some LGBTQ+ characters, including a successful trans woman who hosts her own show. There are also 'synthetic intelligences' - basically artificial brains that are given remote avatars (i.e. bodies) to operate. However, none of the characters felt like a protagonist, they were all more like secondary characters supporting the plot, and none of them was particularly fleshed out.
World-building
There is a great deal of world-building in the book, especially when it comes to technology. The 'science' part of the fiction is really strong, and it looks like the author knows what she's talking about. You'll get a detailed description of how everything works and dive into subjects like genetic engineering, space travel and AI. In the future the author portrays, the world in even more interconnected and globalist, languages and cultures are mixed, most of the population live on Universal Basic Income, as most jobs are automated. The author portrays different forces at play, each with their distinct views and agenda, trying to achieve their contradictory goals.
Plot
The plot is clear. We follow the characters over the years as each of them tries to reach their goals. Even though there are some personal events happening in some of the characters' lives, they are mostly just shown doing their jobs or dealing with the situations related to the story. We don't get to know them or their motivations well.
Impressions
The book is full of thought-provoking ideas regarding technology and the possible future of humanity. It raises a lot of interesting questions. How would it influence people if the majority of the population lived on Universal Basic Income? What can we do to ensure that people still have an active role in their communities? What is the value of art? What is the difference between synthetic and organic intelligence when technology reaches a certain level? How can humans reach the stars taking into account the actual limitations imposed by the laws of physics? How can extreme views impede progress? These ideas gave me food for thought and entertained me.
However, I had trouble connecting with any of the characters. The author has a unique style: each chapter switches between different characters after a few paragraphs. Taking into account how many characters there are, it was hard for me to follow, especially in the beginning, when I didn't know anything about them. It became easier later, but it still prevented me from immersing in the world and living through the events with the characters or getting to know them better. To me personally, even though the events in the book were exciting, and the stakes were high, the story lacked emotional tension. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the story that was mostly based on ideas.
You might enjoy the book if you are into hard sci-fi and are interested in AI, space colonization and genetic engineering, want to know the real science behind concepts and don't mind a book being mostly about ideas, with characters playing a secondary role.
Check out my website about sci-fi by women and non-binary authors for book reviews, lists, interviews and more.
There are a lot of characters in the book, and the cast is diverse. They come from different countries and backgrounds, they believe in different things, some of them are fanatics, one of them is neuroatypical. There are some LGBTQ+ characters, including a successful trans woman who hosts her own show. There are also 'synthetic intelligences' - basically artificial brains that are given remote avatars (i.e. bodies) to operate. However, none of the characters felt like a protagonist, they were all more like secondary characters supporting the plot, and none of them was particularly fleshed out.
World-building
There is a great deal of world-building in the book, especially when it comes to technology. The 'science' part of the fiction is really strong, and it looks like the author knows what she's talking about. You'll get a detailed description of how everything works and dive into subjects like genetic engineering, space travel and AI. In the future the author portrays, the world in even more interconnected and globalist, languages and cultures are mixed, most of the population live on Universal Basic Income, as most jobs are automated. The author portrays different forces at play, each with their distinct views and agenda, trying to achieve their contradictory goals.
Plot
The plot is clear. We follow the characters over the years as each of them tries to reach their goals. Even though there are some personal events happening in some of the characters' lives, they are mostly just shown doing their jobs or dealing with the situations related to the story. We don't get to know them or their motivations well.
Impressions
The book is full of thought-provoking ideas regarding technology and the possible future of humanity. It raises a lot of interesting questions. How would it influence people if the majority of the population lived on Universal Basic Income? What can we do to ensure that people still have an active role in their communities? What is the value of art? What is the difference between synthetic and organic intelligence when technology reaches a certain level? How can humans reach the stars taking into account the actual limitations imposed by the laws of physics? How can extreme views impede progress? These ideas gave me food for thought and entertained me.
However, I had trouble connecting with any of the characters. The author has a unique style: each chapter switches between different characters after a few paragraphs. Taking into account how many characters there are, it was hard for me to follow, especially in the beginning, when I didn't know anything about them. It became easier later, but it still prevented me from immersing in the world and living through the events with the characters or getting to know them better. To me personally, even though the events in the book were exciting, and the stakes were high, the story lacked emotional tension. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the story that was mostly based on ideas.
You might enjoy the book if you are into hard sci-fi and are interested in AI, space colonization and genetic engineering, want to know the real science behind concepts and don't mind a book being mostly about ideas, with characters playing a secondary role.
Check out my website about sci-fi by women and non-binary authors for book reviews, lists, interviews and more.
January 24, 2018
As some may already know, I am partial to indie authors. I admire their tenacity, among other things. Therefore, I am always delighted to read a book by an indie author that captivates me from the beginning. That is exactly what happened to me with All the Stars Are Suns by Seaby Brown.
The story opens with the attempted rape of a young woman named Quan Yin, who unbeknownst to the perpetrators, is actually an optoelectronic analogue of a real human brain and uses an avatar to interact with humans. Quan Yin has been the brain child and life’s work of Dr. M ‘Beke and a well-kept secret up to now.
Since Quan is an exact “copy” of a human brain she has emotions, desires and all the things take make people… well people. In other words, she is a sentient being. Dr. M’Beke has made her this way so that she and others like her can pilot seed ships that will spread humankind throughout the galaxy. Humans would not be able to make the long space voyages necessary to reach far flung plants that are suitable for life and robots cannot raise children once a seed ship arrives at a planet to be colonized. Therefore, Quan is the perfect solution.
Yet her existence stirs controversy among various factions on Earth. For example, the Dominionists, a religious terrorists faction, believes mankind should never leave Earth. They have always been plotting to sabotage the colonies on the Moon and the latest on Mars. Once they find out about Quan’s existence, and the plans for her, they will stop at nothing to stop them.
The plot was imaginative and though set in the 23rd century it was highly probable. I love science fiction anyway, but when the science behind the story is plausible, as here, it makes for a better story. The author, who is a technical person, uses her knowledge to the best advantage in this story.
Brown has taken some of the hot button topics of today and entwined them nicely into the plot. In addition, she has addressed issues that will be a problem to future generations, like what to do when automation has replaced a majority of the jobs. I like how she envisioned the different factions and beliefs that will arise in the future and issues relating things like human worth, what makes a being sentient, etc.
The only negative comment I have is the book needed further editing. I am not the grammar queen by any means and I found numerous errors. On the flip side of the coin, I know “good” copy editors are not a dime a dozen and the cost prevents most indie authors from utilizing their skills. Therefore, I am allowing some leeway here and giving it a full five stars because the story is really good. Others might wish to knock it down to 4 or 4.5. You read and decide for yourself.
I recommend All the Stars Are Suns to all fans of science fiction; but, especially to those who enjoy stories that are based on actual science instead of speculative science. Lastly, I think this book would be a great one for a book club or discussion group, because it does touch on so many social issues of today and what could very well be revelation in the future.
I received a free copy from the author in exchange for my honest review.
For more of my reviews, and author interviews, see my blog at www.thespineview.com.
The story opens with the attempted rape of a young woman named Quan Yin, who unbeknownst to the perpetrators, is actually an optoelectronic analogue of a real human brain and uses an avatar to interact with humans. Quan Yin has been the brain child and life’s work of Dr. M ‘Beke and a well-kept secret up to now.
Since Quan is an exact “copy” of a human brain she has emotions, desires and all the things take make people… well people. In other words, she is a sentient being. Dr. M’Beke has made her this way so that she and others like her can pilot seed ships that will spread humankind throughout the galaxy. Humans would not be able to make the long space voyages necessary to reach far flung plants that are suitable for life and robots cannot raise children once a seed ship arrives at a planet to be colonized. Therefore, Quan is the perfect solution.
Yet her existence stirs controversy among various factions on Earth. For example, the Dominionists, a religious terrorists faction, believes mankind should never leave Earth. They have always been plotting to sabotage the colonies on the Moon and the latest on Mars. Once they find out about Quan’s existence, and the plans for her, they will stop at nothing to stop them.
The plot was imaginative and though set in the 23rd century it was highly probable. I love science fiction anyway, but when the science behind the story is plausible, as here, it makes for a better story. The author, who is a technical person, uses her knowledge to the best advantage in this story.
Brown has taken some of the hot button topics of today and entwined them nicely into the plot. In addition, she has addressed issues that will be a problem to future generations, like what to do when automation has replaced a majority of the jobs. I like how she envisioned the different factions and beliefs that will arise in the future and issues relating things like human worth, what makes a being sentient, etc.
The only negative comment I have is the book needed further editing. I am not the grammar queen by any means and I found numerous errors. On the flip side of the coin, I know “good” copy editors are not a dime a dozen and the cost prevents most indie authors from utilizing their skills. Therefore, I am allowing some leeway here and giving it a full five stars because the story is really good. Others might wish to knock it down to 4 or 4.5. You read and decide for yourself.
I recommend All the Stars Are Suns to all fans of science fiction; but, especially to those who enjoy stories that are based on actual science instead of speculative science. Lastly, I think this book would be a great one for a book club or discussion group, because it does touch on so many social issues of today and what could very well be revelation in the future.
I received a free copy from the author in exchange for my honest review.
For more of my reviews, and author interviews, see my blog at www.thespineview.com.
March 7, 2018
Really pleased to stumble across this book.
A good read with a lot of good plausible ideas.
Interesting characters in a near future world
Oh an good to find a sci-fi story with little violence
A good read with a lot of good plausible ideas.
Interesting characters in a near future world
Oh an good to find a sci-fi story with little violence
November 7, 2019
An engaging story. Fast moving, well thought out, and provoking.
January 15, 2018
Disclaimer: I received a free copy from the Author. This does not affect my review in anyway)
Review: I found this book highly interesting. It not a chunky book at all and it does dart about from multiple people view points. At first I did find the introductions to multiple people a bit confusing, plus hard to keep track of who is who. After awhile bar the few main people I stopped trying and focused on a set few. I didn’t really see how they all played a part in the story. Near the end it all made sense bar one character, no clue really why she was included. Maybe just to add another layer/view point to the story.
It a very futurist story been as well it based in the future (duh). It is very scientific heavy, though I had no trouble keeping up with what was being said and what it all meant. Might be a little harder on someone who not very used to science fiction. The Author really knew what she was talking about when she went into great detail about all the different scientific elements in the story.
I can’t really say all that much more without giving away the story, the blurb doesn’t do the book justice in my own opinion. I found a few odd little mistakes here and there, plus some repetitions of lines. Have sent a note off to the Author. I am surprised I enjoyed it as much as I did, it was more of a brush stroke of the whole story than going into huge amount of details and focusing soling on a few things. The Author showed a lot in a small amount of pages, which is one of the main reasons I think she added no many characters.
(I wouldn’t really class it as LGBTQIA book, but it a futurist book where same sex relationships are normal. One character is married to another man. Another is dating a transwomen. It also references a popular gay author.)
Review: I found this book highly interesting. It not a chunky book at all and it does dart about from multiple people view points. At first I did find the introductions to multiple people a bit confusing, plus hard to keep track of who is who. After awhile bar the few main people I stopped trying and focused on a set few. I didn’t really see how they all played a part in the story. Near the end it all made sense bar one character, no clue really why she was included. Maybe just to add another layer/view point to the story.
It a very futurist story been as well it based in the future (duh). It is very scientific heavy, though I had no trouble keeping up with what was being said and what it all meant. Might be a little harder on someone who not very used to science fiction. The Author really knew what she was talking about when she went into great detail about all the different scientific elements in the story.
I can’t really say all that much more without giving away the story, the blurb doesn’t do the book justice in my own opinion. I found a few odd little mistakes here and there, plus some repetitions of lines. Have sent a note off to the Author. I am surprised I enjoyed it as much as I did, it was more of a brush stroke of the whole story than going into huge amount of details and focusing soling on a few things. The Author showed a lot in a small amount of pages, which is one of the main reasons I think she added no many characters.
(I wouldn’t really class it as LGBTQIA book, but it a futurist book where same sex relationships are normal. One character is married to another man. Another is dating a transwomen. It also references a popular gay author.)
January 1, 2018
This book hits so many key issues holding mankind back.
Fear, greed, insecurities have all played major roles in all of our lives. Yet on a large scale the endanger our species and planet. If only there were people dedicated to truly preserving the mericle life is. Those that are not so hindered by the rest.
Fear, greed, insecurities have all played major roles in all of our lives. Yet on a large scale the endanger our species and planet. If only there were people dedicated to truly preserving the mericle life is. Those that are not so hindered by the rest.
February 18, 2026
This book could actually be the future, it's completely plausible to me based on science and human nature. The premise of this story and the future of humanity resounded with me and gives me hope for the human race. I especially liked that The Velveteen Rabbit was Quan / Sincerity's favorite book. Loved that bit. Highly Recommended. 5 stars.
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