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When the Sparrow Falls
ONE OF THE TIMES 10 BEST SCI-FI BOOKS OF 2021
Neil Sharpson's When the Sparrow Falls illuminates authoritarianism, complicity, and identity in the digital age, in a page turning, darkly-funny, frightening and touching story that recalls Philip K. Dick, John le Carré, and Kurt Vonnegut in equal measure.
Life in the Caspian Republic has taught Agent Nikolai South two rules. Trust No One. And work just hard enough not to make enemies.
Here, in the last sanctuary for the dying embers of the human race in a world run by artificial intelligence, if you stray from the path―your life is forfeit. But when a Party propagandist is killed―and is discovered as a “machine”―he’s given a new chaperone the widow, Lily, who has arrived to claim her husband’s remains.
But when South sees that she, the first “machine” ever allowed into the country, bears an uncanny resemblance to his late wife, he’s thrown into a maelstrom of betrayal, murder, and conspiracy that may bring down the Republic for good.
Neil Sharpson's When the Sparrow Falls illuminates authoritarianism, complicity, and identity in the digital age, in a page turning, darkly-funny, frightening and touching story that recalls Philip K. Dick, John le Carré, and Kurt Vonnegut in equal measure.
Life in the Caspian Republic has taught Agent Nikolai South two rules. Trust No One. And work just hard enough not to make enemies.
Here, in the last sanctuary for the dying embers of the human race in a world run by artificial intelligence, if you stray from the path―your life is forfeit. But when a Party propagandist is killed―and is discovered as a “machine”―he’s given a new chaperone the widow, Lily, who has arrived to claim her husband’s remains.
But when South sees that she, the first “machine” ever allowed into the country, bears an uncanny resemblance to his late wife, he’s thrown into a maelstrom of betrayal, murder, and conspiracy that may bring down the Republic for good.
328 pages, Paperback
First published June 29, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 243 reviews
April 23, 2022
If Blade Runner and 1984 had a baby, it would grow up to be When the Sparrow Falls. Part dystopian sci-fi, part political thriller with a dash of humor; this wildly exceeded my expectations.
In a future where super AIs advise the worlds' governments and human consciousness can be uploaded to computers and downloaded back into clone bodies, one small nation resists the Machine as the last vestiges of "true" humanity. Disavowing the "code" people and outlawing digital technology, a fascist regime does their best to ensure that humanity will survive at all cost. When the autopsy of a high ranking party member reveals him to have been an AI, StaSec agent Nikolai South is assigned to escort the widow to identify the body. He quickly finds himself embroiled in a conspiracy that he probably won't survive.
I went into this not expecting much and am glad to be wrong. The world building is top notch. The author very quickly lets the reader get a good feel for how the society works. I don't think I've read a dystopian novel yet, where the rest of the world was a utopia. It was interesting seeing the juxtaposition of the two. In most dystopias, there is no better option; occasionally, there is a rumored land of freedom overseas, but it's always just rumors. Here, everyone knows what's just beyond their borders; freedom is so close, but trying to get there means risking death for themselves and their families and friends.
If you're into dystopia novels, or just sci-fi in general, give this one a read. I'm really surprised this book isn't being talked about more.
In a future where super AIs advise the worlds' governments and human consciousness can be uploaded to computers and downloaded back into clone bodies, one small nation resists the Machine as the last vestiges of "true" humanity. Disavowing the "code" people and outlawing digital technology, a fascist regime does their best to ensure that humanity will survive at all cost. When the autopsy of a high ranking party member reveals him to have been an AI, StaSec agent Nikolai South is assigned to escort the widow to identify the body. He quickly finds himself embroiled in a conspiracy that he probably won't survive.
I went into this not expecting much and am glad to be wrong. The world building is top notch. The author very quickly lets the reader get a good feel for how the society works. I don't think I've read a dystopian novel yet, where the rest of the world was a utopia. It was interesting seeing the juxtaposition of the two. In most dystopias, there is no better option; occasionally, there is a rumored land of freedom overseas, but it's always just rumors. Here, everyone knows what's just beyond their borders; freedom is so close, but trying to get there means risking death for themselves and their families and friends.
If you're into dystopia novels, or just sci-fi in general, give this one a read. I'm really surprised this book isn't being talked about more.
July 12, 2024
Real Rating: 4.1* of five
I RECEIVED MY DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: First, read this:
You know already where you are. You'd be stupid or frankly insentient if you didn't recognize the various totalitarian régimes of our present century. Here's what you don't know in the first few chapters of this extraordinarily exciting tale: You will not be leaving the Caspian Republic until events have reached their logical limits. Until then, settle in and surrender your schedule and your other plans.
I would love to spoil the bejabbers out of this read. It is almost painful not to. I want someone to kvell over the ending with; I want someone to be full of the rat's-nest of emotions with me...and not one soul I know can be!
I understand the feelings expressed at the ending of the book so very much better now.
When you send your request in to the bookery of your choice for this story, I think you should know that the author's purpose in writing it was to rob you of any sense of actual control over your life and the world around you. But it will, in fact, be okay. I can't tell you why but let's just say Epicurus's famous formulation of the Problem of Evil:
Well-trodden tracks lead through this thicket. The response from the god-addled is, "She has Her Reasons, which Reason knoweth not," or something similar to that. In fact the story contains that very argument, put in the mouth of a deeply important figure. (It is only resolvable for the goddists by their huffy assumption that you, o skeptic, are nowhere near as smart as you think you are; and for the bare-faced atheists by using the same argument in reverse.) But what if there *is* a solution....
What, indeed.
Spending a day immersed in the Caspian Republic is a pleasure I'm deeply glad to inform you is exactly what this rather somber, for me at least, holiday required. I needed morally complex characters, ones whose simplest expressions of self are free of embarrassing innocence and unmarred by mawkish candor. I needed to be with my fellow hideously betrayed and painfully reassembled, then betrayed again...and again...and again...bitter, disappointed, unable to imagine what trust would even look like, romantics. They teem in the totalitarian terrors of the Caspian Republic. I needed to feel that my brain's energy was fully and unremittingly drawn down to understand the convolutions of the story's moral landscape.
Success!
Love will always fuck you up; and the ways in which love fucks you up are truly epic in this story. Thee and me, fellow QUILTBAGgers, are presented on these pages as people of complexity and subtlety. There's really no sex of any sort; it's alluded to and it's very much part of the proceedings, but nobody gets down to business. In exchange, lesbians' love is utterly unremarkable. Men's love is less present; but it does come, when it shows up, as a moment of bathos and facetious secretiveness ("...what did he do?" Your husband, unless I completely misread the subtext, isn't particularly respectful from a cishet man no matter that it's amusingly phrased). Oh well...can't really expect otherwise, given the two men involved. There was absolutely no way on Earth I'd've picked those guys out as my fellows, gotta hand that to Author Sharpson!
So half-a-star gone for the three w-bombs dropped on my innocent, unsuspecting head; another half-star for being sniggeringly dismissive of the only gay male couple in the entire book.
But leaving the read, the ending, well...that has to put some luster back on the read...it's a delight, if a marred and flawed delight, of a read. It gives a reader a rare treat: Reading about grown people, the adult end of the room, is a rapturous and infrequently encountered pleasure in the YA-heavy lists of SF/F publishers. A novel of ideas, one that examines the cracks and the broken places in Love and Trust, one that asks you to spend more than just the usual amount of energy on the read deserves a warm and delighted welcome, louder and stronger for the fact that it's the first...hopefully in a long line.
But seriously. No more w-verbing. It's gross.
I RECEIVED MY DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: First, read this:
Nominally, the currency of the Caspian Republic is the moneta, but in truth the coin of the nation was fear. Whoever could inspire fear was rich, whoever lived in fear was poor.
–and–
For a writer's work to be circulated amongst the upper levels of the party was usually the precursor to them coming down with a rather permanent case of writer's block, but not this time. {He} was offered a position in The Truth (then viewed as a rather out of touch and elitist organ), and asked to bring his rough, authentic, working-class voice to the paper's readers, who were left with nothing to do but wonder what they had done to deserve it.
You know already where you are. You'd be stupid or frankly insentient if you didn't recognize the various totalitarian régimes of our present century. Here's what you don't know in the first few chapters of this extraordinarily exciting tale: You will not be leaving the Caspian Republic until events have reached their logical limits. Until then, settle in and surrender your schedule and your other plans.
I would love to spoil the bejabbers out of this read. It is almost painful not to. I want someone to kvell over the ending with; I want someone to be full of the rat's-nest of emotions with me...and not one soul I know can be!
I understand the feelings expressed at the ending of the book so very much better now.
When you send your request in to the bookery of your choice for this story, I think you should know that the author's purpose in writing it was to rob you of any sense of actual control over your life and the world around you. But it will, in fact, be okay. I can't tell you why but let's just say Epicurus's famous formulation of the Problem of Evil:
“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?”
Well-trodden tracks lead through this thicket. The response from the god-addled is, "She has Her Reasons, which Reason knoweth not," or something similar to that. In fact the story contains that very argument, put in the mouth of a deeply important figure. (It is only resolvable for the goddists by their huffy assumption that you, o skeptic, are nowhere near as smart as you think you are; and for the bare-faced atheists by using the same argument in reverse.) But what if there *is* a solution....
It was the face beneath mine on the beach when she had been pulled from the ocean and my breath had not been enough.
What, indeed.
Spending a day immersed in the Caspian Republic is a pleasure I'm deeply glad to inform you is exactly what this rather somber, for me at least, holiday required. I needed morally complex characters, ones whose simplest expressions of self are free of embarrassing innocence and unmarred by mawkish candor. I needed to be with my fellow hideously betrayed and painfully reassembled, then betrayed again...and again...and again...bitter, disappointed, unable to imagine what trust would even look like, romantics. They teem in the totalitarian terrors of the Caspian Republic. I needed to feel that my brain's energy was fully and unremittingly drawn down to understand the convolutions of the story's moral landscape.
"Everyone's soul is unique...{a}nd just as your body is built with the protein and calcium and iron you consume every day, your soul is built with words. The words you read, and the words you hear. The soul consumes words, and then it expresses itself through them in a way that is unique to that soul."
Success!
Love will always fuck you up; and the ways in which love fucks you up are truly epic in this story. Thee and me, fellow QUILTBAGgers, are presented on these pages as people of complexity and subtlety. There's really no sex of any sort; it's alluded to and it's very much part of the proceedings, but nobody gets down to business. In exchange, lesbians' love is utterly unremarkable. Men's love is less present; but it does come, when it shows up, as a moment of bathos and facetious secretiveness ("...what did he do?" Your husband, unless I completely misread the subtext, isn't particularly respectful from a cishet man no matter that it's amusingly phrased). Oh well...can't really expect otherwise, given the two men involved. There was absolutely no way on Earth I'd've picked those guys out as my fellows, gotta hand that to Author Sharpson!
So half-a-star gone for the three w-bombs dropped on my innocent, unsuspecting head; another half-star for being sniggeringly dismissive of the only gay male couple in the entire book.
But leaving the read, the ending, well...that has to put some luster back on the read...it's a delight, if a marred and flawed delight, of a read. It gives a reader a rare treat: Reading about grown people, the adult end of the room, is a rapturous and infrequently encountered pleasure in the YA-heavy lists of SF/F publishers. A novel of ideas, one that examines the cracks and the broken places in Love and Trust, one that asks you to spend more than just the usual amount of energy on the read deserves a warm and delighted welcome, louder and stronger for the fact that it's the first...hopefully in a long line.
But seriously. No more w-verbing. It's gross.
February 28, 2022
The Caspian Republic is the last human sanctuary in a world that is dominated by artificial intelligence. In the Caspian Republic, however, all is not well. What a great idea for a novel! That and the fact that I am a sucker for any story that includes any consideration of ‘every sparrow fallen’ (Matthew 10:29). It should have been perfect and it did start off well enough with the opening to every chapter filling in the history and background of the Caspian Republic and the rest of the chapter concerning itself with the murder and conspiracy. It had its moments but seemed to get lost somewhere around the middle. It almost felt as if the author was getting obsessed with filling in the background and plotting out the history and getting less interested in the story itself. Definitely worth reading with some fascinating musings, but also a little disappointing.
November 21, 2023
Cilvēks ir atklājis, kā augšuplādēt apziņu, AI pieņem visus nozīmīgos lēmumus pasaulē, un Kaspijas jūras krastā ir nodibināta Kaspijas valsts, kas ir kā pēdējais bastions cilvēcei, kas nav gatavi pakļauties mašīnām. Bet, kā tas mēs gadīties, labiem nodomiem kaisīts izrādās ceļš uz elli un Kaspijas valsts izrādās tāds hardcore totalitārs režīms.
Tiek nozūmēts šī režīma galvenais propagandists, kurš izrādās (vai manu dieniņ!) ir AI. Tad nu mūsu izbadējies, dzīves dauzītais pusmūža drošības dienesta darbinieks tiek iemests izmeklēšanas virpulī un seko dažādi atklājumi un garšīgs steiks.
Ļoti laba ideja, bet autors drusku nedavelk, lai to visu atrisinātu meistarīgi un es ieliktu 5 zvaigznes, bet iesaku izlasīt šā kā tā.
Tiek nozūmēts šī režīma galvenais propagandists, kurš izrādās (vai manu dieniņ!) ir AI. Tad nu mūsu izbadējies, dzīves dauzītais pusmūža drošības dienesta darbinieks tiek iemests izmeklēšanas virpulī un seko dažādi atklājumi un garšīgs steiks.
Ļoti laba ideja, bet autors drusku nedavelk, lai to visu atrisinātu meistarīgi un es ieliktu 5 zvaigznes, bet iesaku izlasīt šā kā tā.
April 17, 2021
I read a publisher's advance review copy, provided via Netgalley.
Wow, was I impressed by this book. First of all, Sharpson makes us understand the Caspian Republic very quickly. To me, it seemed like a sort of future mashup of East Germany and North Korea. Because the Caspian Republic is the only country in the world that bans artificial intelligence—which by then has been incorporated in humankind everywhere else—it’s essentially a hermit kingdom, a pariah country and a surveillance state. The StaSec (state security), which Nikolai South works for, and ParSec (party security) tightly control all aspects of life in the country and anyone even slightly deviating from rules and orthodoxy is dealt with summarily. Life is harsher by the day, as other countries have blockaded the country, the infrastructure is crumbling and even the country’s leaders are slowly starving.
In addition to reminding me East Germany and North Korea, there are unmistakable reminders of white supremacists, as the Caspian Republic is staunchly philosophically human supremacist. They have their version of “replacement theory” too, and the concomitant hatred and fear of the other.
Anyway, so we start out with impressive world building. Sharpson treats this novel almost as if it’s history, with detailed descriptions of the origins of the Caspian Republic and all the military and political fighting that led to its establishment.
Now on to characters. For a guy who has spent decades trying to ensure he doesn’t garner any attention from anybody, especially ParSec, Nikolai South quickly becomes an indelible character. He has a gently mocking tone in his inner dialog, with his tart observations directed at himself and to his country. Imagine his surprise—and fear—when the StaSec chief orders him to report to her. It turns out that it is precisely because of his decades-long self-effacement that she deems him the perfect person to handle a no-win assignment: be the minder for a foreign visitor who has come to identify her husband Paolo Xirau, a staunch party loyalist who was killed and found in his autopsy to be AI. Of course his widow Lily is AI too, and Nikolai is gobsmacked to find that she looks like his long-dead wife.
Now Nikolai is in jumbled state of mind, wondering exactly what is going on and having great difficulty dealing with the maelstrom of his feelings about Lily Xirau. Not as sharp as he maybe should be, considering that there are forces within the Caspian Republic who want to kill Lily for the great sin of being AI and being in their country at the same time.
This is a real standout read, positing an imaginable future not so many decades away. A future that is dauntingly dystopian in many ways, but full of humanity’s potential when it is open to possibility.
Wow, was I impressed by this book. First of all, Sharpson makes us understand the Caspian Republic very quickly. To me, it seemed like a sort of future mashup of East Germany and North Korea. Because the Caspian Republic is the only country in the world that bans artificial intelligence—which by then has been incorporated in humankind everywhere else—it’s essentially a hermit kingdom, a pariah country and a surveillance state. The StaSec (state security), which Nikolai South works for, and ParSec (party security) tightly control all aspects of life in the country and anyone even slightly deviating from rules and orthodoxy is dealt with summarily. Life is harsher by the day, as other countries have blockaded the country, the infrastructure is crumbling and even the country’s leaders are slowly starving.
In addition to reminding me East Germany and North Korea, there are unmistakable reminders of white supremacists, as the Caspian Republic is staunchly philosophically human supremacist. They have their version of “replacement theory” too, and the concomitant hatred and fear of the other.
Anyway, so we start out with impressive world building. Sharpson treats this novel almost as if it’s history, with detailed descriptions of the origins of the Caspian Republic and all the military and political fighting that led to its establishment.
Now on to characters. For a guy who has spent decades trying to ensure he doesn’t garner any attention from anybody, especially ParSec, Nikolai South quickly becomes an indelible character. He has a gently mocking tone in his inner dialog, with his tart observations directed at himself and to his country. Imagine his surprise—and fear—when the StaSec chief orders him to report to her. It turns out that it is precisely because of his decades-long self-effacement that she deems him the perfect person to handle a no-win assignment: be the minder for a foreign visitor who has come to identify her husband Paolo Xirau, a staunch party loyalist who was killed and found in his autopsy to be AI. Of course his widow Lily is AI too, and Nikolai is gobsmacked to find that she looks like his long-dead wife.
Now Nikolai is in jumbled state of mind, wondering exactly what is going on and having great difficulty dealing with the maelstrom of his feelings about Lily Xirau. Not as sharp as he maybe should be, considering that there are forces within the Caspian Republic who want to kill Lily for the great sin of being AI and being in their country at the same time.
This is a real standout read, positing an imaginable future not so many decades away. A future that is dauntingly dystopian in many ways, but full of humanity’s potential when it is open to possibility.
August 5, 2021
The science fiction part of this is peripheral, more in the setting and time frame and there were times I forgot I was reading something taking place far in the future. This is superb storytelling here. The climax of the action happened around 80% on my Kindle and from then on the book took me on an emotional roller coaster with the reveals as to what was actually going on and who was doing what. Some of the reveals took the wind out of me, some made me smile, some made my eyes sort of swell with liquid, and others totally pissed me off and I was not expecting those kinds of reactions when I started reading. This author brings life to AIs and all of the characters, whether real humans or fabricated, were easy to feel for and I cared about them and therefore the story and it makes Neil Sharpson an author to watch.
May 4, 2021
When the Sparrow Falls scores a home run in three genres. It is a sure-fire contender for a Hugo Award nomination in science fiction, with a beautifully crafted future history and worldbuilding worthy of masters like Philip K Dick or even the sainted Asimov. It is a truly riveting thriller full of murder and conspiracy in which the protagonist knows exactly who he can trust: no one. It also explores human themes with a depth and careful attention to the writing that merits the title of literature.
The book is narrated by protagonist Nikolai South, an agent for State Security in the Caspian Republic. The Caspian Republic is the bastion defending pure humanity against the rest of the world, which allows “contran”, the transfer of a consciousness from an organic body to an artificial server or vice versa. Nikolai supports the principles of his country, but he is all too aware of its authoritarian nature and makes comments like, “Nominally the currency of the Caspian Republic was the moneta, but in truth the coin of the nation was fear.” When the most widely read writer in the Caspian Republic is killed and turns out to be an AI, South is assigned to escort his wife, who has come to identify and claim the body. He knows it will be a challenging assignment, but he finds his patriotic, professional, and personal loyalties challenged in ways he could never have imagined.
The Prologue gave me the feeling that this was going to be a good read. It opens with “a clear, bright , quite savagely cold day… when poor old Mendelssohn was brought out into the courtyard before a crowd…and hanged from his neck while they watched and shuffled their feet against the cold.” Each chapter opens with a helpful quote from protagonist Nikolai South’s own time or from historical figures like Elon Musk.
Now that Neil Sharpson has entered the world of the novel, I hope that he will be writing more. When the Sparrow Falls has a beautiful and satisfying ending, but there are certainly enough interesting aspects to the world he created that it could inspire another. Or, since Sharpson clearly does not lack imagination, he could give us another possible future. Whichever it is, I will be eager to read it.
I received an advance review copy of this book from Netgalley and Tor.
The book is narrated by protagonist Nikolai South, an agent for State Security in the Caspian Republic. The Caspian Republic is the bastion defending pure humanity against the rest of the world, which allows “contran”, the transfer of a consciousness from an organic body to an artificial server or vice versa. Nikolai supports the principles of his country, but he is all too aware of its authoritarian nature and makes comments like, “Nominally the currency of the Caspian Republic was the moneta, but in truth the coin of the nation was fear.” When the most widely read writer in the Caspian Republic is killed and turns out to be an AI, South is assigned to escort his wife, who has come to identify and claim the body. He knows it will be a challenging assignment, but he finds his patriotic, professional, and personal loyalties challenged in ways he could never have imagined.
The Prologue gave me the feeling that this was going to be a good read. It opens with “a clear, bright , quite savagely cold day… when poor old Mendelssohn was brought out into the courtyard before a crowd…and hanged from his neck while they watched and shuffled their feet against the cold.” Each chapter opens with a helpful quote from protagonist Nikolai South’s own time or from historical figures like Elon Musk.
Now that Neil Sharpson has entered the world of the novel, I hope that he will be writing more. When the Sparrow Falls has a beautiful and satisfying ending, but there are certainly enough interesting aspects to the world he created that it could inspire another. Or, since Sharpson clearly does not lack imagination, he could give us another possible future. Whichever it is, I will be eager to read it.
I received an advance review copy of this book from Netgalley and Tor.
March 21, 2022
‘When the Sparrow Falls’ by Neil Sharpson is a very good science fiction novel! At first it is seemingly like a John leCarre spy novel about a renewed Cold War between a Stalinist government and democracies, with a speculative science-fiction twist. However, it soon expands into a book of thorny ontological arguments! If the Singularity (three artificial intelligences called the Triumvirate become benevolent advisors to most governments in the novel) happens, and this results in individual human people being able to be transcribed into computerized versions of themselves, how will people and governments react? In this world of the future, the 2150's, people all over the world have access to the fantastic choices of digital life, once they are transcribed as zeroes and ones. They can remain in a virtual computer world or transfer into new flesh bodies that are young and strong!
At least, most of the people of every country in the world have the choice of digitalization -except the country formerly known as Azerbaijan, now called the Caspian Republic after the revolution.
I have copied the book blurb below:
Life in the Caspian Republic has taught Agent Nikolai South two rules. Trust No One. And work just hard enough not to make enemies.
Here, in the last sanctuary for the dying embers of the human race in a world run by artificial intelligence, if you stray from the path - your life is forfeit. But when a Party propagandist is killed - and is discovered as a "machine" - he's given a new mission: chaperone the widow, Lily, who has arrived to claim her husband's remains.
But when South sees that she, the first "machine" ever allowed into the country, bears an uncanny resemblance to his late wife, he's thrown into a maelstrom of betrayal, murder, and conspiracy that may bring down the Republic for good.
WHEN THE SPARROW FALLS illuminates authoritarianism, complicity, and identity in the digital age, in a page turning, darkly-funny, frightening and touching story that recalls Philip K. Dick, John le Carré and Kurt Vonnegut in equal measure."
Nicolai South agrees with his bosses that machine people are an abomination, but having lived under a totalitarian government for his fifty-three years of existence, and having endured a tragic love affair in his past, has drained him. He no longer cares much about anything other than putting one foot in front of the other. Of course, he must care about where his feet land, to step cautiously. As an agent of StaSec, he knows the Caspian Republic tortures detainees and disappears anyone it feels like.
When Nicky meets the widow of Paulo Xirau, flying in on a drone to claim her husband's effects, Nicky almost faints. He was already disturbed with the knowledge that Lily Xirau would be in a "machine" human body. He was given the task to be her minder for the three days she had permission to stay in the Caspian Republic. It was an assignment he couldn't refuse. The Republic was under sanction by all of the other governments and was suffering massive shortages of everything. So, the government had decided to play it nice with the widow, even though her existence was abhorrent. But Nicky is startled by the fact Lily looks exactly like his dead wife, Olesya.
Nicky is almost certain Lily is a spy who has come to collect the small computer chips hidden by traitors involved in the illegal "contran" (consciousness transferral) black market. He can't understand it but the agents are finding more and more dead people who have been willingly contranned. This is a top secret. Lily's appearance has to be part of a conspiracy.
As things begin to play out in a deadly game of cat and mouse, Nicky discovers there IS a conspiracy; in fact, there is a bunch of them! But as Nicolai begins to unravel the mysteries, he is also unexpectedly unraveling his own beliefs. Was everything he was taught in Caspian a lie?
I have read a number of recent books lately about a variety of types of Singularities. It is amazing how each author is thoughtfully exploring a future when a computerized artificial intelligence becomes as sentient or more intelligent than its human creators. Or extrapolating AI science into the next development of transporting, translating or transforming the human mind into an artificial intelligence. These are not the dumb sanitized 1950's radio-show plots made for kids, or the Marvel universe of comic characters (although I LUV those shows, movies and comics still). I haven't read so many well-written and cool grown-up and YA science fiction novels since the 1970 explosion of smart clever science fiction!
The first I ever heard about The Singularity was in a book by Ray Kurzweil, The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology.
Quoted from Wikipedia:
"Kurzweil describes his law of accelerating returns which predicts an exponential increase in technologies like computers, genetics, nanotechnology, robotics and artificial intelligence. Once the Singularity has been reached, Kurzweil says that machine intelligence will be infinitely more powerful than all human intelligence combined. Afterwards he predicts intelligence will radiate outward from the planet until it saturates the universe. The Singularity is also the point at which machines' intelligence and humans would merge."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sin...
Some excellent science fiction with AI extrapolations I've read:
Light Chaser
Day Zero
We Are Legion (We Are Bob)
We Are Satellites (not a favorite of mine despite that it is thoughtful)
Fools' Experiments
The Perfect Wife
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Consider Phlebas
At least, most of the people of every country in the world have the choice of digitalization -except the country formerly known as Azerbaijan, now called the Caspian Republic after the revolution.
I have copied the book blurb below:
Life in the Caspian Republic has taught Agent Nikolai South two rules. Trust No One. And work just hard enough not to make enemies.
Here, in the last sanctuary for the dying embers of the human race in a world run by artificial intelligence, if you stray from the path - your life is forfeit. But when a Party propagandist is killed - and is discovered as a "machine" - he's given a new mission: chaperone the widow, Lily, who has arrived to claim her husband's remains.
But when South sees that she, the first "machine" ever allowed into the country, bears an uncanny resemblance to his late wife, he's thrown into a maelstrom of betrayal, murder, and conspiracy that may bring down the Republic for good.
WHEN THE SPARROW FALLS illuminates authoritarianism, complicity, and identity in the digital age, in a page turning, darkly-funny, frightening and touching story that recalls Philip K. Dick, John le Carré and Kurt Vonnegut in equal measure."
Nicolai South agrees with his bosses that machine people are an abomination, but having lived under a totalitarian government for his fifty-three years of existence, and having endured a tragic love affair in his past, has drained him. He no longer cares much about anything other than putting one foot in front of the other. Of course, he must care about where his feet land, to step cautiously. As an agent of StaSec, he knows the Caspian Republic tortures detainees and disappears anyone it feels like.
When Nicky meets the widow of Paulo Xirau, flying in on a drone to claim her husband's effects, Nicky almost faints. He was already disturbed with the knowledge that Lily Xirau would be in a "machine" human body. He was given the task to be her minder for the three days she had permission to stay in the Caspian Republic. It was an assignment he couldn't refuse. The Republic was under sanction by all of the other governments and was suffering massive shortages of everything. So, the government had decided to play it nice with the widow, even though her existence was abhorrent. But Nicky is startled by the fact Lily looks exactly like his dead wife, Olesya.
Nicky is almost certain Lily is a spy who has come to collect the small computer chips hidden by traitors involved in the illegal "contran" (consciousness transferral) black market. He can't understand it but the agents are finding more and more dead people who have been willingly contranned. This is a top secret. Lily's appearance has to be part of a conspiracy.
As things begin to play out in a deadly game of cat and mouse, Nicky discovers there IS a conspiracy; in fact, there is a bunch of them! But as Nicolai begins to unravel the mysteries, he is also unexpectedly unraveling his own beliefs. Was everything he was taught in Caspian a lie?
I have read a number of recent books lately about a variety of types of Singularities. It is amazing how each author is thoughtfully exploring a future when a computerized artificial intelligence becomes as sentient or more intelligent than its human creators. Or extrapolating AI science into the next development of transporting, translating or transforming the human mind into an artificial intelligence. These are not the dumb sanitized 1950's radio-show plots made for kids, or the Marvel universe of comic characters (although I LUV those shows, movies and comics still). I haven't read so many well-written and cool grown-up and YA science fiction novels since the 1970 explosion of smart clever science fiction!
The first I ever heard about The Singularity was in a book by Ray Kurzweil, The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology.
Quoted from Wikipedia:
"Kurzweil describes his law of accelerating returns which predicts an exponential increase in technologies like computers, genetics, nanotechnology, robotics and artificial intelligence. Once the Singularity has been reached, Kurzweil says that machine intelligence will be infinitely more powerful than all human intelligence combined. Afterwards he predicts intelligence will radiate outward from the planet until it saturates the universe. The Singularity is also the point at which machines' intelligence and humans would merge."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sin...
Some excellent science fiction with AI extrapolations I've read:
Light Chaser
Day Zero
We Are Legion (We Are Bob)
We Are Satellites (not a favorite of mine despite that it is thoughtful)
Fools' Experiments
The Perfect Wife
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Consider Phlebas
September 3, 2023
4.8| Auf dieses Buch bin ich eigentlich nur durch Zufall gestoßen, ich wollte eigentlich nicht den nächsten Katastrophen-Roman über furchtbar böse KI’s lesen, die die Menschheit unterjochen und ausbeuten; beim Lesen des Backcover-Textes hat das jedoch in meinen Augen etwas anders geklungen…
Obwohl gerade KI bei uns das große Thema ist fand ich die Lektüre überhaupt nicht belehrend, es will gar nicht philosophisch tiefgründig sein (und ist es auch deshalb auf besonders schöne Weise), und es behandelt das Ganze auf genau die Art, die im öffentlichen Mediendiskurs verlorengeht: auf jene unserer Emotionen, was besonders auf das Regime der Kaspischen Republick (KR) zutrifft.
Es ist interessant, wie gut es Neil Sharpson gelingt, dieses Worldbuilding-Setting - gut 200 Jahre in der Zukunft angelegt - mit nur wenigen Details in die Geschichte zu verflechten. Es sind vorrangig Zitate oder Aufzeichnungen fiktiver historischer Persönlichkeiten, die den Werdegang in eine von Künstlicher Intelligenz gesteuerten Zukunft aufzeigen. Androiden leben als gewöhnliche Bürger unter den Menschen, das Leben findet nicht nur irdisch statt und die Digitale Transmission hat gewaltige Ausmaße angenommen. Konfuzius, George und Athene, das sogenannte Triumvirat, sind die Bezeichnungen der Super-KIs, die das Leben auf der Welt steuern und die Entscheidungen aller Regierungen treffen.
Nur die Kaspische Republik schwört jedweder Maschine ab. Hat sich den „Wahren Menschen“ verschrieben. Das hat für die Menschen, die hier leben einen hohen Preis. Es wird mit fester Hand und straffer Organisation regiert. Staatssicherheit und Parteisicherheit sorgen dafür, dass Angst und Einschüchterung die Bevölkerung in die gewünschten Bahnen lenken. Mal mit mehr mal mit weniger Erfolg. Immer mehr Menschen machen von der Möglichkeit Gebrauch Ihre Seele zu digitalisieren, um sie dann in der neuen Welt zu transferieren und so den Fesseln der Diktatur zu entkommen.
Sharpson zeichnet eine düstere Realität, in einem System in dem jeder und jede damit rechnen muss, verraten zu werden. Für den Erhalt der Machtstrukturen ist jedes Mittel recht. Es entsteht eine dichte, intensive und teils beklemmende Atmosphäre.
Nikolai South, Agent bei der Staatssicherheit der Kaspischen Republik, erhält einen überraschenden und ungewöhnlichen Auftrag. Er soll eine KI bei der Identifizierung der Überreste ihres Mannes begleiten. Überraschend, dass ausgerechnet der wenig ehrgeizige South für einer derart bedeutende Mission ausgewählt wird. Ungewöhnlich, da hier in dem diktatorisch geführten Land jegliche künstliche Intelligenz verboten ist und es sich bei der KI zudem um Lily Xirau handelt. Sie ist die Witwe des ermordeten politischen Propagandisten Paulo Xirau, Und der war, wie sich nach seinem Tod feststellt, ebenfalls eine KI…
Doch wahre Brisanz soll der Auftrag für Nikolai South dadurch erhalten, dass Lily Xirau seiner verstorbenen Ehefrau zum Verwechseln ähnlichsieht. Er gerät in einen inneren Konflikt. Die Ausübung seiner Pflichten für die Kaspische Republik, Licht in das Dunkel um die Ereignisse bringen und dem Drang, seinen Sehnsüchten nachzugeben, die durch diese ungewöhnliche Begegnung geweckt werden und seine traurige Vergangenheit neu aufleben lassen.
In diesem gut austarierten Spannungsfeld gelingen Neil Sharpson hervorragend gezeichnete Figuren. Feinfühlige Dialoge, in denen stets vorsichtig und behutsam agiert wird, wohlwissend, dass falsche Äußerungen drastische Konsequenzen nach sich ziehen können. Wer ist Freund? Wer ist Feind? Das Risiko einen falschen Schritt zu unternehmen ist groß.
Neil Sharpson gelingt ein ungemein faszinierender und packender Thriller um Künstliche Intelligenz, Politik und Macht, den Sehnsüchten des Menschen. „Ecce Machina“ ist ein Highlight meiner Science-Fiction-Lektüre dieses Jahres, das auch durch die Gegensätzlichkeiten der entworfenen Lebenswelten nachklingt.
„Ecce Machina“ ist ein SF-Roman, den ich für sehr aktuell halte. Das Thema KI ist durch ChatGPT und Co. so präsent wie noch nie in unserer Gesellschaft und auch wenn es Romane mit dieser Thematik wie Sand am Meer gibt, hebt sich dieser hier ab. Denn die typische schwarz-weiß Darstellung existiert nicht. Die neuen Technologien sind nicht „böse“. Die Menschen, die außerhalb der Kaspischen Republik wohnen, führen ein angenehmes, friedliches Leben voller Reichtum.
Es ist interessant, eine Perspektive zu lesen, in der die Menschen das Problem sind, nicht die Maschinen. Dadurch, dass wir dennoch so geprägt von der dystopischen Vorstellung des technischen Fortschritts sind, entwickelt sich „Ecce Machina“ zu einem Roman, über den man ernsthaft nachdenken muss und der eine zweiseitige Argumentation verfolgt, oder anders ausgedrückt: Der Leser denkt, die Maschinen sind die Bösen, das Buch sagt, die Maschinengegner sind das eigentliche Problem. So wird die Linie zwischen Gut und Böse aufgehoben. Ein unglaublich spannender Ansatz, der fesselt und schockiert…
Obwohl gerade KI bei uns das große Thema ist fand ich die Lektüre überhaupt nicht belehrend, es will gar nicht philosophisch tiefgründig sein (und ist es auch deshalb auf besonders schöne Weise), und es behandelt das Ganze auf genau die Art, die im öffentlichen Mediendiskurs verlorengeht: auf jene unserer Emotionen, was besonders auf das Regime der Kaspischen Republick (KR) zutrifft.
Es ist interessant, wie gut es Neil Sharpson gelingt, dieses Worldbuilding-Setting - gut 200 Jahre in der Zukunft angelegt - mit nur wenigen Details in die Geschichte zu verflechten. Es sind vorrangig Zitate oder Aufzeichnungen fiktiver historischer Persönlichkeiten, die den Werdegang in eine von Künstlicher Intelligenz gesteuerten Zukunft aufzeigen. Androiden leben als gewöhnliche Bürger unter den Menschen, das Leben findet nicht nur irdisch statt und die Digitale Transmission hat gewaltige Ausmaße angenommen. Konfuzius, George und Athene, das sogenannte Triumvirat, sind die Bezeichnungen der Super-KIs, die das Leben auf der Welt steuern und die Entscheidungen aller Regierungen treffen.
Nur die Kaspische Republik schwört jedweder Maschine ab. Hat sich den „Wahren Menschen“ verschrieben. Das hat für die Menschen, die hier leben einen hohen Preis. Es wird mit fester Hand und straffer Organisation regiert. Staatssicherheit und Parteisicherheit sorgen dafür, dass Angst und Einschüchterung die Bevölkerung in die gewünschten Bahnen lenken. Mal mit mehr mal mit weniger Erfolg. Immer mehr Menschen machen von der Möglichkeit Gebrauch Ihre Seele zu digitalisieren, um sie dann in der neuen Welt zu transferieren und so den Fesseln der Diktatur zu entkommen.
Sharpson zeichnet eine düstere Realität, in einem System in dem jeder und jede damit rechnen muss, verraten zu werden. Für den Erhalt der Machtstrukturen ist jedes Mittel recht. Es entsteht eine dichte, intensive und teils beklemmende Atmosphäre.
Nikolai South, Agent bei der Staatssicherheit der Kaspischen Republik, erhält einen überraschenden und ungewöhnlichen Auftrag. Er soll eine KI bei der Identifizierung der Überreste ihres Mannes begleiten. Überraschend, dass ausgerechnet der wenig ehrgeizige South für einer derart bedeutende Mission ausgewählt wird. Ungewöhnlich, da hier in dem diktatorisch geführten Land jegliche künstliche Intelligenz verboten ist und es sich bei der KI zudem um Lily Xirau handelt. Sie ist die Witwe des ermordeten politischen Propagandisten Paulo Xirau, Und der war, wie sich nach seinem Tod feststellt, ebenfalls eine KI…
Doch wahre Brisanz soll der Auftrag für Nikolai South dadurch erhalten, dass Lily Xirau seiner verstorbenen Ehefrau zum Verwechseln ähnlichsieht. Er gerät in einen inneren Konflikt. Die Ausübung seiner Pflichten für die Kaspische Republik, Licht in das Dunkel um die Ereignisse bringen und dem Drang, seinen Sehnsüchten nachzugeben, die durch diese ungewöhnliche Begegnung geweckt werden und seine traurige Vergangenheit neu aufleben lassen.
In diesem gut austarierten Spannungsfeld gelingen Neil Sharpson hervorragend gezeichnete Figuren. Feinfühlige Dialoge, in denen stets vorsichtig und behutsam agiert wird, wohlwissend, dass falsche Äußerungen drastische Konsequenzen nach sich ziehen können. Wer ist Freund? Wer ist Feind? Das Risiko einen falschen Schritt zu unternehmen ist groß.
Neil Sharpson gelingt ein ungemein faszinierender und packender Thriller um Künstliche Intelligenz, Politik und Macht, den Sehnsüchten des Menschen. „Ecce Machina“ ist ein Highlight meiner Science-Fiction-Lektüre dieses Jahres, das auch durch die Gegensätzlichkeiten der entworfenen Lebenswelten nachklingt.
„Ecce Machina“ ist ein SF-Roman, den ich für sehr aktuell halte. Das Thema KI ist durch ChatGPT und Co. so präsent wie noch nie in unserer Gesellschaft und auch wenn es Romane mit dieser Thematik wie Sand am Meer gibt, hebt sich dieser hier ab. Denn die typische schwarz-weiß Darstellung existiert nicht. Die neuen Technologien sind nicht „böse“. Die Menschen, die außerhalb der Kaspischen Republik wohnen, führen ein angenehmes, friedliches Leben voller Reichtum.
Es ist interessant, eine Perspektive zu lesen, in der die Menschen das Problem sind, nicht die Maschinen. Dadurch, dass wir dennoch so geprägt von der dystopischen Vorstellung des technischen Fortschritts sind, entwickelt sich „Ecce Machina“ zu einem Roman, über den man ernsthaft nachdenken muss und der eine zweiseitige Argumentation verfolgt, oder anders ausgedrückt: Der Leser denkt, die Maschinen sind die Bösen, das Buch sagt, die Maschinengegner sind das eigentliche Problem. So wird die Linie zwischen Gut und Böse aufgehoben. Ein unglaublich spannender Ansatz, der fesselt und schockiert…
May 16, 2021
I really enjoyed this. In essence a dystopian thriller set a couple of hundred years into the future. Mankind has embraced Artificial Intelligence but the Caspian Republic is a hold-out nation desperately clinging on to a version of humanity and hunting down any sign of AI activists in the country. Sadly the Caspian Republic is reminiscent of the old East Germany and the Stasi with a network of spies and informers. It is a nation gently going under as it is shunned by the rest of the AI dominated world.
When a prominent pro Government journalist is discovered to actually be an AI, it is decided that his widow may visit from the US to identify him. A minder is needed and the fall guy is a StaSec (State Security) agent who has spent many tears trying not to be noticed. Nikolai South thus becomes the thing he wants least, visible and responsible. And with the visit of the AI widow, he finds his world turned upside down and he has cause to review his own life and his choices over the years. And, through his narrative, we find out more about him, the Republic he lives in and the danger of the task he has been given.
Sometimes you can lob a lot of great and familiar themes into a book and the sum is greater than the whole. Not here, this is a clever and thought provoking book. Lots of things you will “sort of” recognise from the cold war to Bladerunner but it all works and makes you think about the essence of humanity and what it actually is to be human. So much else in here from an ancient mystery to a love story and plenty you will be thinking about long after you have finished the book.
A great novel.
When a prominent pro Government journalist is discovered to actually be an AI, it is decided that his widow may visit from the US to identify him. A minder is needed and the fall guy is a StaSec (State Security) agent who has spent many tears trying not to be noticed. Nikolai South thus becomes the thing he wants least, visible and responsible. And with the visit of the AI widow, he finds his world turned upside down and he has cause to review his own life and his choices over the years. And, through his narrative, we find out more about him, the Republic he lives in and the danger of the task he has been given.
Sometimes you can lob a lot of great and familiar themes into a book and the sum is greater than the whole. Not here, this is a clever and thought provoking book. Lots of things you will “sort of” recognise from the cold war to Bladerunner but it all works and makes you think about the essence of humanity and what it actually is to be human. So much else in here from an ancient mystery to a love story and plenty you will be thinking about long after you have finished the book.
A great novel.
June 30, 2021
Rating: 9.5/10
Thanks to the publisher and author for an advance reading copy of When the Sparrow Falls for review consideration. This did not influence my thoughts or opinions.
When the Sparrow Falls is a phenomenal debut; equal parts thrilling and emotionally-charged, Sharpson has written one of the most fascinating sci-fi dystopian stories I have read in quite a while. Think dashes of 1984 and Bladerunner.
Such an interesting concept here. Sharpson adapted When the Sparrow Falls from a play he wrote over the course of several years called ‘The Caspian Sea’. We have seen our fair share of adaptations from movies and television, but it is quite rare to see a play or screenplay.
The book is almost written in an episodic manner, playing timelines in the present and the past together to weave through the entirety of the story. Sort of similar to acts in a play, so you can tell the author leaned on his strengths.
I think what hit me most about this novel was the emotional involvement I felt with Agent Nikolai South, who is our main protagonist. He has just been getting by for these past 30 years after his wife passed and is suddenly thrown head over heels into this conspiracy that he has no real gumption for. Protecting something that has no right to be in the Caspian Republic, yet the connection he feels with Lily because of the resemblance to his wife feels so real.
There is so much going on in this novel, and just when you think you have it all figured out, Sharpson doles out these little plot twists at the very end that just leave you reeling.
I absolutely LOVED this novel and I hope it garners the readership it deserves. Definitely looking forward to more from this author.
Thanks to the publisher and author for an advance reading copy of When the Sparrow Falls for review consideration. This did not influence my thoughts or opinions.
When the Sparrow Falls is a phenomenal debut; equal parts thrilling and emotionally-charged, Sharpson has written one of the most fascinating sci-fi dystopian stories I have read in quite a while. Think dashes of 1984 and Bladerunner.
Such an interesting concept here. Sharpson adapted When the Sparrow Falls from a play he wrote over the course of several years called ‘The Caspian Sea’. We have seen our fair share of adaptations from movies and television, but it is quite rare to see a play or screenplay.
The book is almost written in an episodic manner, playing timelines in the present and the past together to weave through the entirety of the story. Sort of similar to acts in a play, so you can tell the author leaned on his strengths.
I think what hit me most about this novel was the emotional involvement I felt with Agent Nikolai South, who is our main protagonist. He has just been getting by for these past 30 years after his wife passed and is suddenly thrown head over heels into this conspiracy that he has no real gumption for. Protecting something that has no right to be in the Caspian Republic, yet the connection he feels with Lily because of the resemblance to his wife feels so real.
There is so much going on in this novel, and just when you think you have it all figured out, Sharpson doles out these little plot twists at the very end that just leave you reeling.
I absolutely LOVED this novel and I hope it garners the readership it deserves. Definitely looking forward to more from this author.
December 29, 2024
Finally you can read this book! I've been sitting with my hands for a year since my friend and colleague Neil gave me this manuscript to beta-read. The feedback I gave him was pretty useless: "I love it! It's perfect!"
Don't let the book's official description fool you. When the Sparrow Falls is not techno-pessimistic. Sharpson presents a future where AI has made the Earth a pretty good place to live...except the oppressive, backward little dictatorship where they banned it.
The main character is a member of the first generation born in "The Caspian Republic." He was there, working as a policeman, as the place turned ever more hell-hole-ward. Since then, his family and friends have all either been killed (like his wife) or have given up (like him). And then he gets a chance to make things better.
I don't think When the Sparrow Falls has much in common with Phillip K. Dick and Kurt Vonnegut, but yes, it's quite John LeCarre. Lots of lonely, gray people on snowy streets. It might also remind of Charles Stross or Sam Hughes...that glitter of possibilities, running under the cold ground like electricity.
Grab it. Read it.
Don't let the book's official description fool you. When the Sparrow Falls is not techno-pessimistic. Sharpson presents a future where AI has made the Earth a pretty good place to live...except the oppressive, backward little dictatorship where they banned it.
The main character is a member of the first generation born in "The Caspian Republic." He was there, working as a policeman, as the place turned ever more hell-hole-ward. Since then, his family and friends have all either been killed (like his wife) or have given up (like him). And then he gets a chance to make things better.
I don't think When the Sparrow Falls has much in common with Phillip K. Dick and Kurt Vonnegut, but yes, it's quite John LeCarre. Lots of lonely, gray people on snowy streets. It might also remind of Charles Stross or Sam Hughes...that glitter of possibilities, running under the cold ground like electricity.
Grab it. Read it.
February 7, 2023
I didn’t expect to be holding back tears at the end of a thriller about totalitarianism and artificial intelligence but here I find myself. All of the characters were refreshingly complex, and the complicated plot was presented so concisely and wrapped up so masterfully that I never felt lost in the many twists and turns. I got so sucked in that I finished it in a few days. Plus that GREEN on the cover.
Eighty five stars
Eighty five stars
August 19, 2022
Agent Nikolai South lives in an country, with not one but two secret police forces, one of which employs him. Artificial Intelligence is banned, and uploading yourself into the machine world is the worst offense imaginable, and yet this crime seems to be rampant. When the Party's main propagandist is executed, he is discovered to be a machine himself. Then, his AI wife is granted special clearance to collect his belongings, with the hope that they can lure out the criminal mastermind making copies of people. South has led an ordinary life, but is tasked to protect the traitor's wife, who looks like his long dead wife, bringing out emotions and memories long buried. Sadly, the book was pretty dull, and only got interesting for me in the last 40 pages or so, after it seemed as though the story was over.
March 28, 2023
Very good, three and a half stars.
I read it a while ago but I'm not in the mood to review.
I read it a while ago but I'm not in the mood to review.
October 25, 2022
What a surprise! I really liked this one! I have to admit, I don't love this cover. But the book is a slow burn with some interesting world building and characters. I felt myself completely pulled in and was surprised a bit by the end. This is a well crafted story and I enjoyed it!
A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.
A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.
March 30, 2021
Books turned into movies or TV shows are quite common. But I haven’t seen many books, such as When the Sparrow Falls, adapted from plays. Sharpson adapts his own script into a sci-fi meditation on political extremism, loneliness and technology.
We follow Agent Nikolai South, who is instructed to escort the visiting AI machine Lily Xirau when she arrives in the Caspian Republic to retrieve her deceased husband. Her unprecedented visit sets off political mayhem, as the Caspian Republic is the last bastion of humanity, with no AI allowed within the borders.
While the rest of the world is essentially ruled (or guided, depending on your perspective) by hyper-intelligent artificial intelligence, the Republic is machine-free. Humans are free to make their own decisions, but the Republic mirrors Stalin’s Russia rather than paradise.
As Nikolai gets to know Lily, their conversations challenge his beliefs on what it means to be human. What unfolds is part James Bond, and part Her, and had me almost missing meetings to finish the next chapter.
Yet, the book feels slightly off balance. The height of the tension resolves about 80% of the way through the book. Leaving the last 1/5th more of a quiet settling than an explosion. I liked having more time to see the conclusion of the experimental Republic, but when the cast of characters shifts it became somewhat hard to follow.
Nonetheless, Sharpson writes all of his characters with poise and spunk, no matter how many pages are dedicated to them. The final twist was unexpected, and made me delighted to reflect on the novel as a whole.
I liked Sharpson’s conclusions on technology (a necessary adaption), and political extremism (a strange and deadly hobby). He nailed the balance of doing what is right vs doing what is moral and will have you considering the trade-offs long after you finish the novel.
We follow Agent Nikolai South, who is instructed to escort the visiting AI machine Lily Xirau when she arrives in the Caspian Republic to retrieve her deceased husband. Her unprecedented visit sets off political mayhem, as the Caspian Republic is the last bastion of humanity, with no AI allowed within the borders.
While the rest of the world is essentially ruled (or guided, depending on your perspective) by hyper-intelligent artificial intelligence, the Republic is machine-free. Humans are free to make their own decisions, but the Republic mirrors Stalin’s Russia rather than paradise.
As Nikolai gets to know Lily, their conversations challenge his beliefs on what it means to be human. What unfolds is part James Bond, and part Her, and had me almost missing meetings to finish the next chapter.
Yet, the book feels slightly off balance. The height of the tension resolves about 80% of the way through the book. Leaving the last 1/5th more of a quiet settling than an explosion. I liked having more time to see the conclusion of the experimental Republic, but when the cast of characters shifts it became somewhat hard to follow.
Nonetheless, Sharpson writes all of his characters with poise and spunk, no matter how many pages are dedicated to them. The final twist was unexpected, and made me delighted to reflect on the novel as a whole.
I liked Sharpson’s conclusions on technology (a necessary adaption), and political extremism (a strange and deadly hobby). He nailed the balance of doing what is right vs doing what is moral and will have you considering the trade-offs long after you finish the novel.
January 10, 2023
Starts strong, stays strong and ends strong!
This was a little Bladerunner, Matrix, 1984, Black Mirror and… you know, it was a little of a lot of things!
And it was all tied together flawlessly, and cohesively, into the form of a very compelling detective novel. Lots and lots of different political, societal, technological and philosophical concepts here… it’s almost like a Ted Chiang novel written in first person PoV.
This book’s subject matter is going to be very relevant within the next 50 -100 years or so.
This was a little Bladerunner, Matrix, 1984, Black Mirror and… you know, it was a little of a lot of things!
And it was all tied together flawlessly, and cohesively, into the form of a very compelling detective novel. Lots and lots of different political, societal, technological and philosophical concepts here… it’s almost like a Ted Chiang novel written in first person PoV.
This book’s subject matter is going to be very relevant within the next 50 -100 years or so.
May 16, 2023
Teď tu zrovna máme velké haló ohledně umělých inteligencí, tak se mi akorát hodilo, když mi napsali z knihovny, že si můžu pro Kaspickou republiku přijít. Nakonec se z toho ale vyklubalo trošku něco jiného, než jsem čekal. On je to spíš příběh nevýznamného človíčka z hodně brutální diktatury, která má dost společného s Orwellovým 1984 (což naznačuje už český název). Je to takové peklo na zemi, a jak už to tak bývá, i tohle peklo mělo být původně ráj. Ráj lidských bytostí a jejich bezpečné útočiště před UI, místo, kde můžou svobodně žít bez nadvlády strojů. No, nevyšlo to.
Nebylo to špatné, ale cosi mi tam chybělo. Možná by to chtělo trochu víc příběhu, konec přichází dost náhle a úplně mi tam neseděl, jako by autor zapomněl kus rukopisu v taxíku a pak tam rychle něco dopsal, aby stihl termín.
Nebylo to špatné, ale cosi mi tam chybělo. Možná by to chtělo trochu víc příběhu, konec přichází dost náhle a úplně mi tam neseděl, jako by autor zapomněl kus rukopisu v taxíku a pak tam rychle něco dopsal, aby stihl termín.
September 1, 2021
Originally published on The Nerd Daily | Review by Jena Brown
When The Sparrow Falls is a slow-burn novel that takes threads we didn’t even know we were holding and pulls them together as we careen towards a shocking end. This is a novel fans will want to read again, picking up the subtle clues overlooked the first time. The political commentary is timely but timeless. As the world divides around us in real time, it’s easy to see alarming similarities in leaders and policies taking shape. The story is layered and nuanced, filled with complicated characters that opens conversations rooted in our past, present, and future. It’s a brilliant mirror to our reality packaged in a fast-paced sci-fi plot.
Read the FULL REVIEW on The Nerd Daily
When The Sparrow Falls is a slow-burn novel that takes threads we didn’t even know we were holding and pulls them together as we careen towards a shocking end. This is a novel fans will want to read again, picking up the subtle clues overlooked the first time. The political commentary is timely but timeless. As the world divides around us in real time, it’s easy to see alarming similarities in leaders and policies taking shape. The story is layered and nuanced, filled with complicated characters that opens conversations rooted in our past, present, and future. It’s a brilliant mirror to our reality packaged in a fast-paced sci-fi plot.
Read the FULL REVIEW on The Nerd Daily
July 5, 2023
This book is packed with clever and interesting ideas, combining and shaping well-known tropes, like dystipian states, AI and virtual life, and the broken cop, in unique ways. For a thriller, some may find it too slow and devoid of action, but I prefer such a quieter, dialog based, inteligent approach. While I was impressed by concepts, themes and the worldbuilding, I didn't connect with the characters or could fully immerse myself into the story. I always felt a certain distance.
While it wasn't a highlight for me I would still recommend it.
While it wasn't a highlight for me I would still recommend it.
May 7, 2022
I thought this didn't end when it should have, and there were some big information dumps, but I couldn't put the book down, and what's a better endorsement than that? Ostensibly about AI versus humans, what it's really about is freedom versus totalitarianism. Ideas turn rancid when they become more important than freedom of thought. That is when the totalitarian regime rises to power. It exists to protect the idea at the expense of everything else, to snuff out freedom of thought by sucking all the passion and humanity out of its people.
August 5, 2023
Die Stimmung im Buch ist unglaublich dicht. Ray Bradbury lässt grüßen. Warum müssen aber heutzutage alle Geschichten aufgelöst werden? Alles ab der Revolution ist sinnlos "Luke, ich bin Dein Vater..." brauch ich nicht. Insgesamt bin ich mir nicht sicher mit meiner Bewertung, die Geschichte ist toll erzählt, die Stimmung ist perfekt in Szene gesetzt, die Geschichte gut erzählt. Es gibt einige Längen in der Story. Für mich kein Buch für die Ewigkeit, aber ein beeindruckend geschriebenes Werk, dass ich sicher nochmal hervorholen werde.
October 2, 2023
This futuristic dystopian novel is so imaginable. It’s set in an Eastern European country created to preserve humanity from being overtaken by AI. Whatever plot possibilities that evokes for you, it’s not really that.
It also carries a strong Orwellian theme about the tyranny and experienced normality of a totalitarian government and culture, and a flavor of contemporary issues about who belongs, who deserves, and the presumptions about who the dangerous Other is and what they want.
Sharpson surprises and twists without cheating or over relying on the surprise. He has written a tight, elegant book that’s compulsively readable. I know these characters are going to live on with me for a long time. I don’t remember how I stumbled on this audiobook, but I’m so glad I did.
It also carries a strong Orwellian theme about the tyranny and experienced normality of a totalitarian government and culture, and a flavor of contemporary issues about who belongs, who deserves, and the presumptions about who the dangerous Other is and what they want.
Sharpson surprises and twists without cheating or over relying on the surprise. He has written a tight, elegant book that’s compulsively readable. I know these characters are going to live on with me for a long time. I don’t remember how I stumbled on this audiobook, but I’m so glad I did.
June 29, 2021
6/29/2021 Did not expect to be bawling like a baby by the end. Full review tk later today at TheFrumiousConsortium.net.
6/29/2021 This brilliant novel is as if you took the best parts of Blade Runner and Gorky Park and Vertigo and mashed them all together with the most tender empathy and an eye to not only singularity but also the meaning of godhood. My only complaint with this book is that I'd freaking love it if the showdown between Natasha and Sally had been expanded into an entire book of its own instead of being limited to a chapter and a half. I do hope Neil Sharpson considers doing that: even tho readers of this book will know how it ends, I think it would still be an utterly fascinating read, especially if it's written with the same verve and heart as this book was.
When The Sparrow Falls is the story of State Security Agent Nikolai South, a man whose career and involvement in Party politics has been so perfunctory as to be almost suspicious in a country where ambition and paranoia are the norm. South lives in the Caspian Republic, the last bastion of unadulterated humanity, free of the corrupting influence of Artificial Intelligence. AI not only advises the rest of the world's governments but also offers people an extension on their lifespans, allowing their personalities to be uploaded from their dying bodies into dataspace, then downloaded from dataspace into clone bodies. The Caspian Republic was formed on a revulsion at the idea of this, but the passing decades have moved it from an enclave of dreamers and philosophers (who casually ignore the genocide that allowed them to set up their nation) to a police state whose people are afraid to speak aloud their hopes and dreams.
When South is summoned to meet the acting head of State Security, he immediately fears that one of his indiscretions -- warning a witness to hide before the thugs of Party Security can find him, not reporting graffiti or other petty crimes, being a less than enthusiastic Party member -- is going to cost him his freedom, if not his life. Instead, Deputy Director Augusta Niemann has a job for him. The recent death of firebrand journalist Paulo Xirao was shocking less for how it happened than for the revelation that Xirao, whose stock in trade was unimaginative if fervent polemics against technology, was actually an AI himself, with registered citizenships in both America and Europe. His widow Lily wants to fly into the Caspian Republic to identify him. Feeling pressure from the outside world, Niemann is inclined to allow it.
Ofc, Lily will need a babysitter, which is where South comes in. The last thing South expects, however, is for Lily to bear an uncanny resemblance to his late wife Olesya. Soon, South is plunged into a disorienting game of trying to protect Lily from people hostile to any AI setting foot in Caspian Territory, while striving to uphold the ideals of a Republic he still believes in, even if the reality has proven bitterly disappointing.
I rather expected to enjoy the heady ideas and fast-paced thrills and dark humor of this exploration of both AI and authoritarianism, but I did not expect to be crying my eyes out at the end, especially at old Niko's advice for Lily's stories. The amount of love for humanity is overwhelming in the best possible way, as Mr Sharpson considers not only the technological possibilities available to us but also the ways in which we need to remember what truly matters. And, oh boy, is this one of the most politically astute novels I've read in, perhaps, ever! Mr Sharpson ably dissects the claims for and counterclaims against a nation founded on what's essentially a principle of exclusion, while subtly critiquing real world atrocities throughout history. For being a science fiction novel, it also features one of the best fictional portraits of a politician who is hero and villain both. That this wildly intelligent sci-fi thriller is, on top of everything else, a debut novel is a truly impressive feat.
I am 100% nominating this for next year's Hugos.
When The Sparrow Falls by Neil Sharpson was published today June 29 2021 by tordotcom and is available from all good booksellers, including Bookshop!
6/29/2021 This brilliant novel is as if you took the best parts of Blade Runner and Gorky Park and Vertigo and mashed them all together with the most tender empathy and an eye to not only singularity but also the meaning of godhood. My only complaint with this book is that I'd freaking love it if the showdown between Natasha and Sally had been expanded into an entire book of its own instead of being limited to a chapter and a half. I do hope Neil Sharpson considers doing that: even tho readers of this book will know how it ends, I think it would still be an utterly fascinating read, especially if it's written with the same verve and heart as this book was.
When The Sparrow Falls is the story of State Security Agent Nikolai South, a man whose career and involvement in Party politics has been so perfunctory as to be almost suspicious in a country where ambition and paranoia are the norm. South lives in the Caspian Republic, the last bastion of unadulterated humanity, free of the corrupting influence of Artificial Intelligence. AI not only advises the rest of the world's governments but also offers people an extension on their lifespans, allowing their personalities to be uploaded from their dying bodies into dataspace, then downloaded from dataspace into clone bodies. The Caspian Republic was formed on a revulsion at the idea of this, but the passing decades have moved it from an enclave of dreamers and philosophers (who casually ignore the genocide that allowed them to set up their nation) to a police state whose people are afraid to speak aloud their hopes and dreams.
When South is summoned to meet the acting head of State Security, he immediately fears that one of his indiscretions -- warning a witness to hide before the thugs of Party Security can find him, not reporting graffiti or other petty crimes, being a less than enthusiastic Party member -- is going to cost him his freedom, if not his life. Instead, Deputy Director Augusta Niemann has a job for him. The recent death of firebrand journalist Paulo Xirao was shocking less for how it happened than for the revelation that Xirao, whose stock in trade was unimaginative if fervent polemics against technology, was actually an AI himself, with registered citizenships in both America and Europe. His widow Lily wants to fly into the Caspian Republic to identify him. Feeling pressure from the outside world, Niemann is inclined to allow it.
Ofc, Lily will need a babysitter, which is where South comes in. The last thing South expects, however, is for Lily to bear an uncanny resemblance to his late wife Olesya. Soon, South is plunged into a disorienting game of trying to protect Lily from people hostile to any AI setting foot in Caspian Territory, while striving to uphold the ideals of a Republic he still believes in, even if the reality has proven bitterly disappointing.
I rather expected to enjoy the heady ideas and fast-paced thrills and dark humor of this exploration of both AI and authoritarianism, but I did not expect to be crying my eyes out at the end, especially at old Niko's advice for Lily's stories. The amount of love for humanity is overwhelming in the best possible way, as Mr Sharpson considers not only the technological possibilities available to us but also the ways in which we need to remember what truly matters. And, oh boy, is this one of the most politically astute novels I've read in, perhaps, ever! Mr Sharpson ably dissects the claims for and counterclaims against a nation founded on what's essentially a principle of exclusion, while subtly critiquing real world atrocities throughout history. For being a science fiction novel, it also features one of the best fictional portraits of a politician who is hero and villain both. That this wildly intelligent sci-fi thriller is, on top of everything else, a debut novel is a truly impressive feat.
I am 100% nominating this for next year's Hugos.
When The Sparrow Falls by Neil Sharpson was published today June 29 2021 by tordotcom and is available from all good booksellers, including Bookshop!
April 28, 2021
This was a fascinating book. A glimpse into a future of AI and the few who have resisted. Some great characters and a very creative plot. I was surprised by the ending. The book ended, but dang, I wish there was more to come. This was an interesting world.
Thank you NetGalley for the early read.
Thank you NetGalley for the early read.
August 5, 2022
I didn’t expect to like this as much as I did. Well-written, with fascinating worldbuilding and in a part of the world that rarely if ever gets the spotlight (a new state founded in modern day Azerbaijan). I especially loved the mashup of a futuristic world but still with an Orwellian/Soviet era/KGB-dominated type country. It puts an interesting spin on things when The Party isn’t weeding out anti-communists but people who believe life in the virtual world really isn't so bad, and defectors aren't running to cross the borders but are downloaded onto chips and smuggled out. When people see betrayal of The Party as not just disloyalty to the state but to the entire human race. I can't believe this book isn’t more popular.
January 31, 2022
When the Sparrow Falls is a really intriguing mix of genre's, I would categorize it as a Sci-fi, spy, crime, mystery/thriller, what I can tell you is that these elements are combined to make a thoroughly enjoyable and exhilarating read.
The book takes the reader on an emotional rollercoaster through the Caspian Republic, which is the last place on earth which is free from AI. The human race across the world has adapted and changed but the cold war style Caspian Republic is the only state where this is seen as a terrible abomination. The Caspian Republic has become a one party dictatorship where the law is maintained at all costs. However when a senior party member is found to be AI, Agent Nikoli South is asked to escort his AI wife to identify him.
This book is dark, but I thought it was fantastically written. Sharpson is able to explain to the reader the world of the Caspian Republic effortlessly, the world building felt effortless. The plot was fast paced and combined events in Nikoli's past with the current day barely skipping a beat. It was excellently paced. Frankly a brilliant story with an unexpected ending which was both hopeful and sad. In essence this is a great book!
The book takes the reader on an emotional rollercoaster through the Caspian Republic, which is the last place on earth which is free from AI. The human race across the world has adapted and changed but the cold war style Caspian Republic is the only state where this is seen as a terrible abomination. The Caspian Republic has become a one party dictatorship where the law is maintained at all costs. However when a senior party member is found to be AI, Agent Nikoli South is asked to escort his AI wife to identify him.
This book is dark, but I thought it was fantastically written. Sharpson is able to explain to the reader the world of the Caspian Republic effortlessly, the world building felt effortless. The plot was fast paced and combined events in Nikoli's past with the current day barely skipping a beat. It was excellently paced. Frankly a brilliant story with an unexpected ending which was both hopeful and sad. In essence this is a great book!
August 5, 2025
There was some bits of this that didn’t work for me…. But take those out and this would have been great!!
April 12, 2021
*I received an e-copy of this book from NetGalley*
The problem with dystopias in science fiction is that they often tend to only exist to sow conflict into the protagonists world; they aren't there for any consistent in-world reason. Often it is just a given that there is a powerful almost all-seeing, almost all-powerful entity that all antagonists work as cogs to perpetuate. But that isn't how real autocracies work and worse, it isn't very interesting.
What makes Sharpson's When the Sparrow Falls so compelling in its worldbuilding is that you fully understand both the values of the Caspian Republic and how actors with differing interests would have to be in conflict given those values. It feels real.
Of course, you will see things here that remind you of a Philip K. Dick novel (only with less drugs and more sensible characters) mixed with Darkness At Noon (only with some hope in the dreariness). But everything works to a purpose.
If you look at my Goodreads history, you won't see a lot of five-star reviews. But I loved When the Sparrow Falls, so it gets my enthusiastic recommendation.
The problem with dystopias in science fiction is that they often tend to only exist to sow conflict into the protagonists world; they aren't there for any consistent in-world reason. Often it is just a given that there is a powerful almost all-seeing, almost all-powerful entity that all antagonists work as cogs to perpetuate. But that isn't how real autocracies work and worse, it isn't very interesting.
What makes Sharpson's When the Sparrow Falls so compelling in its worldbuilding is that you fully understand both the values of the Caspian Republic and how actors with differing interests would have to be in conflict given those values. It feels real.
Of course, you will see things here that remind you of a Philip K. Dick novel (only with less drugs and more sensible characters) mixed with Darkness At Noon (only with some hope in the dreariness). But everything works to a purpose.
If you look at my Goodreads history, you won't see a lot of five-star reviews. But I loved When the Sparrow Falls, so it gets my enthusiastic recommendation.
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