Den of Geek Book Club discussion

The November/December book is AUTONOMOUS by Annalee Newitz, the co-founder of io9!

Please feel free to post your reviews of Autonomous, if you've already read it. Or, if you haven't, after you've read the book.

If you'd like to check out Den of Geek's review of Autonomous, here it is:

http://www.denofgeek.com/us/books-com...

Review away!

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io9 co-founder and current Ars Technica Tech Culture Editor Annalee Newitz has broken into science fiction with a stirring, vital tale of robots, pirates, and what it means to be free in a future still shaped by capitalist forces.

Newitz's science fiction debut, Autonomous, imagines our world as it might be in the year 2144. This is a world divided not into nation-states, but economic zones. This is a world where pharmaceutical companies have immense power, and anything — or anyone — can be owned.

"Now we know there has been no one, great disaster—only the slow-motion disaster of capitalism converting every living thing and idea into property," one Autonomous character writes in a "Freeculture" essay. This is a world, like our own, where the value of property often trumps the value of people — even when people are the property.

Read the rest of the review here: http://www.denofgeek.com/us/books-com...

If i have to summarize the experience, the headline would be 'Awesome World, Lousy Plot'. I found the world Mrs. Newitz is describing mesmerizing, but I found all characters except for Jack flat. Promising but flat. I could never empathise with Palladin, and the relationship forged with Eliasz feels very forzed right off the bat. In the final chapters it works quite well, though.

I am sure I am not alone begging for a prequel describing the transition to these NWO we find in Autonomous.

Thanks for sharing, J! For me, the character I most empathized/sympathized with was Palladin. I latched onto their intense interest in trying to figure out which parts of him/her are "programmed," so to speak, and which parts of them—and if that distinction even matters. I agree with you, though, that the plot was not the most intriguing part of the book. It was really just a chase narrative, but perhaps that relatively simple plot allowed for more experimentation/time spent on other elements?

x Kayti

Totally agree with your points Kayti, and nice review! We even quoted the same passage. :)

I'm a bit late, but here's my own:

In which Newitz builds a unique dystopia wherein the Turing Test has long been surpassed, genes are easily editable, corporations "don't give a shit" (a la Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake or Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash), and beneficial drugs are expensive, locked up behind copyrights that last longer than human lives. Strap in folks: this one's a wild ride!

Full review here.

David wrote: "Totally agree with your points Kayti, and nice review! We even quoted the same passage. :)

I'm a bit late, but here's my own:

In which Newitz builds a unique dystopia wherein the Turing Test has ..."

Thanks for sharing, David! Totally agree with your assessment that the plot is not the most interesting part of this book, as well as your particular highlighting of Paladin's character. This is making me want to reread Autonomous...

Just chiming back in for the The Future of Another Timeline giveaway. I'm really excited to read this latest novel from Annalee Newitz, especially after having enjoyed the brilliant feast of ideas that is Autonomous.