Don't judge a book by its cover. Good advice, though I
never recall actually being told that in regards to books.
In the case of SATURN'S CHILDREN, it's rather difficult not
to judge the book by the cover, because the cover positively
screams b-grade SF porn. Crack it open, though, and you
find a fascinating science fiction story. Okay, it's a
fascinating science fiction story about a sexbot...but it's
still really good.
SATURN'S CHILDREN follows the travails of Freya, one of the
surviving models of a line of "ahem" personal entertainment
robots. Life for Freya is not easy, for a number of
reasons, not the least of which being that the people she
was made to entertain died out centuries ago, leaving her
with no one to love and no real purpose in life. The solar
system is filled with robots, built to serve masters that
are no longer there to give orders. Freya finds herself at
the heart of a conspiracy to bring back humanity, a
conspiracy that sends her to the edges of the solar system.
The world of SAUTRN'S CHILDREN is brilliantly imagined,
which Stross has filled with countless clever ideas and
interesting creations. As the story unfolds, we constantly
learn more and more of the world in which Freya moves. From
how their intelligences were created, to how their bodies
were designed, the robots themselves are realized in
fascinating ways that simultaneously appeals to your
empathy, and impresses you with their alien nature. Even
more thought provoking and profound is the depiction of the
robot society, built to execute orders from vanished masters
and evolved into something quite other than what it was.
And the world is the least of Stross'
accomplishments - the first-person narrative provides a
fascinating voice and lens into his creation that draws the
reader into an extravagant noir science fiction thriller.
At times poignant, at others satirical (the fundamentalists
preaching evolution to the creationist robots), SATURN'S
CHILDREN is an absolute delight. I can find little to
complain about (a terrible thing for a critic), other than
to wish that in such a brilliantly created world, it's
almost disappointing to not have more to explore. It is
thought provoking without being tedious, poignant without
being mawkish, and above all it is entertaining. SATURN'S
CHILDREN is one of the finest science fiction novels I have
read - but I'm going to have to do something about that cover.
Sometime in the twenty-third century, humanity went
extinct—leaving only androids behind. Freya Nakamichi 47 is
a femmebot, one of the last of her kind still functioning.
With no humans left to pay for the pleasures she provides,
she agrees to transport a mysterious package from Mercury to
Mars. Unfortunately for Freya, she has just made herself a
moving target for some very powerful, very determined
humanoids who will stop at nothing to possess the contents
of the package.
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