Two excellent new science fiction novels, Luminous by Silvia Park and Ode to the Half-Broken by Suzanne Parker, deal with robots in very different ways.

Ode to the Half-Broken
Suzanne Palmer, Daw Books

Luminous
Sylvia Park, The Magpie

Robots and whether they will one day deserve to be treated like humans – or destroy humanity, or both – have interested writers for over a century.

In the real world, the robotic threat appears to include the use of artificial intelligence in disinformation and more direct forms of warfare, such as drone strikes. However, in the literary world, many writers focus on individual robots. Maybe giving an AI a body and a face will simply help tell your story better with creatures with bodies and faces.

Fictional robots have a lot going for them. They can be funny, cool or sexy. They can be goofy and a little depressed. Some represent “the other,” a test of how human we are. They can also help us think about concepts of ownership that may apply to our treatment of pets or farm animals. And they can be terrifying killing machines. Murderbot, created by Martha Wells, is a good example of a bot that ticks all these boxes.

This month I read two very different books about robots. Both are thoughtful and well-written, with richly realized inner worlds, but that’s where the similarities end.

IN Ode to the Half-Broken by Suzanne Palmer, an old robot emerges from a long period of self-isolation after unknown enemies steal one of his legs. The half-dog, half-robot creature offers to help find the leg, and is joined by a human mechanic and an emancipated aerial drone. The author calls them a “motley bunch” and they are.

“
IN Luminousrobots are all abused and your heart goes out to them, but in some cases they are dangerous
“

Our gang’s quest is more than just a missing leg. Strange things are happening, and an old robot fears that dangerous forces may threaten the world’s steps toward post-apocalypse recovery.

In Palmer’s future, robots have figured out how to free themselves and are generally treated with respect. Our hero, an old robot, is a superhero with state-of-the-art armor ready to be activated. Pre-emancipation, her past was dark, but the tone of the book is cheerful and could appeal to younger readers. After all, there is an intelligent, talking train. My first test copy even says, “The dog lives.” There’s a certain, comical tone to it that reminds me Service model by Adrian Tchaikovsky and Annalee Newitz Automatic noodles .

Silvia Park’s debut Luminous not funny at all. It seems like it started out as a story aimed at children, but you probably wouldn’t read it to a child. In Park’s future, 20 years after the reunification of Korea, robots are everywhere, people make mistakes easily and buy them to replace dead children or work as domestic or sex workers. They are “only” human imitations and are often treated very badly.

One of the human heroes, Jun, has a dead end police job in Robot Crimes. The crimes largely involve stealing robots; how you treat your bot is mostly up to you. Jun’s sister Morgan works in robotics and lives with one of her creations, a butler-boyfriend named Stephen.

She tries to humanize the robot by isolating it from outside influences, but shuts it down when she doesn’t like its behavior. Both Jun and Morgan never recovered from the loss of the robot that was like a brother to them. Meanwhile, across town, a young girl discovers a strange creature in a junkyard

There are flashes of brilliance in Park’s portrayal of the robots. They are all abused and your heart goes out to them, but they are complicated and in some cases dangerous. Stephen is a particularly interesting character; I could probably read a whole book about him. I look forward to whatever Park writes next.

Emily also recommends…

TV

Battlestar Galactica
(2003-2009) Ronald D. Moore, Prime Video

Human-looking Cylons in the TV reboot Battlestar Galactica they are the most pleasant robots ever created. Think about how much is going on with them and what they are capable of. You also don’t know which human characters are Cylons until almost the end of the show. Start with the 2003 miniseries and then jump into the four series arc.

Emily H. Wilson is the author The Sumerians series (Inanna, Gilgamesh and Ninshubarall published by Titan) and is currently working on his first science fiction novel. She is a former editor The new scientist and you can follow her on Instagram @emilyhwilson1

topics: