Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion
2020 Challenge - Regular
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28 - A book with a robot, cyborg or AI character
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Sheri
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Dec 05, 2019 08:10AM

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For robots, AI, and cyborgs in Dune, you would have to go to the Butlerian Jihad trilogy by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. In Dune itself, the status quo is that thinking machines are outlawed, and some humans like the Mentats have taught themselves to do some of the same processing that a computer would have in their own brain.

Neither book features a robot or AI.
I know you’re trying to cull from your TBR, but there is a cozy mystery series by Donna Andrews that features an AI named Turing Hopper, which I thought was pretty good. It starts with You’ve Got Murder.

Yes, Cinder, Iko, and Nansi will make appearances in all of the books in the series. Cinder shows up quite a bit in Cress.

Emily--and for others--here are links to lists of novels with his sort of thing in them. The first one has a range of times for them in case you're doing some other challenge where you might want books from certain eras, etc.
These are NOT GR lists so are going to include scifi only, but note that at least one includes Cinder along with some hardcore scifi.
The following list is of books about robot uprisings:
Both of these come from this site, and I'm guessing he has other lists:
I'd have linked a scifi group here but due to an inordinate amount of spam it just went private so you'd have to actually join and then say why, so not worth it if you're not a big scifi reader or, like me, not a big one anymore but a nearly lifelong scifi reader (in spurts or here and there, but lots and lots of it from ages 10-18 or so).
ETA here is a list of picks, both print and film, of scifi that people who work in AI like

😭




Absolutely, any of the books in that trilogy would work well

Its a Cinderella retelling, and while the character itself if not robot/cyborg, she has those little mechanical bugs and at one point finds a mechanical/robot horse.... anyways im not doing it justice, it was my first ventures into the world of steampunk, and it might for if you count the horse as a robot. :)

Machines Like Me was terrible.
But what about An Absolutely Remarkable Thing?

Please tell me The Power fits this one?"
Nope, but it does pass the Bechdel Test
and
fits the 7 Deadly Sins category as well (lust, greed, pride)
and
I'd put in the World Leader prompt as well as it's a history of future leaders.
and I'm almost positive
It includes social media...

I know Skyward has been suggested, and I highly recommend it. One of the characters is (view spoiler) and absolutely charming! It's YA, but highly readable for adults.
The sequel, Starsight, was released at the end of November. I only allowed myself chapter 1, because I'm going to read it for this prompt.


If you want adult fiction, all three books in the Troy Rising series by John Ringo�Live Free or Die, Citadel, and The Hot Gate—contain multiple AIs with a variety of personalities (including dysfunctional).




The Finishing School series by Gail Carriger contains "mechanicals" (Victorian-era robotic servants) and "mechanimals" (robotic animals). One mechanimal is a non-speaking sidekick to the protagonist, who nevertheless has a well-developed personality. It's a fun series, but I do recommend starting at the beginning, with Etiquette & Espionage. It's a young adult alternate history, steampunk-influenced series with werewolves and vampires.




Ally wrote: "What do people think about including Sleeping Giants in this one?"
I think that would work
I think that would work


Same here! I have had it sitting on my shelf since it came out and have yet to actually pick it up! This will be the year!

That's good enough for me!







Sounds like AI to me


The sequels all feature Cinder. There's also Wires and Nerve, which is a graphic novel about Iko, the android from Cinder.


I don’t know what to call it, android was first used in 1886 and robot in 1921. I haven’t read it yet but it may appeal to Steampunk fans.



A few other recs:
Neuromancer - classic cyberpunk
Silently and Very Fast - a smart house that becomes a smarter house. great if you want something ch..."
I also recommend Neuromancer (book 1 of the Sprawl trilogy). Admittedly, it can be a bit hard to follow, but it's a sci-fi classic and worth the effort. Where was this challenge in 2018 when I read the entire trilogy??


The Finishing School Series is definitely worth reading, and fits this prompt very well. They could also fulfill several other prompts, including "a book you picked because the title caught your attention," "a book with a three-word title," and "a book with at least a 4-star rating on ŷ" (books 2-4).




What do you think about counting Sourdough by Robin Sloan in this prompt? The main character programs a robot arm to work in the kitchen.
Also, I started reading Tin Men by Christopher Golden for this prompt, but now I'm not so sure I'm doing this right. The main character is a solider who works with the Army powering a remote army, where he and his soldiers are in a bunker controlling a robot army. So the robots are significant, but I wouldn't necessarily call them a character. They are controlled by a character.
Would you count either of those or should I go back to the drawing board? I can use both of these for other prompts, so I won't be mad it they aren't right.
Books mentioned in this topic
Made to Kill (other topics)Machines like Me (other topics)
Machinehood (other topics)
Hench (other topics)
Click Here For Murder (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Donna Andrews (other topics)Frédéric Beigbeder (other topics)
Neal Shusterman (other topics)
Brandon Sanderson (other topics)
Andromeda Romano-Lax (other topics)
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