The Salvation Gambit
May. 29th, 2024 10:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jajalalaI found a fun lil sci-fi book while trawling Libby called The Salvation Gambit, by Emily Skrutskie. It hit some good notes for me.
There's an ecosystem and cultures developed on a ship piloted by an AI that takes and keeps a bunch of "sinners" (criminals from various planets/stations) and tries to make them help rebuild the vessel. Some people cooperate with the ship, but many others decide to live somewhat independently and build their lives in various locations.
The main character, Murdock, is a hacker who's part of a con group, four woman with a charismatic leader who she's followed ever since she became an adult. They end up being taken by this ship, and the AI is VERY interested in recruiting the hacker main character. Shenanigans and action ensue as Murdock is torn between her loyalty to a leader who kind of doesn't fully respect her and an AI that taunts and flirts with her to try and bring her onto its side.
The worldbuilding and creativity is pretty strong here. There's a certain part where they end up in a "forge", basically a sealed off room where a super hot older woman who likes to take salt baths and will make you a sword IF you are willing to trek outside the ship (in space!) in an old spacesuit to pry some gun parts off the outside of the ship so she can melt them down... like that's super fucking cool!! There were a bunch of other things, but I wanted to highlight that.
The plot overall was fun too, I felt the twists and the clever ways things were organized and justified made sense and made it satisfying by the end. There were some interesting thoughts about HOW to beat an AI--like it sees/knows so much and has so much power, and in theory it cannot be emotionally goaded, but it IS possible to give it information (or MISinformation) to manipulate it in various ways.
I loved the book overall, but I'm a little mixed about the characters and relationships. The characters are all pretty cool, and Murdock's tension with a teammate who she hated culminates quite nicely (I'm always a fan of bickering gay women). There were two other teammates who they were separated from, including the leader, who were a little challenging to get a handle on. In theory they're quite important to the main character, especially the leader, and the leader is mentioned frequently, but it's hard to get a sense of what she was REALLY like from just this character reminiscing. Especially since as things go on, it becomes clear that the leader was maybe using Murdock without really respecting her... When they finally unite, the leader is super dismissive of Murdock's plan, which leads Murdock to abruptly make a SERIOUS heel turn decision. I'm still not sure if that was part of some DELIBERATE ploy on her part or driven purely by frustration, but it reads like it's pure frustration and felt kind of unrealistic considering how hard she had been avoiding that path before. Then at the end Murdock ends up joining with the leader again, and in theory the leader is shown to respect her more now, but I'm still kind of like... I felt like separating might have been a little more growth, maybe. It feels weird to have the toxicity of the relationship laid out for 90% of the book and then have Murdock return to her for the last 10%.
It's still believable, and overall a satisfying ending, but I'm a little fussy about the decisions. The real little frustration though:
I WANTED THE AI TO WIN..... or at least I wanted more sexy action with the AI. There's a scene where the AI uses a human body that they're fully plugged into to pin Murdock to a wall and tease/taunt/flirt with her... and it literally had some lines about "knowing human pleasure"..... I was like HELLO OKAY YEAH LET'S EXPLORE THAT.... and although Murdock is scared and Did Not Like getting pinned, I was excited to see where/how it might escalate, as an escalation was implied...
But alas. There's some personal connection/vibe, but it doesn't get quite as intimate as it goes forward, so I was a little disappointed. The AI was interesting, but just kind of gets defeated at the end. It was cool to see how Murdock manipulated it, but at the same time... I kinda wish it had gotten more love from the narrative.
I relate to robot/android/AI characters pretty much always. I've been called a robot (derogatory) for not feeling/exhibiting the emotions I'm supposed to, and there are times I feel I'm just a series of inputs and outputs, so I see a reflection of myself in those sorts of characters. I enjoy the question of their personhood, their value, what they can offer in society and relationships and what they think of themselves... along with questions as to what they were built for and what they actually end up doing. Like I'd even put Frankenstein in this kind of category where it's like, the monster is created and has something Fundamentally Different that sets him apart from humanity, and has a fraught/complicated relationship with his creator who built him without properly considering what his purpose and place would be in the world and that he might have independent hopes, dreams, and wants.
So basically any time a character like this shows up in fiction, I'm biased towards them. I find them fascinating. I like that they challenge our conception of personhood and what is considered a prerequisite for personhood and respect.
I also have many strong feelings on the sexier side of things, where I think there are many interesting directions to go in terms of what the sex life of a robot/android/ai could look like... but I shant detail here.
Anyways, back to the book overall. I'll say this: I've never watched Ocean's 8, but I have a feeling people who liked that and are interested in a lil sci-fi would have a great time with this. It also is entirely self-contained, just one book that's not super long, so if you like sci-fi but are tired of multi-book epics then this might refresh you.
There's an ecosystem and cultures developed on a ship piloted by an AI that takes and keeps a bunch of "sinners" (criminals from various planets/stations) and tries to make them help rebuild the vessel. Some people cooperate with the ship, but many others decide to live somewhat independently and build their lives in various locations.
The main character, Murdock, is a hacker who's part of a con group, four woman with a charismatic leader who she's followed ever since she became an adult. They end up being taken by this ship, and the AI is VERY interested in recruiting the hacker main character. Shenanigans and action ensue as Murdock is torn between her loyalty to a leader who kind of doesn't fully respect her and an AI that taunts and flirts with her to try and bring her onto its side.
The worldbuilding and creativity is pretty strong here. There's a certain part where they end up in a "forge", basically a sealed off room where a super hot older woman who likes to take salt baths and will make you a sword IF you are willing to trek outside the ship (in space!) in an old spacesuit to pry some gun parts off the outside of the ship so she can melt them down... like that's super fucking cool!! There were a bunch of other things, but I wanted to highlight that.
The plot overall was fun too, I felt the twists and the clever ways things were organized and justified made sense and made it satisfying by the end. There were some interesting thoughts about HOW to beat an AI--like it sees/knows so much and has so much power, and in theory it cannot be emotionally goaded, but it IS possible to give it information (or MISinformation) to manipulate it in various ways.
I loved the book overall, but I'm a little mixed about the characters and relationships. The characters are all pretty cool, and Murdock's tension with a teammate who she hated culminates quite nicely (I'm always a fan of bickering gay women). There were two other teammates who they were separated from, including the leader, who were a little challenging to get a handle on. In theory they're quite important to the main character, especially the leader, and the leader is mentioned frequently, but it's hard to get a sense of what she was REALLY like from just this character reminiscing. Especially since as things go on, it becomes clear that the leader was maybe using Murdock without really respecting her... When they finally unite, the leader is super dismissive of Murdock's plan, which leads Murdock to abruptly make a SERIOUS heel turn decision. I'm still not sure if that was part of some DELIBERATE ploy on her part or driven purely by frustration, but it reads like it's pure frustration and felt kind of unrealistic considering how hard she had been avoiding that path before. Then at the end Murdock ends up joining with the leader again, and in theory the leader is shown to respect her more now, but I'm still kind of like... I felt like separating might have been a little more growth, maybe. It feels weird to have the toxicity of the relationship laid out for 90% of the book and then have Murdock return to her for the last 10%.
It's still believable, and overall a satisfying ending, but I'm a little fussy about the decisions. The real little frustration though:
I WANTED THE AI TO WIN..... or at least I wanted more sexy action with the AI. There's a scene where the AI uses a human body that they're fully plugged into to pin Murdock to a wall and tease/taunt/flirt with her... and it literally had some lines about "knowing human pleasure"..... I was like HELLO OKAY YEAH LET'S EXPLORE THAT.... and although Murdock is scared and Did Not Like getting pinned, I was excited to see where/how it might escalate, as an escalation was implied...
But alas. There's some personal connection/vibe, but it doesn't get quite as intimate as it goes forward, so I was a little disappointed. The AI was interesting, but just kind of gets defeated at the end. It was cool to see how Murdock manipulated it, but at the same time... I kinda wish it had gotten more love from the narrative.
I relate to robot/android/AI characters pretty much always. I've been called a robot (derogatory) for not feeling/exhibiting the emotions I'm supposed to, and there are times I feel I'm just a series of inputs and outputs, so I see a reflection of myself in those sorts of characters. I enjoy the question of their personhood, their value, what they can offer in society and relationships and what they think of themselves... along with questions as to what they were built for and what they actually end up doing. Like I'd even put Frankenstein in this kind of category where it's like, the monster is created and has something Fundamentally Different that sets him apart from humanity, and has a fraught/complicated relationship with his creator who built him without properly considering what his purpose and place would be in the world and that he might have independent hopes, dreams, and wants.
So basically any time a character like this shows up in fiction, I'm biased towards them. I find them fascinating. I like that they challenge our conception of personhood and what is considered a prerequisite for personhood and respect.
I also have many strong feelings on the sexier side of things, where I think there are many interesting directions to go in terms of what the sex life of a robot/android/ai could look like... but I shant detail here.
Anyways, back to the book overall. I'll say this: I've never watched Ocean's 8, but I have a feeling people who liked that and are interested in a lil sci-fi would have a great time with this. It also is entirely self-contained, just one book that's not super long, so if you like sci-fi but are tired of multi-book epics then this might refresh you.
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Date: 2024-05-30 11:25 am (UTC)Oooh standalone sci-fi with interesting worldbuilding! That does sound interesting 👀 I'm super curious to know how they tricked the all powerful AI, too. Looks like my library has it so it's on the list now :D
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Date: 2024-05-31 06:55 pm (UTC)