An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

Green, Hank. An Absolutely Remarkable Thing. New York: Dutton 2018. Print

First Sentences:

Look. I am aware that you're here for an epic tale of intrigue and mystery and adventure and near death and actual death, but in order to get to that (unless you want to skip to chapter 13 -- I'm not your boss), you're going to have to deal with the fact that I, April May, in addition to being one of the most important things that has ever happened to the human race, am also a woman in her twenties who had made some mistakes. 

Description:

Here's an intriguingly wild modern-day sci-fi scenario:

Late one night on a well-traveled sidewalk in New York City, out of nowhere a 10-foot statue appears. It is clad in armor with a fierce expression. A curious woman, April May, (yes, a silly name for the 23-year-old protagonist of Hank Green's debut novel, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing) passes by, notices the statue, and calls her best friend, Andy, to come immediately to make a video of the statue they nickname "Carl" and post it online as young people do with every experience and picture.

Overnight the video, April and Andy, and of course the statue go viral - mainly because dozens of other statues exactly like Carl have suddenly appeared in major cities worldwide. All are equal to Carl in warrior attire, fierce appearance, and unknown origin. At first the Carls are thought to be the work of some artistic team making a statement, but the composition of the statues' materials and their inability to be moved by any person or crane  challenge the people and governments of the world to try to make sense of them. Art work? Aliens? If so, what is the purpose of either option?

Clues begin to emerge. Just before the Carls appeared, all security cameras around the statues blanked out to static. But underneath the recorded camera static a faint audio track was picked up that turns out to be the song "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen. Huh? Equally odd is that after the statues' appearance, every person in the world begins to dream the same dream: a game-like scenario in an unknown city where puzzles have to be solved to enter different areas or understand the elements of this fantasy environment. As everyone worldwide tries to solve the various puzzles and share their findings, April discovers she sees something in the dream that no one else can. What makes her so special?

Meanwhile, April and Andy are finding that their new fame and the wealth that comes with that fame have both good and nasty sites. Interviews, blogs, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, television and every other media clamor for interviews to comment on the Carls and their discoverers. April is "a digital girl in a digital world" who instinctively knows how to perform in front of a camera and online, so relishes in the attention and wealth, but risks the relationships in her life.

It's a roller coaster of a life as April and her friends try to figure out what the Carls are and what they want, as well as find some semblance of peace in their own lives. As might be imagined, their team provides much commentary about the power and pitfalls of social media, television, interviewers, and being an international online presence. Using a very hip, snarky voice for the narrative, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing is a fun, modern and, yes, absolutely remarkable book.

Happy reading.


Fred

Other book recommendations
About The First Sentence Reader blog

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Neuvel, Sylvain. Sleeping Giants.   

A gigantic hand is found buried in an isolated field turns out to be part of a huge figure. Pieces of the robot were buried hundreds of years ago all over the world. Once assembled, what is its purpose? Peaceful or warlike? It is up to two people to figure out how to make this being come to life and free it for its purpose. There are currently two other books in this series. Highly recommended (previously reviewed here)

Cline, Ernest Ready Player One  

A fabulously wealthy game-maker who created a fantasy world that all people enjoy escaping into, has created a puzzle and clues that lead to his fortune. The winner of his game must be able to de-code the riddles to collect the fortune.  (previously reviewed here)

Waking Gods

Neuvel, Sylvain. Waking Gods. New York: Del Rey. 2017. Print.

First Sentences:

A twenty-story-tall metallic figure appeared in the middle of Regent's Park this morning.

Description:

Well, that's an opening sentence that will either excite you or completely turn you off. For me, I'm all in for a wild ride.

Sylvain Neuvel's new sci-fi novel Waking Gods is the second in the Themis alien robot series, (who knew that the fantastic Sleeping Giants would spawn more books?). And it's a worthy continuation of the original story in which pieces of a huge robot are discovered buried throughout the Earth, painstakingly assembled into a gigantic humanoid shape, and actually made to work.

Waking Gods takes over from here when twelve even larger robots appear (fully assembled and ready for action) in the major cities around the world - and they are not friendly. Although they don't move an inch, they demonstrate an ability to destroy large swatches of people and buildings in a few seconds, are impervious to any counter-attacks by Earth forces, and are non-communicative about their intentions. Only Themis, the original robot, might possibly be used to stand in their way.

Unfortunately, Themis can only be operated by two specific people. Without them, Themis is a 12-story statue. But can the governments of the world first uncover the intention and motivation behind the new robots? Will Earth choose communication or weaponry to address them? Can Themis again be made operational and if so, to what effect? 

The story unfolds through memos, reports, conversations, and personal diaries that subtly give insights into individual thinking and plots. Slowly, slowly these lead to a very unusual but satisfying and logical conclusion. Full of surprises on every page, Waking Giants is a highly entertaining, mentally challenging, and thoroughly engrossing story full of unpredictable characters and activities.

And even better, Waking Gods has one of the best final sentences I have ever encountered, with a completely unexpected (by me) shock, but also the tingling promise for a new fantastic adventure for Themis and its operators. 

While Waking Gods refers to the events that happened previously, make sure you read Sleeping Giants first. It's equally as good (maybe even better?) and will help explain many people, relationships and complexities that arise in the newer novel. Both books are definitely worth the time of any reader looking for outstanding reads.

Happy reading. 

Fred

(See more recommended books)
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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Neuvel, Sylvian. Sleeping Giants

Pieces of a gigantic robot are found buried throughout the world. Eventually these are assembled into a metallic figure with unknown capabilities, unresponsive to all who try to control it except for one man and woman who slowly learn a few of its secrets. (previously reviewed here)

The Automatic Detective

Martinez, A. Lee. The Automatic Detective. New York: Tor. 2008. Print.

First Sentences:

The Learned Council had an official name for Empire City.

Technotopia.

Yeah, it wasn't a real word, but that was kind of the point. The Council loved to reinvent things, improve them, make them new and snazzy. Of course Empire had a lot of unofficial nicknames as well.

Mutantburg. Robotville. The Big Gray Haze. The City That Never Functions.

Description:

If Issac Asimov and Raymond Chandler collaborated on a science fiction noir detective novel, the result would be A. Lee Martinez's The Automatic Detective. Set in the future deep inside Empire City, an environment designed to promote new technology, we follow the exploits of Mack Megaton, a 7' robot taxi driver.

Mack originally was designed to be a warrior bot, a killing machine heavily protected by a red metal skin and armed with huge strength, enhanced senses, and tremendous computing capabilities. But he also has the mysterious "Freewill Glitch" found in some robots that gives them self-awareness. The warrior traits, however, are not useful to actually earning a living or, more importantly, gaining the official citizenship that Mack can apply for after 40 years of "normal" life. Hence his job as a taxi driver, something normal for Mack to do to prove his worthiness to society.

Along with his bot qualities, he has many human traits as well  which often are in conflict with his programming. To address this, he sees a shrink to improve his "socialization functions"

Talking to myself was a bad habit. You'd be surprised at the extraneous behaviors that make it into your personality template when you hang around with biologicals [humans].

One day Mack finds himself enmeshed in a kidnapping of a family of biologicals who live  in his apartment complex, This event soon unleashes far-reaching repercussions. Mack finds he must, for the first time, delve deeply into the world of biologicals, absorbing their language, actions, and feelings of those around him. Frustratingly, he must perform all activities within a 26-hour period before he needs a complete recharging.

Throughout this highly entertaining novel, there is the snappy Chandler dialogue, the floozy women, the smart aleck observations, the dark environment, the dogged pursuit by Mack for the truth, and the desire to punish bad guys - narrative features reminiscent of a 30s noir detective novel. That these words and actions should come from a robot makes The Automatic Detective all the more topsy-turvy and wonderful to read.

If all this sounds wacky, you are correct. But in the hands of a great storyteller like Martinez, Mack and the bizarre world and inhabitants of Empire City come madly together. Mack is a likable, powerful, social doofus of a bot, with a warm heart and keen brain inside that metallic body. He is someone/something you can pull for as an everyman kind of being, someone you would like to be around to see what he does, and certainly a good force to have in your corner when the going gets tough.

Like biologicals, all robots were seeking a purpose. Autos and drones were lucky enough to have that built into them. A bot had to find his own way, and I'd figured out that functioning for function's sake was pointless. The real question was finding a directive worth getting scrapped for. 

Happy reading. 

Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Asimov, Isaac. I, Robot

Sci Fi short stories by the master detail the origins, evolution, and eventual peak of robots where a presidential candidate refuses tests to determine whether he is a robot or not. The best of the best in science fiction.

Chandlar, Raymond. Farewell My Lovely

Hard-boiled detective novel with the sarcastic language, lots of dolls, and a cynical detective mixed up in a seedy crime. (previously reviewed here)