Sea of Rust: A Novel
By: C. Robert Cargill / Narrated By: Eva Kaminsky
Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins
An audiobook that comes with mixed reviews:
I really liked Sea of Rust by C. Robert Cargill, but my sister haaaated it whenst we discussed it during our audiobook club. So I’m giving her reservations here because she generally has good taste, good sense, and I’d hate for you to give this book a listen only to find you’ve wasted your time, wasted your money.
My sister thought that scene by scene, everything was ripped off from existing movies—totally done before and irritatingly collected all in one place. And I value that as she’s quite the movie aficionado. If there’s a movie out there, she remembers the experience.
I, however, found these scenes wonderful allusions and felt that they added layering, added depth to the story.
The story is of Brittle, a robot left scavenging for parts following a battle which left all humans dead. She is what her name is (And let me mention here that the narration really bugged me as Kaminsky’s tones are indeed brittle; there’s a harshness, a flatness to her voice that I felt reeeeally took away from the story, took away from getting to know, getting to feel for the characters). An altercation leaves Brittle vulnerable with “death” nearing, so she’d like to find parts to save herself. Unfortunately, the world at large is a horrible place with AIs vying to become a One World Intelligence, enough to kill robots who won’t allow themselves to have their intelligence absorbed. So Brittle has to run or be killed, even as her state is devolving.
Along the way, she meets other robots, has to call a truce with her would-be assassinator (but can he be trusted?), and she finds a purpose for her existence.
What I liked about the book was how the failing of her systems grew. As they were shutting down, she’d have memories of the past: of regrets, of love she never truly allowed herself to feel, of horrific scenes of violence she perpetrated on others during the war against the humans. And when things get really fraught, such visions fly at her, followed by a: File Corrupted. Access Denied. To me, I really felt the emotion of the situation.
Plus I liked the Cheshire King and how he brought up that robots, crafted to be alike, failed in completely different ways. He brought it out that it’s our brokenness which makes our souls shine through. I really appreciated that.
Though I didn’t like the very last chapter, I thought it was a cheap plug which could’ve better been a first chapter elsewhere, the second to the last chapter is incredibly moving as we see how Brittle has evolved, is something more soulful than her robotic parts.
I really liked it and recommend it as light SciFi (though ‘nother warning—my sister is a science/tech genius, and she spotted many a flaw in the science), as a good book that makes you appreciate your humanity, your flaws. And though the narration is rather sharp, it starts coming together as the story progresses, as more action is introduced. I listened to it in a single day, so I thought it was well-developed, well-crafted, flowed well from scene to action and emotion-driven scene.
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