304 pages
English language
Published Jan. 5, 2016
"17 years ago: A girl in South Dakota falls through the earth, then wakes up dozens of feet below ground on the palm of what seems to be a giant metal hand. Today: She is a top-level physicist leading a team of people to understand exactly what that hand is, where it came from, and what it portends for humanity. A swift and spellbinding tale told almost exclusively through transcriptions of interviews conducted by a mysterious and unnamed character, this is a unique debut that describes a hunt for truth, power, and giant body parts"--
What I didn't realise before I picked this book up is that the story is told via a series of fictional interview transcripts and news articles.
The book doesn't take itself too seriously and features a few cliches but it's generally a good sci-fi action romp.
Going by themes and plot alone I should have loved this book, but the execution was all wrong. The format was clumsy, the characters were insufferable, the dialogue was annoying, the political details were unrealistic, and the sexism was straight out of 80s. (Practically the first thing said about the giant female-presenting robot was that it had "perky tits", seriously?) Even the translation was uninspired.
While I'm interested in seeing where the story goes, I hate the idea of spending any more time with these people trying to out-sass each other and prove that they can be oh-so-tough and not affected by anything that happens. Editors, what were you thinking?
