dare rated vN: The Machine Dynasty, Book I: 3 stars
vN: The Machine Dynasty, Book I by Madeline Ashby
"Amy Peterson is a von Neumann machine--a self-replicating humanoid robot. For the past five years, she has been grown slowly …
Something I'd never thought I'd say: There's such a thing as too much carnage.
It's the end of another Wild Cards story arc, and our heroes end up battling a Lovecraftian cosmic horror. It kind of works... but the story is the size of an elephant, and at around 300 pages you start to become numb from all the terrible things going on. There's only so much blood, pus, gristle and insanity a reader can handle before they all start to melt together.
There were bright spots -- Mollie's insanity was truly horrifying, and Billy Ray keeps on being so very awesome. Still, I was ultimately kind of unmoved by it all. It's a shame, as I still love the world and the turns it's taken (been a fan since 1989 I think), but this one is probably not going to get a re-read.
