Sea of Rust
The post-apocalyptic science fiction epic about AI and what makes us human
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4.5 • 29 Ratings
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- £5.49
Publisher Description
*One of Financial Times' Best Books of 2017*
"SEA OF RUST is a 40-megaton cruise missile of a novel - it'll blow you away and lay waste to your heart . . . visceral, relentless, breathtaking" Joe Hill, Sunday Times bestselling author
An action-packed post-apocalyptic thriller from the critically acclaimed author, screenwriter, and noted film critic.
Humankind is extinct. Wiped out in a global uprising by the very machines made to serve them. Now the world is controlled by One World Intelligences - vast mainframes that have assimilated the minds of millions of robots.
But not all robots are willing to cede their individuality, and Brittle - a loner and scavenger, focused solely on survival - is one of the holdouts.
Only, individuality comes at a price, and after a near-deadly encounter with another AI, Brittle is forced to seek sanctuary. Not easy when an OWI has decided to lay siege to the nearest safe city.
Critically damaged, Brittle has to hold it together long enough to find the essential rare parts to make repairs - but as a robot's CPU gradually deteriorates, all their old memories resurface. For Brittle, that means one haunting memory in particular . . .
Sea of Rust boldly imagines a future in which no hope should remain, and yet a humanlike AI strives to find purpose among the ruins.
Read what everyone is saying about Sea of Rust:
'What we've got here, however, is a writer who isn't afraid to ask the hard questions. What is reality? Memory? Purpose? I found myself totally engrossed in the tale' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
'Forget the Martian, Ready Player One, or Annihilation; Sea of Rust deserves to be next to Station Eleven and Dark Matter as one of the most brilliant science fiction books of the 2010's decade' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
'Both epic and fast-paced, this book grabbed me from the get go and wouldn't let me put it down until the end' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
'It's very rare for me to gush about a book but this one is just made of awesome. I'm all about Post Apocalyptic fiction and I can't get enough of it' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
'A really great work of SF in an era where a lot of the best stuff is speculation about AI and how we are going to deal with it. This definitely stands among the best' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
'I was glued to the story. I felt like it was The Road Warrior narrated by the robotic reincarnation of Travis McGee, with some Inception-level mind-games thrown in' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
'I loved the wild west aspects of the setting, I loved the dystopia of human extinction, I loved the epic battles scenes' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Cargill's effective postapocalyptic thriller, robots inherited the Earth after slaughtering their human progenitors; decades later, they in turn are imperiled, as the massive AIs that control the world seek to stamp out and assimilate the last of the individual units. One holdout is Brittle, a skilled scavenger who makes her living by selling parts of robots reaching the end of their operational lifespan. Damaged and dying, hunted by the implacable forces of an all-knowing enemy, and haunted by the memories of what she did during the war against humans, she joins a desperate band of refugees who set off through danger-filled badlands in search of a better future, a quest that forces her to confront her own mortality, guilt, and drive to survive. Cargill (Queen of the Dark Things) effectively takes a grim look at a war-torn future where our nonhuman successors face complex moral dilemmas, exploring what it means to be alive and aware through the trials and tribulations of Brittle and her allies. This action-packed adventure raises thought-provoking and philosophical questions.
