| Title | : | Dreamships |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0812513029 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780812513028 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 338 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 1992 |
Dreamships Reviews
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A bit slow to start, but this ends up being a riveting sci-fi novel with thriller elements and really well-thought out world-building. Jian is a pilot asked to take on a dangerous job flying an experimental space ship. Things go wrong and Jian wonders if the ship might host an AI. Possibly?
Thematically, this does something a bit different with questions of personhood and rights. Political and racial tensions on Persephone mean that there are factions advocating for the rights of AI, while the leaders of an underclass of humans are angry that machines might get rights before they do. It deftly highlights how some fights for rights and justice simultaneously neglect other classes of people.
This came out in the early 90's and it's fascinating to read it 30 years later. Technology has changed a lot since then and you can definitely see the influence of where things were at in 1992 in the technological world-building. That's not a bad thing, but it is interesting.
The casual queerness of characters here is also cool. Right now we have a LOT of queer SFF coming out, but there's less I'm aware of from this time. Scott is openly gay and the main character of the book is likely bisexual. I'm glad I read this one! -
This is one of the most realistic, absorbing sci-fi universes I have ever dived into so I've got to dedicate a bit to it:
What got me hooked most of all was how it manages to stay clear of one of the most common pitfalls of catapulting modern society forward a few thousand years and instead builds it's own rich cultures meshing in an underground city. There is a strong class system and racial tensions, there are ethical arguments surrounding burgeoning artificial intelligences contrasted against the deprivation of rights that many of the local populace suffers under. Greetings, formalities, cuisine, family groupings, and entertainment are all thought out in great detail.
The technology is a close second in terms of world-building coolness;
Melissa Scott has done so well in creating futuristic wetware, software, etc that doesn't shy away from showing it's own pitfalls. Characters are occasionally blinded when they forget to turn down the blindness on their overlays when they walk into a data-filled environment and jumping into someone else's customised VR system will leave you floundering like if you tried to use a colleague's weird trackball and Dvorak keyboard in real life.
The characters are also really well created and diverse without falling into stereotypes. The lack of sexualisation of Jian while still not denying her sexuality in her thoughts is refreshing to read. No characters are presented as entirely good or evil, they all have quirks that make them at times intolerable and loveable and most of all: human.
Overall, this is an amazing book, read it. -
This one kept me up until 3AM on first read, back in 1993. I just found a copy of an embarassingly-gushy fan letter to the author, which I certainly won't be sharing. But here's what I liked about Dreamships:
* The dense, lived-in feel of Persephone.
* Good, well-thought-out extrapolation - two prereqs (for me) for first-rank SF.
* A clean and twisty plotline.
* Nice touches of moral ambiguity.
* Quirky characters who rang true.
* Good slang, nice techtalk - karakuri, Bi'Jian, haya, glyphs, Dreampeace... all right!
I wonder if civil rights for human-like constructs would really be a hot topic before they exist? Suspension of disbelief covered this while I was reading, but it bothers me (a little) now.
The only thing that bothered me while reading was - no backups of Manfred the AI when Mitexi crashed the system. They almost lost the ship! Why wasn't there a *closet*-full of backups?? The obvious work-around - Mad Mitexi trashes the backups too. Picky, picky.
Books like Dreamships are why I keep reading SF. I didn't like it quite as well on reread, but a first-rate book. I should read it again sometime. -
If one were to take a mash-up of my undergraduate degree (Computer Science:Artificial Intelligence, also Psycholinguistics wannabe) and crossed it with my graduate degree (Information & Archive Management) and mixed in my random interests you might come up with this book. I randomly picked it off the shelf at the used bookstore and am delighted to have found it. I enjoyed reading it and will look into Scott's other writings.
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I should have read this book before "Dreaming Metal" (the sequel).
Some of the things I expected to become clear (that weren't so clear in the second book) did - for example, why so many people in the books are deaf (random mutation, small population), and the origin and exact stances of the many political groups. Other things were not really explained (why Red was in jail, anything having to do with his & Imre's very odd relationship.)
The main character here is Reverdy Jian, a starship pilot and part of a team with Imre and Red. Their agent is approached by a wealthy woman who wishes to hire them for a job - but she's a little mysterious and cagey about the exact nature of the venture, which will definitely involve both testing an experimental ship's computer and searching for her missing brother - who is variously rumored to be a brilliant programmer, crazy, and/or dead.
Not wanting to get into anything more than they can handle, the team goes behind their new employer's back to try to get more information about what's actually going on. Slowly, but suspensefully, they uncover a complex web of crime, underground programming secrets, big companies that will do a lot to get their hands on those secrets, and questions about the nature of the Spelvin constructs - computer personalities without which starships would be impossible to fly." -
I just love everything Melissa Scott writes
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not quite what I expected and one character death seemed like a letdown, but I loved the heroine and the setting was refreshingly different from anything else. Doesn't read like a book from the 90s, feels pretty modern! especially the casual bisexuality and stuff.
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DREAMSHIPS and DREAMING METAL by MELISSA SCOTT -- Two books written years apart, both examining the technology and social, legal, and moral implications of
Artificial Intelligence in a futuristic space setting. -
Hooo goodness. I sure WANTED to like this book. I will say, it’s Cyber As Fuck, which is a point in its favor! It’s also about a woman character, people with disabilities and different races, and it made me want to eat the hell out of some delicious salty flavored noodles and ride super fast trains on space stations.
But... it was just so doggone disappointing! It’s REALLY descriptive. Like, a lot of description. And the describing of things. So much. With the more descriptions.
The plot seems promising, but is frequently interrupted (each time it gets going) by description. And then, it goes...nowhere, really. It’s an endless nongasm, each time you start to get into it it just peters back out. -
startlingly good. it gets off to a pretty slow start, but gains momentum and dynamic tension rapidly once the plot gets moving, and before you're halfway through, it's a can't-put-it-down page turner. Really interesting characters and sharp, smart science that makes you think. Definitely reccomend.
As a side note, I wasn't aware that Scott was a lesbian author until I picked this up, so the several LGBTQ main characters were a delightful surprise. Their queerness is in no way a focus of the story, merely a facet of each complex character, and goes unremarked as being any kind of item of interest on its own, which I deeply appreciate. Representation outside of the old tired coming out story! ftw. I am now going to track down and read everything else Melissa Scott ever published. -
Hired by a rich businesswoman to fly her ship to the planet Refuge to retrieve her crazy but brilliant brother, freelance pilot Jian and her crew inadvertenly become involved with what appears to be the first true AI ever created - a deeply controversial issue that lands them in the middle of rival factions, riots and potentially in the line of fire of those willing to kill to get their hands on it.
A thoughtful exploration of the AI theme in combination with excellent worldbuilding and diverse, intriguing characters make this a wonderfully absorbing read - not that I'd have expected anything less from this author. -
An excellent and complex world-build with deep intersectionalities of gender, labor, heritage, and ability. A quick ending with a hook to sequel "Dreaming Metal" left me missing Reverdy, Red, and Crazy Imre.
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These two books should really be read in order. one can read them backwards, like I did. but you understand the second one better if you read this one first.
also I think the social issues in these books are surprisingly relevant now. -
While it does trail a bit into being cumbersome in its character descriptions and world-building, Dreamships is incredibly engrossing. I haven’t read a book that made me want to stay up late in a long time.
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This is good science fiction with a great twisted ending!
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Dave says (tedious, would have been good as a novelette or shorter)... I'm sure I'll try it anyway, assuming I do inherit it from him.
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Fun, fast-pased little space opera, featuring the very sf quandry of "is it a machine or human?" as well as some intense action sequences. Technology is very dated and somewhat detracts from the experience. (how funny it is, storing an AI on a cassette disc)
But the cool bit is the variety of languages used! There’s normal speaking, sign language, and text speak. It’s very reminicient of how different languages are denotes in the Terra Ignota series. I really like the diversity of languages (and experiences!) of all of the characters in the novel.
Book bingo 2021: new to you & backlist -
A book about machine intelligence on the surface only; in substance it is really about how class divisions inherently undermine human rights.
Full of immersive worldbuilding and detail, but it feels like the plot was an afterthough, as if it was merely a vehicle for touring around the well-thought-out places, politics, and people. It felt like a living, breathing world, but the story didn't feel alive.
I feel conflicted rating this. The worldbuilding is excellent and engrossing, but the book itself as-a-book is not a compelling whole. Jian's story was just enough to want more, but not in the sense that what we were given was so great that it leaves you wanting more — instead in the sense of getting an inadequate glimpse of something and wishing there had been more initial substance.
It feels like this would have been more appropriate as a setting guidebook for a roleplaying game (though undoubtedly that would have been less financially successful).
I would recommend this to anyone who valued depth in political and social details, or who would find the theme of the struggle for human rights being mediated by/interfered with class warfare compelling. The nature of AI and consciousness was potentially raised as a theme but never addressed, despite it being a practical issue for the characters, so it doesn't really contribute to the literature on the nature of the mind and our relationship to (the idea of) machine intelligence — the concept of AI is really just a foil for the political and human rights issues that are the real thematic core of the narrative. -
Conflict between AI and the serf (coolie) for recognition in the corporate world is the underlying theme of the book. Set in a world of caste conflicts, Jian Reverdy and Imre Vaughn, as starship pilots, undertake a mission to retrieve the creator of a super AI. It's engaging and offers a view of a future that is far from a utopia but an alternative that reminds of descriptions of Calcutta and Shang-Hai.
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As always with Melissa Scott's work the world building is top-notch. The plot was also interesting. There is a but coming and that is the characters. I found all the main characters unlikeable and found it difficult to work up any interest in what became of them. A shame because, as I said, the world is fascinating and I would have really enjoyed exploring it with more congenial characters.
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An amazing book. Some very interesting unique elements fused with ideas from such authors as CJ Cherryh, William Gibson and others. Relationships played a part, but there was very little angsty romantic nonsense. I can't wait for the sequel.
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I enjoyed this one a lot more than I thought I was going to, at the beginning. I liked the world and the characters. With the characters, there was a lot of backstory that was only hinted at, though, and it made me feel like I was missing something.
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This book took so long to get to the plot that I nearly gave up on it. However, at about 40% it really picked up and I started to enjoy it. + points for the protagonist being a bi woman of colour controlling a space ship. :)
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Melissa Scott at her best is excellent. This isn't her best. It's approximately cyberpunk, and in most respects pretty generic cyberpunk, except that the protagonists are mostly gay (in a world where that is unremarkable.)
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DO ANY BOOKS IN THE ZIP HAVE HCGF?
MELISSA SCOTT HAS A FEW, BUT SHE'S BETTER FOR NORMALIZING LGBT PEOPLE IN HER SETTINGS THAN FOR SPECIFIC RELATIONSHIPS.
I APPARENTLY READ AND ENJOYED DREAMSHIPS, BUT I DON'T REMEMBER A SINGLE THING ABOUT IT. -
A suspenseful story with a very well-rendered cultural and political setting, lots of drama and mystery. (Would have enjoyed a bit more development of the three main characters, though.) Definitely reading the sequel.
