Sylvain Neuvel: Only Human (2018, Penguin Books, Limited)
English language
Published May 15, 2018 by Penguin Books, Limited.
The style remained unique but the story line faded into boredom. It must be the quarantine...
As the final book in a pretty good trilogy, Only Human needed to really put together a good tale with a satisfying conclusion. That it did, although I found some of the individual characters a bit hard to believe. But, what knocked it down a peg from the first two volumes is a bit of ham-handed exposition. Clearly this was written after Donald Trump's election, and the humanism went from show to tell. We all know it is generally better to show, and this was no exception. Nobody wants a lecture from their book, even if you agree with it.
But, other than that clunky exposition, the pace was good, the world-building was decent if sparse, and the conflicts were believable. I'd like to think the USA would not become a near-tyrannical force if we had the only invulnerable and unstoppable robot on the planet, but I may be too …
As the final book in a pretty good trilogy, Only Human needed to really put together a good tale with a satisfying conclusion. That it did, although I found some of the individual characters a bit hard to believe. But, what knocked it down a peg from the first two volumes is a bit of ham-handed exposition. Clearly this was written after Donald Trump's election, and the humanism went from show to tell. We all know it is generally better to show, and this was no exception. Nobody wants a lecture from their book, even if you agree with it.
But, other than that clunky exposition, the pace was good, the world-building was decent if sparse, and the conflicts were believable. I'd like to think the USA would not become a near-tyrannical force if we had the only invulnerable and unstoppable robot on the planet, but I may be too optimistic.
Audiobook: very well narrated with full cast EXCEPT for the voice of Eva which was so terrible it's unreal they let this happen. Being raised in Puerto Rico for ten years and then living on an alien planet for ten years does not equal a Rosie Perez accent. Ugh so infuriating.
That aside I found this a nice ending to the series. I would have liked a little more info about Esat Ekt and their culture though. Oh and I did not see that ending coming at all.
Audiobook: very well narrated with full cast EXCEPT for the voice of Eva which was so terrible it's unreal they let this happen. Being raised in Puerto Rico for ten years and then living on an alien planet for ten years does not equal a Rosie Perez accent. Ugh so infuriating.
That aside I found this a nice ending to the series. I would have liked a little more info about Esat Ekt and their culture though. Oh and I did not see that ending coming at all.
