Flybot - Dennis E. Taylor
A messy effort but full of ideas as always.
Overall: 3 out of 5 stars
Performance: 4 out of 5 stars
Story: 3 out of 5 stars
I feel I'm going to have to come to terms with that outside of the Bobiverse series Dennis's characters just don't work for me. I'll start with what I liked: Plenty of interesting thoughts on the future of AI and what it means once we have true AGI in existence. People getting around in self driving taxis, robotic deliveries, advanced smart homes to name a few of the ideas. I enjoyed the back and forth conversations between one of the protagonists and the AGI, it seems like this is the part of the book Dennis was most interested in writing.
What I didn't like: Pretty much everything to do with the plot structure and characters. Everything started off ok, but quickly we start being introduced to characters that are then dropped, events that just happen, characters comment then the event is shelved again. Many of the characters are very similar, snarky overworked coffee addicts mostly, I could hear the wonderful Ray Porter having a hard time distinguishing characters here.
I think if Dennis was really critical about Flybot he might agree with me on the central issue with the book. I think he chose the wrong protagonists. Instead of the scientist characters I think the book should've focus on a more well developed version of the cop character. Officer Han on the trail of a dangerous eco terrorists with a rogue AI sounds like fun. Instead we have Han as a glorified crime scene investigator, going about documenting the latest act of terror. And we have the scientist characters deep in act three still talking about how they don't want to be involved, and how they should just come clean with what they know to the cops.
The final confrontation sped along nicely and the ending was fun if a little flat until Spoiler: The AI calls to reveal the actual ending via a little monologue. I wish it wasn't so.
Plenty of people seem to be enjoying this book so take my opinion with a grain of salt. I always have big hopes when Dennis puts out something, this time unfortunately it wasn't for me.
Here's another video from someone with similiar thoughts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3YELNyrWNg
