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    vN
    vN
    vN
    Audiobook10 hours

    vN

    Written by Madeline Ashby

    Narrated by Christina Traister

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Amy Peterson is a von Neumann machine—a self-replicating humanoid robot. For the past five years, she has been grown slowly as part of a mixed organic/synthetic family. She knows very little about her android mother’s past, so when her grandmother arrives and attacks them, young Amy wastes no time: she eats her alive.

    Now she’s on the run, carrying her malfunctioning granny as a partition on her memory drive. She’s growing quickly, and learning too. Like the fact that in her, and her alone, the failsafe that stops all robots from harming humans has stopped working.… Which means that everyone wants a piece of her, some to use her as a weapon, others to destroy her.

    “Ashby’s debut is a fantastic adventure story that carries a sly philosophical payload about power and privilege, gender and race. It is often profound, and it is never boring.” —Cory Doctorow

    “vN might just be the most piercing interrogation of humanoid AI since Asimov kicked it all off with the Three Laws.” —Peter Watts

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateJul 31, 2012
    ISBN9781469209197
    vN
    Author

    Madeline Ashby

    Madeline Ashby grew up in a household populated by science fiction fans. She graduated from a Jesuit university in 2005, after having written a departmental thesis on science fiction. After meeting Ursula K. LeGuin in the basement of the Elliott Bay Book Company that year, she decided to start writing science fiction stories. While immigrating to Canada from the United States in 2006 , she could not work or study and joined the Cecil Street Irregulars – a genre writers’ workshop founded by Judith Merril – instead. Since then she has been published in Tesseracts, Flurb, Nature, Escape Pod and elsewhere. She has a masters degree in Manga and Anime and writes on such matters for i09, Tor.com and BoingBoing. Currently she works as a strategic foresight consultant in Toronto.

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    Reviews for vN

    3.5/5

    174 ratings20 reviews

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    • 3/5
      I really liked vN until the very last chapter. The last chapter dropped it from 4 stars to 3 stars for me. It was sort of like I was missing some chapters. Still enjoyed it though.
    • 5/5
      Robots who eat robot food* and raise their robot offspring with human spouses. Don't worry, they have a failsafe so they will ALWAYS help humans and nothing will ever go wrong nosirree. Don't you tell them their feelings aren't real.

      I am still only about 1/3 of the way through, and I realized that I am only reading it on my phone because I don't want to be done.

      * For a loose definition of "food"...

      UPDATE: Finished finally despite best efforts. Fortunately I think there's a follow-up. Seriously one of the most inventive stories I've read in a long time.
    • 4/5
      Welp, the cat just deleted the paragraph I had written, but basically, a very well-done novel about a future with both humans and humanoid robots that can self-replicate. I loved the added touch of there being multiple corporations/individuals creating their own robot prototypes with different drives, etc. For example, the von Neumann androids that form the backbone of the narrative were originally created by a religious cult and are all programmed to care for humans in need, leading them to (usually) being unable to harm them and to want to administer first aid.
    • 2/5
      Drags. With a lot of tedious moralising and qualms over whether her mother really loves her, hence lacking in action.
    • 2/5
      According to my database, I bought this at the 2014 Fantasycon for £1. So it’s taken me nearly three years to get around to read it. I seem to recall it being quite well-received at its time of release, but, to be honest, I wasn’t all that impressed. The title refers to von Neuman machines, although in this novel they’re actually AI in humanoid bodies thatare faster, stronger, etc, than humans. They’ve integrated into society such that the story opens with a man, his vN wife and vN child (vN children are identical copies of their parent – created by both female and male vN; and, in fact, all vN come in a limited number of “models”, each one identical to the original vN of their line). In order for the child vN, Amy, to “grow” along a similar time-frame to a human child, her parents have been limiting her “food” intake. But when her vN grandmother, Portia, turns up to her kindergarten graduation and goes berserk, Amy eats her. And so grows almost immediately to adult size. And goes on the run… The problem with vN is that the vN over-balanced the world-building, and Amy was a completely unconvincing character. The vN are so physically superior to human beings they made no sense unless they were non-sentient. But they’re AIs, and supposedly not dangerous because they have a “failsafe” (sort of Asimov’s Three Laws rolled up into one maguffin). Except Portia has overriden hers. And it’s likely Amy will be able override hers too. But since the entire novel is told from Amy’s POV- and she’s a very implausible five-year-old – we can only guess at what this might actually mean to society at large. If you want to read a book about robots and humans, Machine by Jennifer Pelland is much better. There’s apparently a sequel to vN, titled iD. I’ll not be bothering with it.
    • 3/5
      Hmm. There were some good ideas in here. On the other hand, I had a hard time with the pedo stuff.

      I'll probably read the sequel.
    • 4/5
      I love the library. I do wish authors made money on each time the book was checked out, then again there wouldn't be libraries if that was the deal with publishers. The reason why I love libraries is by wandering the aisles looking for that science fiction sticker (the St. Petersburg Library System puts "Science Fiction" stickers on the spines of sci-fi books) I come across gems every now and then. First it was Fortune's Pawn now it's vN.

      If you're looking for military or A LOT of fighting, then look elsewhere. vN isn't full of fighting but the story keeps the pages turning, makes it so you don't want to put the book down.

      Back to the library part though. I actually did pass up checking this book out. I looked at Amazon and a bunch of reviews blasted the book. Talked about how Amy (the main characters/protagonist) was just a whiner and so on. Pretty sure they were expecting some ultra-violent book and were let down. I am glad I finally shrugged my shoulders and went with my gut. If I didn't check out the book, I wouldn't have been entertained for several days.

      vN is a wonderful book. It's thoughtful and puts a new spin on AI. Sure, the failsafe that prevents AIs from hurting humans is there, but it's presented in a novel way. It's not Aismov's Three Laws reworded; which is great, as I've always been a sucker for AI stories, from Neal Asher's super dark story telling to, now, Madeline Ashby's thoughtful look on it. It's just fun to read. Especially when it's not "human's inefficient, human's die".

      I do recommend vN. Don't listen to those naysayers on Amazon, it's a great book. It kept me turning pages and reading in the car. I'm looking forward to reading the next in this trilogy.
    • 2/5
      In the first chapter, a five-year-old child robot eats her estranged grandmother, python-style, and goes from kindergartner to adult in an instant from the additional biomass.Good opening, and there are some interesting WTF circumstances (like robots were created to fill out the Earth after the rapture) but the rest stagnates. Once again, it's a book where the robots don't act like robots. They act like people. The only difference is they know they were artificially created. But other than that, they eat, they fall in love, they procreate. You can't tell the difference. The interesting things are just background -- they don't come into play with the plot and don't even make plausible sense in the scheme of the world.The story is about programming as parenting. The problem is it felt more like a summer blockbuster action piece with chase sequences and romances that don't blossom until the end, and for me, those just don't work in a book format. It was a sludge to get through. It's a promising idea, and it does use some tropes like the existence of smart "gray goo" and robots in/as families in new ways. I can see this appealing to those few who liked A.I. and Brazil.
    • 4/5
      A bit unevenly paced but some interesting ideas about power and robot/human interactions. Will definitely pick up the next one [iD]
    • 3/5
      The premise of a book - of having a synthetic being as the protagonist and main character, was certainly intriguing,and what drew my attention in the first place. And it's certainly good to read a scifi book that is not all dystopian/post-apocalyptic.
      On the plus side, the book is mostly well written, and easy to get yet with an interesting storyline. The contrast between Amy and Portia is really stark. I wish there was more of Portia. However, in some points, I just had no clear idea what the hell was going on - such as Javier and Amy's visit to the Seattle museum. I just couldn't visualise the scene. Might be something wrong with me.
      One thing that felt wrong to me was that despite being technologically advanced enough to have almost-human machines, the rest of the technology of vN's world is pretty much of the present level, which is... weird.
      Nevertheless, for the sheer novelty of the concept, it's a book worth a try, and I'm looking forward to the next book in the Machine Dynasty series.
    • 5/5
      I hope you're hungry because vN will definitely give you a lot to chew on!  The main character Amy is a young robot - but not the typical image that likely first pops into your mind of some metal robot.  These robots pretty much look just like humans, have skin (though flawless), bleed, eat, etc.  They give birth or "iterate" in a similar way that humans do (you'll have to read to find out how).  Their offspring are babies and grow as they feed on raw materials, but they look like exact copies of their parent.  So since they are born babies they need to eat and grow essentially like we do.  They have a fail safe in them to  not be able to stand if harm comes to humans.

      When I first read the description of vN and saw that cover I knew I had to read it.  I mean come on - she eats her own grandmother! If that isn't enough to entice you to read it - Amy practically goes bat shit crazy because of it.  Alright, well more like her grandmother was bat shit crazy and is now inside her head constantly trying to take over.  It makes for some great action throughout the whole book.

      The first few chapters is a nice setup with background info on Amy, her mother and father.  Her mother is a vN her father is human.  Obviously he isn't a "biological" father but he loves Amy's mother and her.  After these short chapters in the beginning the action starts and practically never stops!  It was such an interesting book and you get to read from several different points of view.  Often when I read a book done that way I feel like you can't see enough of the character progression and growth but this book was so well written that you definitely feel Amy's growth as well as the main supporting character Javier.

      The ideas presented in vN are fascinating.  Could this be where we are headed? I love thinking about science fiction of any kind and imagining if that kind of technology will really be what we will have in 20, 50, or 100 plus years.  All of the struggles that Amy goes through, physical, mental and yes emotional were executed perfectly.  Also, the ones you see in Javier.  Amy is obviously special so I really liked the fact that you also got to see the progression of Javier since he is more like the typical vN and you can see how they really are people even if they are robots.  They think and feel and can want things beyond their built in restrictions.

      The tension between Amy and Javier is awesome, as the reader I think you can sense there might be something there and you might even want there to be - but the author builds the relationship so well that it is so much more of a solid and real interaction to me than many other books I've read.

      I'm foaming at the mouth to read the next book.  Though I know this was the first book in a series it was MOST definitely its own complete story and can in my mind stand on its own legs.  I hate when series books are started off and they just leave you with a cliff hanger at the end.  This was not the case.  I think if you are up for something different definitely give vN a try.  It's not a 'light' read but it's got so much action to it and thought provoking juices that you'll rip right through it!
    • 4/5
      While reading Vn, I was frequently reminded of a mission statement I saw once on Angry Robot’s website – to publish the best in modern adult genre fiction, or in their words, “SF, F and WTF?!” This book certainly falls mostly in the first category, but also possesses a strong generous splash of the third. At the heart of vN is a story about choice and independence in synthetic humans/artificial intelligences which in itself is not a very original premise in science fiction, but Ashby piles on a ton of new ideas of her own that make this book a fascinating and sometimes disturbing read. Called “vonNeumanns” or vNs after their creator, the original proposal for the self-replicating humanoid robots in this novel in fact came from the most unlikely source – an End Times group who wanted to leave a body of helpers behind for the millions of unsaved after the rapture. Other bizarre or perturbing things include a graphic scene of robot cannibalism; a harrowing jail break; a male vN giving birth (or “iterating”) in a sticky, gooey process; the implication that pedophiles acquire vN and make them stay forever young by keeping them – all in the prologue and first couple of chapters. The robots have a failsafe that prevent them from doing harm to humans, and witnessing anything violent or upsetting can risk triggering it, shorting the vN out. But still, while it’s apparent that vNs themselves look, act and have emotions much like humans do, their lives aren’t valued the same way; non-functioning or “blue-screened” vN are tossed aside like garbage, a process described in all its unpleasantness. Not to mention the use of vNs in the porn industry, or some of the other sickening and questionable things humans do to them. All this made the book a unique and sometimes eyebrow-raising read, but at least there’s no accusing it of not being able to hold my attention.That this is an adult novel is no doubt a given, considering some of its mature themes. But within it I was also a little surprised to find a coming-of-age story … in a sense. The book’s protagonist Amy is a vN living in a mixed-family, a young iteration of her vN mother who is of the same clade. Amy’s human father, perhaps a little naively, tries to give his android daughter a “normal” life, controlling her diet so that she physically looks like a little girl, attending school and participating in other activities that real kids do. But when an incident strikes Amy’s kindergarten graduation, Amy ends up devouring her vN grandmother (yeah, you read that right…it’s a long, freaky story), somehow integrating her software. The extra food source also transforms Amy, so overnight she becomes a grown woman sharing her mind with the voice of her psychotic grandmother. Literally a new person, Amy is forced to make her way through the world and gain an adult perspective on matters her parents had previously shielded her from. In a way, everything is new and strange to her and the reader both. I found myself asking the same questions as her about the things she saw. Was her father deluding himself with the life he wanted for himself and for her? What is a vN’s role: helper, companion or just another technological tool? How should society deal with sentient beings that aren’t really alive? Are artificial intelligences even capable of love? Is Amy limited by her programming, or is there a possibility of growing beyond her code?Despite some of the weirdness in this novel, it is a fascinating tale of Amy’s self-discovery and emergence from the shadow of others’ expectations of her. Probably my biggest disappointment was the way things ended. It was a pretty weak conclusion, a little random and out of nowhere after everything that came before, but the tepid ending notwithstanding, I thought this was an overall absorbing and poignant read. Definitely one of the bolder, more provocative titles from Angry Robot.
    • 4/5
      Interesting characters. Lots of action.
    • 3/5
      The concept and world-building of vN is fantastic, and examining the relationship between parent and child through iterating cyborgs must be a psychoanalytic masterstroke, but I just couldn't stick with the plot or the characters enough to care. A little bit too surreal for my taste.
    • 4/5
      I've owned this book for several months and now after finishing it I'm left wondering--why did it take me so long to get around to reading it? It's actually a 4 for me, really. There were so many things I found fascinating about the world and about the society and especially about families, all kinds of families; while it follows Asimov's laws of robotics, it takes those ideas in directions and to conclusions that are new to me. This is an adventure and there is plenty of peril and action and cannibalism, but still it essentially comes down to the families, the things we do for them or to them and the things we carry with us.
    • 3/5
      In the future, a messianic tech genius has created von Neumann machines—robots who can’t bear to see humans in pain (and thus sometimes turn away so that they don’t have their response circuits triggered). Except Amy’s failsafe doesn’t work, something proved very publicly when her murderous grandmother comes for her at her kindergarden graduation (vN will iterate if fed well enough with the metals and plastics that make up their diet). Now Amy’s on the run, trying to stay away from her grandmother and the rest of her clade, trying to get back to her human father and vN mother. It was an engaging enough story, though I wasn’t sure the worldbuilding held up, what with the resource demands that iteration would place on the world—there were hungry vN and armored junkyards, but it seemed underthought.
    • 4/5
      Without giving away any spoilers this story reads something like you might get if you threw "Snow White," "Huckleberry Finn" and "Blade Runner" in a blender and hit the puree button. I will say that for an author who suspects that self-awareness is overrated, this novel does seem remarkably sentimental at points, but those points are usually followed up with a sharp learning experience; perhaps the only freedom that matters is the right to say no.
    • 5/5
      Reminiscent of Asimov but entirely new in the way it handles the idea of intelligent, artificial life, vN explores the lives future synthetic beings can expect to live. Like Asimov’s robots, Ashby’s vN (von-Neumann humanoid robots) are subject to a failsafe: witnessing human pain can result in sever malfunctions, or death. And like Asimov, Ashby shows us how terrible this fate can be.After a violent attack at Amy’s kindergarten graduation at the hands of her grandmother, whom she eats in defence of her mother, and the death of a human student, Amy is locked up and taken away by human authorities for testing. Her jail-break with Javier causes country wide unrest, and all vN of her model are recalled for quarantine until tests can be administrated. On the run, confused, and with her grandmother’s voice haunting her and urging her to kill(her grandmother’s memory has been integrated into her own), Amy vows to find out why she’s not like other vN, and rescue her parents from imprisonment.Amy is a refreshingly original character whom I instantly liked. She’s not whiny, she takes things into stride, and she never loses sight of her goal to be reunited with her parents. However, she’s not stubborn about her goals either, and takes note of good advice when it is offered. I also liked Javier, even though he is so different and honestly, scared me a little because of his otherness. On the other hand I despised Amy’s grandmother Portia, because of her callousness, but after a while felt supremely sorry or her, because she is a victim too, a product of her world.Until I met Javier I was reading Amy as a normal vN, perhaps with a few more human tendencies than most vN because of her upbringing and family life. But Ashby cleverly uses Javier, a vN who has never lived with humans, to show readers how unique and special Amy really is. One of the most poignant scenes is when Amy realises that vN who malfunction are thrown into the garbage, after coming across lots of newly iterated vN who malfunctioned in a dump. She exclaims that human children who died soon after birth would never be thrown into the garbage, and Javier replies of course not, but is perplexed why Amy is so moved by the discovery.I love the world-building, because it comes with a history that I found terrifyingly viable: vN were created by churches who thought the Rapture was coming, and wanted to leave behind companions and help-mates for those humans who were left behind on earth. vN were made to fulfil specific needs and self-replicate when enough food was available. When no Rapture came, vN were used for menial labour, either cheaply or for free, and are now maids, mistresses, and labourers. Some humans use them for other purposes however, and pedophilia pops up peripherally in the story.vN is an exciting, refreshing book that I liked, and I was surprised to find out that it is Madeline Ashby’s debut novel. It’s a terrific accomplishment and I look forward to reading more of her books in the future, especially the rest of The Machine Dynasty series.A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for review.You can read more of my reviews at Speculating on SpecFic.
    • 4/5
      The premise: ganked from BN.com: Amy Peterson is a self-replicating humanoid robot known as a VonNeumann.For the past five years, she has been grown slowly as part of a mixed organic/synthetic family. She knows very little about her android mother's past, so when her grandmother arrives and attacks her mother, Amy wastes no time: she eats her alive.Now she carries her malfunctioning granny as a partition on her memory drive, and she's learning impossible things about her clade's history - like the fact that she alone can kill humans without failsafing…My Rating: Worth Reading, with ReservationsIt's really hard to slap a rating on this one. There's so much in this book that fascinated me, that impressed me, yet I wasn't in love with it. But for a novel debut, it's such a wonderfully promising one by an author I'm definitely going to keep a closer eye on in the future. I've already got the sequel, iD pre-ordered for my Kindle, and I'm really, really hoping the vN makes some award discussion lists (I'll make it happen, but will YOU make it happen?). It's a book I'd highly recommend to readers who want near-future SF, readers who enjoy reading SF by women and readers who don't want to worry a heavy romantic turn for the plot. And if you like Cylons, you may very well like this as well. I wouldn't be surprised to learn Madeline Ashby is a BSG fan, but even if she isn't, vN is certainly a cousin to that franchise: I'd love the see what would happen if vNs and Cylons got stuck in a room together. :)At any rate, if this is a book that's been on your watch list, or if it's languishing in your TBR, read it now and tell me what you think!Spoilers, yay or nay?: Nay. This is one of those impressive, fascinating books that you need to read for yourself and really absorb, you know? The full review may be found at my blog, and you can read said full review by clicking the link below. As always, comments and discussion are most welcome. :)REVIEW: Madeline Ashby's vNHappy Reading!
    • 5/5
      If you're a science fiction fan you probably know of Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics. They state:1) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.2) A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.These basic Laws were used throughout Asmiov's fiction and have been applied in many other robotic fictions. The fun starts, of course, when the fail-safes, well, fail. When a type of robot suddenly begins disobeying orders, injuring or killing human beings, and defending its own existence it becomes a wonderful center for a plot that almost always questions our definitions of "real" and artificial."In vN, Madeline Ashby tells the story of Amy, a von Neumann robot, who finds within herself the means to break all the rules and survive. Her rules violation makes her a target and vN explores her journey as a fugitive from human and robot society.Amy is wonderful. She is very self-aware and never ever indulges in self-pity. Instead, she faces all of her challenges head-on (and there are many challenges). Throughout the book we watch her ask the right questions, act to protect herself and the people/robots that she loves. We learn about all the ways the von Neumann machines in her world are abused and all the many possibilities for change.For a girl who starts out the book eating her grandmother, Amy is a real treat - a female heroine in a genre where there are few of these. vN is book one of a series - The Machine Dynasty - I can't wait to read the second book!