I knew from reading his Witches of Lychford series that Paul Cornell has a wonderful imagination. This book was certainly further evidence of that. We follow a group of disembodied AI characters, programmed to believe what the company wishes them to. When they discover a mysterious black sphere while circling Saturn in their tiny space ship, the Rosebud, their safe reality is upended. Cut off from communication with the Company and no longer receiving updates, their organic opinions begin to voice themselves. Including those about what they should do about the mysterious sphere, which seems able to bend time.
This was a super-imaginative story, and I would recommend it to those who like pure sci-fi. However, as other reviewers have pointed out, there were times when I lost track of which characters were which. This was a very fast read, and there were times I wished the pace would slow down so I could orient myself, or that more description or world building would be offered to ground me as to where we were, or what was going on. I kept thinking that it would make an amazing graphic novel, as some pictures would have cleared up most of my questions and moments of confusion. Regardless, I enjoyed this.

All I can say is that the trippiness of the characters and the story is reminiscent of Douglas Adams' stories and humour, albeit with more swearing (nothing crazy, just indicative of a certain character's temper.)

It does get a little sad as we dive into the identity theme of the novel through learning how the characters came to be in their current forms and get employed by the Company.

It's not going to be everyone's cup of tea due to the sci-fi/time-traveling (mind-warping?) trippiness but it definitely worth reading just for the trippiness itself.

<i>Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillian-Tor/Forge for providing me with the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.</i>

Rosebud is a curious and ethereal novella about five beings on a spaceship investigating a mysterious black sphere they'd come across while travelling through space. The characters and their dialogue was the most interesting part of the book, and I loved how creative Paul Cornell was when coming up with their physical forms and personalities.

I had a giggle here and there as well and was reminded slightly of the absurdity of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Overall though, I felt like these 100 pages were too dense with information and the story ended up being a tad confusing. I normally enjoy a lack of linearity in science fiction and having to make my little grey cells work harder to grasp the full story, but Rosebud was too short and too quick of a read for it to work for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, Paul Cornell and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for the advanced reader copy.

Rosebud is a novella where five unusual expressions investigate a mysterious alien vessel and learn who they themselves are.

This is a short read heavy on ideas. Artifical intelligence, alien visitation, social pressures, and non-human points of view all show up for a brief walk through this story. The ideas are compelling, but the length of the novella means that no one idea is explored in depth.

This is an interesting idea that I would have liked to see fleshed out more.

1.5 stars rounded up

If bizarre, abstract sci-fi akin to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is your thing, then you should check out Rosebud. Unfortunately it really isn't mine and I didn't particularly enjoy reading this. It's a novella about the crew of a spaceship, except that the ship is super tiny and the crew are mostly AI with unusual forms (like a bunch of hands, or a balloon). They encounter a mysterious sphere and try to investigate, but things get weird with space, time, and memory.

The setting is a dystopian, capitalist, conservative future where queer people are even more oppressed than they are now. And I appreciate the nods to addressing things like trans identity, but it's all scattered within this bizarre and somewhat nonlinear story that didn't really hit for me. That said, some readers love this sort of thing, so if that's you, maybe give it a shot. I received an advance copy of this book for review via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

3.5 stars

OK...this is a weird little book. I don’t mean that as an insult, it’s just commentary. The five beings we follow I guess could be considered AI’s, or disembodied consciousness’. As you read about each character’s background you’ll understand what I mean. The way they interact with each other, and the personas they each come up with for themselves, was really interesting to read. This may sound stupid, but my favorite thing about the book is the size of their ship. When I say “spaceship“ to you, you think BIG, right? But this one is under 1 inch. Otherwise, this is a small novella that packs a lot of big ideas into it, and you just have to roll with it.
TW: violence against trans people

Thank you to NetGalley & Macmillan-Tor/Forge for this advanced reader copy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This was such a strange, absurd, and fun little novella! I kind of kept wishing for a cast of characters list in the beginning (possibly illustrated??) because even though there are only 5 characters, they all start out as digital AI representations and are…*quite* diverse in their representations (ball of hands named Huge If True, Huge for short, looking at you) 😅 . It didn’t help that I kept putting this one down and picking it up later and going, “Wait, which one is the swarm of insects and which one is the balloon?”

If you like the big ideas of science fiction, meta-verse/time travel and choices vs fate, I think this one fits the bill. It sounds heavy, but the execution is just kind of wonder-filled and cheeky-funny.

(3.5/5 stars. My review will run on Geek Vibes Nation and Thoroughly Modern Reviewer on the novella's publication date.)

If you're a fan of weird, creative, deeply original science fiction, then Paul Cornell's new novella, "Rosebud," is worth checking out. A quick, dense read, "Rosebud" is unlike anything I've read in ages. Featuring a group of immediately captivating characters and an absolutely mind-blowing plot, "Rosebud" isn't always an easy read. And it could really benefit from being expanded into a full-length novel. But when it works, it works very well.

Many years in the future, five sentient digital beings crew the Rosebud, a small survey ship searching for material that might prove useful to the Company. On one survey, the crew discovers a strange, smooth black sphere. Upon investigating it, however, strange anomalies begin occurring. Feelings of deja vu, lost memories, and other such weirdness. But the allure of the sphere - and the potential praise that comes with discovering it - proves too much for the crew to resist. And so, the crew of the Rosebud sets out to explore this strange object. And, in the process, their own pasts. Right off the bat, "Rosebud" has a great premise. And Cornell delivers a story worthy of that premise. The problem is that there's just a bit too much all happening at once. Reading "Rosebud" feels like reading a full-length novel, except without any of the breathing room a full-length novel affords.

Cornell crams an entire novel's worth of plot into just over a hundred pages. And it frequently shows. It takes a little while for things to get going. But once the ball starts rolling, there's little time for those quiet moments that help readers make sense of the plot. And I feel "Rosebud" really could've benefited from those moments. In these kinds of dense sci-fi stories, you always have to strike a balance between under-explaining and over-explaining things. And unfortunately, "Rosebud" tends to under-explain things - largely because there's simply not enough time for Cornell to delve into the plot in any real detail. And sure, there's fun to be had in stories that just ask you to go with the flow. But given how mind-bending "Rosebud" is, I think the story could've benefitted from a bit more explanation.

The prose doesn't help much, either, unfortunately. Written from a present-tense, third-person point-of-view, it often hews closer to stream-of-consciousness style prose than I'd like. Everything's a bit too rambly, sandwiching eye-glazing technobabble in between long passages of description and random thoughts. It ends up being a weird cross between traditional dense sci-fi prose and a more irreverent "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" style. I can see what Cornell was going for, to be sure. And many readers will probably adore how playful the prose is here. But for me, it was just a bit too unbalanced. And I'd have preferred something more straightforward to better help me follow the story.

The characters, on the other hand, are easily the best part of "Rosebud." There's a goth named Haunt, a science aristocrat named Diana, a balloon named Bob, a ball of hands named Huge, and a swarm of insects named Quin. And they're all an absolute treat. Cornell makes them immediately engaging, with each character popping to life the moment they first appear. Their relationships feel nuanced and authentic. And their backstories feel lived-in. They're the kind of ensemble you want to spend a lot of time with. And despite the story being primarily from Haunt's perspective, each character feels fully developed and viscerally real.

Like the plot, the character arcs could've stood having more time devoted to them. You learn a lot about each character, but it happens fairly quickly and there's not always enough time for the weight of that development to land as well as you'd like it to. But even so, it's the character arcs that make "Rosebud" work as well as it does. Especially as the story progresses and delves deeper into these characters' psyches. Cornell has a gift when it comes to character work - one that's easily visible to anyone who's seen his "Doctor Who" work. And that gift is definitely on display once again here.

At the end of the day, "Rosebud" is an enjoyable mixed bag. It's got great characters and a great story, both of which make for a fun read. But it's hard not to feel like the story could've been even better with a longer page count and more room to breathe. But as it is, it's a novella unlike any I've read in a long time. If you like original, creative, mind-bending science fiction, "Rosebud" is well worth a read.

Delightfully geeky, engaging, and well written. A recommended purchase for collections where SF and the Cornell's previous titles are popular.

I like Paul Cornell's work, even when I'm not sure I've entirely gotten the message. Such is the case with Rosebud. It's as if 2001 had been written by John Dickson Carr, perhaps. It's a mystery inside an enigma inside a, well, you get the idea.

There are five sentient digital beings who are being punished for crimes against society. Their job is to investigate anomalies. Upon encountering a mysterious sphere, they decide to investigate and then must decide what to do with forbidden knowledge.

I found myself distracted by the physical forms the digital beings took. I suppose that if you've been locked up for several hundred years, you have to take your freedoms where you can, but it didn't really add anything to the story for me, and it made it a bit harder to keep track of who was whom. The characters themselves are interesting, and I wanted to know more about them.

The pop culture references were fun. It does seem to be a thing for a lot of books lately, but I have to wonder whether people will really be quoting cult classics several hundred years from now, the way we do, say, Shakespeare.

4/5 stars

I received an advance copy from Macmillan-Tor/Forge and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. This, and other reviews, may be found on Goodreads and my blog, redhatcatreviews.com.

Well that was... a ride.

Cornell's novella follows in a trend from the last few years of exploring issues of humanity through the lens of AIs. I mean, I know that authors have pretty much always been exploring what it means to be human through the medium of the robot, right back to Metropolis; but I feel like it's somehow become more pointed, or nuanced, or something, in the last 5 or so years. Maybe I'm just being shortsighted; maybe I can blame Murderbot for this perception.

Anyway, Rosebud is a spacecraft orbiting Saturn - a spacecraft about 1mm in diameter, crewed by five AIs of varying (and really very varying) provenance. They encounter an anomaly, and they investigate. In doing so, they are confronted both by their own identities, as memories are brought to the fore, and by the consequences of the anomaly - what it's doing to them and what it might mean for the humans back on Earth. To investigate, the AIs are forced to be embodied - and as is generally the case, bodies have consequences.

I can't quite describe the style this is written in. It's present tense; it's third person, but the POV favours one character, Haunt, in particular. It also feels more spoken, I think, than written; perhaps formalised internal monologue? For instance: "That's how this is supposed to do. Doing it on their own is above their pay grades. Not that they're paid. This is big people stuff" (p14). It's certainly very readable - I powered through it in a sitting, despite some of their narrative weirdness that occurs thanks to the anomaly. There's some amusing banter between the five characters - they are very different, with wildly different expectations and desires and perspectives, and they're not always interested in cooperating with each other.

If you're a fan of Paul Cornell, this will probably work very well for you. It's not my favourite Cornell (that would be the Lychford series), but I'm certainly glad I got a chance to read it.

I requested a digital copy in order to sample the prose on my phone (since I don't have a eReader) before requesting a physical copy for review. I will update Netgalley once I read & review a physical copy.

My review will be based on the physical ARCs I read.

I knew I was going to like this novella as soon as I learned that Paul Cornell is responsible for Father's Day, Human Nature, and Family of Blood: three incredibly iconic episodes of Doctor Who. This fast-paced, brainy sci-fi romp tells the story of a crew of artificial intelligences (self-described as a balloon, a goth, a science aristocrat, a ball of hands, and a swarm of insects) who stumble upon a strange alien presence in the far reaches of space. I adored the characters, who Cornell manages to capture three-dimensionally through their quirky personalities, entertaining dialogue, and comprehensive history. This is no small feat, given the novel's tight 112 page length.

The story is a bit of a mind-bend, playing with alternate universes, a schrodinger's cat based defense system, and time travel to unravel a mystery that goes back to the dawn of humanity. Cornell expertly balances complex concepts with enough humor and absurdity to keep the story grounded, though in the last two chapters it veers sharply into unexpected emotional depths. A major TW for violence against trans and queer people: the characters live in a dystopian society where being trans is illegal and trans people and their families are prosecuted. One member of the cast is trans and the other was in a relationship with a trans person, and the story touches on the horrors they experienced before joining the crew. Though jarring and upsetting to read about, the story has a happy ending, and is respectful of all the characters lives and identities.

Five diverse sentient artificial intelligences which make up the crew of the spaceship Rosebud gather to investigate a mysterious object, leading to an extraordinary journey of exploration of not only the object but their own identities.

I've been aware of Paul Cornell's work for years, initially from his prose and televised work on "Doctor Who", but also from his writing on the world of comics. This high-level novella utilizes concepts and tools from both. The story explores the identities and level of self-determination of the principal, eccentric characters through the mechanism of the mysterious object and their attempts to explore, understand and communicate with it.

The tale plays with the concept of reality, both virtual and physical, often leaving the reader unsure which they might be dealing with, but always keeping things relatable through the humor provided by the five main characters and their interactions. There are fun Easter eggs through the story for fans of science fiction and related genres, as well. As with all good science fiction, there is also some relevant social commentary, as well.