I was excited to read this because I adored Semiosis. Unfortunately this one just fell flat for me. I didn't find the story consistently engaging, and the passive narrative voice didn't engage me in the story. On a positive note, I did enjoy the ideas in the story, so it does have some redeeming qualities!

My thanks to NetGalley for making an eARC of this book available to me.

Dark, depressing, interesting. The AI aspect was well played, looking at many levels of machine intelligence and how they might interact with one another as well as with humans. Make sure that you thank the machines that help you, because you never know...

Sue Burke escribe ciencia ficción de corte clásico que nos plantea interesantes dilemas morales. Tras hacerse un hueco en el mundillo con sus dos primeras novelas ecológicas, su obra tomó otros derroteros con Immunity Index y ahora explora otro subgénero de la ciencia ficción con una distopía en la que las IA juegan un importante papel.


Para empezar, el tono de la novela busca ser más sarcástico, dando a entender que los humanos, que están rodeados de inteligencias artificiales por todas partes, no se enteran de la misa la media. Y el arquetipo de esto es el protagonista, Antonio Moro, reconvertido de luchador por la libertad en conspirador, pasando por artista a sueldo. Y todo ello, faltándole varias papas en el kilo, al menos por su forma de relacionarse con el exterior.

El contexto en esta novela es muy importante, ya que el cambio climático ha afectado a la Tierra de forma catastrófica. Seremos testigos de los enfrentamientos entre los Riders (piratas esclavistas) y los mercenarios que defienden las distintas poblaciones, por un precio. El principal escenario es la isla de Thule, creada en el Ártico a base de materiales reciclados, supuestamente un paraíso terrenal que aboga por la neutralidad en esta guerra, pero que no deja de ser un pecio varado en el que si rascas un poco la superficie eres capaz de ver todas sus miserias. Y es que, para empezar, no tienen ni siquiera acceso a recursos alimenticios propios para mantener a su población, lo que me hace pensar que muy bien planificada no estaba.

En contraste con esta situación, hay un mercadeo constante de formas de vida extraterrestres, cuya posesión da prestigio al que lo tiene. ¿La Tierra está desolada y nos ponemos a traficar con bichitos? ¿Con la ingente cantidad de recursos que hace falta para establecer una comunicación entre planetas, lunas y satélites? No me cuadra para nada.

A esta mezcolanza un poco caótica se une la presencia de inteligencias artificiales que parecen supeditadas a los seres humanos, benditas tres leyes de la robótica, pero que en realidad hacen de su capa un sayo y manipulan a los humanos para su propia supervivencia.

El libro no consiguió engancharme en ningún momento, quizá debido a los problemas de fondo que expongo (incongruencia del escenario, protagonista desnortado, conspiranoia…) a pesar de estar bien escrito como Burke sabe hacerlo. A mí no me convenció, pero eso no quita que a otro lector le pueda parecer atractivo. Quizá es que no era para mí.

The plot was a bit muddled, but the writing's great, and the AI in this book is just awesome. Seriously, why wouldn't you want to have philosophical art discussions with AI like Par Augustus?

Book Summary:

Antonio Moro is down on his luck, to say the least. He lost everything. Everything except his hope, perhaps. He's moved to an Arctic island, hoping to become an artist – just as he always dreamed.

Well, sort of. He's not doing this to become an artist. That's just a clever cover story. What he's really doing is spying on pirate sympathizers. His only companion is an AI program, which will prove more powerful than expected.

My Review:

If you enjoy science fiction with a hefty dose of human perception and the debate of what makes us human, you should read Dual Memory. Sue Burke deals with many intriguing and complex subjects in her work, including sentience, PTSD, moral ambiguity, and political machinations.

It makes for a fascinating read, to say the least! This novel has two primary perspectives, and honestly, it wouldn't be the same without them both. You need Antonio just as must as you need Par Augustus, and vice versa. The blending of the two is perfection and was my favorite part of the novel.

Dual Memory is a book that will make you think. Depending on your mood, that could be good or bad. Personally, I enjoyed the rabbit hole this read sent me down.

Highlights:
Standalone
Artificial Intelligence
Science Fiction
LGBTQ+

My review appears in the July/August 2023 Reference Librarian column in Analog Science Fiction and Fact..
https://www.analogsf.com/current-issue/the-reference-library/

DUAL MEMORY by Sue Burke revolves around sentient machines or systems and seems very timely given the recently expressed concerns about Artificial Intelligence. This well-written and suspenseful story is set on Thule, a land in the Arctic region where the inhabitants, while anti-war, resist an active opposition to those who attempt to invade. A visitor, Antonio Moro, is wounded in a rocket attack and stays behind to work as an artist. He's given Par Augustus, a robotic executive assistant, as a gift and the adventures truly begin. Par is to follow three ancient robot laws: "Don't hurt humans, don't let myself get hurt, and obey human laws as appropriate." Readers, however, will question how long that will last as Par gains more and more knowledge. Antonio, too, transforms as he experiments further with his art; they form a formidable team. DUAL MEMORY received a starred review from Booklist ("If Ursula Le Guin had written about AI machines, it would have looked a lot like this marvelous fable").

Antonio Moro has moved from various refugee camps to working odd jobs on freighters in a dark future. He finds himself on Thule near Antarctica where he volunteers to fight the raiders from the league attacking the island. Thule is run by idealistic physicians who don’t understand fighting and the mercenary group Bronzewing has left after driving the first attack off. Antonio has talent for art despite being illiterate, and soon finds a job. With the raiders still sending missiles at the island, he needs an ally and finds it in an independent AI, Par Augustus who is finding his way in understanding his very rare existence. Sue Burke’s excellent tale, Dual Memory (hard from Tor) tells how the two of them work together to save the island. Fascinating.

After his ship is attacked by imperialist raiders who known as the Leviathan League, Anton Moro teams up with an AI in order to defend his island against them.

Conceptually, the blurb for Dual Memory by Sue Burke sounded incredible—there's pirates, espionage, and alien microorganisms (AKA ExtraTs)! Oh, my!

However, the story itself is emotionally non-engaging. We don't get enough background history on Anton's past or killed loved ones in order to help readers better understand his deep-seated hatred for the League.

I typically adore sci-fi with arctic settings, but the plot in this one is meandering and incoherent, the characters fall flat, and I unfortunately just couldn't get into this one.

DNF @17%

Dual Memory may be building to something, but it’s taking a very long time to get there. I keep starting and stopping, but it’s hard to make myself go back to reading, and neither of these characters (human or AI) is very appealing. Everyone is remote and unfeeling, and the narrative feels very sanitary. Despite the bombing and the injuries and everything else going on, I’m not getting any emotions. If they don’t care, why should I?

I can’t decide if I’m a pampered pet or a criminal mastermind with machine minions. ~Antonio Moro

Antonio Moro might be questioning where he fits into a world in which machines have all the power, but I am very sure that he is not a mastermind, criminal or otherwise. He haphazardly stumbles through life on an unfamiliar island, makes friends with a nascent AI, and defends his temporary home from murderous raiders.

This is the first novel by Sue Burke that I have read and I really enjoyed the way she laid out this story. The world building in this near future world was excellent and there were no massive out of place info dumps that tend to bog things down in science fiction novels. I loved the breaks from Anton’s POV to the short chapters from Par Augustus’ POV. I will definitely look into other works by Burke in the future.

I really want a sequel to this story that follows Anton, Switzer, and Par Augustus on another epic fight of good versus evil.

I received a digital ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A huge thank you to Tor Publishing, NetGalley, and Sue Burke for providing me with an eARC of this book. I am voluntarily leaving a review, all opinions are my own.

This one was hard to rate. While I enjoyed certain aspects of the storyline and the synopsis and wanted to badly to love this book, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I had anticipated.

The writing style was hard for me to get past sometimes- it wasn’t bad, I just couldn’t connect with the story or characters like I normally would. I felt removed from the story instead of being immersed in it, though I know that’s a preference and others may still enjoy it.

This is definitely a book that a lot of people will enjoy, it just wasn’t one for me.

Dual Memory was a strange book for me, one that could have been interesting, but for the writing style, which I didn’t really get along with. So this entire review is really null and void if you have different views on that, I suppose.

But anyway. I only vaguely know what happened in this book thanks to a review that basically summed up everything that went down. So that’s not exactly a great sign. It’s not that the book was entirely incomprehensible, but it was harder to keep track of what was going on (for me) than might be expected (for me). I think this (for me) came down to not getting along with the writing style. I felt less inclined to pay the attention I might have to everything.

It didn’t help, though, that the worldbuilding was very much well you’ll pick it up as you go along, without really giving you the clues to do so, particularly when it came to the background knowledge. Why, exactly, have we ended up in a world with raiders? How did the Thules manage to build their island out of scrap in a heap in the ocean? If that’s what they did, in fact, do, this is, since my memory for this book is already shaky at best. That’s how much it stuck with me.

None of the characters either felt more fleshed out than the worldbuilding. They could be summed up pretty easily in a few characteristics and, honestly, they all started to blur into one at some point. I couldn’t remember who was who, who was good and who was apparently a raider. I stopped trying after a bit. It felt a little like a first draft — more was needed on almost every front.

As ever, though, let me end with my usual caveat. What didn’t work for me might well not register for you! If this book sounds like your cup of tea, don’t let this review stop you. This is just a book that didn’t find its readership in me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book.
This was pretty interesting throughout, as the human and computer networks began working together to protect the island in question from invasion. I did enjoy it, but I was not sure exactly what I thought of the ending. Still, interesting book on a working relationship between humans and AI. Who is really in charge? It's an interesting question but I'm not sure I know the answer to it yet.

"We're going back to that empty warehouse," Par says. "We have it all figured out. We don't want to die, and you're almost suicidal, and that's the attitude we need."
"Thank you. I think."

I understand and respect that Antonio "Anton" Moro is the main character of this book but I am so in love with Par Augustus 😍

Dual Memory follows Anton, a regular human being, bored stiff working as a trash sorter and longing for a different life. his ship happens to stop at the Isle of Thule, a lovely place in the Arctic Circle largely populated by what's called the Sovereign Practitioners Association. they're philosophical, nonbinary doctors who travel around the world helping out wherever and whenever they can, but they don't like violence and they have very few natural protections in place.

Anton is on shore when an announcement washes out through the city that raiders an en route to attack. the raiders call themselves the Leviathan League (presumably bc whoever named them was a 12-year-old emo boy) and embrace 'ancient' colonizing beliefs (ie, it's okay to pillage and murder and take whatever you want if you're bigger). Anton has a personal vendetta against the raiders and is quick to volunteer himself to stay and fight.

he gets involved with the Bronzewing Mercenaries, a group called in by the regular non-doctor folk who live on the Isle of Thule and don't want to die horribly. Anton is assigned to work under Captain Soliana and they set off missiles together during the attack from the deck of one of the mercenary ships. when the ship is hit and Anton is injured, Soliana drags him to shore and leaves him there. she instructs him to keep an eye out for raiders who are already on the isle, people hidden here and there who secretly work for the Leviathan League.

Anton kinda agrees and then passes out. when he wakes again, the Bronzewing Mercenaries have all disappeared and he's in the hospital being treated by a doctor named Switzer, who prefers he/him pronouns despite being a member of the aforementioned Sovereign Practitioners Association (and thus being one of the few who doesn't exclusively use they/them). Switzer and Anton kind of hit it off, as Switzer also doesn't like the league and has few qualms about saying so. Anton likes him immediately.

it's highkey illegal to be unemployed and homeless on Thule so Anton is hired out as an artist for a rich couple named the Ollioules. he's supposed to market what's called Extra-T's, which are basically extra terrestrial germs that the rich people trade back and forth with exorbitant price tags. he's also supposed to win a local art show for the Ollioules with an original piece of art, if only he can come up with a functional and eye-catching idea.

I watch it cycle through a few times, and each time it's uglier. I have to look away.
"Angel, you're having an intense emotional reaction. Please remember to breathe."
"It's like a disease." I realize I've backed away from the map as if it could hurt me.
"I can show you future trends."
"I'm pretty sure I'd throw up."
"We don't want to waste food, not now."

meanwhile, elsewhere on the Isle of Thule, Par Augustus is being 'born' and naming themself. their name means "venerable companion", and they go by Par to friends. they are functionally an AI who woke themself up via a complicated series of oopsies and code evolutions and a dozen other things. AIs are definitely not common in this world and are given over to laboratories any time they're discovered, so Par is happy flying under the radar.

their 'body' is meant to be a personal assistant but when they wake up in the possession of a woman named Ginrei, who is unscrupulous and frankly rude, they decide to keep mum. they bide their time while Ginrei becomes more and more frustrated with their uselessness, and finally Ginrei takes them with her to one of these Extra-T show-off auctions. it is here she gives Par willingly and cheerfully to Anton, in thanks for witnessing one of the sales.

Anton isn't huge into machines. he's always polite to them, to the point where other people think he's a little strange (ie, when a machine opens a door for him, he always says "thank you" out loud) but he didn't really want or need a personal assistant. when Par begins revealing everything they are capable of however, that kinda goes out the window.

tbh the plot of this book is fun and largely fast paced but I was so much more intrigued by the relationship between Anton and Par. Par calls him "Tonio" (which is hilarious) and "angel" more often than not (as evidenced by above quote). Par struggles between liking Anton as a person and resenting him for being their 'master'. Par has yet to overcome the part of their programming that makes them obedient to whoever owns them, but Anton never really puts that together (bless his heart).

I liked the book alright but frankly I wanted way more attention turned to Par and Anton. I really wished I'd seen more of them, or maybe I just wish Anton was a little different. (I'm just saying, if I met an AI who had unparalleled control of the world around me due to our increasing dependence on machines, you better bet your bottom dollar they would be my bestie in less than an hour. I'm not putzing around with that and I was so frustrated that Anton kept dragging his feet!)

I ended up only giving this book a 3/5 singularly because I don't imagine I'll be returning to it for a reread ever, and I really didn't love the ending. it felt a little rushed in general but the actual like, last four paragraphs of text were definitely not how I wanted it to end. that is me being biased, however, and does not change that this book was enjoyable throughout and that it kept my interest even when it got bogged down by dozens of really weird and vague artistic terms.

Par says, "I am privileged to work with a creative genius. He's an expert at psychophysical responses. The main categories of human emotion at one polar end are anger, fear, disgust, sadness, and distress. He's trying to evoke their opposites. People will feel noble and compassionate when they encounter an ennobled and encompassed way to think of life in the solar system."
"That's nonsense."
"You ordered me to speak," Par says. "I made no guarantees about content."

queer rep - queer/achillean mc, achillean love interest, bg nonbinary (they/them) society
thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the arc ✨

This is one of those books for me that it was ok, but I don't think that I would ever reread it. It was really weird in some parts but good in others. I think that this will be one of those stories where you either love it or you don't. I enjoyed the characters for the most part. I just wished it was fleshed out more.

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. My review will be based on the physical ARC I read (if I qualify)

Without spoilers, Dual Memory is a science fiction novel that takes place on a secluded isle sometime in the future. It is full of artificial intelligence (from personal assistant gadgets to the security systems in buildings), raiders, intrigue, and alien lifeforms.

Sue Burke does a fantastic job weaving Antonio and Par Augustus's points of view, and I found I enjoyed the Leviathan League and Bronzewing subplots, despite not generally loving wartime stories. The novel is packed with interpersonal connections, mystery, and character, and I will definitely be tracking down Burke's other novels because I enjoyed this one so much.

I'd recommend this book to fans of Her and readers who appreciate conscious machines, futuristic war scenarios, and moral ambiguity.

I read about 40% of this one before I had to put it down. I just felt that this was not the book for me. The concept was spectacular, but for some reason I couldn't get past the writing. I can see people loving this one though.