The Android's Dream | John Scalzi | Discovering a brilliant new author is like making a fabulous...

The Android's Dream | John Scalzi | I don't mind being a sheep in this case

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The Android's Dream

	The Android's Dream John Scalzi Tor Science Fiction, 2007 - 400 pages average customer review:based on 56 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A human diplomat creates an interstellar incident when he kills an alien diplomat in a most?unusual?way. To avoid war, Earth?s government must find an equally unusual object: A type of sheep ("The Android's Dream"), used in the alien race's coronation ceremony.

To find the sheep, the government turns to Harry Creek, ex-cop, war hero and hacker extraordinaire, who with the help of Brian Javna, a childhood friend turned artificial intelligence, scours the earth looking for the rare creature. And they find it, in the unknowing form of Robin Baker, pet store owner, whose genes contain traces of the sheep DNA.

But there are others with plans for the sheep as well: Mercenaries employed by the military. Adherents of a secret religion based on the writings of a 21st century science fiction author. And alien races, eager to start a revolution on their home world and a war on Earth.

To keep our planet from being enslaved, Harry will have to pull off the greatest diplomatic coup in history, a grand gambit that will take him from the halls of power to the lava-strewn battlefields of alien worlds. There's only one chance to get it right, to save the life of Robin Baker -- and to protect the future of humanity.

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Discovering a brilliant new author is like making a fabulous new friend...

It's four in the morning on a Wednesday (Harold Crick would appreciate the irony) and I can't stop thinking about John Scalzi. Let me say first that if you're looking for an analytic and evaluative review of "The Android's Dream" then this is most assuredly NOT the review for you. If, however, you are looking for a review that will make comparative observations between Scalzi and other authors (all beloved by said reviewer) and expound on the joys of the discovery of brilliant, dynamic, exciting and god-like in their awesome displays of talent new (albeit perhaps new to the reader) authors; then by all means read on and here's hoping I can actually manage to string together a series of words that will be of some value to those of you who, like me, regard yourselves as eccentric enough to take, and appreciate, an author for what they themselves actually write. Without trying to second guess, look obsessively for flaws, or just generally focus on those flaws as opposed to giving yourself over to the unmitigated joy of being flung head-first into someone else's world and then counting yourself LUCKY to be allowed to live there for however long that author chooses to let your adventure continue. You see, if I don't like an author I just stop buying their books and go off in search of one who will be better able to captivate my imagination and delight my brain. But I digress...
and apparently, I'm going to keep on digressing.

My introduction to SF came via the gift of Frank Herbert's "Dune". The same friend who gave me that book (noting that I was going to LOVE science fiction, I just needed an introduction to it by someone other than the author we had been assigned to read in high school) later gifted me with the hard-back first edition of "Children of Dune" easily accomplished as it had just been released. I was just 21 when I was loaned the recently released "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by another friend who made the observation that it was entirely possible that Douglas Adams and I were twin psychos (she didn't actually use the word psycho) of different mothers and I MUST read his book so I would know I was not alone in the universe. I think "The Foundation" series came after that but then there was Sherlock Holmes and my introduction to the world of mystery and can I just take a moment to say THANK YOU for Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie, Minette Walters, Carl Hiasson, and Caleb Carr!

At this point, I'm sure you're wondering where the h@$$ all this is going and when am I going to get back to John Scalzi for #%&^'s sake? Well, since you asked nicely.... I never really left him! Remember, I did mention earlier that this would not be a typical review per se but that I would compare him to other authors I loved, some of whom I regard as best friends although we've never actually met... and I was just getting to that part so hang in there if you can and hey I understand if you can't... Like my favorite authors to me and like I am to my actual friends and family... I am an acquired taste and if yours is already saying "ick" about mine, then by all means STOP READING and get on with your life! ;-)

At 48, I can honestly say I don't remember a time when the voracious acquisition of new and great authors didn't consume at least some part of my life. I am proud to say that I have read EVERY Simon R Green he's ever written and am collecting his new series book-by-book as it is released and I am delighted to find that while we are clearly both growing up, we are not growing "old"! I am also extremely hopeful that I will be able to say the same thing about John Scalzi in a number of years and therein lies the point (if you can call it that) that I was originally trying to make. There are authors and series I feel a real connection/kinship towards. They have expanded my mind, altered my consciousness, increased my intellect and in many cases, healed my heart. Authors and books I read and reread because I find something new about them and myself each time I do. Because I can't NOT reread them or I would be depriving myself of the company and companionship of old friends. By the way, another such "friend" is "The Immortals" series of books by Piers Anthony. In any case, much has been made of the series John Scalzi has written and indeed "Old Man's War" and "The Ghost Brigades" are EXTRAORDINARY and immensely impressive books. I am equally certain that "The Lost Colony" will be another bright star in his universe. Which is why I chose "The Android's Dream" to write about. It is not like it's siblings. Furthermore, it shouldn't be. "The Android's Dream" is NOT the same story. Is it in JS's voice? YES! Is is told with intelligence, warmth and humor? YES! But just as JS is a unique individual with many aspects of his personality, so are his books! I, for one, rejoice in that fact. It is what makes him so wonderful to read. He is not going to write one series ad-nauseum for the length of his life and then bequeath said series to his son to continue after his death so said son can continue to milk that idea for whatever it has left in order to satisfy readers who want NO deviation or diversity from their books or authors (much like avid music fans who are put off when a band decides to revisit some old songs in a new way) in that "one-trick-pony" mentality that views the world as a box of neapolitan ice cream and god help anyone with the audacity to want a flavor that tastes like root beer float or is in any way outside of their "box"! Huh??????????......... OK, so where was I?

"The Android's Dream" is richly sarcastic, darkly comedic, astonishingly insightful and scientifically authentic. It is, in point of fact, A DAMN GREAT READ; and fie on anyone who says otherwise! I am THRILLED with the way his mind works and the intelligence with which he writes. I wrote this "review" the way I did because, oddly enough, I read reviews on Amazon all the time and one of the reviews I found the most useful was one where other series and authors were recommended in the course of the review. It gave me a frame of reference for what the reviewer liked to read that was similar to my likes and it also gave me a couple of new places to go look. Over the years, I have learned that if an author I really respect endorses a book, then it's worth my time to take a look at it. Turns out, that is also true of reviewers but only when you know you have some common ground (literary ground that is) to stand on.

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I don't mind being a sheep in this case

It starts with a fart joke and just gets better from there. This book is a fun romp and I enjoyed the intricacies of the plot. It's clever and funny while maintaining the sense of urgency that drives the characters. All in all, a good read.

Hooked from the fart and on the edge of my sheep the whole time.

The Android's Dream had me hooked from the fart (the diplomatic incident that nearly starts a war) and it kept me on the edge of my sheep the whole time. Part satire, part homage (to PKD) and completely filled with Scalzi's signature witty dialog makes this a novel that does not disappoint.

Nice Plot but Not Funny and Full of Errors

Like many who were disappointed in Android's Dream, I am a fan of Scalzi's other work and believe he is capable of much better. Obviously I did not expect this novel to be in the SF militarism vein of Ghost Brigades, etc., and I believe I am judging it on the merits of what it actually attempts to do.

Android's Dream reads very much like an oddball 1960s-era SF novel full of goofy social commentary. Brand names are delivered occasionally with a TM, for example. In this sense the novel is very much an homage to Phillip K. Dick. Everyone remembers the paranoia and reality bending of Dick's work. Few people remember (for some reason) the humor and social commentary. So I believe I see what Scalzi is going for here, but the trouble is, what might have seemed like biting social commentary in 1966 is just trite and lame in 2008. Strange products. Weird advertising. Gee.

So funny this book is not.

However, it does have just a huge amount of very interesting alien culture, a very unique and intricate plot, conspiracies, secret organizations, and horrors galore. On that level the book is certainly worth a read. Scalzi's imagination is as vivid and fun as ever.

The biggest beef I have with this book are what I think of as outright errors. Scalzi begins with an acknowledgment tipping his hat to the famous friends (Cory Doctorow!) who read the MS before publication and gave him guidance. What I read really makes me question the intelligence of those good writers who helped him.

For example, an important plot point hinges on an artificial meat product (grown in vats without the aid of actual living animals) called Boar/Bison. The product is a genetic merging, somehow, of boar meat and bison meat. The logo features a friendly bison-ish boar wearing cowboy boots. At one point the question arises as to whether boar/bison is kosher. The two individuals discussing this issue state clearly that the question of kosher-ness depends on whether the combined boar/bison creature would have cloven hooves. Now, I'm not Jewish, but I happen to know that both pigs and bison have cloven hooves--in fact, all hoofed animals have cloven hooves except for the horse, donkey, zebra, and, I suppose, hippopotamus. Jews are not forbidden from eating cloven-hoofed mammals. They eat beef, sheep, goat, and so on. This discussion was just so profoundly ignorant that I nearly put the book down right there.

A similar bit of ignorance is manifested in a scene where our hero and the "sheep" are fighting some bad guys in a mall. Our hero hits a fire alarm which causes various fire doors to swing shut. Ok. But then the narration makes it clear that none of these doors can be opened until the fire marshal arrives, thereby preventing the bad guys (and everyone else) from escaping. Obviously I don't know what fire safety regulations will be like in the future but it would be a pretty pernicious system that purposefully traps people in burning buildings.

Maybe it's just me, but these two episodes really bothered me. I'm still willing to give the book a weak recommendation. But all these 5-star reviews? Come on, people. Have at least some level of discrimination.

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