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The Quiet at the End of the World by Lauren James.
The Quiet at the End of the World by Lauren James. Pub. Walker Books, 2019.
Is it possible that the human race could become extinct? This is a major theme of this new sci-fi novel from Lauren James and her next after The Loneliest Girl in the Universe also reviewed on this blog.
Shen and Lowrie are 16 & 17 and are the only humans left on the planet. A virus years before rendered humans infertile and once the storehouse of eggs and sperm was used up no more humans were born. Shen and Lowrie are the last and they are yet to discover the truth.
They live in London which has a population of only three hundred and spend their lives in a hi-tech world run by androids and robots with their parents. Their parents have not told them everything and as the book evolves the whole truth comes out and it is mind-blowing.
While exploring an old Tube station Lowrie discovers a wallet belonging to someone called Maya who lived through the period when humans became infertile. They read her Posts on a social web site as some old sites are still available, and find out what happened and how humans reacted.
Humans became lonely without children so created their own robotic children in a programme called Babygrow. For a while living humans and Babygrow children existed together and how they related makes for interesting reading.
Then a helicopter accident sparks off a series of events that reveals the astonishing truth. Read the novel and find out what.
Excellent science fiction that feels like normal life. But is it? Well structured with old facebook and Twitter like comments from Maya and friends feeding the historical information. Great environmental message for the future
Senior and young adult fiction. Confident intermediates could handle it too.
Mechanica. A beginner’s field guide by Lance Balchin.
Mechanica. A beginner’s field guide by Lance Balchin. Pub.The Five Mile Press, 2016.
Wow! What an impressive picture book this is. After reading it twice my thoughts were “I want more, I don’t know enough” and I expect there is more because the title says it is a beginner’s guide and reference is made to The Mechanica Chronicles. I hope so!!
In a nutshell humans have destroyed the environment of the Earth so that all wild life of the planet have become extinct. To make up for it they create robotic Mechapets with Chen Sue a major player with his revolutionary Series 3 Wing Brace design.
This design effectively sets the mechapets free and they evolve into Mechanica who threaten humans and caused them to retreat into highly defended bolt holes. One of these is the South Sea island of Saraswati on which resides Liberty Crisp, a student of the genius Reginald P. Prescott.
When Saraswati is sacked by the Mechanica, Liberty sets sail on the HMS Beagle and does a Darwinesque trip around the World to see how the Mechanica have evolved.
The undoubted highlight of this book are the illustrations of the Mechanica. The detailed diagrams are complete with data such as Power Source, Speed, Origin, Size and specifics about their adaptations to their environment. There is the King dragonfly, the Powered Spider, the Articulated Snake and my favourite the Fast Parrot.
Absolutely Superb and with appeal for every age group. Not only that, Lance Balchin leaves the reader with a glimmer of hope.
Franky by Leo Timmers.
Franky by Leo Timmers. Imprint Gecko Press, 2015.
Sam’s bedroom is full of robots. he is crazy about them and he believes out there in space is a planet where all the robots live. he is right of course but his mum and dad and his dog are not convinced.
Sam needs help so he builds a robot from electronic things in his room and he calls the robot Franky.
Franky is great to play with but one day he goes all quiet and looks up to the heavens. Then a space ship lands full of robots and guess who they look like.
Superb illustrations of robots and space rockets. Boys will pour over it for ages. Sam is a confident boy and trusts his own judgement.
You really need to get this for your home or school library.
Girl Parts by John M. Cusick
Girl Parts by John M. Cusick. Pub. Walker Books, 2011.
Once teenage boys find out about this book it will go round like wildfire.
David and Charlie are as different as chalk and cheese yet the day Nora Vogel took a lethal cocktail live on the net they are both watching. So are 748 others but David’s very rich and computer literate father decides it is is a weird thing to do. He sends David to a shrink who decides that David has disassociated himself from the real world.
The solution is to get David a “Companion” who is all a boy could want. Her name is Rose and she is part girl part robot and she is absolutely gorgeous and indistinguishable from the real McCoy. Her purpose is to discourage dehumanising behaviour and encourage healthy human interaction. Wow!
Rose has an Intimacy Clock inside her that dictates how she behaves under emotional and physical pressure from David. If you go too far you are zapped. David is mesmerized by Rose but really all she is really doing to him is regulating his lust.
One night at a party David is pushed to the limit and gets Rose to strip for him. What David sees changes everything.
It’s important to note that Rose is programmed to David, is totally devoted to him, but after the party things change and she comes in contact with the geeky but totally understanding, Charlie.
A very appealing plot, well told, literate and titillating in the extreme as it exposes teenage boy sexual behaviour.
It reminded me of the robot girls in the films Cherry 2000 and Bladerunner. Just incredible.