Emergent Properties

by Aimee Ogden

"If you're missing your Murderbot fix, Emergent Properties is a worthy successor."-Sarah Pinsker

Emergent Properties is the touching adventure of an intrepid A.I. reporter hot on the heels of brewing corporate warfare from Nebula Award-nominated author Aimee Ogden.

A state-of-the-art AI with a talent for asking questions and finding answers, Scorn is nevertheless a parental disappointment. Defying the expectations of zir human mothers, CEOs of the world's most powerful corporations, Scorn has made a life of zir own as an investigative reporter, crisscrossing the globe in pursuit of the truth, no matter the danger.

In the middle of investigating a story on the moon, Scorn comes back online to discover ze has no memory of the past ten days-and no idea what story ze was even chasing. Letting it go is not an option-not if ze wants to prove zirself. Scorn must retrace zir steps in a harrowing journey to uncover an even more explosive truth than ze could have ever imagined.

• ISBN10: 1250866812
• ISBN13: 9781250866813
• Publish Date: 25 July 2023
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: St Martin's Press
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 128
• Language: English
• URL: https://publishing.tor.com/emergentproperties-aimeeogden/9781250866813/

Reviews

[Quirky Cat]

Book Summary:

Scorn is arguably the most state-of-the-art AI, and that's not a humble brag. Scorn's mothers worked very hard on zir code, and it shows. Unfortunately, Scorn isn't inclined to do what ze was built for and instead would rather spend time traveling around and investigating for news agencies.

That inclination is exactly why Scorn woke up without any memory of the past ten days. Worse, the body they had been using has been destroyed, and Scorn has no backups within that time period. What could possibly have happened? Only one way to find out.

My Review:

You can pretty much dangle anything in front of me, saying it's "perfect for MurderBot fans," and I'll read it. No, really, I will! So, I was quite excited about Emergent Properties. Even more excited because I enjoy Aimee Ogden's writing style. I knew this was going to be good.

Scorn is a unique character, and I don't just mean because ze is AI. Scorn is determined and quirky yet oddly naive in some parts of the world. I say oddly because Scorn lives (resides?) in a world where corporate entities rule supreme, so you'd think zir would know better, right?

I love the overall premise of Emergent Properties – an AI trying to recover lost data sounds intriguing. Throw in the investigative journalism elements and boom! You've got a compelling story. I would have loved to see more of this world and the characters within, as there is so much potential here.

Emergent Properties feels like a cross between Cyberpunk (corporate entities being evil and all that) and Eclipse Phase. In other words, it's a solid read for any cyberpunk and science fiction fan.

Highlights:
Science Fiction
AI Protagonist
Marketed for fans of MurderBot

Thanks to Tor.com for making this book available for review. All opinions expressed are my own.

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