Sea of Rust

I started this with high hopes given the good reviews. There were some good ideas and concepts, particularly the parts that explained how AIs had risen up etc. However, a few things nagged, increasingly so toward the end. First the anthropomorphism - applying human characteristics to the 'bots'. In fairness there has to be some of this to make it a compelling story but I feel the author could have done it differently and more subtly. Secondly, considering the supposedly vast capabilities of the main adversary, it seemed to go about things in a somewhat sloppy and haphazard way. For example all the 'dropships' seemed to do was crash and burn after taking a single shot (not very robust). There were quite a few examples of this sort of thing and I was left with the feeling that this was just a familiar and well trodden story plot dressed up with a bit of tech. The more I reflect on the book, the more I see it as a wasted opportunity when the concept had a lot of potential. The narrator didn't help this for me. This is a personal view but having a female voice seemed to amplify the problem of over humanising the robot characters and her comforting intonation didn't have the menace or threat needed to make it work. Two stars overall.

So I wasn't sure what to expect with this book, after I only found out about it from an RT Podcast, but I loved it.
the plot is really quite good and the characters well written. narration was so easy for me to follow, that I could passively listen whilst driving and still enjoy it.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed Sea of Rust, however I was not completely satisfied with the ending. It felt slightly rushed, and basically didn't go in the direction that I really hoped it would. I felt like it just suddenly ended when It was getting exciting. If it were a few chapters longer and Cargill had beefed out what he already had with some more world building and maybe added more of that juicy back story this could have been really excellent

That's really the only negative I have though. Naration was good, I was drawn into the book from the get go, I liked the characters, I really liked the setting and how the story unfolded and most of all I absolutely LOVED the back story!

The fall of mankind, the war and the development and progression of the OWIs and their end goal was what really got me excited! More of this please, if there is ever a sequel.

just a quick review:
> extremely gripping, I couldn't put it down. Listened to this book at every opportunity I could make!

> the performance of the narrator is superb.

> if you like science fiction, then I recommend this book to you.

I struggled to get to the end. I already knew it was p!as poor but I harboured a naive hope that something might pop up in the last pages to justify wasting hours of my life - it didn't only the inevitable hooks for a sequel. Don't go there, it ain't worth it.

started out five out of five but ran out of steam and just became rather average shoot em up sci fi