The Expert System's Brother (Expert System, #1) in SpecFic Buddy Reads

Oct 31, 2020 Nataliya rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2020-reads

“It is a great poison, to know you have a destiny and that everything you do is right by default.”

The inhabitants of this world may act like they live in a fantasy setting, in apparent symbiosis with trees and wasps and hives, with the all-knowing ghosts taking over some of them an leading them into a future that is the same as the past. Except, of course, this is Adrian Tchaikovsky who gave us sentient spiders and space-faring octopuses (or maybe octopi or octopods?) and whatever the mindf*

“It is a great poison, to know you have a destiny and that everything you do is right by default.”

The inhabitants of this world may act like they live in a fantasy setting, in apparent symbiosis with trees and wasps and hives, with the all-knowing ghosts taking over some of them an leading them into a future that is the same as the past. Except, of course, this is Adrian Tchaikovsky who gave us sentient spiders and space-faring octopuses (or maybe octopi or octopods?) and whatever the mindf*ck was Aldebaran, and these humans are actually existing in the world that is very much science fictional despite the fantasy veneer.

“She spoke very loud, as though we were deaf or stupid. Looking on us, there was a part of her brain trying to recognise the mob in front of her as people and not finding what it sought in us. The Severance blinded her to us as human beings, but she was someone who could think around things like that, hence this whole plan.”

Just like in my much-beloved spiders/octopods series, Tchaikovsky raises the question of Otherness. Who and why we designate as “the other” and the weight of this divide and the need to bridge it. Stripping the science fictional and fantasy details from this one, the deep wound of otherness remains - yes, done in a voice that, despite some gruesome scenes, feels overall kind and optimistic and, for the lack of better word, young - but still focusing on the pain of the divide.

And with every divide comes pain, and with pain comes resentment, and with that comes the want for revenge. Righting the wrongs can mean very different things, and when runaway, can lead down dangerous paths full of retaliation and messianism and speeches of birthrights and destinies.

“His smile was brilliant, as hard to look at as the sun. “Now, will you follow where I lead?”
He knew we would; we knew we would, but there is a special magic in saying so, binding yourself with word and thought to another man’s purpose. From that moment, as Ostel and I tried to outdo ourselves with our babbling pledges, we were his followers and members of his congregation.”

And yeah, it’s all done a bit lightly compared to the three Tchaikovsky’s books I’ve read so far, but still the emphasis is there. Otherness, divide, change, adaptation, compromise and costs of all of these. There is a bit of YA feel, perhaps due to the protagonist’s age, and the resolution is a bit on the simplistic side, but it’s still pretty good. Not up to par with the three amazing books of his I mentioned earlier, but not many are.

3.5 stars. May round up once I think about it some more.

“I am ashamed of who I was that night, more so because I became a man who has always been within this body but held back by the regard of others. When we surround ourselves with people who call evil good, how quickly we accept their definitions and speak them back, round and round until every way we experience the world is tainted by it.”

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Buddy read with carol. ...more

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Oct 01, 2018 Justine rated it really liked it

Shelves: novella, 2018-read

A short piece that nevertheless manages the richness in worldbuilding that I have come to associate with Tchaikovsky's work. While I didn't like this one quite as much as the novella Dogs of War, it was still very good. Tchaikovsky again shows how very skilled he is at capturing the voices of his characters, and so we see here with the point of view character, Handry, use of a very different style and phrasing than in other works.

The story itself is fairly straightforward and I wasn't surprised ...more

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Oct 14, 2018 Lata rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sf-f-h, x2018-read, x2021-read

2021-02: 4 stars. Enjoyed this again. Reread this so I could refamiliarize myself with Handry and Melody, and the world, prior to reading the next instalment.

2018-10: 4 stars. Having learned about expert systems many years ago, the title of this novella told me a lot about what this story could be about. And though there wasn’t anything really surprising about this story (e.g. the behaviour of the charismatic and driven leader of the Severed individuals was fairly easy to predict, and what the e ...more

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Feb 01, 2018 Lindsay rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction

On this world humanity exists in small tightly controlled communities with a high level of interdependence. When a young boy has an accident that partially severs him from his community he ends up leaving it and journeying in a way that few others do, discovering a lot about himself, the world and how it came to be the way it is.

Adrian Tchaikovsky writes brilliant science fiction. While I didn't like this as much as most of his other novels and novellas I've read, that isn't much of a slight; it ...more

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Dec 09, 2021 Bradley rated it liked it

Shelves: 2021-shelf, sci-fi

More of a 3.5 for the rating, I'd just put this novella on the shelf that I'd name "a light-touch fish-out-of-water SF".

It's a voyage of self-discovery that reads like a fantasy novel even though there are some rather strong SFnal ties just below the surface that are pretty easy to follow as a reader, but not so much for the MC.

Honestly tho, I didn't really get into it all that much despite being an otherwise rabid fan of Tchaikovsky. Others might enjoy it more than I did. ...more

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Jan 09, 2022 Leticia rated it it was amazing

Shelves: storytel, novella, 2021-books_to_read, 2022_tbr, storytel_read, storytel-favorites

A fascinating story world with a very original story.

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Aug 18, 2021 Cobwebs-in-Space-Ice rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: all-sci-fi-my-challenge, 2021_alphabet_challenge, a1-i-own-books, 2021_fantasy, 2021_ha_authors_a-z, 2021_reads, 2021_science_fiction, 2021_reading-challenge_august_hob, august_2021_reads, 2021_cli-fi_climate-nf_challenge

I read this title immediately following the author's excellent ELDER RACE, which excellently blends Science Fiction with medieval-type Fantasy. THE EXPERT SYSTEM'S BROTHER is in a similar vein, exemplifying the contrast of a planet composed of small to larger villages, each centered around one particular tree and its denizens of normal wasps and oversize "Elector" Wasps. The latter choose individuals as needed, to fulfill certain structural community roles: doctor; architect; lawgiver. No experi ...more

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