The Expert System's Brother

De: Adrian Tchaikovsky

Narrado por: Shaun Grindell

Best-selling British master of science fiction Adrian Tchaikovsky brings listeners a new, mind-expanding science fantasia in The Expert System's Brother. 

After an unfortunate accident, Handry is forced to wander a world he doesn't understand, searching for meaning. He soon discovers that the life he thought he knew is far stranger than he could even possibly imagine. 

Can an unlikely savior provide the answers to the questions he barely comprehends?

©2018 Adrian Czajkowski (P)2019 Tantor

Unexpected brevity, told with gravitas

I approached this book cautiously. This is the third book I've read by Tchaikovsky— the others being Children of Time, and Children of Ruin— but the first outside the Children universe. At 4 hours long, it seemed rather short by comparison. Still, the author is masterful and I couldn't resist.

The Expert System's Brother asks you to shift your perspective from the very beginning and try to envision a world wholly different from our own, and primitive, yet peppered with enough signs of humanity's zenith that a vague sense of dread constantly tugs at the bag of your neck: what happened the the familiar human race?

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys epic adventures, Sci-Fi or otherwise. The grandeur of the world and the epic story behind its tenuous balance are enthralling. The author's perspective on belonging, purpose, knowledge and inheritance are unique, and add up to another great work from a master of science fiction.

Post collapse

Adrian Tchaikovsky’s novella, The Expert System’s Brother is a short tale of a post collapse world. People live in small villages connected to each other in an unclear manner with a designated sham-an/medicine man type who interfaces with what appears to be an AI system. One young boy is ‘severed’ from the group and must wander. He soon discovers much more in the world than he imagined as well as a group who are attempting to rediscover the lost science and engineering.

Tchaikovsky offers a few creative elements to an otherwise well-worn sci-fi theme. There just didn’t seem to be enough for a fully fleshed novel. Narration is good with decent character distinction. Pacing is smooth.

Thought provoking

At first I was confused. Were these creatures human or not. It took a while and some perseverance to get to a ripping good yarn.

Good tale, Wish it hadn't been a Volume 1

Accidental outcast slowly learns the world he lives on is not his own. What his culture views as exile is in reality a horrific death sentence. I was never entirely sure they realize that. The main character is a teen, and the combination of his inexperience and the level of cultivated ignorance in this static society is that left me waiting a long time to see if or when he would find out what we quickly deduce. I was afraid the story wouldn't get quite far enough, but it doesn't do that.

monotone narrator

barely able to listen to this boring narrator. I had to listen several times to understand what was going on.