"The Android’s Dream" – Or, How to Start a Galactic Crisis with a Fart

John Scalzi has done it again, folks. He’s taken political intrigue, intergalactic diplomacy, genetic engineering, religious cults, and good old-fashioned hacking… and somehow made it all revolve around a single breed of sheep. Oh, and let’s not forget the diplomatic disaster caused by a strategically weaponized fart. Yes, you read that right.

Our hero, Harry Creek, is the kind of guy who can talk his way out of anything—except maybe a well-placed assassination attempt. Robin Baker, who just wants a normal life, finds out she’s actually the most valuable "sheep" in the galaxy, which is definitely not what she signed up for. Meanwhile, the Church of the Evolved Lamb proves that, yes, there’s always a cult willing to take things way too far.

Scalzi juggles humor, action, and razor-sharp dialogue so well that I kept wondering if I was reading a sci-fi thriller or the world’s best satirical sitcom. Every chapter brought another absurd, brilliant twist, and by the end, I wasn’t sure if I needed a nap or another book to keep my brain from exploding.

Final verdict? If you love your sci-fi with a side of political chaos, snark, and genetically significant sheep, The Android’s Dream is a must-read. Just don’t blame me when your head explodes from the sheer Scalzi-ness of it all. You’ve been warned.

A really enjoyable story with bit of humor. More consistent than Redshirts.

Another completely mad plot, totally out there, meant to crash and burn, and yet… and yet… Scalzi pulls it off of course.

For want of a better word, this is a scifi comedy, full of action, fast-paced chases, colourful characters, aliens, jumping shoes, spacecrafts, politics, conspiracies, fart language, sharp dialogue, and sheep, well one particular genetically modified one that is. And if this wasn’t enough, an homage to Philip K Dick. Yes it IS silly but, like Agent to the Stars, this is not a stupid book. Far from it.

I do wonder why comedy isn’t always valued the way other genres are when you consider that it requires as much skill if not more to create. For instance, P.G. Wodehouse wasn’t recognised as the great author he was for a long time. Likewise, it would be very easy to disregard this novel, but if you happen to like scifi comedy, this is a great example, entertaining and addictive :O)

PS: read by the excellent Wil Wheaton - who else!!!

Scalzi is a throwback to a simpler time in science fiction where the universe is populated with a 1000 alien species, most of them described in a few broad strokes, and the less said about how the hyperdrive works the better. That the book works, (much as the tv show "House" works, despite being entirely forumlaic... "what, only 40 mins past the hour, this can't be the real cure...") because they are fun, with a frenetic energy and a goofball, unpredictable sense of humor.

The writing is plain, and the the plot picaresque: a series of unlikely, escalating confrontations between the forces of the good guys and those of the bad guys, takes our hero from a dead-end job to an interstellar coronation ceremony, by way of a space cruise ship populated entirely by veterans of a battle he just happened to have fought at and won a Medal of Honor... get the picture?

Adding insult, the protagonist is not only a military savant with hands registered as deadly weapons, but he is also a brilliant computer programmer who has cracked the problem of artificial intelligence and is aided in his quest by an all knowing AI computer friend.

I read it with reasonable enjoyment, but even I have to caveat that review by saying I only read sci fi -- so that that with a grain of salt.

Please don't judge this book too quickly. It gets better very fast after the infantile opening scene with the 'fart-machine'. It's one of the things about American culture that had me baffled for a very long time : where I come from we get over scatological jokes by the time we start school, but it seems they never go out of fashion around Hollywood. Even with my personal reservations, I must give credit to Scalzi for finding a new angle in the field of fart humour, and turning it into an alien criminal investigation.

The higher diplomatic and political Nidu castes had developed a "language" of scents not at al unlike the European nobles of Earth developed a "language" of flowers.

Some of these aliens have really thin skins (or should I say 'noses'?) , and the fart-machine incident is about to develop into a major (but probably very short) galactic war against an enemy with a crushing military superiority over Earth. Our only salvation is for the government of our planet to find and placate the sensitive Nidu with a blue sheep.

It's that kind of story, and John Scalzi channels here the best parts of the zaniness and irreverent dialogues of "The Fifth Element" , with a more highbrow touch of the still zany but better scientifically anchored farces of Connie Willis. It's so funny and so fast paced that I only stopped and thought about the horrible, horrible ways in which a lot of humans and aliens get smashed, dismembered, eaten alive and riddled with bullets a good half hour after I read a scene.

Since I already mentioned "The Fifth Element" I would take the analogy even further and mention that the lead character is obviously modeled on the tongue-in-cheek yet tough-guy-in-a-crisis Bruce Willis:

It was the proverbial dirty job. But equally proverbially, someone had to do it, and Harris Creek was surprisingly good at it.
[...] Creek's official title with the State Department was "Xenosapient Facilitator," which meant absolutely nothing to anyone but the State Department bursar, who could tell you that a Xenosapient Facilitator got the GS-10 pay grade. Creek's unofficial title, which was more accurate and descriptive, was "Bearer of Bad News."

Harris Creek is a prodigy in computer sciences, military combat and discreet investigations, so he is the first choice for the State Department looking for the lost (blue) lamb known as "The Android's Dream" - a touching and fitting nod to Philip K. Dick's masterpiece, one that even posits the same questions about how we define sapience and how we grant rights to aliens and genetic constructs.

I cannot go into more details about the nature of the sheep without spoilers, but I would lay bets readers will be pleasantly surprised at his/her/its identity. The problem for Creek is not so much finding the lost lamb (he has help from another great humorous reference to the dreaded "Office Assistant" paper clip and Siri type of Artificial Intelligence software). The problem is holding onto the 'Android's Dream' and preventing some very determined secret agencies from killing her/him/it. These agencies include, but are not limited to : a rival government department that feels its budget is underfunded and needs a crisis to demonstrate its utility; a right-wing, xenophobic think-tank that looks hostilely at the fragile alliance between Earth and the Nidu; a group of secret government contractors/mercenaries used for 'black' operations; an alien creature with a taste for human flesh; Nidu revolutionaries who want to sabotage the dynastic transfer of power; a mysterious cult that operates both openly and in the shadows.

The Church of the Evolved Lamb was notable in the history of religions both major and arcane in that it was the first and only religion that fully acknowledged that its founding was a total scam.

John Scalzi should write for Hollywood : they are sorely in need of good plots and good jokes around there and "The Android's Dream" is a great example of action-comedy that I would like to see on screen, preferably directed by Luc Besson. In between shooting it out with the bad guys and making snappy repartees, Scalzi introduces a colourful and satirical picture of the future with interesting technological improvements( fart macine included ) and not so veiled digs at Scientology, militarism, lawyers, online privacy and rival baseball fans. I included the last remark as an unintentional joke on the last season's (2016) dramatic finale:

The 'Senators' have never been good. They're the second most pathetic team in the history of baseball and would be the first, if it weren't for the fact that they go out of business every couple of decades and give the 'Cubs' time to lengthen their lead.

While I find potty jokes and American-centric future societies slightly unsavoury, I do hope the author will write more humorous alien stuff. I haven't read "Redshirts" yet, since I am not really/yet a trekkie, but I might give it a chance seeing how incredibly funny some of Scalzi's oddball alien portraits are.

Executive Summary: I found this book a lot of fun, but utterly ridiculous, even for Mr. Scalzi.

Audiobook: Wil Wheaton does his usual good job at delivering John Scalzi's snark. He reads clearly and with good inflection. He doesn't do voices, but I do feel that audio is definitely a solid option for this book.

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After my last book, I was looking for something light and fun, and John Scalzi always fits that description for me. This is one of the few books by him I haven't read. I picked up the audio on a deal a few years back and for some reason I just never got around to listening to it.

This book starts out on a ridiculous premise and just seems to keep getting more ridiculous as the book goes on. The protagonist is a bit too competent at times as well, but considering the circumstances he was put in, it didn't really matter that much.

I've always enjoyed Mr. Scalzi's sense of humor, and this one is no different. There were less times that I found myself laughing at a joke than I was simply shaking my head at the events I was listening to however.

I liked the world building a fair bit, even if they were a large part of the silliness as well. I'm a sucker for interplanetary space federations. I'd be interested in reading another book set in this world.

Overall this was a fun and fast read and was exactly what I was looking for when I listened to it. It's not as good as some of his other work, but I still enjoyed it quite a bit.

I always enjoy reading older science fiction because of the insight into the time it was written, as well as the author's vision of the future.  For instance in the Martian Chronicles, men head off to settle on Mars, and only bring women along later; this is not a picture of what the future really will be, but a snapshot of what society in the late 40s was like.

I could tell right away that Android's Dream was newer than that. There are women in background roles -- a handler, a scheduler, a secretary, a wife -- but not as major players.  I was estimating that the book must date from the late 60s.  But as I read further, the technology was surprisingly modern compared to the social setting, and I began to wonder if I had estimated incorrectly. Finally, when the author mentions America Online, I realized I was way off, and I checked.  The book was published in 2006, having been written by a man born in 1969.

Now, by 1969, Nyota Uhura was already a lieutentant on the bridge of the Enterprise.  Scalzi also had an opportunity to see Drs. Crusher and Pulaski on TV while he was a teenager, and Captain Janeway by the time he was 26 years old.  Since he is writing about politics, maybe we could look at some of the real-life women he should be aware of: Madeline Albright, Condoleeza Rice. Or Internationally:  Margaret Thatcher, Indira Ghandi, Angela Merkel.  How is it that Scalzi sees a future in which neither Earth nor any other planet has women playing a significant role in government?

At page 87 (out of 280), we finally are introduced to a woman who has a name, and her very own identity: Robin Baker, small business owner. By page 91, we learn that Baker is actually the genetically modified offspring of a sheep-human hybrid prostitute.  Not actually a human being, and thus, not actually a woman.

Earlier in the book, there was a man whose lover was named Sam. I did wonder for a bit whether that might be short for Samantha, but we soon learn that Sam is a man. If you are uncomfortable with gay characters, never fear: you can take comfort in the fact that Sam's lover will be tortured and shot and have his Achilles tendon severed before finally being digested alive by a young alien.

The computer geek/war hero who is our main character is flattered when the sheep hybrid calls him to bluntly ask him for a date. The two go to a local shopping mall where they put on Flubber (tm) shoes just in time for the geek/war hero to fight off a group of military spies, leaving four people -- men, I should say -- dead or wounded.

The two of them flee, eventually ending up on an interplanetary cruise ship. We find out that John Scalzi is aware that women can join the military; it's a cruise for veterans of a recent war, and some of the veterans are women -- women who have actual names. The women do not have personalities though; the only character from the cruise ship with a personality is a man who helps our heroes evade capture.

Meanwhile, the computer geek/war hero's childhood friend, who died in the above referenced war, is now an artificial intelligence. In the scene where the book finally jumps the shark, he meets a hot looking blonde artificial intelligence who greets him by asking him if he wants to fuck. When he turns her down, she turns into an incredible military strategist, making it tempting to call her the second female character in the book. But then you remember that she's both an artificial intelligence and a hot looking blonde who greets strangers by asking them to fuck, and you realize: no.

I read through to the bitter end; I won't try to describe any more of the convoluted plot. The book held my interest because the alien species were intriguing, and I was interested in how the central plot point would be resolved. Also, Scalzi writes with a quirky humor that I enjoyed, even though it reminded me of some awkward dates I went on in my younger days. The humor and well-crafted alien species net the book two stars, but just barely.

I was surprised to learn that Scalzi is a well known author who has won the Hugo award. Someone please tell me that there are science fiction books, written by both men and women, with actual female characters in them.

Although I've heard nothing but good things about John Scalzi's Old Man's War, I still haven't gotten around to reading it. Which, given how much sheer fun The Android's Dream is, makes me an idiot. Seriously. If you can put this book down after reading the first paragraph, you're a better person than me. It's got action. It's got adventure. It's got power politics and strange alien races. It's got the snappiest dialogue since Nick & Nora Charles set the banter highwater mark. Get it. Read it. Love it. And right soon

Redshirts wasn't in stock Tuesday, and Kobo's DRM shenanigans made me loath to purchase the ebook despite my shiny new tablet. Fortunately, I had already borrowed The Android's Dream from the library. I try to pace myself between books by the same author, but in this case I suppose I'm making an exception. Not that I mind in John Scalzi's case.

The Android's Dream is what I would call clever but zany SF. It's about the race against time to find a breed of sheep to prevent a diplomatic investment from erupting into all-out war with an alien species. The key here is the mundane nature of the quest object, combined with the human fallibility and craziness of the good guys and the bad guys. While the stakes are the usual "survival of humanity" thing, the major plot twists are almost always the result of mundane actions or coincidences. As a result, the book manages to be humorous without, for the most part, overstepping itself.

Reading this so soon after reading Old Man’s War was an interesting experience, because in both books Scalzi depicts humans as a species among many in the galaxy. In this book, Earth and its few colonies are members of the Common Confederacy, which is exactly what it sounds like. In Old Man’s War the galaxy is a little more overtly hostile, and that kind of alliance doesn’t seem to exist—indeed, Earth itself is a lot less relevant to human society in that book. Although I love watching authors build their worlds (or in this case, universes) through successive books, it’s also gratifying when an author shows he or she can build entirely different universes as well.

Yet the different details do not diminish Scalzi’s particular way of constructing aliens or portraying human–alien interaction. Firstly, he’s fond of very creative (albeit predominantly humanoid) alien physiology, and his cultures are quite distinct as well. This creativity leads to a tendency to show off, through digressions, worldbuilding that isn’t all that essential to the story (e.g., the explanation about the Kathungi). In some books this would be a death knell—Scalzi’s saving grace is that, despite his tendency to ramble, when he decides it’s time for an action scene, he delivers an action scene.

From mall shootouts to battles with alien marines inside a cruise spaceship, there is no shortage of such scenes in The Android’s Dream. Scalzi maintains a fine balance between skill and luck when it comes to his protagonists getting out of (or into) scrapes and threatening situations. The bad guys are very competent (and it’s hilarious when they realize that they’ve been so successful in stirring up trouble they might actually have started a war). And there are several levels of antagonists to contend with: beyond the obvious ones, we eventually learn about deeper plots that are coming to fruition after decades of work. So it would be fair to say The Android’s Dream is an often light, action-packed thriller of a novel—but that would ignore how tightly and carefully plotted it is. There’s more going on here than just shoot ’em up scenes (though they are there!).

I love Scalzi’s characters, although I can see why some people complain they tend to sound the same. His default characterization mode is “sassy” or some subtle gradation thereof, so when characters begin making quips their individual attributes tend to blur. But Harold Creek is a very different protagonist from John Perry. He’s much less of a Mary Sue, fortunately—ultimately, as his best plans come apart the seams, help arrives from a timely ally that provides enough information to concoct a last-ditch plan.

Curiously, the cast is almost entirely male. Robin Baker is the only main female character, and the number of minor female characters is paltry indeed. Now, I don’t consciously tally up the ratio of male to female characters when I read books, but I notice when it’s really uneven—especially in books by authors who are otherwise quite outspoken about gender equity, as is the case with Scalzi. I’m not sure what happened here, but it’s a little disappointing that there aren’t any other interesting women in this book except for Robin.

That being said, she’s pretty cool. To be honest, I like her even better than Creek. Creek is capable—but he’s just like every other highly-skilled protagonist out there: little bit detective, little bit rock and roll. Scalzi writes him well, but there’s nothing new to see. Robin, on the other hand, is an interesting combination. Sarcastic by nature, she seems to take a lot of what happens to her in stride. But at certain points in the book, it becomes painfully obvious she’s really just coping, running on physical and psychological adrenaline (so to speak) until she can sit down and work through all of the revelations thrust upon her. Robin, as the asset, is someone not of Creek’s shadow world, pulled out of her depth and into something far bigger than she ever expected to experience. It’s cool to watch her grow and start owning that.

I’m ambivalent about the climax. In many ways, I prefer the tight direction of The Android’s Dream over the somewhat meandering Old Man’s War. Unfortunately, the climax hinges on a technicality, an “oh, by the way,” revealed through some exposition just prior to its execution. I loved the ride all the way, from the opening line up to the very end, but the ending itself leaves much to be desired.

The Android’s Dream confirms that, at least with my sense of humour, Scalzi’s a great contemporary writer. He knows how to make science-fiction a tool for compelling stories rather than a soapbox or a paint-by-numbers canvas of tropes. Sometimes I think he gets a little carried away with the clever nuances of his plots … but I can forgive that, just like I can forgive any number of little glitches, because his style is smooth and his writing is just good.

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Leído en 2013.
Sinopsis (de cyberdark):
Una disparatada historia de ciencia ficción, en la línea de otras novelas del autor como El agente de las estrellas o La vieja guardia.

Harry Creek es un funcionario de bajo nivel del Departamento de Estado con un trabajo nada agradable: transmitir malas noticias a los embajadores alienígenas en la Tierra. Pero también es un héroe de guerra y un habilidoso hacker. Así que cuando la Tierra se enfrenta a su destrucción a causa de una metedura de pata diplomática con los nidu, una raza alienígena muy superior a la nuestra, Harry deberá localizar lo único que puede salvar a nuestro planeta de ser esclavizado por los alienígenas: una oveja.

Sí, habéis leído bien. Una oveja. Y si creéis que esto es lo más sorprendente de este libro, esperad a leer el primer capítulo.

Scalzi ha vuelto a conseguir una novela divertida de leer, que te atrapa y que obliga a devorar páginas. Definitivamente confirmo a este autor como uno de mis referentes personales en el panorama actual de la CF.

La primera frase del primer libro que leí de Scalzi, la Vieja Guardia, es : El día que cumplí setenta y cinco años, hice dos cosas. Visité la tumba de mi esposa y me enrolé en el ejército..Buenísima. A partir de ahí leo todo lo que pillo de este señor y he de decir que sus últimos libros superan incluso a los primeros. A mis ojos, claro.

En este, El sueño del androide, nos sumerge en una intriga política/policíaca/jamesbondiana entre dos razas por la posesión de una oveja determinada necesaria para la toma de poder de un nuevo emperador de la raza nidu.

Las ironías, los diálogos simpáticos entre los personajes, las situaciones disparatadas y el ritmo que imprime a la trama me han encantado.

Es ciencia ficción –SpaceOpera Light- de la buena pero en clave de humor. De Ciencia tiene poco, pero os aseguro que pasaréis un muy buen rato leyéndola. Y la evidente referencia a “Sueñan los androides con ovejas eléctricas” de Dick es un guiño apreciado por los amantes de la CF clásica.

Leed, disfrutad y divertíos con este libro.

Man John Scalzi can write a damn great SiFi story. Now a lot of writers can do that but what makes him stand out to me is that right in the middle of the action he can make me laugh. no matter how intense the scene somehow he shoots a drop of humor into the story line. Much like Terry Prachett did it with fantasy Mr Scalzi does it with SiFi. You won't be the least bit disappointed reading anything of his you pick up, I haven't. Highly recommended

Good fun adventure and saving planet earth at the same time, just what I needed for my night watch!