An Optimal Implementation, Under the Circumstances
5 stars
Truly a perfect fun-house mirror to our future, present, and recent past. A thoughtful, precise, inspiring knife to the gut which Tchaikovsky twists with unparalleled empathy and insight.
A story of a robot who does not fully understand his own actions, and does not consciously believe in his own agency. A series of trials like Old Mebbeth's tasks each point a glowing and uncomfortable finger at one of the ways our society is utterly failing. Pinocchio on a modern odyssey of apocalyptic parables silently screaming at the top of their lungs to do something about what's wrong. Truly more Literature in here than I can shake a stick at. Sublime, beautiful, and painful to the core.
Unquestionably going to come back to this several times, hopefully with a book club where we can study one section in depth before moving to the next. An absolute banger.