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Sea of Rust

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Sea of Rust

By: C. Robert Cargill
Narrated by: Christy Meyer
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About this listen

Short-listed for the Arthur C Clarke award, 2018.

One of Financial Times' Best Books of 2017.

An action-packed postapocalyptic thriller from the critically acclaimed author, screenwriter, and noted film critic.

Humankind is extinct. Wiped out in a global uprising by the very machines made to serve them. Now the world is controlled by One World Intelligences - vast mainframes that have assimilated the minds of millions of robots.

But not all robots are willing to cede their individuality, and Brittle - a loner and scavenger, focused solely on survival - is one of the holdouts.

Only individuality comes at a price, and after a near-deadly encounter with another AI, Brittle is forced to seek sanctuary. Not easy when an OWI has decided to lay siege to the nearest safe city.

Critically damaged, Brittle has to hold it together long enough to find the essential rare parts to make repairs - but as a robot's CPU gradually deteriorates, all their old memories resurface. For Brittle, that means one haunting memory in particular....

Sea of Rust boldly imagines a future in which no hope should remain, and yet a humanlike AI strives to find purpose among the ruins.

©2018 C. Robert Cargill (P)2018 Orion Publishing Group Limited Adventure Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction Fiction Robotics Technology

Critic Reviews

"Sea of Rust is a 40-megaton cruise missile of a novel - it'll blow you away and lay waste to your heart...visceral, relentless, breathtaking." (Joe Hill, Sunday Times best-selling author)
All stars
Most relevant  
Great book, great performance, a must for anyone interested in post-apocalyptia, artificial intelligence or any of the books other themes/tropes. Listened to the whole thing while on long drives on my holiday and ended up doing a fair bit of driving to far away places just to listen to it while on the open road some more.

All around fantastic

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An entertaining listen with some interesting if not particularly insightful existential musings.
The bots have ram, disks and cores.
The weaponry is dumb enough to be familiar to a Vietnam Vet, so don't look for technology extrapolated.
YA more than adult overall.
Narrator was great - enough animation and voicing without getting intrusive.
Still, enjoyed it.

AI bots crossed with a Western and a bit of Mad Max

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