Saturn's Children

By: Charles Stross

Narrated by: Bianca Amato

The Hugo Award-winning author of numerous best-sellers, Charles Stross crafts tales that push the limits of the genre.

In Saturn's Children, Freya is an obsolete android concubine in a society where humans haven't existed for hundreds of years. A rigid caste system keeps the Aristos, a vindictive group of humanoids, well in control of the lower, slave-chipped classes. So when Freya offends one particularly nasty Aristo, she's forced to take a dangerous courier job off-planet.

©2008 Charles Stross (P)2009 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"Stross takes a plot device common to mystery novels and turns it into one of the most stylishly imaginative robot tales ever penned." ( Booklist)
"Good fun... Heinlein himself would've liked this." ( San Diego Union-Tribune)

Narrator is amazing, Stross at the top of his game

Chock full of smart, dry British humor, honest depictions of space travel and action. Lots of action. It's as if Alastair Reynolds, Arthur C. Clarke and Douglas Adams had a baby and raised him to be the most British of science fiction writers. And the cherry on top of this excellent space opera sandwich? The narrator, Bianca Amato. I could listen to her read the phone book, and pay money for the privilege. Saturn's Children is a credit well spent!

imaginative erotic sci fi, outstanding narration

A spy novel written in noir style from the perspective of the interior monologue of a grumpy female sexbot after the mysterious extinction of humanity. The narration is brilliantly performed, and quite sexy and hilarious in certain parts.

Stopped at Ch3 due to smuttiness

Way too much smutiness. Should have known do to the word [concubine] in the description. This book is not categorized as "romance" or "erotic",

Some of you may like listening to an android having sex sith her tranport system, then lewd conversations with her hotel.

Not for me.

What a voice

What made the experience of listening to Saturn's Children the most enjoyable?

OK, this is a good to excellent novel but that's not really the point. Bianca Amato's performance is stellar (intentional joke). In a story about a robot geisha left without any humans to love, she gives everyone a separate and delicious English accent.

She's FABULOUS

I mean, the book is great and all but her read is incredible.

Good sci-fi first & mild erotica second

Really enjoyed this take on the development of AI and what it might look like in the distant future.
Great storyline - Mr. Stross is talented and keeps it classy. I could listen to Ms Amato read to me all day long...

Pleasent, Complicated Space Opera - Very Enjoyable

During the reading of this self-proclaimed ‘space opera,’ I admit to swinging from wondering why I was still listening to being enthralled. This novel is about robots that we humans create. Unfortunately for homo-sapiens, we die out and leave the robots in charge with human objectives and a streak of subservience. What ensues is a bizarre culture of slavery. Written in the first person by a female robot bot named Freya; the story twists and turns with multiple personalities, a complex plot, much intrigue and misdirection. It is definitely hard to keep it all straight sometimes as event sometimes move too fast and the point of view switches among personalities, so you’ll find yourself skipping back 30 seconds on occasion.

The narrator Bianca Amato did a very good job of handling all of the voice. Though she speaks with a bit of an English accent, she is pleasant and brisk with her narration.

This novel will appeal to a listener who is interested in rooting for all sides. You root for one thing, then another and another. By the time you finish you reassess they story and reflect. From this point of view, the novel make you think, think about a world humans created but are not manifest. I recommend this book – it is different than I thought it would be; but I am still happy I listened.

Weird

I don't know about this one. Narration was good. Story was OK. Setting was fascinating...I have mixed feelings because I am moving into the second book which is usually a good sign.

Fascinating Story, superb Reading

I love the rich texture of Charles Stross novels, and this narration was absolutely superb. I found myself re-playing sections to make sure I didn't miss a single nuance or description.

Androids picking up the pieces of extinct humanity

Thrust into a widening game of spycraft, our android protagonist Freya will grow from a gutter-survivor flotsam-of-society-type to someone in command of her own destiny for a change. The villains and trusted allies swap roles several times, and personalities are likewise interchangeable among robot characters who can swap ‘soul chips' at a moment’s notice. One interesting allowance of this personality exchange mechanism for the story, is that it allows blended flashback narratives from various character viewpoints. After a few iterations, however, it begins to become difficult in telling the various players and their motives apart, and I think this is a deliberate decision on Stross’s part to make the reader identify with Freya’s solitary plight. Freya, herself an obsolete sexbot designed to serve humans who have now been extinct for three hundred years, casually alters her appearance frequently and drastically redesigns herself on multiple occasions. Such android adaptability is a theme displayed across the varied locations of the story, and is contrasted against humanity’s own inflexible nature. They exist in the memory of android society as beloved creators, but mysterious and poorly understood. The pacing and action are both healthy, and frequent satirical observations of human foibles through the eyes of our creations are also entertaining. There’s (unsurprisingly) a lot of sex included, though it never feels gratuitous as it occurs as a routine matter for the character; transactional. While the conspiratorial threads come to a satisfying conclusion, I remain unsatisfied with the long-term direction these characters and society are headed, and look forward to some insight from the sequel.

relatively good

I wish there was a trigger warning for rape content. I only deducted one star because it wasn't a huge part of the book, but it would have been nice to know it was there so I could have either not bought the book or at least avoided that section. Of course, that's kind of hard to do in an audio book, and so I ended up leaving the room for a while and missing part of the book. Other than that, it was a good book.