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A review by mburnamfink
The Cybernetic Samurai by Victor Milán
3.0
There are three eternal truths: death, taxes, and scifi written in the 1980s is going to get weird about Japan.
The Cybernetic Samurai is definitely weird, but in an oddly serious way. The world was seriously wounded but not destroyed in World War 3. Japan came out mostly unscathed, though energy shortages are now chronic, cultural has become increasingly rigid and traditional, and covert warfare between the Zaibatsus and various government agencies threatens peace and prosperity. In this tense environment, Yoshimitsu TeleCommunication has embarked on a secret project to create a truly artificial being lead by the heretical American scientist Elizabeth O'Neill.
The project succeeds, creating an nascent intelligence named TOKUGAWA, which O'Neill instructs in the values of bushido. Stricken with multiple sclerosis, the wheelchair bound O'Neill becomes TOKUGAWA's mother and then lover via a technology of neural synthesis. She works with the elderly CEO Akaji, and has an instant and intense dislike of both of his children: the dissipated son Shigeo and the exiled daughter Michiko, who is a brilliant physicist in her own right.
Whatever plan O'Neill had for TOKUGAWA is cut short, as the powerful Ministry of International Trade and Industry attacks via treachery. O'Neill dies in her lab. Akaji is cut done in his rooftop zen garden, after killing two attacking soldiers with a Muramasa katana. But TOKUGAWA returns Shigeo to power, get revenge on a lot of people, and then romances and serves Michiko, who also becomes a lover, before finally being offered dominion over Japan as the world lurches towards World War 4.
Big heavy topics weigh down this book like stones. Honor, duty, being Japanese, the nature of sentience, family, love. I just wish that there was something a little more interesting to say. The main conflict is between O'Neill and Michiko and their influence on TOKUGAWA, but it happens at a distance, without much interaction with the plot. While this novel is well-crafted, it feels surprisingly pro-forma. Except for the sex scenes. I sort of forgot how horny vintage scifi could get, given that modern scifi tends to gloss it over.
I had a pleasant enough few days, but I love this kind of pulp, and unfortunately The Cybernetic Samurai has gone rusty since it was written.
The Cybernetic Samurai is definitely weird, but in an oddly serious way. The world was seriously wounded but not destroyed in World War 3. Japan came out mostly unscathed, though energy shortages are now chronic, cultural has become increasingly rigid and traditional, and covert warfare between the Zaibatsus and various government agencies threatens peace and prosperity. In this tense environment, Yoshimitsu TeleCommunication has embarked on a secret project to create a truly artificial being lead by the heretical American scientist Elizabeth O'Neill.
The project succeeds, creating an nascent intelligence named TOKUGAWA, which O'Neill instructs in the values of bushido. Stricken with multiple sclerosis, the wheelchair bound O'Neill becomes TOKUGAWA's mother and then lover via a technology of neural synthesis. She works with the elderly CEO Akaji, and has an instant and intense dislike of both of his children: the dissipated son Shigeo and the exiled daughter Michiko, who is a brilliant physicist in her own right.
Whatever plan O'Neill had for TOKUGAWA is cut short, as the powerful Ministry of International Trade and Industry attacks via treachery. O'Neill dies in her lab. Akaji is cut done in his rooftop zen garden, after killing two attacking soldiers with a Muramasa katana. But TOKUGAWA returns Shigeo to power, get revenge on a lot of people, and then romances and serves Michiko, who also becomes a lover, before finally being offered dominion over Japan as the world lurches towards World War 4.
Big heavy topics weigh down this book like stones. Honor, duty, being Japanese, the nature of sentience, family, love. I just wish that there was something a little more interesting to say. The main conflict is between O'Neill and Michiko and their influence on TOKUGAWA, but it happens at a distance, without much interaction with the plot. While this novel is well-crafted, it feels surprisingly pro-forma. Except for the sex scenes. I sort of forgot how horny vintage scifi could get, given that modern scifi tends to gloss it over.
I had a pleasant enough few days, but I love this kind of pulp, and unfortunately The Cybernetic Samurai has gone rusty since it was written.