What do you think?
Rate this book
Annabel Scheme #1
Annabel Scheme
Annabel Scheme is a detective story set in an alternate San Francisco where the digital and the occult live side-by-side. It's a short, snappy read -- about 128 pages/128,000 Kindle locations -- and perfect for people who like Sherlock Holmes, Douglas Adams, ghosts and/or the internet. Finally, it makes a great Kindle gift. In Scheme's San Francisco, an indie rocker's new tracks are climbing the charts, even though the rocker herself is long dead. A devout gamer has gone missing, and the only trace of him that remains is inside his favorite game, the blockbuster MMORPG called World of Jesus. And the richest man in the city, the inventor of the search engine called Grail, might just have made a deal with a devil. Meanwhile, Annabel Scheme has just hired herself a Watson, an A.I. assistant who's now learning the ropes on a case that will quickly transform into Scheme's biggest -- and possibly her last.
Come on. Fog City is waiting.
Come on. Fog City is waiting.
111 pages, ebook
First published October 31, 2009
About the author
Robin Sloan
28 books30.4k followersRobin Sloan is the author of the novels Sourdough, Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, and Moonbound, all published in the U.S. by MCD. He grew up in Michigan and now splits his time between the San Francisco Bay Area and the San Joaquin Valley of California.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 168 reviews
September 26, 2015
Let's call it...3.4 stars.
This is an interesting little curio by the author of the fantastic Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. While it lacks that tale's magical allure, this novella has a lot of interesting stuff happening--demon eBay, a weirdly transformed San Francisco, intelligent and sentient computer servers...it's just a little, well, weird. Which is not a bad thing.
I think Sloan could master this format if he wants. This tale just feels a little bit all over the place.
Still, a worthwhile read for Penumbra fans. It'll be hit or miss for others, I think.
This is an interesting little curio by the author of the fantastic Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. While it lacks that tale's magical allure, this novella has a lot of interesting stuff happening--demon eBay, a weirdly transformed San Francisco, intelligent and sentient computer servers...it's just a little, well, weird. Which is not a bad thing.
I think Sloan could master this format if he wants. This tale just feels a little bit all over the place.
Still, a worthwhile read for Penumbra fans. It'll be hit or miss for others, I think.
July 5, 2020
A free version of the book is available on the author's website:
Annabel Scheme
. An additional Annabel Scheme story serialized for publication is also available. Its on the website:
The Strange Case of the New Golden Gate
.
February 1, 2013
I have two books on my Kindle at the moment that were funded by Kickstarters, neither of which I participated in. One is awkwardly and choppily written, with cardboard characters and no sense of humour. This is the other one.
Set in an alternate world in which Google's place is filled by a company called Grail (a brilliant name for a search engine, by the way), and Wikipedia's by "Open Britannica", Annabel Scheme is difficult to categorize. Is it a detective novel? An urban fantasy? A technothriller with a touch of cyberpunk? It's all of those at once. It reminds me a little of Charles Stross's Laundry novels with the mix of high technology and demons.
It's narrated by an AI in the Watson role, observing events through detective Annabel Scheme's high-tech earrings. That's clever, because the point of view follows Scheme and yet isn't her POV. It also means, though, that the first-person narrator can, when the plot requires it, both go with Scheme and also be separated from her, observing from a distance, just by means of detaching one earring.
I thought briefly that the book was going to consist of a series of loosely linked cases featuring Scheme, but the second part turned out to be closely related to the case apparently resolved in the first part, and quickly escalated to involve someone who had been very important to Scheme in the past (nice raising of the stakes there). The ending, though, I felt had a couple of issues. The lawyer-barista is credited by the AI, Hu, with finding a loophole that saved the day, but I somehow completely missed what that was. He didn't seem to contribute anything as far as I could tell. Also, the hint dropped by Scheme's mentor seemed completely obvious to me, but puzzled both Scheme and Hu.
Apart from those weaknesses (and I may just have missed something in the first case), I thought this was very well done. I'll be keeping a close eye on Robin Sloan, having also enjoyed his Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore recently.
Set in an alternate world in which Google's place is filled by a company called Grail (a brilliant name for a search engine, by the way), and Wikipedia's by "Open Britannica", Annabel Scheme is difficult to categorize. Is it a detective novel? An urban fantasy? A technothriller with a touch of cyberpunk? It's all of those at once. It reminds me a little of Charles Stross's Laundry novels with the mix of high technology and demons.
It's narrated by an AI in the Watson role, observing events through detective Annabel Scheme's high-tech earrings. That's clever, because the point of view follows Scheme and yet isn't her POV. It also means, though, that the first-person narrator can, when the plot requires it, both go with Scheme and also be separated from her, observing from a distance, just by means of detaching one earring.
I thought briefly that the book was going to consist of a series of loosely linked cases featuring Scheme, but the second part turned out to be closely related to the case apparently resolved in the first part, and quickly escalated to involve someone who had been very important to Scheme in the past (nice raising of the stakes there). The ending, though, I felt had a couple of issues. The lawyer-barista is credited by the AI, Hu, with finding a loophole that saved the day, but I somehow completely missed what that was. He didn't seem to contribute anything as far as I could tell. Also, the hint dropped by Scheme's mentor seemed completely obvious to me, but puzzled both Scheme and Hu.
Apart from those weaknesses (and I may just have missed something in the first case), I thought this was very well done. I'll be keeping a close eye on Robin Sloan, having also enjoyed his Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore recently.
December 10, 2012
aaaahhhh this is awesome except it is too short!!
annabel scheme is a well thought out, creative, and somewhat unique story that takes all of the fun stuff of life and puts it in the same pot.
so first thing, as sloan does so well in penumbra, the real function and ability of computers. it is frustrating how dependent on technology our culture is and how little the people understand about how it works. making a server a character is a pretty ingenious way to humanize something we typically dismiss because we cannot relate to it. also with this is california tech culture. lots of people don't get that either.
thing two is urban fantasy that manages not to be fantasy that someone has written before, and manages to rise above the glut of vampire/werewolf/zombie tide.
totally enjoyable. i realllllllly hope there is more.
annabel scheme is a well thought out, creative, and somewhat unique story that takes all of the fun stuff of life and puts it in the same pot.
so first thing, as sloan does so well in penumbra, the real function and ability of computers. it is frustrating how dependent on technology our culture is and how little the people understand about how it works. making a server a character is a pretty ingenious way to humanize something we typically dismiss because we cannot relate to it. also with this is california tech culture. lots of people don't get that either.
thing two is urban fantasy that manages not to be fantasy that someone has written before, and manages to rise above the glut of vampire/werewolf/zombie tide.
totally enjoyable. i realllllllly hope there is more.
April 5, 2015
This is really more like 3.5 stars. The ideas are fun but there are too many for the length. I would have loved a full novel to explore more of it for longer. I suppose this is a reflection of the crowd-funded process when something is written outside the normal method (you know, with editing!)
But virtual worlds... near-future San Francisco... quantum computers... detective stories... falafel... if you like those things you are likely to enjoy it.
But virtual worlds... near-future San Francisco... quantum computers... detective stories... falafel... if you like those things you are likely to enjoy it.
July 5, 2020
I've started trying out Storygraph, and one of the main features that drew me in was the ability to search for a book recommendation based on various inputs: not just genre, but pace, mood and length as well. So I thought I'd give it a try and buy one of the books it recommended -- and thus, Annabel Scheme, "perfect for people who like Sherlock Holmes, Douglas Adams, ghosts and/or the internet".
Annabel Scheme is a detective in a cyberpunk/horror landscape, with all kinds of weird and wonderful details. Hu is her assistant, an ex-Grail (think Google) server that just really wants to help and be a good sidekick. The story opens with a client, as this sort of story has to: a man wants to know what the heck is happening when new tracks of himself and his dead girlfriend are suddenly appearing across the internet, and he thinks Annabel Scheme can answer.
That mystery itself gets wrapped up very quickly, and obviously reveals itself as a portal into a larger story, which was... a little too tenuously connected, for my taste. It felt like the story fell into parts, and that was just a bit too much of a separate story.
Overall, though, it's pretty entertaining: the Holmesian pastiche is there, but it's not too much of a copy/paste of Holmes canon, style of character; though I can see what the comparison to Douglas Adams is there for, that's not really the vibe I got. Ghosts, well, there are kind of some ghosts, but I didn't really feel that was the key thing... In the end, the more I think about it the more it crumbles, I'm finding: there are loose ends and things that I didn't quite get -- but it was a fun enough read for the less-than-an-hour I spent on it. Score one for Storygraph.
Annabel Scheme is a detective in a cyberpunk/horror landscape, with all kinds of weird and wonderful details. Hu is her assistant, an ex-Grail (think Google) server that just really wants to help and be a good sidekick. The story opens with a client, as this sort of story has to: a man wants to know what the heck is happening when new tracks of himself and his dead girlfriend are suddenly appearing across the internet, and he thinks Annabel Scheme can answer.
That mystery itself gets wrapped up very quickly, and obviously reveals itself as a portal into a larger story, which was... a little too tenuously connected, for my taste. It felt like the story fell into parts, and that was just a bit too much of a separate story.
Overall, though, it's pretty entertaining: the Holmesian pastiche is there, but it's not too much of a copy/paste of Holmes canon, style of character; though I can see what the comparison to Douglas Adams is there for, that's not really the vibe I got. Ghosts, well, there are kind of some ghosts, but I didn't really feel that was the key thing... In the end, the more I think about it the more it crumbles, I'm finding: there are loose ends and things that I didn't quite get -- but it was a fun enough read for the less-than-an-hour I spent on it. Score one for Storygraph.
August 5, 2020
HELLLLLLL YES.
My kind of thing. A totally wild quantum mystery adventure, set in an alt-San-Francisco with all sorts of weird stuff like a 2002 album from the Beatles and a MMRPG about Jesus and Jerusalem. Oh and there are demons.
LOVED it, can't wait to read the new Annabel Scheme novella, always love a Robin Sloan joint.
My kind of thing. A totally wild quantum mystery adventure, set in an alt-San-Francisco with all sorts of weird stuff like a 2002 album from the Beatles and a MMRPG about Jesus and Jerusalem. Oh and there are demons.
LOVED it, can't wait to read the new Annabel Scheme novella, always love a Robin Sloan joint.
December 8, 2013
I’m not sure what I think of this Kindle novella. It’s too weird. It starts as a PI comedy. It proceeds as an odd kind of mystery, on the intersection between the internet and demons. It ends in a tragedy, with an assortment of loose ends still dangling. And in between, there are too many unanswered questions. But all the same, it was an absorbing read, very much 21st century. Although I’m not sure I liked it, never once did I want to abandon the book, so I can’t give it less than 3 stars.
The protagonist Annabel Scheme is a PI in an alternative version of San Francisco. She has an assistant – a computer server named Hu. His video and audio interface is located in Annabel’s earrings, so he can see what she sees and hear what she hears. He can also process information at the server speed and he has an unlimited extension capabilities. The story is told from his POV.
Their client is a young musician complaining of illegal distribution of his recordings that don’t exist – with his former partner who is deceased. From here, it’s a helter-skelter gallop by Annabel and Hu, involving a super-powerful digital search engine Grail (note: not Google), an online game World of Jesus, dead people, quantum computers, falafel, and a sinister website where body parts are for sale.
The writing is good though, the descriptions vivid and often scary, and the writer’s imagination and sense of humor seem boundless if slightly warped. One of the locations he describes is a coffee shop that doubles as an incubator of internet start-ups. The barista asks Annabel:
The protagonist Annabel Scheme is a PI in an alternative version of San Francisco. She has an assistant – a computer server named Hu. His video and audio interface is located in Annabel’s earrings, so he can see what she sees and hear what she hears. He can also process information at the server speed and he has an unlimited extension capabilities. The story is told from his POV.
Their client is a young musician complaining of illegal distribution of his recordings that don’t exist – with his former partner who is deceased. From here, it’s a helter-skelter gallop by Annabel and Hu, involving a super-powerful digital search engine Grail (note: not Google), an online game World of Jesus, dead people, quantum computers, falafel, and a sinister website where body parts are for sale.
The writing is good though, the descriptions vivid and often scary, and the writer’s imagination and sense of humor seem boundless if slightly warped. One of the locations he describes is a coffee shop that doubles as an incubator of internet start-ups. The barista asks Annabel:
“What can I get you? Espresso? Drip coffee? Articles of incorporation?”Later, in conversation with Hu, Annabel states that some of her conclusions are just a hunch. Hu thinks:
The baristas here all have law degrees.
Just a hunch. Note to self: find software for that.Grail’s quantum computers offer an advance variation of a search engine, one that doesn’t need a search box, just a button.
You pressed it, and it simply gave you what you were looking for. It worked even if you didn’t know what you were looking for. It worked even if you couldn’t admit, not even to yourself, what you were looking for.This reads like a horror version of a search engine. Perhaps this book belongs to the horror genre.
April 13, 2011
Alternate Universe Speculative Cyberpunk Detective Fiction. Annabel Scheme runs a detective agency specializing in digital and occult cases. Her partner, Hu, lives in a server farm and watches the world through Annabel's earrings. They just took a case: Someone's distributing new music, made by dead artists. It's impossible, but ever since the Shard went up, San Francisco's seen its share of the impossible.
Five stars. Excellent world-building with an economy of words (my favorite kind because it's so hard to do), atmospheric, funny, tense, original. Highly recommended, especially if you like non-human forms of intelligence. Download the PDF for free.
Five stars. Excellent world-building with an economy of words (my favorite kind because it's so hard to do), atmospheric, funny, tense, original. Highly recommended, especially if you like non-human forms of intelligence. Download the PDF for free.
January 2, 2024
Loved the world built here, and enjoyed the characters as well.
Read
August 3, 2023Robin Sloan's books always spark my interest, and this short detective novella was no different. From the POV of an AI called Hu, we enter a world of cybercrimes, ghosts, and demons. Although the plot had loopholes, the clever characters made up for the flaws, and I was totally immersed in the cyberpunk landscape.
June 30, 2021
I liked it. Forgot what it was called but it stuck in my mind. I eventually posted a question on a book stack exchange
March 20, 2023
Robin Sloan builds the most interesting worlds.
June 24, 2024
* I work hard on my writing. I DO NOT want empty like button clicks. Comments, if you have them, are this writer's reward. :) *
Urban fantasy and dystopia are genres about protagonists in danger, among a sprinkling of characters they can trust. I need the right mood to learn the parameters of a world. An exceptional author acclimatizes us through emotional empathy and rapidly earns our riveted investment. World building information on the fly, is a talent with which Robin Sloan is blessed.
This complex story, offered surprisingly for free in October 31, 2009; is rare urban fantasy or dystopia to earn five stars from me. Here are my dazzled notes of my reading frenzy, from May 17 to 19, 2024.
“Holy moly, what a ride this story is. Oh, Robin, you are always a pure original and infinitely intriguing! You are one of my top favourite authors for good reason, amazing and exhilarating me every time”.
Please note that only our PC at our massive desk, opens digital files. We prefer actual books. Thus, I could not read this in bed.
“Annabel Scheme” needs a conclusion but has garnered another story. It is a well developed world that merits full novels, like Ajax Penumbra has. Robin is marvellously descriptive of moments of wonder but might skip dates and character ages. In a Jesus realm, Annabel & Hu investigate AI music fabricating suspects. We are awed when Mary passes by. She is encircled by her halo and angels. Golden footprints follow her feet.
Modern stories are usually in their publishing year but I searched the PDF of this zany world for facts to calculate. 2012 works as 15 years since Annabel and Sebastian graduated from university in 1997 and also checks out as 6 years since her client’s bandmate died in 2006. Vocals they did not record are on-line.... making an intriguingly original mystery! Countless new stories could spring from each character we meet.
Urban fantasy and dystopia are genres about protagonists in danger, among a sprinkling of characters they can trust. I need the right mood to learn the parameters of a world. An exceptional author acclimatizes us through emotional empathy and rapidly earns our riveted investment. World building information on the fly, is a talent with which Robin Sloan is blessed.
This complex story, offered surprisingly for free in October 31, 2009; is rare urban fantasy or dystopia to earn five stars from me. Here are my dazzled notes of my reading frenzy, from May 17 to 19, 2024.
“Holy moly, what a ride this story is. Oh, Robin, you are always a pure original and infinitely intriguing! You are one of my top favourite authors for good reason, amazing and exhilarating me every time”.
Please note that only our PC at our massive desk, opens digital files. We prefer actual books. Thus, I could not read this in bed.
“Annabel Scheme” needs a conclusion but has garnered another story. It is a well developed world that merits full novels, like Ajax Penumbra has. Robin is marvellously descriptive of moments of wonder but might skip dates and character ages. In a Jesus realm, Annabel & Hu investigate AI music fabricating suspects. We are awed when Mary passes by. She is encircled by her halo and angels. Golden footprints follow her feet.
Modern stories are usually in their publishing year but I searched the PDF of this zany world for facts to calculate. 2012 works as 15 years since Annabel and Sebastian graduated from university in 1997 and also checks out as 6 years since her client’s bandmate died in 2006. Vocals they did not record are on-line.... making an intriguingly original mystery! Countless new stories could spring from each character we meet.
June 22, 2020
I have no idea what I just finished but I enjoyed every minute of it. A short read, but I have to go back and reread from the beginning because it moved so fast and it is a new world. This is the 3rd book I’ve read by Robin Sloan and they were all unexpected. I read the acknowledgements at the end.
October 5, 2020
10/5/20: Re-read before reading the new book Annabel Scheme and the Adventure of the New Golden Gate,
6/17/13: I wanted a short book to read and came across this on my Kindle with no memory of buying it. It turns out that I did because I had read the author's Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore and loved it. This novella was completely different. It's an odd mish-mash--mystery, futuristic noir, quantum computers, characters inside video games--just rather odd, all in all, and I was totally on board. It's my kind of quirky. The story feels complete at the end but with another mystery setting up future installments in this world. I look forward to them.
6/17/13: I wanted a short book to read and came across this on my Kindle with no memory of buying it. It turns out that I did because I had read the author's Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore and loved it. This novella was completely different. It's an odd mish-mash--mystery, futuristic noir, quantum computers, characters inside video games--just rather odd, all in all, and I was totally on board. It's my kind of quirky. The story feels complete at the end but with another mystery setting up future installments in this world. I look forward to them.
February 14, 2021
*WHOOOOOSHHHH*. That was the sound of this little story going right over my head. Not that I didn’t understand it, I just couldn’t wrap my head around it. It’s very technical, but also VERY science-fiction-y. Alternate reality, computers, artificial intelligence that “thinks”, drugs, it was all too much. And the writing was so heavy into creating this world, that plot and characters were very weak. I read this because I had really liked Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan, but this pushes me just a little too far.
December 14, 2017
I thoroughly enjoyed rereading this novella about detective Annabel Scheme, as told by the A.I. whose "eyes" are in Scheme's earrings so he can whisper info in her ear and do 360° surveillance. It has all the verve and energy that I found in Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore and that was lacking from Sourdough. I wish Robin Sloan would revisit this story and tell us more about that world, maybe helping resolve more about the ending.
September 25, 2018
This is a free online novella (https://www.robinsloan.com/annabel-sc...) which is a kind of cyberpunk Sherlock Holmes - a detective with an AI sidekick that lives in her earrings. Features a quantum computer gone wrong that has warped half of San Francisco with a kind of wormhole, and quite a lot of hijinks.
October 23, 2012
Excellent short story, crazy that it is available for free. This and Penumbra cement Robin Sloan as my favorite new author, and one to watch over the next few years!
December 30, 2018
It took me a little while to really get the setting and characters in this book, but after the first few scenes gave Annabel a chance to establish her character and identity and I had a better sense of the overall tone, I really started to like it. I especially loved the concept of Doctor Faustus as the demonic ebay for selling various elements of yourself in exchange for ... well anything you can think of. I'm still not too sure what 'quantum' computers really do but the eccentricity of it appealed to me, as did the parallel of Grail to Google. Hugin Nineteen as Annabel's sentient server with mini cameras as eyes in her earrings was really well done also. The book had some really clever and original ideas and characters, and a tone that somehow managed to be both suspenseful and light-hearted, funny and serious, far-fetched and relatable. The plot could have been developed a little better but it was a great read and I would happily read more if it developed into a series.
July 23, 2020
I enjoy Robin Sloan's writing. The alternate reality with a familiar setting is great. I find myself totally immersed in his writing because of this. He draws you in quickly and wholly. I purchased the audio and electronic versions via the author's website and haven't put it down yet (so to speak). This is one of those "driveway reads". Meaning you find yourself sitting in the driveway listening until either the end of the chapter or a convenient stopping point.
The main character Annabel is described as having curly red hair. I can picture it but then again, I let my imagination take over. The part that totally brings me into the story is Annabel's assistant, Hugin-19. Sorry, Intern. Hu is a great narrator and the most trustiest of sidekicks since Dr. John Watson. Hu takes you through the twists and turns of the plot deftly and with care.
Get this book!
The main character Annabel is described as having curly red hair. I can picture it but then again, I let my imagination take over. The part that totally brings me into the story is Annabel's assistant, Hugin-19. Sorry, Intern. Hu is a great narrator and the most trustiest of sidekicks since Dr. John Watson. Hu takes you through the twists and turns of the plot deftly and with care.
Get this book!
February 13, 2018
So. I like everything about the concept.
An alternative SF, where the startups are less FinTech and more OccultTech. A private investigator. Some weird stuff.
Sloan does a good bit of developing this world - from Grail (Google), to the coffee shop, to Fog City, to online gaming ... it's all fascinating.
But there's no story attached. I never feel like I relate to either of the main characters (Scheme or her intern, Hu), the case they start investigating at the start is boring and resolved halfway through, and then it becomes more personal - although I'm still unsure of character motivations, and (again) haven't been given cause to care about what the characters care about.
Still. It's fun and neat, and I enjoyed it.
An alternative SF, where the startups are less FinTech and more OccultTech. A private investigator. Some weird stuff.
Sloan does a good bit of developing this world - from Grail (Google), to the coffee shop, to Fog City, to online gaming ... it's all fascinating.
But there's no story attached. I never feel like I relate to either of the main characters (Scheme or her intern, Hu), the case they start investigating at the start is boring and resolved halfway through, and then it becomes more personal - although I'm still unsure of character motivations, and (again) haven't been given cause to care about what the characters care about.
Still. It's fun and neat, and I enjoyed it.
March 20, 2020
So imagine a private investigator with an AI sidekick, our narrator, that goes along for the ride in the detective's earrings.
Imagine placing our private investigator and AI sidekick into a future San Francisco with quantum computers creating all sorts of bizarre temporal and spacial problems that need investigating.
And imagine finding a really good writer like Robin Sloan to write a really good novella about our pair of protagonists.
Then imagine that if you go to Robin's website you can download the PDF of this novella for free.
All that's left to imagine is that someday soon Robin will write a sequel to this because it can't just be left to end the way it did...
...WE WANT MORE!!!
Imagine placing our private investigator and AI sidekick into a future San Francisco with quantum computers creating all sorts of bizarre temporal and spacial problems that need investigating.
And imagine finding a really good writer like Robin Sloan to write a really good novella about our pair of protagonists.
Then imagine that if you go to Robin's website you can download the PDF of this novella for free.
All that's left to imagine is that someday soon Robin will write a sequel to this because it can't just be left to end the way it did...
...WE WANT MORE!!!
December 30, 2017
Just changed my rating from 5 to 4 stars because upon reflection I felt it was basically the first few chapters of a longer book, and he should have gone ahead and finished it. If this was the first installment of a serial, I'd have been thrilled, but I don't think it is.
Despite my complaints about what wasn't right about this book, I still give it a high rating because I really enjoy Sloan's writing and world building. I liked the setup. I liked the action. There just wasn't enough of it.
The world in this book is substantially different than that (those?) in the 24-Hour Bookstore and Sourdough, much more nihilistic, perhaps apocalyptic.
I do like an AI character, especially as a first-person narrator (I don't think that's a spoiler), and I like this AI quite a bit. I liked the title character as well, though the choice of a last name was occasionally distracting and confusing. I feel like I missed a metaphor there.
Anyway, it's short, so if you like novellas, I recommend it. Just don't expect a satisfying ending.
Despite my complaints about what wasn't right about this book, I still give it a high rating because I really enjoy Sloan's writing and world building. I liked the setup. I liked the action. There just wasn't enough of it.
The world in this book is substantially different than that (those?) in the 24-Hour Bookstore and Sourdough, much more nihilistic, perhaps apocalyptic.
I do like an AI character, especially as a first-person narrator (I don't think that's a spoiler), and I like this AI quite a bit. I liked the title character as well, though the choice of a last name was occasionally distracting and confusing. I feel like I missed a metaphor there.
Anyway, it's short, so if you like novellas, I recommend it. Just don't expect a satisfying ending.
November 27, 2024
Whoa. So i just finished it. Quite an amazing tale. I want more, but not sure how it would pull out. I read many of his other works and will now continue to look for more. But his always leave me a little (whoa) what just happened.
Grail is the once and future search and everything company and just when you think it is all Sci-Fi whoa quantum a left turn occurs and
Grail is the once and future search and everything company and just when you think it is all Sci-Fi whoa quantum a left turn occurs and
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 27, 2018
Annabel Scheme is a digital detective in a futuristic/alternate San Francisco where the digital and occult co-exist.
Scheme, who has just acquired Hu 19 as a new AI intern, takes the case of a rock singer whose new releases contain the voice of his dead girl friend. There are demons, an electric detective and a variety of otherworldly and internet evils abounding.
I am a big fan of Robin Sloan and am hoping he keeps this series -- and its strange new world -- alive.
Scheme, who has just acquired Hu 19 as a new AI intern, takes the case of a rock singer whose new releases contain the voice of his dead girl friend. There are demons, an electric detective and a variety of otherworldly and internet evils abounding.
I am a big fan of Robin Sloan and am hoping he keeps this series -- and its strange new world -- alive.
July 27, 2020
Short & sweet review: Annabel Scheme is a tech heavy detective tale set in an alternate San Francisco, and of course, I loved it. Annabel is delightfully fascinating, as is her AI sidekick, Hu. As the story unfolds, the world building ramps up, and it takes several unexpected turns. This is a delightful and quick novella that I would highly recommend.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
•
Follow me on Instagram @whatalexreads for book reviews, recommendations, and more!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
•
Follow me on Instagram @whatalexreads for book reviews, recommendations, and more!
August 15, 2019
Wonder Full
Better than his other novella, Ajax Penumbra 1969....whereas that story ran out of momentum before it's end, this one fits....it is precisely the right shape and form to tell the fascinating story he wanted to share! I hope he has more to say about Annabel....I'd love to know more about her and Hi and Nelson and Octav and Carlotta!!
Better than his other novella, Ajax Penumbra 1969....whereas that story ran out of momentum before it's end, this one fits....it is precisely the right shape and form to tell the fascinating story he wanted to share! I hope he has more to say about Annabel....I'd love to know more about her and Hi and Nelson and Octav and Carlotta!!
January 21, 2020
CLoser to a 5 than a 4, for me. I love stories about sentient AIs, and this one, read so close on the heels of Catfishing on Catnet, just iced the cake for me. I've enjoyed Robin Sloan's other work, and just happened to stumble across this on Amazon - Kindle-only, but cheap, so I bought it. Glad I did, it was a wonderful read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 168 reviews