The Alchemy Of Stone

Author: Ekaterina Sedia

Two women in a row on this list! This list could pretty much be recognized as an equal opportunity brand. (For the slower ones in the class, I feel I should explain this is a joke, satirizing the lack of recognition female writers in the hard science fiction genre usually receive.) If you aren't aware of Ekaterina, she's another Russian on our list, living in the United States. The Alchemy Stone is Ekaterina's third novel, and with this piece she gives us a steampunk, science fiction, robot offering, exploring class, sexism, and industrial development. The novel follows Mattie, an emancipated, intelligent automaton caught in the turmoil between alchemists, gargoyles, and the mechanics, whose steampunk inventions are changing the city of Ayona. Though created by a mechanic, she chooses to join the alchemists and becomes highly skilled in alchemy. terrorist bombing and an assassination spark war between the alchemists and the mechanics, and Mattie discovers the secrets that keep Ayona supplied with food and coal. This doesn't sit well with Loharri, the mechanic leader who created by Mattie, who still has the key to her heart that powers her. The novel is dark, written with well-structured prose, and vibrant, vivid imagery. The themes of freedom, ownership, independence control and power are powerful. This is a contemporary robot novel that should be on your reading list.