Android Karenina (Quirk Classic)

Having read Anna Karenina a few time and having been very fond of it, I was prepared to be disappointed by this as I have by other literary mash-ups I've read. This was, surprisingly, not the case. Despite the fact that there were twice as many characters, I didn't have as much trouble following the plot, nor identifying characters double-names. The class III robots actually give characters an anchor so that it makes them easier to identify despite the second name. The class III robots themselves are delightful characters, and the plot is surprising, humorous, and poignant at the appropriate times. Very enjoyable!

Android Karenina is set in the late 1800's, the same time period as the original Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy. But I do not think Tolstoy ever pictured his Russia quite like this one. Groznium has greatly changed the way people live. Everything that isn't human is basically a robot. From the simple Class I's, like the I/Mouse/9, that keeps pests away, to the Class II's, such as the II/Governess/D145, that teaches the children, to the Class III's, the robot companions to the wealthy. The lights are even simple Class I's. The streets are guarded by ever vigilant 77's. They search day and night for Janus's, or traitors, and members or traps of the UnConSciya. A militant group that has formed of mainly scientists who feel the government is not doing enough to forward scientific advancement. Now instead of simple balls, they dance at "floats" Where gusts of air propel the dancers up high over the heads of fellow guests so that they may "fly" through the air. The wealthy are attended by their Class III's. Each one "built-to-suit, their qualities created to match the needs of the recipient". They also are able to light up or dress to match or off set their human in the most attractive ways. They also love their humans and without them are lost and incomplete. So they do whatever is in their power to protect them. But beneath this beautiful technological dream there are still cracks. There is the UnConSciya. They attack indiscriminately and without warning. Only the rich, or upper class receive Class III's. They have become so dependant on them that they no longer use their own memories. Instead they record them and have their companions play them back for them. Without them they are "forced to remember in the way of children", with their minds. And then there are the "Honored Guests". Beings who some believe watch over the human race and will someday come for them in three unnamed ways. And in this futuristic Russia of the past we meet Anna and Vronsky. Two star crossed lovers, who none the less decide to go against society, as well as their own family's, to be with one another. Little do they know they are fighting the future as well as the past in their efforts to be together. While being the main characters, they are not the only ones. There are also Levin and Kitty. Two others whose own love story plays out alongside Anna and Vronsky's. And is irrevocably tied to Anna and Vronsky's as well although none of them realize it. As well as the Oblonsky's, Stiva and Dolly. Who are prime examples of how an average couple from that time frame would behave, and why they would behave that way. The story as a whole it took me a moment to get into. I think the biggest reason was because I was struggling to let go of the fact that I had not read the original yet and kept feeling that maybe I was missing something, or maybe I should be comparing the two. To anyone who decides to read this book may I say: DON'T. Android Karenina is a stand alone novel in it's own right. Should you try to compare the two it will take away the enjoyment you could get from it. That being said once I got over that little issue I really enjoyed this book. I loved the way the characters were exceptionally well developed, and stayed true to form. If they made decisions at the end of the book that would have differed from their original out looks in the beginning it's because they themselves had grown and evolved and you were with them when they did. As for the characters themselves I know it is probably horrible to say but as a person I really didn't like Anna. I felt she was selfish and cruel. All the characters start out a little self absorbed but a few actually learn to become better people. In my opinion not Anna. *spoiler alert* However by the end of the novel, while I still really didn't like Anna, I did feel sorry for her. Just like one of her beloved androids she really had no control over her own life, and everyone deserves to be able to live their life on their own terms. This book has definite plot twists and turns, and while I suspected the villain from the start, the end itself even left me surprised. *spoiler alert -end* If you love steam punk definitely pick up this book. If you love historical romances or fiction, definitely pick this one up. If you love books that give an honest view of its characters as people and is well written and even insightful into the human nature, again pick up this book. Based on this one alone I am definitely putting the rest of Quirk'sbooks on my list. I have even picked up a copy of Anna Karenina, however I doubt Tolstoy will redeem her as well as Winter's decided to.

The writing is so good you'll be able to remember why you loved the original Anna Karenina, with a little zombies and droids thrown in. It's written heavily in the style of Tolstoy's original, so if you don't like the classic, you might not enjoy Android Karenina much. The updated plot is fantastic, and the reinvented sci-fi details are brilliantly creative.

A spoof which will primarily be of interest to sci-fi fans. Since it is a paraphrase of the entire original book, it is a bit too long for fun reading. (I would call it taking a joke too far.) Would have been much better to write a short takeoff on the theme.

Originally had this book checked out from library, was too thick to carry so I looked it up in the Kindle store where I was pleased to find it! Amazing plot, very detailed settings, very developed characters, and not to mention the craziness that usually accompanies Quirk Classic books!

My taste in books runs to the ilk of Cold Mountain. I haven't read one single vampire book. I never read the Harry Potter Books and I never could get into fantasy books--including the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings! I guess I'm just a snob! When I began reading Ben H. Winters' mash-up of Android Karenina, my hopes were not high for a quick, light or funny read. Oddly enough, it was all three. Mash-ups are the latest thing in the literary world, mixing classics with new world monsters and demons. It's not really all that new; the music world has been doing it for ages. Mad Magazine used to rewrite the comics "as written by", If Al Capp wrote Brenda Starr and such like. Tolstoy's Anna Karenina is the original high maintenance drama queen. She falls in love with a dashing soldier, deserts her husband and child for him and complains when he doesn't dote on her every minute of the day. We all know that Russian novels tend to have a gazillion characters, so what does Winters do? He adds more! The author introduces us to the world of Groznium, which is the essential ingredient for the new classes of robots. There are Class I robots acting as toys, candles and self-extinguishing ashtrays. Class II robots perform the functions of domestics, train drivers and miners. Upon reaching their majority, the upper classes receive a Class III, a beloved-companion robot. That robot is part alter ego, part Jiminy Cricket, part personal valet/maid. They provide a memory bank and communication, as well as protect, groom, mimic, nudge and commiserate with their human counterparts. Eventually, we meet the humanoid Class IV robot, the ubiquitous "toy soldiers". Count Vronsky's Class III is shaped like a wolf; Anna's is sveltely shaped but still robotic. Anna's husband, Alexei, has a robot that takes form as a partial face, a la Phantom of the Opera. It is quite clear from the beginning that the face will be not only urging but also dictating Karenin's actions. Alexei is extremely important in the Higher Branches of the Ministry of Robotics. He controls all the robots and protects the populace from the UnConSkia terrorists, former state scientists who threaten Russian's utopian way of life. The true marvel of this mash-up is the way the author flips the events thoroughly and seamlessly from Czarist Russia to something more akin to 1984. The religious enthusiasts are now Xenotheologists who believe "They will come for us in three ways" and those ways are in the form of hellhounds to delight any fan of Star Wars sand creatures. Vronsky's English stallion, Frou Frou, becomes an exterior, a sort of suit of armor, for the cull--a steeplechase in which the contestants must eliminate each other. Anna will still destroy herself, not under a train, but beneath the Grav, which runs on an electrical force across a magnetic field. Ben H.Winters, playwright, librettist and author of the immensely popular Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters connects all of Tolstoy's dots in the cleverly bizarre world he has created and he transforms a Russian novel into a reasonably demented work of science fiction.

Wilson's prose is tauter than Constance Garnett's translation. And he gets to tailor the story in little nips and tucks.

Love the twist of machine!

I've just realized that I've never read the original Anna Karenina. Yet I'm reading a spin off.

Fabulous retelling.

Bought for my younger sister, who is on a Russian literature jag right now. Thought this would lighten the load a bit. I have Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, & Sense & Sensibility & Sea Monsters. Read & enjoyed them. Silly fun!