Robin Sloan

There is a specific kind of friction that occurs when the sterile, optimized world of software meets the messy, aerobic reality of organic life. Sloan captures this tension perfectly through Lois Clary, a coder whose life in San Francisco is a series of "user-friendly" voids, until a sentient, singing sourdough starter arrives in her kitchen.

What struck me most wasn't just the whimsical plot, but the way Sloan treats the act of baking as a form of structural engineering. There’s a show more beautiful rhythm to the descriptions of the Mazg brothers’ bread, it feels less like a recipe and more like a rediscovered folk song or a blueprint for a lost cathedral. He manages to bridge the gap between the hyper-modern (the robotic arms Lois programs) and the ancient (the microbial alchemy of fermentation) without ever making the contrast feel forced.

The "secret market" subplot felt a bit like a fever dream, part Bauhaus workshop, part medieval guild, but it serves as a wonderful critique of our current obsession with "disruption." It asks whether we are actually building anything of substance, or if we’re just optimizing the soul out of our daily bread.

I found myself thinking about the concept of provenance. In a world of Soylent and sleek glass offices, the starter is an intrusive, bubbling reminder that history has a scent and a sound. It’s a slim, bright novel that understands that the most interesting things usually happen at the intersection of the grid and the curve.

Highly recommended for anyone who finds themselves looking at a piece of software and a well-crusted baguette and seeing the same kind of intricate, underlying logic. show less

"I needed a more interesting life.
I could start by learning something.
I could start with the starter." Lois Clary

Lois Clary, freshly transplanted to San Francisco, is too busy in her new position as software programmer at General Dexterity to fix a decent dinner. What does an up and coming professional do? Order out, of course! She has the good fortune of discovering Clement Street Soup and Sourdough. Their double spicy soup sopped up with their delicious homemade bread quickly becomes her show more daily staple. When the owners are forced to leave San Francisco, they gift their Sourdough starter to their "Number One Eater", Lois, with the stipulation she must feed it, talk to it and play music for it as it is alive. The starter opens a new world to Lois and as the starter expands so do her bread baking skills, taking her life in a new direction.
Seventy-Five percent of this book was enthralling. It read as if it were a memoir or a non-fiction self-help book on starting your own business with interesting tidbits on the science of sourdough bread. The final 25% of the story declined with its absurd silliness and seemed rushed ultimately falling as flat as untended starter. show less

Its not very often I read a book set in the far future where everything turns out okay, with a sense of place that feels authentic, but also weird. The narrator, a sentient fungi/computer that is lives in a person and records (and sometimes gives advice) what their host does - basically a chronicler. Having this entity as a narrator is brilliant, they narrate what is happening, but has very little influence on what their host actually does. As for this world, talking animals, mad magicians, show more inter-dimensional wyrms (where scholars have conversations and coffee runs life), to an ecological war between beavers on the land, and a giant computer in the ocean....

As for the story itself, while based on King Author, there are scraps of other stories, from Wizard of Oz, to Dune, all mashed together to create something that is distinctively itself. Its a gentle book, no great battles, but its also not sappy, there is sadness, death, scariness - this world is not safe, but it is fun.

Highly Recommended show less

This book, for me, was like someone read all the same books as I have in the past few years, then sat down and wrote a novel combining elements from all my favorites. There's a pinch of library adventure in the style of [b:From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler|3980|From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler|E.L. Konigsburg|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327784751s/3980.jpg|1384549]. Then there's a touch of [b:The Da Vinci Code|968|The Da Vinci Code (Robert Langdon, show more #2)|Dan Brown|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1303252999s/968.jpg|2982101] (don't hate; it was fun to read) without murders or the casting of disturbing aspersions on a major religion. Face it, secret societies generally make for good times. There are joyful bits of [b:Ready Player One|9969571|Ready Player One|Ernest Cline|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1333576871s/9969571.jpg|14863741] gamer nostalgia and of [b:The Magicians|6101718|The Magicians (The Magicians, #1)|Lev Grossman|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1313772941s/6101718.jpg|6278977] childhood fantasy novel nostalgia. There's even a dash of [b:Just My Type: A Book About Fonts|10909804|Just My Type A Book About Fonts|Simon Garfield|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327886002s/10909804.jpg|10270290]-style font geekcitement. Yes, I made up that word, and yes, I know none of you read Just My Type -- but that just underscores my point, that Robin and I are clearly kindred spirits. And yes, since you [didn't] ask, I've decided I'm on a first-name basis with him.

What tipped this from four to five stars for me was the deft handling of the inevitable confrontation between centuries-old books and the modern-day repository of all knowledge (Google). I won't spoil it for you, but I got quite a kick out of it.

Pick this up when you need a fun and easy read that doesn't make you feel like you've picked up a disposable or trashy "beach read." It's serious in setting but not in style; like mac'n'cheese made with pureed cauliflower, it goes down easy but you don't have to feel guilty about it. show less