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avisreadsandreads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Addiction
Moderate: Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Chronic illness, and Ableism
lex_y's review
challenging
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Medical trauma, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Classism, Chronic illness, Drug use, and Bullying
Minor: Blood
anxiousnachos's review
3.5
3.5 stars. I had been craving scifi and picked this book out of my TBR jar. It’s a very Black Mirror, watch tech tear a family apart across many years kind of story. I thought the start and ending were both fabulous, tense and well paced. The middle section felt a little bogged down and repetitive, I feel it could have been cut back a bit? The family relationship dynamic was really wonderful, you get to see 4 POVs in this, the two moms, the brother and sister, and I thought this was just a really wonderful perspective to actually see from, to see the impact of events from each individual in a family.
Another stand out was the rep: the disability rep!! Two main characters have disabilities, one has epilepsy, one has a sensory processing disorder. Two of the main characters are sapphic and there’s a trans side character too. Wonderful to see all of this, I was particularly impressed with the way disability was explored as the central idea within the novel, how the brain tech affects the main characters, either by causing their disability in the case of David, or by resulting in the social exclusion of Sophie because she can’t get the tech due to her epilepsy. It was very interesting, and felt like a more family-driven Black Mirror but finishing it, and writing this review several days after I finish, I already kind of feel like I’ve forgotten it?
Content warnings: epilepsy, ableism, ableist slurs, war, military, sensory processing disorder, bullying, drug use, addiction, amputation
Another stand out was the rep: the disability rep!! Two main characters have disabilities, one has epilepsy, one has a sensory processing disorder. Two of the main characters are sapphic and there’s a trans side character too. Wonderful to see all of this, I was particularly impressed with the way disability was explored as the central idea within the novel, how the brain tech affects the main characters, either by causing their disability in the case of David, or by resulting in the social exclusion of Sophie because she can’t get the tech due to her epilepsy. It was very interesting, and felt like a more family-driven Black Mirror but finishing it, and writing this review several days after I finish, I already kind of feel like I’ve forgotten it?
Content warnings: epilepsy, ableism, ableist slurs, war, military, sensory processing disorder, bullying, drug use, addiction, amputation
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Bullying, Chronic illness, Drug use, War, and Medical trauma
spongebobbiii's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction
fatalisticshrug's review
dark
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
There’s a new device that helps you multitask and be more efficient. Do you get it, not knowing if there are any side effects? Do you wait, risking to get left behind along with the people who can’t get it due to health issues? What if your children want one? What if it turns out it might not be right for everyone?
Great book, but also hard for me to read at times because the description of the malfunctioning device sounds so similar to how my migraine brain works sometimes.
Great book, but also hard for me to read at times because the description of the malfunctioning device sounds so similar to how my migraine brain works sometimes.
Science fiction, but easy to imagine we’re only a few years away from something like this. Haunting.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content
Moderate: Drug abuse, Addiction, Bullying, Chronic illness, Medical trauma, and Mental illness
rorikae's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
'We Are Satellites' by Sarah Pinsker is a thought provoking novel about the impact of technology and who it leaves behind.
The story centers on a family of four in the near future as a technology that unlocks the brain's potential is becoming more and more powerful. Val is a teacher and Julie works for a politician. Their son David decides that he wants a Pilot, a brain implant that unlocks the brain's ability to function. But David's sister Sophie, who suffers from seizures, will never be able to have a Pilot. When Julie decides to get a Pilot because of her job, the family begins to feel the influence that the technology has on their family. As David and Sophie grow up and their lives move in different directions, the influence of the Pilot on the world and their family continues to increase.
Pinsker has created a family drama that taps into much larger questions about new technologies and their impact on society. By boiling this down to a single family's tale, she is able to create moving characters that feel like real people and project the reality of technology's toll. So often new tech is lauded and people don't consider its consequences, especially for those that can never utilize these advancements.
I think the strongest part of this story is the characters. They are the heart of what is happening and as the reader comes to care for them, they begin to investigate the greater questions that Pinsker is asking. I think this would be a great book club novel because there are so many different aspects to discuss and apply to our current world. This is the first book of Pinsker's that I have read but I will definitely be picking up more in the future.
The story centers on a family of four in the near future as a technology that unlocks the brain's potential is becoming more and more powerful. Val is a teacher and Julie works for a politician. Their son David decides that he wants a Pilot, a brain implant that unlocks the brain's ability to function. But David's sister Sophie, who suffers from seizures, will never be able to have a Pilot. When Julie decides to get a Pilot because of her job, the family begins to feel the influence that the technology has on their family. As David and Sophie grow up and their lives move in different directions, the influence of the Pilot on the world and their family continues to increase.
Pinsker has created a family drama that taps into much larger questions about new technologies and their impact on society. By boiling this down to a single family's tale, she is able to create moving characters that feel like real people and project the reality of technology's toll. So often new tech is lauded and people don't consider its consequences, especially for those that can never utilize these advancements.
I think the strongest part of this story is the characters. They are the heart of what is happening and as the reader comes to care for them, they begin to investigate the greater questions that Pinsker is asking. I think this would be a great book club novel because there are so many different aspects to discuss and apply to our current world. This is the first book of Pinsker's that I have read but I will definitely be picking up more in the future.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Bullying, Drug use, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Mental illness
em_reads_books's review
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Thought-provoking and visibly well-researched; it's so plausible I'm a bit worried now that it will turn out to be as prescient as Song For a New Day was! The balance of quiet family drama and big technological/societal questions was very well done, Pinsker has an excellent sense for how something like Pilots might play out on the micro and macro levels. The style fell a bit flat for me at times; it's straightfoward rather than lyrical, definitely more concerned with explaining what's happening than being stylistically interesting. And I wasn't a big fan of the ending; the reveals were fascinating, but for a book that had otherwise felt so realistic about corporate power and activism it seemed to wrap things up too quickly and neatly following them.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Medical content, and Ableism
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