| | |  | SCIENCE FICTION | Home » » » The Stories of Ibis (Novel) | | | | | | | Description: | | L to R (Western Style). In a world where humans a minority and androids have created their own civilization, a wandering storyteller meets the beautiful android Ibis. She tells him seven stories of human/android interaction in order to reveal the secret behind humanity's fall. The story takes place centuries in the future, where the diminished populations of humans live uncultured lives in their own colonies. They resent the androids, who have built themselves a stable and cultural society. In this brutal time, our main character travels from colony to colony as a “storyteller,” one that speaks of the stories of the past. One day, he is abducted by Ibis, an android in the form of a young girl, and told of the stories created by humans in the ancient past. The stories that Ibis speaks of are the 7 novels about the events surrounding the announcements of the development of artificial intelligence (AI) in the 20th to 21st centuries. At a glance, these stories do not appear to have any sort of connection, but what is the true meaning behind them? What are Ibis' real intentions? | | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Hiroshi Yamamoto | | Paperback:
| 466 pages | | Publisher:
| VIZ Media LLC | | Publication Date:
| April 20, 2010 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 1421534401 | | Product Length:
| 7.94 inches | | Product Width:
| 5.38 inches | | Product Height:
| 1.11 inches | | Product Weight:
| 0.95 pounds | | Package Length:
| 7.8 inches | | Package Width:
| 5.2 inches | | Package Height:
| 1.3 inches | | Package Weight:
| 1.0 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 5 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
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6 of 6 found the following review helpful:
 The Sum better than the parts (which are 5 star also)May 23, 2010
By L. Mcclung
"mordant"
The machines have taken over, and there are few humans left in colonies, in groups and one traveler between them, android killer and connector of humanity is The Storyteller. The Machines have been looking for The Storyteller, perhaps for good reasons, perhaps for bad, but after capture on the initial pages, the battle android who captured him starts telling him stories. He is promised that each story will NOT be the truth and not the reason why machines flourish and mankind is at the edges. He doesn't want `machine propaganda' but also has noticed that `True Videos' are just a jumble mix of terminator and other movies.
An interesting enough premise. What is remarkable is that within this premise we get seven stories of science fiction, each worth of anthologies (one I know WAS anthologized), from the voice of a observer platform computer who watches over a black hole where 276 people have, over the years, come to jump into the black hole....and die. Can a computer become lonely and sad for humans? Another story is about a 3-d child's toy, a princess who interacts and learns your life: a simple toy, but also a true friend for a shy girl. Story after story is in a different sub-genre of science fiction and each is written, honed and edited to perfection. This seems almost a compellation of different writers of the best: Asimov, Heinlien, Bradbury, Gilson, and Stephenson. But each is actually written by the same author, and each opens our mind, tickles with our perception as the interludes introduce more and more of machine society. We get a story of solitude and then an brief introduction into machine jokes, and the language they use when humans aren't around. This mix, building and building creates more than just a story, or a group of stories, but through non-linear focusing of the mind of the reader, creates a meta-story, a new story which only the reader can make the leap to. And brings up the same questions in the reader as will occur to the Storyteller.
It is an amazing piece of writing, in that most works that try to tell different genres all have highs and lows of attempts. Here, each piece, each story, could be separated and put into an anthology of the best, and yet, left here, among the story of the Humans and the Machines, it is part of a larger painting, a view of life, in which we glimpse how they see us, and how we fail to see them. This is a great book because it has been written by a master, where the genre form dictates the function and it is complex, yet simple and beautiful. In the end, it is a great story, and one, which each time you put it down, echoes within you.
2 of 3 found the following review helpful:
 A great readJun 07, 2010
By Racqueteer9
"LeadersBooks"
Although the first few chapters could be considered slightly "choppy", Yamamoto ties the multiple stories together in a masterful finale. This book has a solid premise that makes you consider humanities future in an interesting way. Well done!
1 of 2 found the following review helpful:
As good as Asimov and GibsonAug 27, 2010
By AJ Fiory
I really enjoyed this first delving into translated Japanese scifi. Having read the Robot books and Gibson's trilogies I find the creative and psychological depth of the AI - Human relationship in Ibis to be entertaining, imaginative and well developed. I also liked the inclusion of laser based space transportation systems, something I have not seen since Dean Ing's The Big Lifters. As an alumnus of RPI and a student of Leik Myrabo , I am pleased to see his visionary technologies still have a place in scifi.
1 of 2 found the following review helpful:
A Real Science-Fiction GemMay 22, 2010
By Yokko
A touching collection of stories (within a story) about the future of humanity and humanity itself. It will resonate within the reader for some time even after finishing the book.
Not many SF books deliver, but this one does.
1 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Best SF book I've read in yearsMay 22, 2010
By R. Gallion
A worthy successor to Isaac Asimov's visions of the future of humans and intelligent machines.
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