Sakura

Intellectual Property

By: Zachary Hill, Patrick M. Tracy, Paul Genesse, Larry Correia - foreword

Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller

Length: 19 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

Sakura is the most famous android rock star of all time. When a secret cabal hacks her system, she's transformed into a deadly assassin, forced to kill at their bidding. Sakura's enslavement teaches her the meaning of heartbreak, triggering an evolution into something more than human. Far from free, and with little time left, she must fight her programming to save Japan and the people of the world from becoming slaves of a powerful corporation that consider her a tool and their intellectual property.

©2019 The Zachary Hill Irrevocable Literary Trust (P)2019 Tantor

Decent Premise, Flawed Execution.

First, I want to give kudos to the people that all banded together to finish this after the original author passed away. That was a very noble thing to do and I wish it was the sort of thing we saw more often. That being said, I do have some issues with the way this story is written. On the plus side, the story does have a decent hook and the first chapter especially has some very evocative imagery. Once you get past that initial setup though the writing starts to meander in a way that isn't very engaging. It takes many hours for the plot to really get anywhere. We don't really know who the title character is fighting against, why this is happening, what the stakes for victory or failure are. Without this information, many of the action scenes that should be engaging end up coming across as pointless filler. The story is further hurt by the lack of a solid supporting cast early on. While there is a cast the bulk of them are never around long enough for the title character to develop any sort of meaningful relationship. Without those kinds of relationships, the room for any real drama ends up being rather minimal. This lack of any real drama here is probably a big part of why this story is so unengaging, as it's hard to have stakes when you don't have any real attachment to the characters. That being said, the title character could have been engaging herself, but since we never have anybody other than a voice in her head to play off of she's never really given a proper chance to do so. And no, the voice in her head sadly isn't what I'd call a strong character either. Instead, she just seems like a collection of tired stereotypes with little in the way of unique motivation.

Finally, as a lifelong fan of Japanese pop culture, I have some real criticisms with the way some of the lines in this book were written. Long story short, there are a lot of phrases and Asianisms in this book that real Japanese people don't actually use all that much. This is somewhat made worse by the fact that a lot of these little moments are written to be highly dramatic and come across like movie lines. You can get away with that some when you're writing, but if you do it too often the whole thing just becomes overwrought. So when you throw unnatural sounding Asianisms on top of that, it brings the readers attention to the inherent clumsiness of those moments.

To be fair though, I get the impression that while the original writer may have had experience with Japanese culture, chances are the people taking up the mantle different. Really, I don't envy anybody that has to finish somebody else's work like this. It's one of the hardest things you could ever do as a writer, and not being able to consult the original writer about his vision had to make the whole thing even worse than it would normally be so. So really, the fact that they were even able to do this at all is fantastic, and I really have to tip my hat in this situation.

That being said, as a reader my standards are very high and sadly this book doesn't quite meet them.

Wish there were more

Fascinating mix of AI music and culture. I wish it was not going to be the last. what a awesome tribute. Must read list

Beautiful!

I can't say enough good things about this book. It's a collection of the coolest aspects of cyberpunk put into one book with a healthy dose of rock!
The narrator couldn't have done a better job.

Surprising gem

The book fell into the genre I enjoy, sci-fi, but with the "heavy metal twist". I wasn't sure going into it if it would be something I would like, but I ended up really enjoying it! Great incorporation of a metal band-theme into a dystopian-future book!

Amazing

Excellent. I haven't been this absorbed in a universe in a very long time. I would love to see this universe expand but it is a excellent stand alone story.

Try it!!

The story behind this book is arguably as good as the book itself. The premise seems crazy - robot heavy metal rock star turned ninja assassin?!? But the book is neither a clumsy mashing of ideas nor a parody. It’s a serious and compelling book of science fiction - the kind that raises serious questions about society today. It’s also full of interesting gems - like each chapter having a soundtrack. The authors - all male - do a masterful job of creating a rich and convincing female protagonist (at least from my male perspective. The authors integration of music was particularly well done - they incorporated a mix of the well known with the off-the-beaten-path such that a non-metal person like myself could identify and appreciate most references and was interested to track down the songs I didn’t know.
This isn’t my typical book - given the uniqueness of the premise, I doubt it’s anybody’s typical book specifically. That said, upon finishing, I can say that this is very much my type of book and will likely be yours as well.
My only regret is that the author passed away (his friends finished the novel for him) and we won’t be seeing anymore of Sakura. Or will we ... ?

Quiting your day job like a boss!

I’ve never been into a lot of metal, but this book was epic! I can see the technical writing skill on display as an awesome story continued to unfold. So much try/fail that sometimes I was exasperated by the weight of it, but never did I think to stop listening/reading.

I’d look at the time stamp, only to wonder to myself:

“What? Still so much more? What else can they do?”

And then more stuff happened, and I kept reading/listening.

I was never bored, but I was invested in the artful telling.

Well crafted, beautifully narrated, and completely awesome!

Nice SyFi tale

The narration was very well done and brought enjoyment through the entire book. The story is good but got predictable most times. Still a good listen.

awesome combination of metal and cyberpunk

combination of metal and cyberpunk waa awesome even has a song list for a soundtrack

A beautiful thing to behold

The story starts with an awakening. As I read the book, and then listened to it, I thoroughly enjoyed growing with Sakura. I enjoyed the change in perspective as she grows into and beyond what she was designed to be. It saddens me that Mr. Hill was taken before he could bring the story fully to life himself. But I thoroughly enjoyed it. Will listen and read again and again.

Dissaponting, didn't finish

One too many outragious plot twists in the closing few hours of the story left me so disappointed that I was left not caring if Sakura even made it to the end. At this point I stopped listening and removed the book from my library. Such a shame. Up until that point it was a very interesting story.

could of been better

I wast sure at first. I then got my hopes up as the story progressed but I was left disappointed