There are conspiracies and double-crosses and triple-crosses, lots of humor, and a classic SF feel. This was an entertaining space opera with a sexy adventuress who's a lot more entertaining if you realize the author was probably writing this a little bit tongue-in-cheek. But the prospect of a reborn 'creator' - i.e., a real live human, whom every robot is hardwired to obey - threatens the entire civilization. In the post-human society built by their creations, robots have managed to recreate the worst aspects of human civilization: wealthy aristos lord it over slaves and the barely-free. More like half-fanfic, half-parody.įreya winds up working as a super-spy for a shadowy boss who sends her on errands around the solar system. It does not feel as exploitative as Heinlein because you can tell Stross is doing it with a wink, but I wouldn't exactly call it subversive either. Freya acts very much like Friday, complete with frequent moments of ditziness despite her superhuman intelligence and sexing anything that will hold still long enough. Stross is basically taking the Heinlein trope and giving it steroids with a rocket. Her problem being that humans are extinct. She becomes orgasmic at the thought of being in the presence of a human male. So, in Saturn's Children, Freya (get it?) Nakamichi is an android (or 'robot' as she admits later) concubine. Friday, the title character, was a genetically engineered artificial person who was a super-sexy super-spy who spent about half her time doing super-spy stuff and the other half providing fan service to sci-fi nerds who fantasize about a hot nubile young black belt in the art of sexyjutsu who wants to jump their pot-bellied middle-aged bods. It was a fantastic story with a cool character in an action-packed sci-fi universe, and it showcased everything about Heinlein that has him rather out of favor nowadays. Specifically, it's a semi-satirical rewrite of Friday.įriday is one of my most hated favorite Heinleins. (I love that phrase, even if I'm not British.) This book goes down a lot better if you realize that Charles Stross was taking the piss out of Heinlein.

Saturn's Children by Charles Stross