Catherynne M. Valente

Fantastist Catherynne M. Valente takes on the folklore of artificial intelligence in this brand new, original novella of technology, identity, and an uncertain mechanized future. Neva is dreaming. But she is not alone. A mysterious machine entity called Elefsis haunts her and the members of her family, back through the generations to her great-great grandmother?a gifted computer programmer who changed the world. Together Neva and Elefsis navigate their history and their future, an uneasy, unwilling symbiote. But what they discover in their dreamworld might change them forever . . .

Silently and Very Fast

Blue

In-depth review on my blog: https://bit.ly/2uceX7z

In “Silently and Very Fast”, Valente presents the modern idea of singularity in a fabulistic way and ties it to the narrations of old. Myth, fairytales and life mix together as Elifsis and its hosts do in the book. 
This novella features a slow narration and a flowery style that are not for everyone's taste. I found myself engrossed by the evocatice language, but the story is slow. In my opinion, the stream of consciousness of the AI makes both characters and stories a bit cold, but the reason is adressed in the narration itself. It can also be a bit difficult to follow at times (but consider I am not an English native speaker).
The ideas presented regarding self-consciousness of AI aren't new e.g. machine imitate human behavioor and kids imitate adult behaviour to learn, but I enjoyed the fact that narratology was featured as one of the means this AI takes consciousness of itself.
Overall an interesting book to read, but I am not sure if it would suit hard-core fans of science fiction.

Silently and Very Fast

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