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    The Silver Metal Lover
    The Silver Metal Lover
    The Silver Metal Lover
    Audiobook10 hours

    The Silver Metal Lover

    Written by Tanith Lee

    Narrated by Gabrielle Baker

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Love is made of more than mere flesh and blood . . .

    For sixteen-year-old Jane, life is a mystery she despairs of ever mastering. She and her friends are the idle, pampered children of the privileged class, living in luxury on an Earth remade by natural disaster. Until Jane's life is changed forever by a chance encounter with a robot minstrel with auburn hair and silver skin, whose songs ignite in her a desperate and inexplicable passion.

    Jane is certain that Silver is more than just a machine built to please. And she will give up everything to prove it. So, she escapes into the city's violent, decaying slums to embrace a love bordering on madness. Or is it something more? Has Jane glimpsed in Silver something no one else has dared to see-not even the robot or his creators? A love so perfect it must be destroyed, for no human could ever compete?
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateJun 12, 2019
    ISBN9781630153151
    The Silver Metal Lover
    Author

    Tanith Lee

    Tanith Lee (1947–2015) was a legend in science fiction and fantasy writing. She wrote more than 90 novels and 300 short stories, and was the winner of multiple World Fantasy Awards, a British Fantasy Society Derleth Award, the World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement in Horror.

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    Reviews for The Silver Metal Lover

    4/5

    318 ratings15 reviews

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    • 4/5
      When the earth captured an asteroid as a second natural satellite, earthquakes and tidal waves killed millions and causing economic havoc. Decades later, earthquakes are still common and there is a great division between the rich and the poor who are forced by economic necessity to live in the most seismically undesirable locales. Jane, sixteen, is fortunate because her mother is rich. She’s a world traveler, so she’s often away from home, which for Jane is one of the unfortunate aspects of being rich along with her lack of friends. Jane has six friends, three of whom have fathers as well as mothers. Clovis, a Mirror-Biased, that is, gay young man is her closest friend. As for the rest of them, Jane confesses, “I don’t really like my other five friends.” Egyptia is emotional and demanding. Jane has nothing in common with Davideed. “Chloe is nice, but not very exciting. Jason and Media, who are brother and sister, and have a father too, are untrustworthy.” So when Egyptia drags her along for emotional support to a theater audition on a beautiful autumn day, Jane is drawn to the beautiful singing of a minstrel, when she gets closer she sees that he’s marvelously handsome with long red hair and pale skin. It’s so pale that it glitters; it seems almost silver. Then the horrible realization comes over her, his skin is metallic, because he’s a robot, a very sophisticated pleasure machine. But Jane is not pleased; she breaks down and sobs.
    • 5/5
      I love this book and reread it every few years. It's one of the few I'll reread. Jane, sheltered by her mother knows almost nothing about the world outside of her home. When she comes across the entertainer android S.I.L.V.E.R, all that changes. By the end of the book, you'll wonder how human an android can be.
    • 4/5
      Set in a future earth shaped by economic and environmental, Jane lives a sheltered life under the ever-watchful eye of her mother. Love is something she never considered - until she meets the sample android Silver. Her love for him allows her to explore her life, to see herself and her existence through new eyes. From there, she becomes a new person, someone other than the carefully prescribed path set for her. Similar in feel to I, Robot by Isaac Asimov, this book explore if love with an android is real love. The conclusion is complex and well-explored. Lee creates a world populated by mosaic of characters, and strange ideas and customs that created a rich multi-layered story with excellent nuance. Despite this, the story is a bit preachy, with a clear message in mind. If you move past that, Lee weaves a tale of romance, heartache, and growth worth reading.
    • 5/5
      So, this is my first Tanith Lee, and it was suggested as a robot book when I was asking for them. And I really, really loved this one. It's about so much more than robots, or even robotic love - although, damn, there is a lot of human/robot lovin' going on in here. No, there's so much detailed introspection, about family, about friendship, about love and loss, and even the social balance between the rich and the poor. Beautiful prose. Just delicious. And I was drawn in, right until the end. Which made me gasp and cry, by the way. Because as much as the gorgeous language makes you want to linger over the descriptions of people and places, the characters and their stories propel you along right until the end. Jane is rich, and while not as spoiled as her friends, she is undoubtedly spoiled. When she meets S.I.L.V.E.R - referred to simply as Silver - she is, at first, horrified. An android who can sing as well, with as much tone and range, and emotion, as a human. And who can come up with his own lyrics as well. However, she is compelled to see him again, at least after her friend hires Silver for a party. And there is a love story that slowly builds up, nothing erotic - or I should say, you're not given the juicy erotic details. The truth is that they don't really matter. Jane feels a pure love for Silver, so much so that she literally gives up everything for him. I'm going to be even vaguer when I say that circumstances, and even people, work against Jane and Silver. To give away too much would be to spoil that lovely, slow build up of love, and the way it can both build and be unraveled by another's hand. It's truly touching, and all told from Jane's point-of-view. I'm very much looking forward to reading Metallic Love, the sequel. I'd highly recommend this book. There are mentions of underage sex - although, again, no details - but this is a society that seems to accept teens having sex. At fifteen or sixteen, the upperclass teens are living alone, and if not, their parents talk to them about sex quite openly. (Or at least, Jane's does, and she's not presented as odd in that respect, especially given the kids living alone!) That is really one of the only things that kind of squicked me out, and it was presented in such a matter of fact matter that I'd accepted it as part of the world by the novel's end. (I'd also argue the kids act more like adults by sixteen or so than they do in our current society, so it also felt a little more like they were adults by the end of the novel.)
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this book. It gave me one of the truest senses of real romance that I have encountered in a long time. I still dislike that Jane decided after one day (essentially) that she was in love with Silver, but their relationship itself was great.

      The only thing that stopped me from giving the book a full five stars was that:
      a) It was hard to follow in the beginning. The worldbuilding is thin, and that is OK for most of the story, but it requires some catching up in the first chapter.
      b) The ending. I liked it, but I didn't love it.

      Overall, very highly recommended for anyone who likes romance and sci-fi/dystopia.
    • 2/5
      I didn't really like this book. The main character, Jane, is very annoying in the beginning. She almost literally cries about everything. She's constantly analyzing her emotions. She's pathetic. Alright, I suppose there are reasons for how she is, but that doesn't make it less annoying. Then there are the other characters: they are not creditable at all. After about a third of the book, it does get a bit more interesting, when you find out more about the robot. Jane also changes, which makes her more palatable. Overall, though I found the book somewhat depressing.
    • 5/5
      I remember loving this as a teen.. I still love this book--a lot of books I loved back as a young reader don't hold up but this did on reread. And despite being 30 years old, it doesn't feel dated--itself unusual for a work of science fiction. I love Tanith Lee's style, which manages to feel sensuous and lush without ever sounding purple. This work is reminiscent in some ways of her other science fiction works, Bite the Sun and Sapphire Wine. Those are set in the far future and dealt with teens in a fairly loopy dystopia/utopia. In the case of Silver Metal Lover, Earth attracted an asteroid which attached itself in orbit "causing a third of Eastern Europe" to sink and North America to gain "seventy-two Pacific Islands" and kill a third of the world's population. This is a utopia (mostly) if you're very rich, and very much not so (mostly) if you're poor. The hedonistic rich living up in the clouds like Jane's home "Chez Stratos" and the poor in Earthquake-racked slums below among noxious purple-colored rivers. The novel's world-building is organic to the story and well-imagined.Also like those two other novels, this work is told first-person from a female point of view, but this is a very different voice. Jane, the narrator and protagonist, is only sixteen-years-old when the novel begins. This is very much a coming of age tale, although I wouldn't call it "Young Adult" in genre even though it's about a teen, and I loved the book as a teen, since there is very frank sexual content (although no explicit sex scenes.) Jane's a girl that her very imposing mother has cut to a pattern that doesn't fit her. It's a pattern she begins to change when she meets the silver metal lover of the title: Registration Silver. That is S.I.L.V.E.R. Which stands for Silver Ionized Locomotive Versimulated Electronic Robot. Jane's friends are also well-drawn here--the overdramatic, self-absorbed actress Egyptia, the sarcastic "mirror-based" (ie gay) friend Clovis, the sly twins Jason and Medea. Interesting that, the very concept of "mirror-based" because I think there's still an open question in the book if that's all Silver was--a mirror that only reflected and let Jane see herself. Jane herself questions the healthiness of her loving a robot, and Silver warns her from the beginning that he's programed to please--and it's clear she wants him to be human and to love her. Even his coloring is suggestive of his mirror-like properties. Yet just as certainly when reading the story the author paints such a poignant portrait of love it's hard not to love them together, and I loved how the author drew the Jane's growing self-confidence and abilities. A friend of mine told me the sequel, Metallic Love, published over 20 years later, isn't nearly as good. A shame--because the original in holding up decades later in my estimation deserves to be called a classic. I have several Tanith Lee books on my bookshelves, this may very well be my favorite. But I don't see her being sold in bookstores these days, and I think that's a shame given the quality of her writing.
    • 2/5
      I was seriously disappointed in this book and Tanith Lee, despite the fact that this is one of her earlier efforts. Had I read it when published, I would not be reading her works today. The story is banal--rich (emphasized often!) teenaged girl under mother's thumb with small circle of friends, some of whom are not friendly, sees a sophisticated robot and falls in love. When robot is threatened with destruction, she wheedles true friend into buying it, and robot and girl run away to become street musicians. They are found out and girl must go on, knowing she had her true love.The heroine weeps copiously, at every opportunity (it's her main character flaw in the story). She also whines incessently, which, while typical of a 16YO, is also very annoying. The robot is handsome, true, faithful, has a great sense of humor, and is doomed. True friends are true friends.This is a book for fans.
    • 4/5
      One of my favorite books ever--the perfect combination of science fiction, masterful writing, and romance. It's too bad Tanith Lee penned a sequel to this, as this is one book that should have been left alone. In fact, I would recommend you not read the sequel, as it rather spoils the effect of this book.
    • 4/5
      Perhaps there are others like me, who missed reading this lovely classic, first published a quarter century ago. Then this review is for them.The heroine, sixteen-year-old Jane, comes of age in the book, so I suppose it would be classified as a teen or young adult novel in the Science Fiction genre. It is also a funny and moving romance, a commentary on what it means to be human, and a satire on political expediency.In some future world, where the rich have escaped to mansions in the clouds, and the poor live like New York City poor in the depression years, two unlikely people find love and fulfillment in the slums. Although the plot is about love between a girl and a robot, the novel is not erotic. The crux of the novel is about a young woman asserting her identity. Tanith Lee uses a light but deft touch to show Jane's overbearing mother, and Jane's shallow friends. Lee creates a convincing world, one where Jane's choices make so much sense, that they seem normal and not bizarre at all.I read the novel a month ago, but Lee's poetic descriptions are vivid to me now as I write this. Lee understands how to build empathy for her characters and tension in her scenes. She keeps her part of the writer-reader bargain: she delivers the magnificent climax, the fulfilling ending.Tanith Lee is a prolific writer, and this book, although one of her earliest, is still a favorite among her fans. It reads like a dream, one that I didn't want to end. Don't miss it.(My original review was first published at Forward Motion and on my blog, Pandababy.)
    • 3/5
      This story takes place on a reconstructed Earth of the future, following the devastations of a meteor hit. People are either ridiculously rich or unemployed impoverished fringe folk who have been displaced by a multitude of robotic workers. I'm not sure how the rich got richer but this is a sort of not too brave new world where babies selected by type are created in test tubes and delivered from artificial wombs to parents kept eternally young by Rejuvinex. Police keep everyone who's rich safe from everyone who's poor by monitoring them electronically. Kind of like the jail bracelet concept in reverse. The 16 year old protagonist, Jane, is a totally sheltered, spoiled rich girl whose growth is stunted by living in the shadow of her rich, arrogant and self-absorbed globe-trotting mother. Their relationship is more like that of French Poodle owner and pup than it is like mother and daughter. Jane's friends, aren't really friends at all since they are also self-absorbed, spoiled, jaded rich kids who use each other as backdrops to their dramas. One of the things I detested the most about this book is the long pages of descriptions about Jane's friends and their vapid, perverse lifestyles. In a word, BORING. The plot is good though it's been done before a gazillion times with the likes of Star Trek's Data and in D.A.R.Y.L. and in Robin Williams' portryal of Milennium Man and many other AI contributions to the sci-fi literary grab-bag. Jane meets this sophisticated robot model that is capable of pretty much any kind of work including the arts and love-making. He looks and feels like a human except for the faint silver tinge to his skin. No problem, lots of human in this world like to paint their skin silver, too. No one can really tell that he's a robot. Jane falls in love with him and has to give up every bit of her rich girl world if she wants to be with him. They discover and uncover each other's humanity but it ends bad for Robo-honey. Never fear, the trite ending is a surprise. Why wasn't I surprised? Jane is 16 years old and maybe this book will appeal to YA readers because it delves into the areas of first love, and finding one's self, personal discovery, loss and independence and all that jazz in a way that is at least, imaginative. I didn't enjoy it. I thought the talented Tanith Lee dropped the ball here with characters, dialogue, credibility...pretty much everything. It should be disassembled like an annoying robot.
    • 5/5
      I really enjoyed this story. I thought the plot and the characterizations were original and well thought out. But I would have loved to get deeper into Jain and Silver's relationship. I feel like that was just glossed over in some places. The ending, while emotional, lacked punch with me, mostly due to my not being able to sit down and read it all at once. I was expecting an ending where someone was happy, but I don't think that was the case.
    • 5/5
      I love this book. If I had to choose between the first or second book, it would be a no brainer. This one. Silver is ten time more sauve and humanistic than Verlis, and the entire plot line fits together like a huge puzzle. Who cares if you know what's going to happen? You're still shocked in the end.
    • 5/5
      A sci-fi romance, the story is set in the future, in a new Earth after the Asteroid hit it, and it's about a human girl who falls in love with a Silver robot. Silver is, of course, very beautifully described. An auburn-haired minstrel who strives only to make you happy. Sweet, gentle, sensitive (and a wonderful lover besides) ... anything and everything you want him to be! Ah, what an excellent book!
    • 4/5
      An intense young rich woman falls in love with a sophisticated format robot. Blinders come off and she reevaluates what she can do and what she was prevented from doing. A poignant story.