Tengo la impresión de que cada vez leo menos ciencia ficción a pesar de ser mi género favorito, no sé si porque se publica más fantasía o porque los libros de ciencia ficción que me interesan cada día escasean más. El caso es que con Drunk on All Your Strange New Words hice una apuesta para ver qué me encontraba, aunque la premisa podía dar lugar a un libro humorístico que otra cosa… y no salió bien.


La novela está situada en la Tierra en un futuro no demasiado lejano, donde tenemos que hacer frente a las consecuencias del cambio climático. Pero aunque esto sirve como escenario de la historia, lo verdaderamente importante es la presencia de los alienígenas en nuestro planeta, con delegaciones que se dedican a la investigación de nuestra cultura, muchas veces incomprensible para los Logi.

Drunk on All Your Strange New Words está protagonizada por Lydia, la intérprete humana de uno de estos Logi, con la particularidad de que este trabajo de interpretación (casi de telepatía) tiene como consecuencia que el humano acabe desarrollando unos síntomas muy parecidos a la borrachera. Pero aunque esto le sirve al autor para alguna que otra broma, en realidad parece que lo introdujo en la novela para el juego de palabras del título.

El libro pretende ser un thriller post-contacto, pero se queda a medio camino de todo. Lydia avanza a trompicones en una investigación de asesinato que realmente le viene muy grande y la continuidad de la narración se basa tanto en las casualidades que llega a resultar cargante. No quisiera entrar en el terreno del spoiler, pero los giros y vericuetos del libro aunque sean inesperados no lo son por su novedad, si no más bien por que llueven del cielo sin venir a cuento y sin haber preparado anteriormente el terreno.

En un mundo constantemente vigilado y supervisado, exige demasiada suspensión de la incredulidad las carambolas que hacen avanzar la trama. A lo mejor Lydia te puede llegar a caer simpática, pero todo lo que sucede a su alrededor no consigue mantener el interés. No puedo recomendar el libro.

I loved this cleverly written story with unusual characters and an original premise. The worldbuilding is flawless. 5 stars.

I really enjoyed Drunk On All Your Starnge New Words.
I really loved the premise of this book and I'm so happy it lived up to it!
I found it a quick and fun read and I really enjoyed all the plot twists.
I definitely highly recommend this book.
Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Drunk on All Your Strange New Words tells the story of Lydia, a translator for the Logi, an alien species that exists in a future state New York City. When her assignment, the cultural attaché, is murdered, she begins to investigate what happened to him and who was involved.

I will say that it was a quick and easy read, which is a refreshing change from some sci fi books. I liked that it focused on the human aspect of a world where we co-exist with aliens, as it made the story more relatable and even made me think of what if that really happened? There were some nice plot twists and various situations that I didn’t expect or anticipate.

Overall, an enjoyable read. I feel like it’s missing something, yet I’m having a hard time pinpointing exactly what it is. I do think some additional character development/depth would have helped.

Wow What a cool book!
Lydia is an interpreter for the Logi - an Alien race who has peacefully invaded the Earth. Interpreters are needed as the Logi cannot use words to communicate and must explain themselves telepathically to a select group of humans who are able to "hear" them. This work comes as a cost to the humans who become drunk with exhaustion following their communication work.

Lydia is a bit tired of the work but enjoys the perks of living in New York. She is considering what could be next in her life when a murder occurs. The murder happens close to her and she could be seen as the culprit. She needs to pull in some help and get to the bottom of the events immediately. Loved the world building and the concept of interpreters. Truly a unique book and lots of fun. If you dream of alien invasions, love solid world building or are just ready for a unique take on a murder, then #DrunkOnAllYourStrangeNewWords is for you! #NetGalley
#Macmillan-Tor #Forge, #Tordotcom

Drunk on all Your Strange New Words

[Blurb goes here]

A who-done-it adventure set in the near-future. The world building was intricate and believable. I specially liked the fact that, when talking about news and social media, A.I.s award posts with a truth ranking, and as it happens now a days, events get thrown out of context, constantly. The main character is likable. She's not prepared for what's coming, she's a regular person trying to solve a murder. She has been trained as a translator for an alien. This means that she has the ability to communicate with him telepathically. That doesn't mean she can read minds, which makes the story all the more compelling. She has to use her wits to solve the crime.

The flow of the story makes it hard to put it down. A great read in my opinion.

Thank you for the free copy!

I loved this book! I knew from the description that I would love it because it has all the things I love most in books. It reminded me of a Black Mirror episode as well as Ted Chiang's short stories Exhalation and Stories of Your Life and Others. I also really enjoyed the pacing and at 288 pages, it was the perfect length.

Drunk on All Your Strange New Words

3.75 stars!

ARC REVIEW

Our story follows Lydia, who works a translator for the Logi, aliens that communicate only with their minds. The translation process is intoxicating, at times putting Lydia in the position where she doesn't remember events while working. When she becomes the prime suspect in a crime against the Logi, she has no choice but to follow the clues to figure out the real culprit before she goes to jail. In the process she uncovers a larger conspiracy, putting her life in danger.

This book was a quick read, and had some surprisingly compelling moments sprinkled throughout. The pacing of the book pretty much kept me constantly interested. The language is pretty simple, but because of that narration is able to hint at cool character dynamics and even ask you, the reader, valid questions about what the truth is in the internet age.

Avoiding all spoilers, the most interesting thing I found here was the near future world that Robson described. The world in this book is a place that (aside from the aliens) could very possibly come true—treated with the same distracted urgency that we treat problems with today. The setting really complemented the nature of the mystery. That's what I loved about it.

I will say, however, that the title alone sets you up for a vibe a little bit off from what you actually get in the book. I also thought story was a little lighter than I wanted, but that may just be a function of its word count (small, relatively). I was hoping to see a little bit more of our antagonists.

All in all I'm happy to have gotten the chance to read this!

Surprisingly not much in the way of world-building in this sci-fi mystery centered on a human translator looking into the death of an alien dignitary. It’s an interesting premise and the narrative does offer its fair share of twists and turns, but the sum of its parts prove more impressive than its whole as the various elements fail to dovetail in satisfactory fashion. Still, a unique and engaging read.

This book had a great premise and was a fantastic addition to the speculative fiction genre. I loved how a relatively boring concept, linguistics, was at the center of a very exciting story.

I've read plenty of first contact sci-fi epics in my time, but Eddie Robson has given me a great appreciation for the art of post-contact stories: in which aliens have long since announced themselves and live among the denizens of Earth. Robson's Logi are a race of peaceful creatures who cannot communicate with words - only with telepathic signals. Certain humans have the capacity to pick up these signals and translate them, with one crucial cavert: it makes them drunk. Enter Lydia, a disillusioned translator who likes her boss but is growing tired of her demanding job and incessant drunken state. When her boss is (spoiler) murdered under mysterious circumstances and the police don't seem up to the job, Lydia sets off on her own to get to the bottom of the mystery.

This story did a great job of building a "near-future" version of science fiction. Lydia's New York City is highly believable with its self-driving cars, smart glasses, and immersive VR video games. I found the fictional experience of media to be especially fascinating: all news articles, tweets, posts, etc. are assigned a "truthfulness" rating by an AI, which people can then filter as desired. Robson does a great job of showing how even this purportedly objective system can be fallible, and in doing so arrives at a interesting critique of modern media bias. He also wove in the mystery aspects very well: I was genuinely surprised by the twists and thought they played well into the future he constructed.

Also, this is just generally a great commentary on translation and cross-cultural exchange; both the crucial role of translators in society, and the power they hold to either elevate or hold hostages the voices of the communities they serve.

The alien race and their manner of communication is very interesting (I’m very happy that they are definitely non-human and aren’t pretending to be).
On the characters: The characterization is very middle-of-the-road as there isn’t much distinction and depth beyond the protagonist (the side characters are generalized and stereotypes more often than not). I would have liked to learn more about the aliens, even just to enrich their characterization. But there is enough depth to avoid complete two-dimensional characters.
On the writing: This might be a personal critique but, for me, the third-person present tense writing flops completely. I realize, normally, present tense writing lends itself to faster pacing (and I assume that’s what Robson’s after), however it reads awkwardly, and it feels out of step with the POV. Aside from that, the overall writing was well-executed.
On the plot: The plot is unique and interesting, but I feel it did meander a bit toward the end. The overuse of twists, turns and double backs creates more confusion than a streamlined plot progression. Without spoiling the story, I’m also a bit disappointed that the different plotlines don’t merge into a single cohesive ‘reason’ or ‘motivation’ at the end.
On the worldbuilding: There isn’t much information about this new world as a whole or how it came to be like it is, which is fine, but it feels like a lost opportunity for me – the alien culture, and the human acclimation to it, is at the center of the story but Robson doesn’t expand on how the aliens came to be on Earth or how their culture is actually different or the same (aside from a mild hint at religious differences, which isn’t explored in further detail). There’s also quite a bit of the concepts that isn’t explained fully, so it does take a lot to decipher things’ meanings or use or place within this new world. The ‘social media’ inserts feel like an unnecessary addition that doesn’t move the plot or emphasize character at all – as if it’s just there as a nice-looking gimmick.
Final thoughts: Aside from the mouthful that is the title, Drunk on All Your Strange New Words is a fun, interesting read that kept my attention even though I struggled with the present tense writing. The characters, plot, setting, and overall writing is good, and I would recommend this book.

A fun sci-fi mystery - a British translator who works with an alien ambassador in New York City is alone in the building with him when he is killed. She starts to uncover conspiracies, but what faith can she place in anyone or anything? Lots of great gaming and near future tech built in to this story, recommend!

I headed into Drunk on All Your Strange New Words without revisiting the blurb, and misreading one of the title words - so I really had no idea what was coming. I greatly enjoyed the world-building - I found the settings of post-climate-change New York and Halifax really intriguing, even before the addition of extraterrestrial life, interspecies political relations, and a locked room mystery, and would have happily read more just about how that society operates. I found myself dragged along at a fast pace through all of the twists and turns of the mystery at the core of the novel - I was constantly keen to find out what happened next. If there was one downfall, it was that I didn't feel as emotionally connected to Lydia as I might have done - especially as someone who is often motivated by character-based texts. That said, I hugely enjoyed reading this book, and will probably think about the worldbuilding for a while yet.

A fresh and interesting premise, which always catches my attention. Lydia works as a translator for an alien cultural attaché. His people are telepathic, with no spoken language, and translating for them gradually makes humans drunk (or drunkesque; it's not exactly drunkenness, but very similar). This causes some behavioural problems in public places, but people mostly just deal with it.

From there, it becomes a highly unusual murder mystery with some fascinating aspects. <spoiler>Her alien boss, though unquestionably dead, seems to still be talking to her, and puts her on what appears to be the trail of a convoluted plot to kill him for hate-crime-type reasons.</spoiler> There are red herrings in all directions, there's danger, Lydia gets to use her unusual ability to drive a car manually, and the mystery keeps heading in one direction and then turning into something else quite unexpected. I did find the final resolution a bit of an anticlimax after all the running around, but it didn't sour me on the book.

The writing style is what I refer to as "British breathless"; it's along these lines (not a real quotation): "Yeah that's not going to happen Lydia, it's clear the cops suspect you." More technically correct would be: "Yeah, that's not going to happen, Lydia. It's clear the cops suspect you." In this case, though, it reads more as authentic voice than incompetent writing (and, since I had a pre-publication version via Netgalley, it may be different in the published version).

As a matter of personal taste, I am not a fan of alienated, emotionally distant protagonists in a crumbling near-future, but I have a paradoxical love of cyberpunk, and while I still didn't enjoy those aspects, I was able to enjoy the book despite them. It's not full-on cyberpunk in the sense of being in VR (particularly as Lydia is unable to use VR rigs for long without nausea; it's a minor plot point), but the feel is cyberpunkish.

The social media in this book does feel quite contemporary rather than futuristic (except that each post has a "truthiness rating" added by an algorithm; this is also a plot point). That struck me as a slight weakness in the worldbuilding, but it wasn't a major for me. I also wondered why the embassy was in New York. For the cultural attaché to be based in NY made sense, but ambassadors are based in capitals; important non-capital cities get consulates.

Except for a couple of small issues, though, this was a strong and engaging book, with a fresh concept well explored.