Customer Reviews

Metallic Love

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Metallic Love is set 12 years after the events of The Silver Metal Lover, and though a sequel, it is not really a continuation of the previous novel. The book, its characters, its readers and even (it seems) its author are all haunted by Silver and the doomed love he shared with Jane. Both Verlis and Loren carry the memories of what happened to Silver and Jane (though for different reasons), and the pages of ML are peppered with quotes from TSML, forcing the reader into constant comparisons, just as reading Jane's book forces Loren to constantly compare Verlis to Silver. Unfortunately, ML comes up lacking when held up to TSML, because it is not what I expected the next story would be, given the way TSML ended.

Let me start by warning you that ML ends the way anyone who read TSML would expect it to begin, leading me to hope (please) that this will be a trilogy. If it is, let us all hope there isn't as long a time between books, and that like most trilogies, the third book has more to do with the first book then the second generally does.

From the start of the novel, we have 2 constants: 1. Loren tells us if we loved Jane, we will not like her. I did not find this to be true. Loren is interesting, strong and likeable, but simply lacks Jane's often overly emotional responses, which I would not mind (didn't we all want to occasionally tell Jane to get a grip?) but this lack of emotion prevents us from knowing Verlis the way we get to know Silver, thus preventing us from feeling the connection between the two protagonists as deeply as we felt for those in TSML. 2. Verlis is NOT Silver, as the reader is told often. The robot that lived to please humans, who had humor, wit and the ability to pass himself off as a very gifted human, is not present in this story. Verlis does not want to be human, nor is he designed to pass as a human; his skills, abilities and appearance are intended to be superhuman. He is also in large part absent from the book making the love story feel a bit forced. I kept asking, why does Loren keep going back to Verlis if she barely sees him, does not trust him and admits to hating him?

The answer is, this book is the mirror image of TSML, not a new story. Here we are not given the story of an emotional female who teaches an unemotional male to love. ML is the story of an emotional male who teaches an unemotional female to love. Here Loren is sexually experienced, but does not reach climax with Verlis (as Silver did not initially with Jane) and Verlis is the virgin that reaches fulfillment (like Jane). Verlis openly admits to wanting and loving Loren, while it takes her almost the entire book to fully realize her feelings. In understanding that the roles were reversed, it makes me think better of the book and of Verlis.

After all, what would TSML have been like if seen through Silver's eyes? Would he have not have wondered about Jane's motives, a Loren does of Verlis'? Did it not take him almost the entire book to find love and fulfillment? If we followed Silver and not Jane, we would have witnessed a series of events that did little to forward the love story (ie: where he went after they first met, what he was like with Egyptia and Clovis) as we follow Loren through scenes that do not futher her story with Verlis. In that case we would have felt Jane was in large part absent and the reader would have felt distanced from the love story and wondered why and how Silver came to love Jane, just as we wonder how Loren came to love Verlis. Because Jane was the emotional one, we were so caught up in worrying, along with her, about Silver's whereabouts; we did not see him as missing from the story. Jane told us, with her interpretations of Silver's emotions, how he reacted when she was "missing" or we would never know he felt worry. As one who is emotionally disconnected, Loren could not do that for Verlis, making him distant even when present.

If you are looking for the heart-breakingly poignant love story of TSML, ML may not be for you. Instead of furthering the story of Silver and Jane as many hoped for, it gives a look at what Silver's perspective might have been in TSML and at what Jane hinted might be the next step in humanity's evolution (there is a reason it is called Metallic Love). There is only one tantalizing glimpse at what may come in respects to Silver and Jane. However, if you accept that this book is the companion to TSML, a reversal of points of view, and a stepping-stone to the next part of the story, then it is worth a read if only to catch a brief look at what fans have loved for decades. So I gave it 3 stars for being a decent read, but for falling short of expectations and very short of the first novel.

I have some odd feelings about this book. You will have to accept, at some point while reading it, that this not a story about Silver and Jane. In fact, the quasi-Silver robot in this book isn't Silver at all. He is his body and memories brought back from the dead, but not his heart, soul or emotions. He doesn't have the soul that Silver had. So it made me, very, very sad that this book wasn't the reincarnation of Silver and Jane as the ending of Silver metal lover seemed to promise.

In fact, the robots in this book are kind of evil. Scary. Verlis, who really isn't Silver, is kind of evil and scary and this book really isn't romantic because of it. The heroin Loren, just strikes me as stupid and whiney and she has no depth to her, she doesn't come close to Jane in terms of emotional expression in this book.

Mostly though, this book just broke my heart because of Jane. You'll know what I mean if you read it. I almost wish I never read it, although there was one uplifting happy moment at the end. Who knows? Maybe there will be one more book about Silver (the real Silver) and Jane coming out in the future. Until then, if it ever happens, I think I'll just imagine that somehow, sometime they lived happily ever after and the events of this book never happened. In fact, I'm going to try to forget I read this. It's just to dam depressing.

So, only three stars. It wasn't what I thought it would be, it wasn't what I hoped it would be, and It's just not as good as Tanith Lee's other books that I read.

"Metallic Love" is meant to be a sequal of Lee's sci-fi classic "The Silver Metal Lover." TSML is one of my favorite books of all time and Lee one of my favorite authors. Lee's strength is creating vivid, imaginative worlds that completely suck you in. This book is no exception. However, as a sequel to TSML it falls short. It's hard to stay away from it if you loved TSML, but it really doesn't satisfy any of the questions raised by TSML, and it almost feels as though it was written by a different person.

"Metallic Love" has a new main character who is in many ways the opposite of Jane, the hero of TSML. Loren grows up poor on the streets, and she is emotionally tough. But much like Jane and every other Lee heroine, she is also intelligent and contemplative. She does have a romantic spot, and reads and reread's "Jane's Story," Jane's published tales of her adventures with Silver (known to us as TSML). She is constantly repeating quotes from the book. However, "Metallic Love" fails to sustain the tone and flavor of the original. What was amazing about TSML was the emotional depth and beauty in Jane and Silver's relationship. It felt completely authentic and breathtaking. It raised important questions about consciousness and what it means to be human.

In "Metallic Love," Silver is brought back to life 12 years later by another corporation and renamed Verlis. The soul that Silver possessed is seemingly absent in Verlis. To someone who fell in love with Silver in the first novel, he seems more like a cruel parody. He has Silver's memories, but lacks his emotions. Even so, Loren and Verlis start up a romantic relationship which can only be described as "creepy." Although the couple claim to be in love and hopelessly attracted to one another, the love scenes seemed hollow and inauthentic, especially when held up in comparison to TSML. To be honest, I couldn't figure out their attraction to one another at all. Jane makes a brief reappearance, if only to inform us that Verlis is NOT Silver.

The plot takes some bizarre twists also. Verlis is accompanied by 7 other robots like him, whose new powers and abilities defy scienfic explanation. In TSML the robots were meant to imitate humanity, and gain unrobotic but at least somewhat feasible abilities such as creativity, consciousness, and emotions. In "Metallic Love," they are meant to exceed humanity, and could in no way be mistaken for human. They gain abilities such as forming solid matter out of nothing. They can shape shift into dragons 10x their original size. They can fly. They can break themselves up into atoms and put themselves back together at will. They also are bent on world domination. It seems like Lee is experimenting with how ludicrously extreme she can go in this novel, and it just doesn't work that well.

That being said, I don't think this novel is terrible. It's an interesting experience, and Lee's descriptions never disappoint. But in comparison to "The Silver Metal Lover" it's an inferior book.

First, let me say that I consider myself to be a very serious Tanith Lee fan. So for me to say that a sequel to a story that I've read a dozen times left me cold, that's serious. I'm going to write this review as if you, the reader, is also a fan. From the start, the style of writing this story didn't gel with me. Ms. Lee often uses a style of writing that leaves the reader so much opportunity for imagination. I don't know how she does it, but I know I like it. In this book, I couldn't get over the change in how she wrote in order to really like the story. It's as though she was embarassed to write this - like she left off the wistful girl/woman who wrote TSML and lost her romantic imagination. Instead of cheering on the heroine, Loren, I found I was only reading the story to see if Jane popped up (she does). Although the word "love" is in the title, the story lacked the emotional love connection between Loren and Verlis that Jane and Silver had. I think Ms. Lee is figuring those of us who will read the sequel read the original, and since there's been such a time lapse, we are all older (correct) and less romantic for that (incorrect).

'The Silver Metal Lover' was apex of the very small teenage-girlcentric SF genre. Lee's description of Jane's world - her reality so fantastic, and her mental state so familiar - is everything her readers could have asked for. Lee's writing quality varies wildly from book to book and unfortunately 'Metallic Love' is one that comes into her 'don't bother' catergory. This wouldn't be so dissapointing if it weren't for the fact that so many readers passionately love the orginal story. Loren comes across as cold and we can never relate to her the way we related to Jane. (Lee tries to pre-empt this by telling us it will be this way but it doesn't really wash - if you can't relate to a character you won't enjoy the book.) 'Metallic Love' lacks the warmth and frailty that made TSML a classic and it simply comes across as an afterthought. Turning Jane's manipulative mother into a sort-of super-villian, for example, just seems forced. If you couldn't get enough of TSML I would suggest seeking out Lee's earlier and far superior novel 'Biting The Sun.;

This is the story of Verlis and Loren. Verlis is the reborn body of Silver, a robot made for pleasure and then destroyed due to his creator's fear. While this book is not near as good as The Silver Metal Lover, it is nice to have a follow-up. Its reread value isn't great, and Verlis doesn't seem sympathetic and human, like Silver did. Reading Metallic Love doesn't add much to the series, but I always like to know what happens next, after a book ends. So while it might only get 3 stars based on this book alone, it gets 4 overall for continuing a story I love.

This book is the sequel to Silver Metal Lover. I read Silver Metal Lover a few years ago. It was a sweet, if predictable, love story with a sci fi twist. It raised interesting questions about what defines humanity and can robots develop souls. I liked it quite abit. So, when I saw that a sequal was available I was looking very forward to reading it.

First off let me say this book may be a sequel to Silver Metal Lover-but it has a very different tone. No sweet love, no questing robot seeking a soul, no tragic female lover leaving everything she knows to follow her heart and then living with her true love on little more than love in an idyllic romantic setting.

At the end of Silver Metal Lover, Silver is dismantled and Jane approaches her mother-rich influential cruel mother-to get her manuscript about Silver published.

Metallic Love takes place 12 years or so later. META has revamped the Robot Lover program-with a few minor changes.
Part of the controversey over the original Robot Lover program featuring Silver was that the robots were so complex as to be ale to pass as human. META has gotten rid of that feature, all robots are poreless, flawless, extremely beautiful but not designed to be able to pass as human. They are also more advanced, they can change physical shape, form clothing, jewelry and weapons out of their very flesh. Also, a fourth color has been added-the original silver, gold and copper are back-new to this line of pleasure robots is onyx-black onyx made from the black metal of the asteroid in orbit over earth.

Loren-the main female characer and narrator of this book, is no Jane for sure.
Loren's mother was a prositute and when Loren is just a baby she takes her to the orphanage she was raised in and leaves her there to be raised by religious fanatics.
One day on kitchen duty Loren discovers a loose floor board in the kitchen area-hidden under the floor board is Jane's Book-the story of Jane and Silvers romance. Loren reads the book over and over until she has it memorized.
At the age of 11 Loren runs away from the orphanage and happens into a man who hires her to work in his house cleaning business.
Six years later Loren is successful enough to have her own crew working for her. One of the girls on her crew calls her to let her know that the client who's house they are cleaning is having a psychotic break.
Loren hurries over to save the client and her employees. When she gets there she sees Silver on the screen and a newscast saying that META is releasing a new line of metallic pleasure robots. Loren leaves for META immediately to investigate. Through an odd series of events she ends up Verlis's (the new Silver) first lover-his test run before his model is fully launched.

In fact, I liked Loren a whole lot more than I ever liked Jane. Loren was everything Jane was not-poor, outside of society, no parents, confident-very confident sexually, grounded, realistic-likable in a way Jane never was. Loren is telling this story at the same age that Jane was telling Silver Metal Lover-roughly 16/17. Yet it is almost as if Loren is the adult version of Jane.

If that is the case with the differences between Loren and Jane, I lack words to define the difference between Silver and Verlis. What Loren discovers is that just as she is not Jane, Verlis (the silver robot who has been rebuilt from the original Silver's body parts and has all of his memories) is not at all Silver. Verlis remembers Silvers' life and especially his "death" and has a plan so that does not happen to him or the rest of the metallic "team".

Bought this book when I discovered it out because I loved the Silver Metal Lover. Have re-read it more times than I can count. So when I saw Metallic Love, and it was described as a sequel, what could I do? ;-)

It's an easy read and a fast one -- I picked it up yesterday morning, and I just finished it about half an hour ago.

The premise is interesting, and you really don't have any clue as to what the plot twist is going to be until closer to the end. It's gripping, especially having read Silver Metal Lover, because you want to know what happens to the characters.

But ... that having been said ... I didn't find I had as much of an emotional investment in these characters as I did in its predecessor. Is that because I liked the first book so much? Maybe.

Still enjoyed this book a lot. Will probably read it again. But it's a different kind of read from the one that came before it, so you should be prepared. If you were sucked into Silver Metal Lover, you will likely also get sucked into Metallic Love.

Not a tear-jerker, but still an interesting read.

First Tanith Lee warned us, on her website, that if we liked _The Silver Metal Lover_, we wouldn't like _Metallic Love_. And that warning was echoed in this novel, when the heroine says we won't like her much.

Having adored TSML, I don't know what to make of this its sequel. I have read the novel twice now, trying to give it a chance. The plot: Loren grew up in the slums and read Jane's Book (known to us as _The Silver Metal Lover_) until she knew it by heart. Then the unimaginable happens; Silver, the angelic robot from the first novel, is reborn as Verlis, a part of a campaign to bring the robots back. But they're better, this time around. And they know it.

I didn't like this sequel for several reasons. I didn't like that it took place so soon after the first book; I was hoping not to see any of the characters from the first book again, but here they are, some of them, taken in directions I'd rather not know about. (Similarly, if you loved _Aliens_, especially the ending, then _Alien 3_ just ruins it for you. If you've seen these movies, you know what I'm talking about.)

The novel feels haphazard, though I know it isn't. I don't know what it's trying to say. And the ending, the epilogue, just didn't work. The simple, elegant love story is gone. In its place are sci fi concepts warmed over from, among other places, the Terminator movies and, Heaven help us, The Matrix.

So if you loved _The Silver Metal Lover_, really loved it, then I recommend you do not read _Metallic Love_, because there's nothing like the first book in the sequel. I can recommend this to general fans of science fiction, because there are some good ideas in here, though unfortunately nothing we haven't seen before.

If you are expecting the same story as in the "Silver Metal Lover" then you will be greatly disappointed. But that isn't my problem with the book. Instead my problem is that story is all too common: robots as better than humans and aware of it. Its another "robots = bad" scenario. The first book was about the acquiring of humanity by both a robot and a human; this is about the loss of humanity, the development of a pseudohumanity. The title female character is well designed, a survivor in a world where surviving is what the majority of people struggle to do day today. The robots however made little sense. Why would anyone even make robots who could do what these do? It made "them" unbelievable. I would have been happier with just focusing on the main female character and her world minus the robots.