goobergunch | Children of Memory, Adrian Tchaikovsky

I'd been procrastinating this one for a while and I really shouldn't have. Children of Memory culminates the author's exploration of what precisely it means to be sentient, both by introducing one of the author's trademark advanced Earth animals (in this case, corvids—and as Sunnyvale can attest, even the base corvid can be pretty smart) and by adding some other wrinkles. Not only do we have Miranda's whole deal (and of course, Avrana Kern) but there's the big reveal at the end about the mysterious signals on Imir. Which turn out to be a way into thinking through some questions about simulationism and what it means (or doesn't) for sentience.

I'm reading pretty much anything Adrian Tchaikovsky puts out now. (Ogres was on my Hugo ballot this year.) Good shit.