If you were paying attention the last time I did one of these, then I don't need to do an introduction. But since it's most likely you weren't, let me do that. Laser Books was a rather short-lived sci-fi venture that sought to release a series (not connected in any way) of several books, all within a certain page limit and featuring a variety of authors (they got to number 58). They were notorious for severely editing some upper-level writers' work, and due to the speed at which they released their novels, the company tanked in little time, mainly because the plots of the novels are largely derivative and nothing too noteworthy. That is, at least, from my perspective, because I've already read five of them. Having commented on one prior, I decided to give this one a go because it's more interesting than the others. It's one of a number of sci0fi novels I've read over the past two months, but man, this one leaves a disturbing taste in your mouth.
As you can see, Kelly Freas dishes out another weird cover with the disembodied heads this series was known for, but now that I'm used to them, I think they work rather well because they basically summarize the entire plot of the novel in a single image. In Birthright, you're introduced to Andros, a young boy who's having trouble being human because there are suspicions he's actually an android, a new breed his father created that look, act, and function almost the same as human beings. Because his birth is suspect, people don't think highly of Andros, mainly because his father loved androids so much and was pushing to create this new breed you learn about in the novel. Andros returns to his father's complex, not really too interested in learning about androids or becoming involved in their constructions.
Fitzsimmons, the man temporarily in charge of the outfit until Andros gives up his ownership, doesn't really want the boy involved and you slowly find out he's been wheeling and dealing under the surface, working super-android against super-android in an effort to weed out the last of them. See, Andros' father created a religions for the androids based on a god called Vat, which simply deals with the vats they are 'born' in. The Sons of Vat, as they are called, are utilized by Fitzsimmons to take control, learn where Roarchik's super androids are, and kill them off, leaving only lower-level androids as the company's main production since Roarchik androids are the best in the world!
Andros eventually learns the truth about Fitzsimmon's plans and falls in love with one of the Supers, an android named Miranda. Well, perhaps not really love, he's disgusted with her at first, but then seems to slowly feel the humanness of her and comes around. Anyway, the plot of Birthright is actually pretty tame, it takes that whole Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? plot, or a plot about androids and para-humans like you find in a number of sci-fi novels and short stories throughout the decades. By the end, you figure out that Andros' past was left suspect so he'd get involved with androids more, and then learn his father planned for Miranda, the one I mentioned at the start of this paragraph, and he to give birth to a half-child in this weird love plot of creepiness. So that's the 'birthright' of the novel, as well as the ownership of the industry and all of that.
So why read this? Well, it doesn't necessarily move slow, and there's some intrigue and such going on, but where Birthright really makes you puke and shudder is the ending. HOLY FUCKING SHIT WHAT IN THE HELL WAS KATHLEEN SKY THINKING?!!!! When Fitzsimmons learns about the secret HQ of the Supers and their birthing chambers, he doesn't just arrest them or something, motherfucker KILLS them all in one the most disturbing and bloodiest of chapters I've ever read. If you thought Cliver Barker was dropped on his head and had his brains run over by a lawnmower, think again. Kathleen Sky lays out here one of the most gorey scenes in sci-fi history, and perhaps the most gruesome ever penned. Fitzsimmons gets the help of this local android-hatin gang, and they go crazy. I mean really, really crazy, like disturbing images of strangling and gutting infants crazy. Now, yeah, they're androids, but since they're designed to be all but human, you can't help but be a little freaked out by this one. The murders are depicted in a very graphic fashion and after a generally tame plot throughout the rest of the novel, Sky knows how to fuck you up. Birthright, in many ways, is pretty standard sci-fi, but give it to the ending and it's well worth it, that is, if you want to have nightmares for a least a month. I have to say, after this one, I really wonder what the rest of the series has in store...
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