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I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from the author. All views expressed are only my honest opinion.
MY REVIEW:
Genre | Tropes: Science Fiction, Dystopian, Thriller, Mystery, Political, Artificial Intelligence
Rating: 5 out of 5 ⭐
An edge of your seat dystopian, science fiction, thriller that will have you questioning your loyalties by the end! Going into this book, I thought I knew where I stood on my feelings about AI and all that comes with it. But Weaver builds a world filled with AI that had me loving some aspects of it and scared out of my mind about other things. This is a complex topic that is on a lot of minds right now and most people feel very strongly one way or the other. But it’s never that simple.
As the story goes along, Weaver builds out each character and the crisis unfolding in a way that has you feeling close with everybody in the story. I even felt a strong support for the Artilect, “Solomon”, in his responsibilities and duties to the population. But there are some very dangerous elements that Weaver explores in a way that makes you really consider how much you want to hand over in terms of your way of life in this kind of setting.
As the second half of the book unfolds, I started to feel a looming danger on the horizon but couldn’t quite put my finger on it. When it’s finally revealed, I felt even more conflicted because of the unique dynamics at play in this story.
Should an Artilect be able to rule a population? There are benefits to this kind of leadership, especially considering the circumstances and crisis that the setting of this story portrays. But at the same time, the complete control over the technology that is deployed is where the concerns start to mount. In this story, most people are utilizing advanced forms of Neuro-Reality (NR) where they interact digitally through the devices. But these devices are also accessible to the Artilect and suspect to manipulation.
If you can’t have control over your own mind and thoughts, that’s where things start to get dicey. I still believe there are huge benefits to AI that Weaver explores in the ability to process large amounts of data, scenarios, and outcomes to make more educated assumptions on how to approach situations. But those benefits come with a hefty price and I’m still not sure that I’d want a fully run Artificial system.
My Favorite Lines
“A hundred years ago,” Flora recited, “computers were in their infancy, but the elites of the time knew their potential. They sold it as a way of freeing humanity, but it was about doing the opposite. They flooded Silicon Valley with money until a computer was in every pocket. Then they funded the invention of social media to track everyone, to know what they liked and believed. Then they corrupted those beliefs, played them back to people in their own echo champers. And slowly, humanity became polarised. It was us and them, and neither side was able to even listen to the other without prejudgement.”
“A politician. Looks great in front of the camera. Likes to look like he’s making tough decisions. Hasn’t a clue how to go about solving all this so wants to push it down to nation states to figure out. For the sake of their soverignty.”
GET IT HERE:
It’s 2050, a decade after a heatwave that killed four hundred million across the Persian Gulf, including journalist Marcus Tully’s wife. Now he must uncover the truth: was the disaster natural? Or is the weather now a weapon of genocide?
A whistleblower pulls Tully into a murder investigation at the centre of an election battle for a global dictator, with a mandate to prevent a climate apocalypse. A former US President campaigns against the first AI politician for the position, but someone is trying to sway the outcome.
Tully must convince the world to face the truth and make hard choices about the future of the species. But will humanity ultimately choose salvation over freedom, whatever the cost?
An enthralling murder mystery with a vividly realised future world, forcing readers to grapple with hard hitting questions about the climate crisis, our relationship with Artificial Intelligence and the price we’d be willing to pay, as a species, to be saved. Perfect for fans of Blake Crouch, Harlan Coben, Neal Stephenson, Philip K. Dick, Kim Stanley Robinson and RR Haywood.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Thomas R. Weaver
I write stories about tomorrow to help make sense of today.
Aside from writing, I’m a tech entrepreneur. My last startup was acquired by Just Eat Takeaway; my new one is still in stealth but backed by a major Silicon Valley tech accelerator. I also invest in multiple early-stage startups.
Despite all that, I never thought I’d use my degree in Computer Science. I left university to run the UK branch of one of the world’s largest student organisations before spending many years working on and building expertise in the evolution of physical environments, and in particular how tech could change the kind of experiences we have in schools, shops, theatres, council service centres and other places.
This all led directly to his tech startup in the restaurant hospitality space, transforming payment and ordering experiences, before pivoting to a platform to enable other technology to interface with the restaurant. I exited in 2018-2019 and realised I had no more excuses not to do what I always wanted to do: write fiction.
It’s Roald Dahl’s fault. When I was seven, I read the BFG. Remember the scene where Sophie reads the description of a dream of writing a book so exciting that no-one can put it down? Airline pilots are getting lost. Drivers are crashing.
I wanted to write that book. I want to write page-turners. If I achieve nothing more than giving one person the experience within the BFG’s dream, I’ll have succeeded. Hopefully without the car crashes, though. Despite swearing to friends and family (none of whom apparently believed me) that I’d never run another startup again, I recently started a new one focussed on bringing some of the ideas in Artificial Wisdom, my debut, to life, specifically around communicated in augmented reality.
In my spare time, I’m an avid father, husband and cook, and have a bunch of hobbies my wife claims makes me sound like I’m 80, including drawing, painting and chess. I collect more books than I have time to read, especially if they have beautiful covers, like Folio editions. I’m a sucker for great covers.
Looking for book recs…
Adventures in Literature 
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