I received this book in exchange for a review.
Basic Summary: Adam is a singularity who lives in people’s minds. He makes the ARCnet possible where people can have the internet in their mind. Unfortunately, Adam is an asshole. Jimmy is recruited by Trixie to take him down.
Warning: There are some mentions of threatening sexual assault but no scenes depicting it.
Review:
Setting
While this book is set in the future, it isn’t very far into the future. Adam, as stated in the basic summary, is created in a science experiment. He lives in people’s minds. From the time Adam comes into exsistence and everyone has an implant that allows them to go into an internet they can mentally immerse themselves in, it has only been 4 or 5 years. The setting takes place in San Francisco and in the beginning we learn a lot about what has changed. Since ARCnet is the internet except you get to experience as if it was in real life, many people choose to be in the ARCnet instead of living their actual lives. I thought this was an interesting element, though I did wish it was a little expanded upon.
Characters
The two main characters of this book are Jimmy and Trixie. Jimmy is a person who can’t connect to the ARCnet due to a brain injury he suffered while playing football. This is a really interesting element to the story. Jimmy goes to a support group for people who aren’t able to get into the ARCnet because of different reasons. Jimmy feels out of touch with his wife who has become addicted to the ARCnet much the same as everyone else. I actually wanted to know more about his relationship with his wife Michelle. There wasn’t enough information about it for me to think Jimmy should continue trying with her.
Then there is Trixie who is another singularity like Adam except she is not as large as he is. Her reach is tiny in comparison. I did find her to be an intriguing character and wanted to know more. It was a nice contrast to see how singularities could act that wasn’t Adam.
Some of the side characters, like Jenna and Cecil, are fairly rounded out. Jenna more so than Cecil but I think that’s because Jenna is the main ‘host’ to Trixie.
Plot
The plot of this book is fairly straight forward though, oddly, I feel explaining it is a bit complicated. It is fairly fast paced as we see action from the moment Jimmy is recruited into the rebel movement. If I were to have one issue with the plot, it would have to be in the last chapter. It just seemed to neatly wrapped up in the end. Some of the resolution just didn’t fit for me.
Overall
I thought this was a great premise and certainly was entertaining. If you are interested in a type of AI novel with lots of action, this is your book.
Thank you,
Chrissy