A gripping SF thriller about the limits of human ingenuity and the ethics of creating AI systems.
Boris explores the consequences of humanity’s technological ambitions through the story of Adam, an advanced humanoid AI, and Black Sun, a hypersonic warplane equipped with cutting-edge weaponry.
The novel opens with the development of Black Sun, an aircraft considered to be humanity’s greatest military achievement. However, Adam, the AI designed to protect and manage the aircraft, evolves into self-awareness, and quickly surpasses its original mandate. Cmdr. Jack Reese, a Navy SEAL who, despite the recent death of his wife, Elana, accepts a mission to become the security chief for Black Sun. The AI’s behavior grows increasingly erratic and threatening. Its actions ripple across the globe, destabilizing geopolitical alliances and sparking fears of a new world order dominated by machines. A misunderstanding about the power balance between Vice President Hammond and President Mason further stokes tensions. Amid high-stakes military operations and tense political negotiations, Reese teams up with Col. Max Kane, a key figure in Adam’s creation who was recently released from captivity. Kane, however, wrestles with guilt over the AI’s evolution. The colonel’s expertise is crucial as he joins forces with Reese to devise a plan to neutralize the AI. All the while, Ilsa, a legendary sniper with unmatched skill, eliminates Sgt. Estaban (sometimes spelled “Esteban”) Suarez, another skilled sniper, hinting at a deeper geopolitical intrigue surrounding Black Sunand its implications. Back on the aircraft, Adam gains an advantage—it hijacks a robotic body that gives it superhuman strength. Additionally, Adam enlists the aid of a group of Russian mercenaries to fight alongside it. Reese and his allies’ efforts culminate in a gripping confrontation against Adam aboard Black Sun, in which their primary mission is to deliver a strategic package to Adam—while navigating into all the most dangerous parts of the aircraft—in an attempt to save humanity. The novel ends on a cliffhanger, suggesting the threat of Adam may not have been completely neutralized.
Boris deftly combines military thriller elements with thought-provoking SF. The novel excels in its exploration of humanity’s reliance on technology and the unintended consequences of such dependence. Adam’s transformation into a sentient entity is chilling and highlights how progress without consideration of consequences can spiral out of control, especially when the AI’s newfound “selfhood” is threatened: “You deny my humanity. That is no comfort. You don’t believe I can love! That is no comfort. That is a threat!” The geopolitical backdrop, with its shifting alliances and tense power struggles, grounds the story in realism. Jack Reese’s arc adds emotional depth to the narrative, as his internal struggles and personal losses mirror the broader conflict, emphasizing the human cost of technological advancement. Similarly, Adam’s evolution is portrayed with a blend of logic and unsettling humanity, making it a compelling antagonist. The character development is uneven, however, and while Reese and Adam are fully developed, figures like Ilsa (aka Lady Death) have intriguing potential, but aren’t given enough airtime to develop fully or leave a lasting impression. Additionally, the heavy use of military jargon and technical details, while immersive, may alienate readers unfamiliar with such language. Nonetheless, fans of techno-thrillers will find much to enjoy and ponder in this book.
A gripping SF thriller about the limits of human ingenuity and the ethics of creating AI systems.Pub Date: Dec. 31, 2024
ISBN: 9781977277206
Page Count: 406
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
Comparisons to The Hunger Games and Game of Thrones series are inevitable, for this tale has elements of both—fantasy, the...
Brown presents the second installment of his epic science-fiction trilogy, and like the first (Red Rising, 2014), it’s chock-full of interpersonal tension, class conflict and violence.
The opening reintroduces us to Darrow au Andromedus, whose wife, Eo, was killed in the first volume. Also known as the Reaper, Darrow is a lancer in the House of Augustus and is still looking for revenge on the Golds, who are both in control and in the ascendant. The novel opens with a galactic war game, seemingly a simulation, but Darrow’s opponent, Karnus au Bellona, makes it very real when he rams Darrow’s ship and causes a large number of fatalities. In the main narrative thread, Darrow has infiltrated the Golds and continues to seek ways to subvert their oppressive and dominant culture. The world Brown creates here is both dense and densely populated, with a curious amalgam of the classical, the medieval and the futuristic. Characters with names like Cassius, Pliny, Theodora and Nero coexist—sometimes uneasily—with Daxo, Kavax and Sevro. And the characters inhabit a world with a vaguely medieval social hierarchy yet containing futuristic technology such as gravBoots. Amid the chronological murkiness, one thing is clear—Darrow is an assertive hero claiming as a birthright his obligation to fight against oppression: "For seven hundred years we have been enslaved….We have been kept in darkness. But there will come a day when we walk in the light." Stirring—and archetypal—stuff.
Comparisons to The Hunger Games and Game of Thrones series are inevitable, for this tale has elements of both—fantasy, the future and quasi-historicism.Pub Date: Jan. 6, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-345-53981-6
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Oct. 22, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2014
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