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
Sharp, funny and thrilling, with just the right amount of geekery.
When a freak dust storm brings a manned mission to Mars to an unexpected close, an astronaut who is left behind fights to stay alive. This is the first novel from software engineer Weir.
One minute, astronaut Mark Watney was with his crew, struggling to make it out of a deadly Martian dust storm and back to the ship, currently in orbit over Mars. The next minute, he was gone, blown away, with an antenna sticking out of his side. The crew knew he'd lost pressure in his suit, and they'd seen his biosigns go flat. In grave danger themselves, they made an agonizing but logical decision: Figuring Mark was dead, they took off and headed back to Earth. As it happens, though, due to a bizarre chain of events, Mark is very much alive. He wakes up some time later to find himself stranded on Mars with a limited supply of food and no way to communicate with Earth or his fellow astronauts. Luckily, Mark is a botanist as well as an astronaut. So, armed with a few potatoes, he becomes Mars' first ever farmer. From there, Mark must overcome a series of increasingly tricky mental, physical and technical challenges just to stay alive, until finally, he realizes there is just a glimmer of hope that he may actually be rescued. Weir displays a virtuosic ability to write about highly technical situations without leaving readers far behind. The result is a story that is as plausible as it is compelling. The author imbues Mark with a sharp sense of humor, which cuts the tension, sometimes a little too much—some readers may be laughing when they should be on the edges of their seats. As for Mark’s verbal style, the modern dialogue at times undermines the futuristic setting. In fact, people in the book seem not only to talk the way we do now, they also use the same technology (cellphones, computers with keyboards). This makes the story feel like it's set in an alternate present, where the only difference is that humans are sending manned flights to Mars. Still, the author’s ingenuity in finding new scrapes to put Mark in, not to mention the ingenuity in finding ways out of said scrapes, is impressive.
Sharp, funny and thrilling, with just the right amount of geekery.Pub Date: Feb. 11, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-8041-3902-1
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2013
PROFILES
SEEN & HEARD
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