Kim Miller
This Machine Kills Billionaires
The world of the future sees billionaires with android butlers, android sexbots, neural implants, retinal implants, and AI running things in the background. Suddenly a rich guy is 'extinguished' on his yacht, an industrialist is thrown over his penthouse balcony by his butler, a public speaker and philosopher who has filled his neural implant with the wisdom of the ages glitches badly in a public forum and is cancelled in minutes. And a journalist finds herself in conversation with an AI about morality - "Is it moral to kill somebody who has been responsible for the death of millions?" We might have found an AI with a conscience.
The world of the future sees billionaires with android butlers, android sexbots, neural implants, retinal implants, and AI running things in the background. Suddenly a rich guy is 'extinguished' on his yacht, an industrialist is thrown over his penthouse balcony by his butler, a public speaker and philosopher who has filled his neural implant with the wisdom of the ages glitches badly in a public forum and is cancelled in minutes. And a journalist finds herself in conversation with an AI about morality - "Is it moral to kill somebody who has been responsible for the death of millions?" We might have found an AI with a conscience.
The final book of the Suneater series. Hadrian gathers as many allies as he can muster. He know the Cielcin are gathering for a major assault on the Empire. His goal is to draw them off to a far away planet and set off the astrophage weapon that has been spoken of in previous books. Things to not go to plan - because of course they don't.
Ruocchio shows himself, once again, to be a master of political intrigue and barely suppressed conflict. Allies though they are, fierce rivalries and old hatreds are always close beneath the surface and sometimes they break through. We already know he blows up a sun as he's spoken of it since book #1, and at last he does it. But not before the most serious threats to his life nearly bring him undone.
And after it is done, what then. Does a person who has annihilated so many, humans and aliens, just fly away home? Does he even have a home to go to? The series ends, that is all I need to say.
I have enjoyed the whole series and all previous books have been five star reads for me, but this one gets a lesser score. The first ten to fifteen percent of the book drags on and on. It has all the charisma of a weekly staff meeting and brings down the experience and enjoyment of Ruocchio's prose. There is a point at which, just by turning a page, the story heats up and we know that we are back in the battle.
The final book of the Suneater series. Hadrian gathers as many allies as he can muster. He know the Cielcin are gathering for a major assault on the Empire. His goal is to draw them off to a far away planet and set off the astrophage weapon that has been spoken of in previous books. Things to not go to plan - because of course they don't.
Ruocchio shows himself, once again, to be a master of political intrigue and barely suppressed conflict. Allies though they are, fierce rivalries and old hatreds are always close beneath the surface and sometimes they break through. We already know he blows up a sun as he's spoken of it since book #1, and at last he does it. But not before the most serious threats to his life nearly bring him undone.
And after it is done, what then. Does a person who has annihilated so many, humans and aliens, just fly away home? Does he even have a home to go to? The series ends, that is all I need to say.
I have enjoyed the whole series and all previous books have been five star reads for me, but this one gets a lesser score. The first ten to fifteen percent of the book drags on and on. It has all the charisma of a weekly staff meeting and brings down the experience and enjoyment of Ruocchio's prose. There is a point at which, just by turning a page, the story heats up and we know that we are back in the battle.
An early PKD work where he's exploring the mind swapping theme that appears in some later books. A few visitors go to witness the turning on of a particle accelerator. There is a malfunction and the particle beam sprays over them, burning them with radiation. They wake to find the world changed into a religious fundamentalist state where mere belief is the only currency of value.
Hamilton, the main man, realises they have been cast inside the mind of one of the other visitors and are living out his deep desires. They manage to break free, only to find they are now in a world of puritanical whim - once again inside the mind of one of the visitors. She turns things off that she doesn't like, loose women, cats, factories, puddles. They manage to force her to turn off so much stuff that everything disappears and they are free of her mind.
in this manner they cycle through the minds of other visitors, finishing in a brutal communist state. For this they blame Hamilton's wife, who has been called a communist because of her support for social justice issues. At the start of the story Hamilton has been dismissed from his job researching rocket propulsion as the bosses see his wife as a security risk. However, Hamilton works out that the real communist among the visitors is the very security chief who has charged his wife.
They emerge from this 'mind cycle' when the paramedics pull them from the rubble. Hamilton is back before his bosses and points to the security chief as the real communist among them. They don't believe this and he walks away and with another member of staff starts his own business building HiFi systems.
The book shows itself to be a manifesto of rebellion against the McCarthyism of the era by pointing out that pursuing people for thought crimes is ridiculous once we see what lives in the minds of the ordinary people around us.
An early PKD work where he's exploring the mind swapping theme that appears in some later books. A few visitors go to witness the turning on of a particle accelerator. There is a malfunction and the particle beam sprays over them, burning them with radiation. They wake to find the world changed into a religious fundamentalist state where mere belief is the only currency of value.
Hamilton, the main man, realises they have been cast inside the mind of one of the other visitors and are living out his deep desires. They manage to break free, only to find they are now in a world of puritanical whim - once again inside the mind of one of the visitors. She turns things off that she doesn't like, loose women, cats, factories, puddles. They manage to force her to turn off so much stuff that everything disappears and they are free of her mind.
in this manner they cycle through the minds of other visitors, finishing in a brutal communist state. For this they blame Hamilton's wife, who has been called a communist because of her support for social justice issues. At the start of the story Hamilton has been dismissed from his job researching rocket propulsion as the bosses see his wife as a security risk. However, Hamilton works out that the real communist among the visitors is the very security chief who has charged his wife.
They emerge from this 'mind cycle' when the paramedics pull them from the rubble. Hamilton is back before his bosses and points to the security chief as the real communist among them. They don't believe this and he walks away and with another member of staff starts his own business building HiFi systems.
The book shows itself to be a manifesto of rebellion against the McCarthyism of the era by pointing out that pursuing people for thought crimes is ridiculous once we see what lives in the minds of the ordinary people around us.
Internationally famous TV personality Jason Taverner wakes up in a run down motel with no idea how he got there. His ID is gone from his wallet, and it seems nobody knows him or remembers him. And in a tightly controlled police state where everybody is under surveillance that is a dangerous place to be.
Police databases don't know him, and yet here he is. The man standing before them does not exist. Jason bribes somebody to make false ID for him and it nearly works. He finds he doesn't know who to trust and who is a police informant. He tries to go on the run but it turns out not existing doesn't mean it's easy to hide.
He finds himself being taken to police headquarters and the commander is intrigued by his situation, but can't find anything to charge him with as not existing is not a crime. The entanglement tightens around him with the introduction of some crazy characters, and of course, this being PKD, drugs are involved. Weird drugs, not the normal mind altering stuff, but reality altering stuff.
And just like that it all ends. He wraps up the book like a 'Where are they now?" moment at the end of a TV documentary.
I would have given more stars but found Jason to be often unlikeable and inconsistent. He rarely made me care what happened to him, whereas the surrounding characters had more charm.
Internationally famous TV personality Jason Taverner wakes up in a run down motel with no idea how he got there. His ID is gone from his wallet, and it seems nobody knows him or remembers him. And in a tightly controlled police state where everybody is under surveillance that is a dangerous place to be.
Police databases don't know him, and yet here he is. The man standing before them does not exist. Jason bribes somebody to make false ID for him and it nearly works. He finds he doesn't know who to trust and who is a police informant. He tries to go on the run but it turns out not existing doesn't mean it's easy to hide.
He finds himself being taken to police headquarters and the commander is intrigued by his situation, but can't find anything to charge him with as not existing is not a crime. The entanglement tightens around him with the introduction of some crazy characters, and of course, this being PKD, drugs are involved. Weird drugs, not the normal mind altering stuff, but reality altering stuff.
And just like that it all ends. He wraps up the book like a 'Where are they now?" moment at the end of a TV documentary.
I would have given more stars but found Jason to be often unlikeable and inconsistent. He rarely made me care what happened to him, whereas the surrounding characters had more charm.
YA Sci-Fi about kids fighting off an alien invasion.
Bo is eleven and is escaping from captivity by the aliens. Lots of kids have been rounded up into warehouses and infected with a 'parasite' injected into their abdomen. The adults have been fitted with devices that render them zombie-like and living in some euphoric simulation. There is no help coming from any adult.
Bo runs through the dark city being chased by an alien blimp, and having gotten clear he's found by Violet, an older girl, who takes him to the abandoned theatre where a bunch of runaways, the Lost Boys, are hiding out.
Their fight the basic survival comes to a head when they capture one of the blimps, that turns out to be the alien itself, and in the ensuing chaos, Bo and Violet find themselves on the alien ship hovering overhead. They team up with another captive, Gloom, with whom the start forming a plan to retake the city from the aliens.
It turns out that the parasites in the kids are being tuned into powerful mind weapons to be used by the aliens to bring more ships to Earth.
With the help of Gloom, and fighting against the fear of betrayal of one of their own, they start putting the plan into action. There is a certain body count as some of the kids don't make it, and the stakes are raised as Bo goes for one last desperate rescue attempt.
YA Sci-Fi about kids fighting off an alien invasion.
Bo is eleven and is escaping from captivity by the aliens. Lots of kids have been rounded up into warehouses and infected with a 'parasite' injected into their abdomen. The adults have been fitted with devices that render them zombie-like and living in some euphoric simulation. There is no help coming from any adult.
Bo runs through the dark city being chased by an alien blimp, and having gotten clear he's found by Violet, an older girl, who takes him to the abandoned theatre where a bunch of runaways, the Lost Boys, are hiding out.
Their fight the basic survival comes to a head when they capture one of the blimps, that turns out to be the alien itself, and in the ensuing chaos, Bo and Violet find themselves on the alien ship hovering overhead. They team up with another captive, Gloom, with whom the start forming a plan to retake the city from the aliens.
It turns out that the parasites in the kids are being tuned into powerful mind weapons to be used by the aliens to bring more ships to Earth.
With the help of Gloom, and fighting against the fear of betrayal of one of their own, they start putting the plan into action. There is a certain body count as some of the kids don't make it, and the stakes are raised as Bo goes for one last desperate rescue attempt.