Review of Terms of Service

[Effie Cherotich]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Terms of Service" by Craig W. Stanfill.]

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4 out of 5 stars

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Imagine living in a world where artificial intelligence controlled almost every aspect of your life. It decides what you eat. It enforces law and order. It decides whom you get involved with romantically. It monitors every second of your behaviour and hence rewards and punishes you accordingly. Well, this is the world that Kim lives in. In fact, her daytime job is to train AI to be efficient at its job.

Terms of Service by Craig W. Stanfill follows the life of Kim as she unknowingly goes through a self-awareness journey. She has always felt the trauma of abandonment since her mother left her while still a baby. Her childhood upbringing was equally difficult. Kim then reconnects with her childhood best friend, Shan, with whom she always got into trouble. As time goes by, Kim discovers poignant things about herself with regard to her sexuality, her bosses, her childhood abandonment and her relationship with Shan. All these put her career and freedom in jeopardy.

I enjoyed how the author seamlessly and thoroughly described the fantasy world that the story is based on. The first four chapters give a detailed review of how that world was set up. It had its own set of strange rules and mode of operation. For instance, once a child became four years old, it was mandatory and normal that he/she be given up by the parents to individuals tasked with raising children. I was equally impressed by the author’s creativity and innovativeness. For instance, a house robot would bring Kim a cup of coffee, automatically prepared by the coffee pot, just in time before she would wake up. How did the appliances know when Kim would be ready for the coffee? They were linked to body monitors implanted in her. Genius, right?

If you are fascinated by technology, you would be impressed by how it has been thoughtfully integrated into this story. Very futuristic.

As creative as the author was, the story lacked a point of climax. Throughout the majority of the story, there was no particular event that I was looking forward to. The hunt for cultists and Kim and Shan’s first bike ride seemed to be build-ups to exciting moments. Unfortunately, that was not the case. The story gets very interesting on page 293, just before the book ends on page 316.

I would rate this book 4 out of 5 stars. It was absolutely creative and fascinating. However, it took so long to get to a moment of climax. The book was exceptionally well-edited. I would recommend it to readers who enjoy sci-fi books.

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Terms of Service
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