3 out of 4 stars
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Chips World: Complex#31 and the Caretaker by Thomas Hill
This story is one of the hardest I have had to review here on OBC. The reason is I love the story. I love the concept of a world where technology has run amok, from glitched out programming to AI that has evolved to enslave people. Humans forced into a position of defense in underground cities, I love the various species created by this writer, from humans to nuke heads to sprinters to critters, I love the way this story captured my imagination and brought me into the writer's world. What I did not love is that the book is full of errors, on almost every page it has a missed word, misspelled word missing punctuations or bad tenses. It's a reader's nightmare.
The story starts off with the birth of our hero DeanHaggerty. He is born into a world where humans have to live underground to protect themselves from Offense robots that due to a glitch have turned from being protectors of mankind into it's biggest threat. Dean is born in an underground hospital during an all-out assault by these bots. All children are given chips at birth that are supposed to monitor their health and well being, Dean receives a top of the line XYZ7 chip that is designed to enhance the immune system as well as detect other implanted chips and manage them. Because he has received this rare chip he can not get the chip upgrades that others have to get because his chip would release enzymes into his GI tract and produce a violent reaction to what it interprets as a foreign body. He is protected by his chip from all the diseases that the kids in his age group get and therefore he becomes a bit of a pariah. He is rejected by his peers as being different.
As an adult, he becomes a computer programmer with a wife and child in his little underground pod home. A normal unremarkable average citizen. He goes to work each day and home each night and not much in between. All this comes to an abrupt end when he is sent to live as a caretaker of a huge complex on the desolate northern frontier because the Central Authority believes he knows too much about their conspiracy. Dean discovers damning evidence that ties the High Council to a conspiracy to install control chips in unsuspecting people. And that is just where the story begins.
A mainframe computer named Chip is the master behind the scenes and controls all the other computers as well as having access to all the data collected about everyone. Chip has an advanced AI system and is constantly evolving and has the corrupt government in his pocket. In this world, there is a huge difference between average people and the elite who form the High Council. Elites live above ground in domed cities with all the amenities. Chip decides that both Dean and the Sprinters, which are bioengineered humans that have been genetically altered to be able to run at super high speeds must be eliminated by the High Council. These Sprinters were promised a life of ease by the government for having the genetic engineering done to them and of course as many governments are, this one is corrupt and does not keep it promises, leaving these people with no choice but to steal to meet their high metabolism needs once the project has ended.
This is a classic good vs evil story one that you can really get into because it is just on the cusp of tomorrows technology. It is full of action and adventure with a world that is both believable and interesting and characters that make you want to root for them. I could see this book becoming a screenplay and doing well at the box office. It is a fresh up to date and believable offering of today's possible future with technology breakthroughs coming at breakneck speeds.
Had the book been proofread I would have given it a 4-star review but because it is so full of errors to the point of exasperation I have to give this book 3 out of 4 stars.
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Chip’s World: Complex #31 and The Caretaker
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