4 out of 4 stars
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Silicon Burning is the first book in the Singularity Rising series, written by Thomas McCaughley. It is a science fiction and fantasy book that is set in the year 2045, almost thirty years after a nuclear terrorist attack. The Mother Mind, an advanced artificial intelligence created by the Virtualife Corporation, was then swiftly created to keep the citizens safe, but discontent from the population has led to the creation of Spiritform, a group of renegade hackers. Now there are two factions: humans and cybernetically-enhanced Transhumans. However, when data to a secret project within Virtualife is stolen, it becomes a race to recover the data before Spiritform can decrypt the files and reveal the truth. But who is the serial killer nicknamed Jack-21 and how does he tie in with everything?
I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars.
The author successfully keeps you engaged throughout this fast-paced book with his plot twists and his very visual writing style. He paints a very realistic world in the readers’ eyes and the book reads just like a movie. The author is good at creating tension and he keeps you guessing throughout. Although the book is nearly six hundred pages long, I read it in three sittings.
I was extremely impressed with the characters. Every single character, including the minor characters, were fully developed and had their own distinctive voice. I had a lot of laugh out loud moments and I really have to give the author credit for giving his characters a lot of diversity. The author also manages to make you care for every single character and makes you want to root for them, despite them having very different and opposing views. This clearly shows you the talent of this author.
Now, onto the minor details. Sometimes the author overuses italics for emphasis and ‘...’ for hesitation and there were a few typos and grammatical errors, especially towards the end of the book. However, considering the length of the book, I believe it is to be expected.
Overall, I highly recommend this to everyone who loves reading about artificial intelligence or cyber humans. If you’re still unsure after reading this review, I encourage you to read the sample on Amazon. I guarantee that the sample will hook you in and you can expect the same fast-paced and engaging writing style throughout the book. You won’t regret it! This is by far my favourite book of the year and I can’t wait to read the next in the series.
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Silicon Burning
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