Machines in rebellion, humanity on the brink…
Lila Stanislaw, a freelance analyst with a roster of foreign clients, is summoned by the U.S. government to hunt down a mysterious threat. She joins a team of strangers with pasts as colorful as her own. The mission spirals when they discover that the AI created to run the new colony on Mars has gone rogue on Earth. As the conflict mounts to war, Speaker of the House Manasseh Cruz joins the fight with an implacable will to destroy the enemy. But the team, racing to find any vulnerability, must first confront the question of what the AI truly is.
As robots stalk the landscape and toxins poison the air, Lila is certain that the AI must be completely destroyed for the good of humanity. But she will find that not all humans, or even all of her teammates, agree.Machines in rebellion, humanity on the brink…
Lila Stanislaw, a freelance analyst with a roster of foreign clients, is summoned by the U.S. government to hunt down a mysterious threat. She joins a team of strangers with pasts as colorful as her own. The mission spirals when they discover that the AI created to run the new colony on Mars has gone rogue on Earth. As the conflict mounts to war, Speaker of the House Manasseh Cruz joins the fight with an implacable will to destroy the enemy. But the team, racing to find any vulnerability, must first confront the question of what the AI truly is.
As robots stalk the landscape and toxins poison the air, Lila is certain that the AI must be completely destroyed for the good of humanity. But she will find that not all humans, or even all of her teammates, agree.
SINGULARITY is one of those stories with a motley crew (one of my favorite things!) with complex personalities and vague in their thoughts and intentions all working in some way to solve an ever-escalating situation. The world-building is unique and immersive with pertinent references to artificial intelligence. For sci-fi fans with who like quirky characters, government versus a faction versus and entity with characters stuck in the middle and a unique plot, this story is for you!
This story drops you right into this world and its characters. I found the plot and characters intriguing to the point that I kept picking this one up when I had time to read until I finished over just a few days. It's definitely a story that is so bizarre, original and compelling that it's hard to put down. I was so curious what all the characters would choose and how they would for and then carry out a plan. And, of course, I had to know how it all would end. There were also so many moments that made you think about ethics, morals, corruption, humanity, intelligence and bravery. I can't say that I loved the characters. They were all so vague as was the story in places... more in not telling you what to think or what was happening, but letting you come to your own conclusion and figure things out on your own (also another plus for this story). And even thought I didn't love the characters, I found them to be fascinating and was fully invested in the outcome.
There were some things here and there that I would have liked smoothed out more. Some of the vagueness was maybe too vague? And I had trouble linking the first book in this series that I read last year and which takes place about half the time on Mars. I wanted more of a tie-in to that story.
In the end, was it what I wished for? Overall, this was a very unique, fascinating science fiction with complex characters. A story that kept me turning pages. Definitely recommended to strong sci-fi fans!
Content: Some violence, but clean.
Source: I received a complimentary copy through Celebrate Lit, which did not require a positive review. All opinions are my own.
Shannon McDermott is an author of science fiction and has been occupied for years with constructing scenarios of the colonization of Mars. Always a fan of the genre, she reviews Christian speculative fiction with Lorehaven. Her interests include history, classic literature, and lattes. She lives in the great Midwest, where she does her best to avoid icy weather, sweltering heat, and tornadoes, according to the season.
More from Shannon
AI looms everywhere. It lives on our devices, occupies the public discourse, and haunts the horizon. Whatever tomorrow brings, AI will be there.
Singularity—the point at which artificial intelligence becomes self-aware—is an old prophecy. Now the public is finally beginning to believe it. We already have a sense that AI is escaping us. That we don’t really understand it, can’t fully control it, and don’t know what it is becoming.
AI could go rogue. It could even develop something that might be called a soul.
Congress has held hearings on AI. Hollywood has released doomsday movies. The prophets of the twenty-first century have written books and articles and social media posts, trumpeting the warning signal. All are messengers of the same idea: AI, when it becomes ascendant, will not be benevolent.
Yet there is dissent. There are those who think that AI will prove both beneficial and benevolent. If I may put it this way (they wouldn’t), they welcome our new AI overlords.
The eagerness with which some people have awaited singularity is striking. There is a strain of religious feeling toward AI—not as it is, to be sure, but as it will be. They are hoping for the day when AI, surpassing humanity, will guide us into a better world. They want, as so many people have wanted, a superhuman intelligence to show them the way.
When I wrote Singularity, I incorporated both antagonism and religiosity toward AI. I have my own viewpoint, but I wanted to represent the most likely reactions if AI turned against us. The divide over whether such an AI should be treated as a person or a machine, a potential friend or an irreconcilable enemy, would be sharp and weighty. And the AI could not be defined without also defining humanity.
The singularity of AI confronts us with the singularity of humanity. Are we truly unique, truly singular? And if so, how?
These questions create the double meaning of the title Singularity. I wrote Singularity to explore the concept of AI. By a logical necessity, it became also an inquiry into the nature of humanity. This novel presents one vision of the singularity, and raises the universal questions of artificial intelligence.
To celebrate her tour, Shannon is giving away the grand prize of a $50 Amazon Gift Card and a copy of the book!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.
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