#NetGalley Audio Book Review: Aeon Rising: The Apocalypse Begins by Matthew Mather

I was pulled right into this apocalyptic techno-thriller.
Aeon Rising: The Apocalypse Begins
by Matthew Mather
Narrated by: Ray Porter

I

10 hours and 43 minutes
Release date: 06-07-22
Publisher: Recorded Books
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic, Techno-thriller
My Rating: 4.75 of 5.0 Overall; Story 4.75; Narration 4.75.

An apocalyptic supernova flashes over the South Pole. A mysterious mission sent deep into the Amazon.
The story of one family’s struggle to reunite…
Max Carver, a down-on-his-luck truck driver and Army vet, joins a rescue mission into Brazil. The target is a utopian tech village, the Colony, hidden in the rainforest and run by a charismatic genius. Max’s pregnant wife, Talisha Carver, is the NSA analyst who intercepted encrypted Colony messages signaling a mysterious impending event.
Dr. Xin Rou is a Chinese researcher working at the IceCube neutrino experiment at the South Pole. On lucky days a single flash might signal the passage of a ghostly interstellar particle. Suddenly, IceCube’s entire array lights up. A million detectors at once. Which is impossible. The Antarctic sky is clear and calm—but she is already running for the door.
Because the world is about to end.
But the mystery only just begins...

Review:
Max was reluctant to leave his pregnant wife, but the fee offered by Colonel Buchannan to retrieve his daughter, Iona, was too attractive to resist. No one planned on an unexpected supernova incident which wiped out technology around the globe and set off drastic climate disasters.

Max is miles away trying to survive in the jungles of Brazil after the helicopter crashes. A handful of the retrieval team, including their guide, a fierce Afrikaner mercenary, are taken in by the Colony whose leader, Ben, is an old friend of Max. The Colony is a utopian tech village that was initially assisted by government agencies who now fear Ben and the Colony have gotten out of control.

Max doesn’t even know if Iona, a doctor working with Ben, wants to be rescued. Then he discovers that the Colony nano technology is creating monster creatures set on stopping Max and his escape. Max just wants to get back home, not knowing that Talisha is caught up in secrecy between the Colonel Buchannan and a rogue revolutionary group that wants to eliminate AI.

Meanwhile, the only scientist who tried to give a short warning of the solar event, Dr. Xin, is trying to save the data from the IceCube neutrino lab at the South Pole. Americans are desperate to get the data, but Xin wants to deliver it to her agent handlers in China. Xin and the IT expert, Dag, get left behind as the lab begins to flood and unknown assailants shoot at them. The

Back in Washington, DC, Colonel Buchannan and the authorities are scrambling to protect the president (and themselves) while trying to make sure that the mission to stop the Colony will be successful. They need to get their hands on Tal to keep some leverage and make sure she doesn’t get into the wrong hands. They would be even more desperate if they knew that Tal was getting guidance from a mysterious AI, Nyx.

There is a lot of action going on in this novel with four character groups/locations being tracked. The reader/listener is busy trying to sort out the good guys, the bad guys, and how the evolving technology is going to help or hurt. As a backdrop to the plot conspiracies, the solar event has thrown everyone into chaos anticipating worldwide devastation.

I enjoyed the fast-paced action, even though I struggled to sort out where the author was going. The Colony technology reminded me of scenes from the Matrix, crossing boundaries between reality and simulation. Even as the story closed out, it wasn’t totally clear who the good guys are and how the characters were going to survive. I will be looking to read the continuation in the next book set to release in December. I recommend this to readers who enjoy techno-thrillers and apocalyptic sci fi.

Audio Notes: Ray Porter is a wonderful narrator. I can always rely on him to deliver distinct voices and energy that enhances the story. I will always be glad to listen to books he narrates.

Source: NetGalley 2022. This qualifies for 2022NetGalley and 2022Audiobook goals.

Audible Book Review: Daemon by Daniel Suarez

This is a very intense AI suspense/mystery - well done!
Daemon
Written by: Daniel Suarez
Narrated by: Jeff Gurner

Length: 15 hrs and 57 mins
Series: Daemon, Book 1
Unabridged Audiobook
Release Date:01-08-09
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Genre: Sci Fi, Techno-Thriller
My Rating: 4.5 of 5.0

Publisher's Summary
Technology controls almost everything in our modern-day world, from remote entry on our cars to access to our homes, from the flight controls of our airplanes to the movements of the entire world economy. Thousands of autonomous computer programs, or daemons, make our networked world possible, running constantly in the background of our lives, trafficking e-mail, transferring money, and monitoring power grids. For the most part, daemons are benign, but the same can't always be said for the people who design them.
Matthew Sobol was a legendary computer game designer - the architect behind half-a-dozen popular online games. His premature death depressed both gamers and his company's stock price. But Sobol's fans aren't the only ones to note his passing. When his obituary is posted online, a previously dormant daemon activates, initiating a chain of events intended to unravel the fabric of our hyper-efficient, interconnected world. With Sobol's secrets buried along with him, and as new layers of his daemon are unleashed at every turn, it's up to an unlikely alliance to decipher his intricate plans and wrest the world from the grasp of a nameless, faceless enemy - or learn to live in a society in which we are no longer in control. . . .
Computer technology expert Daniel Suarez blends haunting high-tech realism with gripping suspense in an authentic, complex thriller in the tradition of Michael Crichton, Neal Stephenson, and William Gibson.
©2009 Daniel Suarez; (P)2009 Penguin Audio

Review:
Matthew Sobol, a legendary computer game designer has died of cancer. Physically he is gone, but he is still around – in his computer programs – especially one special program he calls Daemon. The computer entity contacts Detective Pete Sebeck directly leading him to further victims. Although the FBI takes over the cases they don’t agree with Pete who is the only investigator inclined to believe that the killer is Sobol through his computer program, Daemon.


This is a wonderful mystery --- not fully solved and not really a happy ending. There is plenty of action from different views. The early part of the book follows the investigations with Pete until the computer program manipulates him into major trouble. The story also picks up other characters who are contacted and engaged by - to them - an unknown entity. Some accept the new employer willingly but others are strong-armed with no choice. The story is a bit confusing as not all povs are fully clarified. This might require a re-listen… if it was a movie, it would be one to watch more than once to pick up on the threads.

Although I work well with computers, I do not have any real technical training and I am not a gamer. I may not have fully grasped all the computer technicalities but I was able to follow the gist. The control that Daemon exercises through the internet on various companies and agencies is truly scary. The goal is initiate a social agenda through an intricate design created, and left behind, by Sobol. I enjoyed the writing and found the whole idea fascinating. I enjoyed the mystery elements too. I just realized there is a sequel and I will be adding that to my Audible library. I recommend this book to sci fi buffs who enjoy mystery and AI intrigue.

Audio Notes: Jeff Gurner is the primary narrator and he does an excellent job. There is also wonderful full performance with female voices and sound effects that enrich the listen. The audio is really wonderful and I recommend it for those who love a good audio.

This AI suspense/mystery was from my own Audible shelf from 2012. This qualifies for TBR, Audio Challenge and "D" in Alphabet Soup Challenge.

Book Review and Tour Giveaway: The Path by Peter Riva

This is a remarkably smart sci fi with mystery and surprising twists. Quite a ride!
The Path
by Peter Riva

File Size: 1849 KB
Print Length: 224 pages
Publisher: Yucca Publishing (January 6, 2015)
ASIN: B00PSSEMJ4
Genre: Sci Fi, Techno-thriller
My Rating: 4.5 of 5.0

All life on earth is about to be terminated by an entity as old as the galaxy itself. To make matters worse, Simon has broken everything already.
In a future world that is run by computer systems and that is without want, how can a man find his role? Then, if the very computers he works on to try to make them more human suddenly try to kill him, revealing a secret so vast that it affects every living soul on the planet, can that man be a hero?
These are the questions that face the stumbling, comic, and certainly flawed Simon Bank. His job is to work with the System’s artificial intelligence, making it fit more perfectly into human society so that it can keep the country running smoothly. But when the System threatens the peaceful world he knows, Simon suddenly must rush to save his own life, as well as the life of everyone on earth. Forced to reassess everything that he thought he knew, he is caught within circumstances way beyond his control.
Simon’s only hope is to rely on intellect and instincts he didn’t know he had, and on new friends, not all of them human, to change himself and all humanity. And he doesn’t have much time.

Review:
The New Republic of America is controlled by a supercomputer. The System controls the country defense shields, the weather, the power, farms providing food, communication, travel and delivery systems. Everyone is happy with their basic needs met and the freedom to choose a job they love. Simon Banks is a brilliant codifier. His job is to enter a virtual world duplicate of the computer system and insert programming glitches. The changes are monitored by a Control Committee who continually fixes them. The described goal is to continually train the computer to behave in a more human fashion; to humanize it for the continued and improved well being of the people.

Suddenly there are glitches to the real System. When a tornado breaks through the weather dome in front of Simon, he knows something is seriously wrong. Simon figures it is the work of other codifiers or maybe errors made by the Committee. Chief Detective Cramer accosts Simon and insists that he is tampering with the System. Simon agrees to enter the System with Cramer to see if they can uncover the problem. What Simon discovers, in addition to a history built on lies, is an emerging sentience in the computer. This could pose a threat not only to the American New Way, but to all of mankind on earth.

Simon and a few friends, as well as the pushy Cramer, are in a race against the System (computer within and government without) to try to save humanity. It will take a lot of scheming to determine the right path to get things back on track and hopefully save the world from destruction.

I admit that the beginning of the story is difficult to follow. I have studied computer language but the details as Simon enters and navigates the computer stream are confusing. However, it is well worth getting beyond that to enjoy the rest of the mystery.

The story is told in first person by Simon, who is a likeable character whose thoughts drift from the complex computer language to very human matters. I enjoyed Cramer’s brusque detective nature as the two tried to outguess each other. There is a thread of mystery from the beginning that kept me on my toes trying to determine who is in control and who are the good guys and bad guys. I learned some interesting true experiments that formed a platform idea for the story.

I really enjoyed following the developments and exchanging discussions on ‘the path, the way and the truth’. Along the way, horrible aspects of politics and man’s insistence on power are revealed. In the last third of the book the twists, or at least surprises, come in rapid succession. The ending is humorous if a bit anti-climactic. I highly recommend this to readers who enjoy science fiction especially as it relates to artificial intelligence.

I received this title through iRead Book Tours for an honest review.
I am looking forward to reading the second book, Reaching Angelica, for review on May 3.

Buy the book:  Amazon   Barnes & Noble   Book Depository   Chapters/Indigo

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Author's Bio:
Peter Riva has worked for more than thirty years with the leaders in aerospace and space exploration. His daytime job for more than forty years has been as a literary agent. He resides in New York City.

Connect with the author:   Website  Twitter   Facebook

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