Wednesday 10 August 2011

SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW: Richards and Klein 1: Reality 36 - Guy Haley

Release Date: 04/08/11

SYNOPSIS:

Meet Richards and Klein – the Holmes and Watson of the 22nd century.

Except that Richards is a highly advanced artificial intelligence, and Klein his German ex-military cyborg partner. Their first case takes them into the renegade digital realm known as Reality 36 and through the Great Firewall of China, in search of a missing Artificial Intelligence Rights activist. What they find there will threaten every reality.


REVIEW:

OK, let’s be blunt here, I’m usually a Fantasy Man rather than Science Fiction although usually when I indulge its into a bleak future with war raging as mankind fights for its survival. What this title from Guy offers is a story that would bankrupt many a movie studio if they chose to make it, a set of characters that really gel well and of course a plot that explodes (electron speaking) into the readers imagination.

The plot is huge with a myriad of fibre optic threads throughout various artificial realities that keep the reader glued as the story wends its way through cleverly written prose with an overall threat that really does add a whole new level to the threats of cyber attack’s as well as allowing the reader to think in multiple dimensions at the same time. Add to this characters that literally spark from each other to keep the reader hooked and it was a story that worked on a number of levels.

Whilst this wasn’t my usual sort of fare I did enjoy it and I think that many Sci-Fi Fans will appreciate this title more than I did, for me the skill in creating the piece as well as viewing the wirework beneath were examples of the authors talent and demonstrate that Angry Robot really is pulling no punches on bringing the hot talent to the fore.

1 comment:

Anne Michaud said...

Gareth, you have got to read Robopocalyse...not the same kind of robots, but I think you would like it just as much as this one. I'm no scifi gal either, and found it amazing.