I picked this up purely based on the renewed buzz it was getting in one of my book circles. It was available as a library audio download, so why not? I went into it knowing basically nothing about it except what the cover looked like. I was honestly expecting a mystery book since it seemed like a case file. And I guess it really is a case file, just not the kind I was anticipating.
In reality, it’s part evil AI sci fi and part teen romance. I’m hit or miss on teen romance these days and unfortunately the pairing didn’t work for me. I couldn’t get myself to feel the lurve. Luckily, the evil AI sci fi plot did work for me, so the book wasn’t a complete bust.
It’s the 26th century and Kady just broke up with her boyfriend, Ezra. That same afternoon, her planet is attacked and she just barely makes it out alive, ex-boyfriend and mother in tow. The survivors are strewn across several ships making up a small fleet and they can’t seem to escape the attacking ship that started the crisis in the first place. That ship wants to eliminate all survivors so no one can talk. When plague breaks out on one of the ships, the fleet’s AI starts making some interesting decisions, like commanding the fighter pilots to attack their own people. On another ship, Kady is learning how to hack and subvert in order to learn truth and possibly escape the AI.
The story is told as a casefile, through chat lots, emails, military files, reports, interviews, etc. The audio version is pretty great. You can tell they spent a lot of through producing it and the result is something that sounds like a radio play with actors and sound effects. The formatting is a double edged sword in a way. It’s cool to read a book put together like a case file, but it seemed to prevent me from getting close to most of the characters. I feel like I really only got to know the AI and Kady on a deeper level. I never really warmed to Ezra (the ex) and we weren’t given the opportunity to get to know anyone else as well.
Not sure if I’ll continue on with the series. I’m pretty satisfied by the conclusion of the first book, so we’ll see.