Cloud 9 - Story about a Futuristic Virtual Reality Gaming by N Matthias Moore - a Book Review

Though I have read a number of fantasy books, in the genre of sci-fi & dystopia I am still new. Before Diwali, I saw “Cloud 9” by N. Matthias Moore. I found the blurb interesting. Though book’s reviews were few, the cover got me attached to it. So I took the book.

Book Blurb

The year is 2109. Michael is one of San Francisco's most notorious VR gamers in a world of uninhibited debauchery. Now at the turn of the 22nd century, the effects of cultural collapse compel the gaming aficionado to leave his sedated existence and venture on a quest for virtual utopia. But first, he must traverse nine levels inside a computer-brain interface or pay the ultimate price. The promise of living the rest of one's days in a computer-simulated paradise may be too enticing to resist, but for Michael Tillman and his girlfriend Valerie reality is hardly what it seems. Meet Real Games Enterprise RGE the underground cartel pandering the Cloud software that requires players to complete nine levels within the game or suffer elimination. With only three lives to win, failure results in death when their data is terminated. Outside threats from those determined to undermine the Cloud software finally puts RGE in jeopardy when they're attacked by infiltrators who don't like secrets.

The story goes like this, in the year 2109 when futuristic technologies reached its peak, virtual reality was taking over things. In fast-track world, partly stressed partly lost, Michael Tillman took solace in Virtual Reality Gaming. His only support was his girlfriend Valerie. He was broken inside & feels lonely (even after having a family). Things changed when he got a letter from Real Games Enterprise RGE a virtual reality gaming company. They offered him Virtual Paradise if he could clear their game. Unlike the previous games, he played, this was a completely different technology and environment. He had to clear 9 stages with 3 lives. The only clause was if he loses 3 lives he would lose his real life as well. (Sounds interesting? Yes it is new) The developer of the game (named as Manager) wanted government approval for the game to control population. But someone was against it. Manager’s only hope was the victory of Michael. Read the book to know more.

The book reached us in the 3rd week of November, but busy schedule postponed the review. Determined to reach the goal, I took the book in last week of November. Though it took me a few pages to attach myself with the story, once I got my hands on tempo I finished it in 2-3 days. Actually, I read too many Indian authors, that has set my mindset for reading. This habit always slows down my pace while reading foreign authors. Same happened with me while reading Cloud 9. The is no mistake from author’s side.

Good points about the book

• Multi-Genre book – Yes you heard me right. Action, Thriller, Scifi, Suspense, Psychology, Gaming & whatnot.
• The character of Manager – (called as a mad scientist by another party) Each of his actions & dialogs will amaze you. It had multiple interpretations which makes you guess what exactly he meant.
• Conceptualization – The whole idea of VR Game is just amazing. Though scary, if lives are not at the stack, such technologies can create a complete revolution.

Overall a fantastic read. Ratings

1. Cover – 4.5/5
2. Character – 4.5/5
3. Concept – 5/5
4. Overall – 4.5/5

The book can be found at Amazon USA and Amazon India

Reviews from other readers can be found at GoodReads

Book Review of a Sci-fi - Extinction 6 by Hosein Kouros-Mehr

Extinction 6 is my second book by Hosein Kouros. His previous book "Project Bodi" was a completely different genre book for me. Based on the futuristic world the book was fictional self-help on Awakening of the subconscious mind. I was already accustomed to Hosein's writing style. So when I saw ARC of "Extinction 6" I didn't think twice. I simply added to my Kindle shelf. Frankly speaking, I haven't even checked the blurb of the book, while adding it.

Book Blurb

By mid century, Arctic oil drilling accelerates global warming and triggers famine and world war. A team of scientists launches Project Titan to reverse climate change and end fossil fuel addiction. Without a radical solution, humanity faces catastrophe.

Earth’s sixth mass extinction is underway. One hope remains.

Coming to the story part, surprisingly story still has 2 out of 3 main characters of Project Bodi. And yes again story shows Google's existence in the year 2066. Being an innovation savvy and leaders in AI google was surviving in the world full of uncertainty and wars. The developers of Google Smart VIssion Glass, Beth and Andrew were facing completely new challenges. Beth sensed 6th Mass Extinction (which we humans have brought to themselves mercilessly) was just a decade away. Human's addiction towards fossil fuels and gas had already impacted the world. Majority of the polar ice had melted and sea levels were increasing faster than ever. Though Human started colonizing mars the war on earth and space is taking the toll. The only option that Beth could see was clean energy, which she was hoping to generate through fusion (a technique used by Sun). But things were not as straight as last time. Beth and her team were up against war-mongers and profit-witted called Manos. He understood the only language called money. A shrewd businessman and political lobbyist wanted to take over Google and its culture.

Coming to good points

• Author has maintained a similar narration style as of Project Bodi, which is easy to follow and to the point
• The way the author has imagined the end of the world kind of situation. Flooded cities, damped infrastructures, food situation etc.
• Sci-fi concepts around fusion and hope for the next part
• Language usage is easy to 12+ to any age. 

Coming to points of improvements

• With the harsh situation that he has mentioned, I don't think more than 25% of current people would survive. So numbers can be re-aligned.
• The speed at which things happened. Price hikes or down and all gave an impression of simulation.
• The climax was a way to fast. It could have been slowed down a little bit.
• Apart from these found few technical glitches but discussing them here will give away spoilers.

Well for a hardcore sci-fi lover, these points are nothing but ignorable instances. Overall a wonderful fast-tracked sci-fi futuristic book.

Ratings

1. Cover - 3.5/5
2. Concept - 4/5
3. Content - 4/5
4. Overall - 4/5

The book can be found at Amazon India and Amazon USA

Reviews from other readers can be found at GoodReads

Ascendance by Sadhna Shanker

A simple but wavy work of art cover depicting man and woman in front of a purple advanced city and a colophon having a dialog just enough to get you interested; it had been some time since I read sci-fi and "Ascendance" seemed like an ideal candidate.

Book Blurb

The location is a planet in outer space inhabited by antagonistic species.

The night Seeni died, the fault line reappeared. The existing equilibrium between men and women, the antagonistic species that inhabit Elone began to crumble. If a clash happens, how long would it last? What would remain? Who? How many? Were they heading for a time like the last days on Earth?

As each side regroups along the Fence, Maya, a woman’s consciousness from twenty-third century Earth, reveals the past intertwined existence of men and women. Would knowledge of their shared past change the course for the future?

Delving into ideas of divergence, immortality and consequent new social constructs, Ascendance is set in a world that represents a possible and not a dystopian future.

“Ascendance” is a futuristic tale that speaks of a possible scenario where Men and Women no longer need each other and have left Earth to live on another planet Elone. They live separately on different sides of a wall which has been erected as a result of two major battles, ignoring each others’ existence, till one woman goes missing near the wall and Men become target of suspicion, which leads to war like chaos on both the sides.

The novel is written in third person narrative and in switching perspective of Men and Women in alternate chapters. Be it cloning, AI systems, advanced medical science, mode of travel or even the houses, the author has seamlessly captured the lifestyle of the characters. Use of alternate terms like ‘Zac’ for planet years or ‘nex’ for death sets the proper tone of a science fiction, as to how the world transitioned from one planet/perspective to other. However, too much time is taken to set the plot, and there are times when it drags. Men seem more like dwarves, more advanced in weaponry and a little aggressive by nature. Women are more like as elves, comparatively more technically advanced in rest of the fields than men, less aggressive of the two, but more mature in taking decisions. Every now and then its highlighted that men and women are essentially the same, but it fails to be properly captured in essence of this book.

As far as characters go, Maya plays her part flawlessly as a woman’s consciousness. But alas, the same cannot be said for rest of the characters, who fail to leave a lasting impression. Aryan has limited presence and executes his role aptly. Ime and Iwe stick around but again do not leave the desired impact as they could had. By the time Radul and Ultor start to make an impact, its nearly the end of the book leaving a huge gap for their potential. Personally, I felt no characters except these two had traits that set them unique other than their circumstances (with the exception of Maya and Aryan).

The story line has a lot of potential but lacks the gripping element. “Maya’s story” is a well written chapter. The world of Women is captured superbly, but personally I felt that more effort could had been made on getting insight of the Men’s world.

For Sadhna Shanker’s well attempted sci-fi which imbibes some well-thought philosophy as well, my overall rating would be 3/5.

Overall Verdict:- Good concept but lacks the gripping element

The book can be found at Amazon and Flipkart

Reviews from other readers can be found at GoodReads

Book Review of Earth to Centauri: Alien Hunt

A few months back I read "Earth to Centauri: The First Journey" the first installment in Captain Anara - Antriksh series by Kumar L. I was fascinated by the level of sci-fi novel upgraded by Kumar L in Indian literature. In the genre of sci-fi or space fiction, Indian lacks quality and quantity of books Kumar L can fill that gap. Reading second book "Alien Hunt" was a treat for me.

Book blurb

The year is 2118. The first journey from Earth into interstellar space has been successful, but the explosive secret carried aboard the probe Voyager 1 will have grave consequences.

As Captain Anara and her crew return to Earth aboard their spaceship, Antariksh, civil war breaks out in the world they have just left behind. A cryptic message warns her of the dispatch of mercenaries to Earth. Their mission - unknown but deadly. She may have just days to prevent the outbreak of an interstellar war which would bring unimaginable carnage to Earth. 

Her crew and the National Investigation Agency, engage in the greatest undercover search for the mercenaries in the streets of the megacity. As they race against time to uncover the plot, a traitor is unmasked, and Anara herself comes under suspicion. She must use every ounce of her resourcefulness to protect thirty million people and one unique, innocent life.

Immerse yourself in an edge of the seat techno-thriller on a realistic future Earth and geek out on the technology just a few decades away from today.

The last part ended with captain Anara leaving HuZryss with Joe & Lucy. They were coming back to Earth after a long journey. Unknown to them TruKifs went to an extream and started rebelling against Discat - RyHiza. TruKifs made a powerful weapon and a spaceship to attack the earth. Captain Anara's team got this warning message while they were still on the way to earth. On reaching earth she explained the situation to authorities.

Soon, the extraterrestrial terrorist entered the earth. Their plan was to leave an impact so strong that humans never thought of going back to HyZryss. Being an alien they took help of a human. A traitor was in for personal gain. I would recommend you to read the series to know what will happen to earth.

The writing style of Kuma is plain and straightforward. Where the first volume was more explanatory for the initial building block for series. This part is more filled with an action thriller. The author has tried to make readers visualize the futuristic world with advanced technologies & gadgets. He has thought about 70-80% scenarios as per future technologies.

I found some flaws in the plot

• Suspense behind Biw. Can't explain exact details as I don't want to give spoilers
• TrueKiff spaceship hidden on the dark side of the moon. But in the first part, it was discussed that human has already colonized the moon. So how come no one has seen a spaceship landing on the dark side of the moon
• Tej was shown as an intelligent agent. They how come she did blunder of using Prana protocol when she knew target cannot be reached
• Terrorist's easy entry & exit to the underground city of Shivaji Nagar
• Terrorist used tons of earthen technology in traitor's absence

Well, it doesn't mean I didn't like the book, I just became more a fan who scrutinize plot in detail. You can find many such plots in Star Trek or Star Wars as well. In short, I liked the book and I am already a fan of captain Anara series.

Talking about ratings

1. Cover - 4/5
2. Content - 3.5/5
3. Character - 3.5/5
4. Overall - 4/5

Book can be found at Amazon

Review from other readers can be found at GoodReads

BookReview - Project Bodi: Awaken the Power of Insight

"Project Body - Awaken The Power of Insight" - after reading the blurb and checking cover design can give you an impression of the futuristic sci-fi novel. Though it is futuristic fiction, it is more targeted towards learning. I appreciate author Hosein's creativity to write a boring considered (by youth) in such a wonderful strong format. This book reminded me of Goal by Goldratt who has delivered complex concepts of the supply chain in a nice story.

Book Blurb

In 2029, Google is the most dominant company in the world. Dr. Bethany Andrews heads the company’s Artificial Intelligence Department and leads Project Bodi, the world’s most advanced Augmented Reality smartglasses that will one day revolutionize the tech space. Her lead programmer is Austin Sanders, a 26-year-old psychonaut who loves Burning Man and electronic dance music. Together they embark on a life-changing journey to design the product of the decade, and along the way they discover the mind’s inner source of insight and innovation.

The book is written in the year 2029 where AI has taken a considerable role in human life. Google has taken the first position leaving back Apple and other mobile manufacturers. Our story starts on Google campus. Our main protagonist is Austin Sanders. Austin was a young programmer at Google. Austin was lost in his own world of Music, Booz, and Drugs. His life was shaken when he was transferred to probation period due to his negligence and irresponsibilities towards his job. His boss Dr. Beth introduced him a mindfulness - mental peace application for his betterment. Using this app, Austin was introduced to meditation and power of the subconscious mind. He started garnering his new learning. Apart from Austin, CEO of the company Mr. Shiv Patel and Dr. Beth also played a good role in the story. Shiv was worried about the future generation's mental peace, their use of social media and drug abuse. He was preparing a book to guide such people through the power of the mind.

As I mentioned earlier one can easily identify flow in two segments

1. Pure Self-learning Material - Shiv's Book Progress
2. Learning Via Story - Austin's Part.

Each part is properly arranged wonderfully to keep user stick to the book. I liked following things about book

• Mind Peach Exercise
• Google Vision's Futuristic Features
• Social Issues Discussed due to technology

A good read for people above 15+ age. Talking about ratings

1. Cover - 4/5 (Lot better than previous edition's cover)
2. Title - 3.5/5
3. Content - 4/5 (For exercise part)
4. Characters - 3.5/5
5. Overall - 4/5

Book can be found at Amazon 

Review from other readers can be found at GoodReads