Book Review: Amped

Last week I finished Amped by Daniel H. Wilson. I'd recently read Robopocalypse and enjoyed it so thought I'd give another of his a try.

Like Robopocalypse, Wilson uses well-trod ground to make a statement about our current day erosion of civil liberties in the name of security; and like Robopocalypse, it's well executed.

The book takes place in a near future where neural implants devised to help people (at first those with various disabilities, later anyone with money) focus without distraction. When those with the implants, 'Amps', start exhibiting advantages over regular non-implanted folk, a backlash ensues, and threatens to grow to a civil war.

In the midst of this, the protagonist tries to make sense of it all, while learning that he's one of thirteen unique individuals who were implanted with a little something extra.

Fun read, which can optionally offer some deeper food for thought for those that want it.

Amped

Book Review: Robopocalypse

Robopocalypse was on my to-read list for ages, after being recommended by a friend. Finally got around to reading it and liked it far more than I expected.

As the name implies, this is another book about the rise of the machines. Robots become sentient and attempt to exterminate their makers. Sigh. Well trod ground, right? I, Robot to Terminator, even Frankenstein if you want to extend it to "books playing on people's fear of technology", it's indeed well trod ground.

That said, it's SO well executed. Told from the numerous viewpoints of different characters (including some from the machine side), it's like a series of novellas that come together in the end. The opening ones in particular, when the machines start behaving peculiarly... well I found myself looking sideways at our Roomba, just in case.

Robopocalypse