Book Review: Artificial Absolutes

Artificial Absolutes

By:  Mary Fan

Publish Date:  February 2013

Format:  eBook

Genre:  Science Fiction

Series:  1st in Jane Colt series

Impression:  Cyberpunk slams into science fiction here as these siblings lives spin out of control and they do all they can to keep safe and solve what's happening on the Net.

Synopsis:
Jane Colt is just another recent college grad working as an Interstellar Confederation office drone—until the day she witnesses her best friend, Adam, kidnapped by a mysterious criminal. An extensive cover-up thwarts her efforts to report the crime, shaking her trust in the authorities. Only her older brother, Devin, believes her account.

Devin hopes to leave behind his violent past and find peace in a marriage to the woman he loves. That hope shatters when he discovers a shocking secret that causes him to be framed for murder.

With little more than a cocky attitude, Jane leaves everything she knows to flee with Devin, racing through the most lawless corners of the galaxy as she searches for Adam and proof of her brother’s innocence. Her journey uncovers truths about both of them, leading her to wonder just how much she doesn’t know about the people she loves.

First Sentence:
As Devin entered Sarah's apartment, he noticed she'd left her demo song playing on her digimech.

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My Thoughts and Summary:
Devin proposes to his love, Sarah. Her reaction of freezing sends him down a path that brings out the past he has been working hard to put in a forgotten part of his mind. Jane knows her brother and herself are living in the shadows of themselves and trying to be what their highly influencial father wants them to be. After a day at the boring job in her fathers business, Jane decides to stop and see her dear friend she can talk to, and enjoys her debates with. To her surprise, Adam is unconscious and being carried out the window by blue robots! Jane is now on the run. She calls her brother, whom she was once closer to. When the police don't believe her, records are changed, and Devin is framed for attempting to kill his own father, Jane finds herself on the run with Devin. Devin's past connections to the Networld and the fighting he lived come to be extremely important. Devin now is spiralling down the Networld while racing through space to help to save his sister, find her dear friend Adam, find out what happened to Sarah, and maybe clear his name.

The first chapter I wasn't sure. The second chapter was interesting with Jane's conversation topics with Adam.

But then! At the end of this second chapter!

O.O *jaw dropping*

I was shocked at what we saw happen to Adam and how Jane is on the run. There are hints that there is more that relates to Devin from the first chapter.

I'm hooked! I'm ready to go on the run with them!


Cyberpunk slams into science fiction here as these siblings lives spin out of control and they go on the search and run for their lives. Awesome! I really enjoyed where this story went with the science fiction. It's a soft scifi with internet, high tech security in buildings, space ship travel, different worlds and stations, and artificial intelligence. All with action!

I love that this is a brother/sister team. There isn't a love interest involved between them, but they do have love interests (Sarah and Adam). With this being a brother/sister team brings a whole new dynamic to the story that I enjoyed. Jane and Devin are crazy together. The things they think of to save themselves and each other are at times dangerous, but when you have no other option...why not? I didn't have to worry about the romance element but could enjoy the banter and the caring of siblings for each others safety.

This story is cool as there are a few missions within that we finish as we come to the overall mystery of who's after Devin and why then dig into the depths of what is happening with 'people'. This is fun as I feel like we are getting somewhere and getting information constantly! There are still questions as to how they are found by 'No Name'. It all becomes clearer and clearer as we go. And we get to see different worlds while it's all happening!

The one thing that I was impressed with was the story telling POV's. Mostly this book is from Jane and her brother, Devin, point of views. There are other view points present through the book that open up the world and events to us in a different way. I really liked this. Also, the book has flashbacks to points in lives that are very important to the characters. This, too, was done in a way that you knew it was a flashback and could see the importance of the connection to the character along with not getting confused. The memories drew me to the characters on a more emotional level. I really liked the way this was portrayed by the characters. Very neat!

This is a light, easy to understand science fiction full of adventure and action for us to enjoy. This is exactly what I was looking for and was thrilled to find. There is always trouble somewhere for our team. How can the pursuer know where they are so fast? Well, that's a great thing that comes out as we read. The book had a feel of a few things like the movie iRobot. (Which I enjoyed and enjoyed the storyline here too.)

I'll have to see about adding the rest of the books to my library.