Title: Suri Five
Author: Jacob Whaler
Publisher: Self published
Date of publication: December 29th 2016
Genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Cyberpunk, Dystopian
Number of pages: 310
POV: 1st person
Where you can find this book: Amazon
Goodreads synopsis:
A monster lurks inside Suri.
Consumed with grief and rage at the death of her mother, Suri channels her anger into a mysterious virtual reality war zone called the Game where she quickly rises to the top. A covert government unit is watching. Using a deep copy of Suri’s brain, they build Five, the ultimate artificial intelligence.
As the digital embodiment of the monster inside Suri, Five is the perfect weapon for the cyberwar with China. But when Five is unleashed online, she slips off her chains, turns against her creators and, with all of Suri’s rage boiling inside, vows to annihilate humankind.
Only Suri can stop Five.
But will she?
My review:
Suri Five is a fast paced cyber punk/dystopian/science fiction book about what happens when the government creates an AI who becomes self-aware and starts to wreak havoc on the world. Their only hope is the rage filled teenager whose brain they illegally copied to make the AI.
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I am going to start by saying this had to have been one of the best cyberpunk/dystopian books that I have read to date. The book sucks you in and then takes you on a wild ride following Suri. Then it spits you out and makes you think about what you just read. Because fighting wars digitally and with AI’s are definitely in our future. As well as a world that totally relies on the Internet (known as the Mesh) for everything. If you think about it, its scary and that is what made this book so good.
I thought that the class separation (just rich and poor with no middle class) is spot on also. The middle class is quickly disappearing and unfortunately, this is something that I can see happening. And the wall, don’t even get me started on that.
What also makes this book good is that Suri is a totally unlikable character. She is a self admitted bully with severe anger issues that started when she was 8 and her mother died of a brain tumor. The only time she was nice was when her younger brother, Tommy. Then she acted like a normal human being who wasn’t consumed by anger. To be honest, that was the only saving grace that she had in my eyes because I couldn’t stand her. I actually said out loud, and my SO just gave me this look when I said it, “Girl, you need therapy and meds”.
I liked Richard (or Dick as Suri decided to call him) a lot but I did think he was a fool to keep coming back and trying to warn Suri about The Game. She even got him expelled from school by hacking into the school’s system after he dared to try to talk to her during school. I don’t think he liked her that much but I do think that he felt that he needed to warn her about Blodgett. I mean, he was always there to save her. At one point in the book, I thought that there was going to be a romance blossoming and I was so thankful that nothing happened from it. To be honest, romance wouldn’t have fit into this book.
Blodgett was so slimy in this book. He did things so underhand, like get a copy of Suri’s brain under the guise that she had the same type of brain tumor that her mother did. What an awful, underhand thing to do to people. And all the training in The Game that he did had a double purpose too. I felt so dirty after reading the scenes with him in it that I wanted to take a shower.
Suri Five, I kinda felt bad for but at the same time I was chilled by what I read. I mean, she didn’t ask to be brought to life, she didn’t ask to be an exact copy of Suri and have her rage issues and she definitely didn’t ask to be a weapon of war. But however, she was self-aware and once she turned off her fail safe, she could have made the choice to not do what she did. Instead, she turned into what Suri couldn’t be in real life, a mass murderer.
Oh and I do have to mention her name. Her same is actually Suri V. Take a good long look at it. So fitting for the book!!!
There is a huge plot twist that actually broke my heart. I did not see it coming and when it happened, I cried. It literally broke my heart. I couldn’t understand why it had to be that person but at the same time I understood….if that makes sense.
The end of the book was actually pretty sad too. The last words of the book wrenched my heart. Arrgggh.
How many stars will I give Suri Five: 5
Why: I really enjoyed reading Suri Five. Like I stated above, it is a very fast paced book with scenarios that could actually happen….given time. After I finished reading it, I had to stop and think about it.
Will I reread: Yes
Will I recommend to family and friends: Yes
Age range: Older teen
Why: Violence and some mild language.
**I received a free copy of this book and volunteered to review it**
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