If light records everything we do, can even shadows hide our secrets? Imagine your entire life is available for review. Imagine each day any event can be watched over and over again – your birth, your first kiss, your recent shower, that private itch – all replayable from any angle. Now imagine these can be viewed by anyone at any time. Is a world where there is far less ego, little crime, and … ego, little crime, and even the smallest moments are recorded and available publicly through the ‘Grand Archive’ a Utopia or a Dystopia? Traumatized by memories he does not want to recall, artist Ben Tinthawin is recruited by the enigmatic, Grand Archive creator Dr. Mamon, who seeks help for his nextgen designs to enhance the world. Ben stumbles across a secret revealing the doctor’s true scheme in all its surreal splendor and questions whether the doctor really is the benevolent soul he claims to be.As the paths of a broken man and a brilliant revolutionary cross, the world shifts and cracks start to appear. Even our most fundamental codes can be encrypted – or corrupted. If the wrong information is discovered, more than Ben’s life will be in danger of total shut down.
Prepare yourself for full exposure.
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A book that has been woven like a tapestry. The author has an incredible talent for creating and describing a future world that is both entirely make-believe and a bit too close to home with current society. It is not that much of a stretch to consider a world where you have no privacy, and everyone knows everything about you. Every person today with a home virtual assistant or a smartphone already has someone recording their every utterance day and night.
The dynamic nature of the interpersonal relationships is also a strong suit of the author. Where other authors might rely on letting details slide to simply push the story forward – here, the author immerses the reader in the day to day lives and that makes the reading experience much more rewarding.
There are a number of central issues that resonate with this book. Key among them are family, privacy and who you can trust. The reader will get to determine how each of these messages is conveyed from this book.
A strong contender for a streaming special. A solid read for all fans of dystopian science fiction. One that will stick with a reader.
My Rating: 5 stars
In the future, everything is accessible via “archives.” These are files of people’s brains that allow outsiders to see into every moment of their life if they wish. Ben doesn’t understand the fascination. He has memories that he would never like to see again. In the midst of coping with his tragic past, he’s recruited by archive scientist Dr. Mamon for a special project. Ben isn’t sure at first, but when he sees the doctor has a secret, a potential dark motive for his new project, he must do what he can to stop him.
This was different.
That’s my first thought after finishing this story. It wasn’t bad, per se, but it was very hard to follow. The worldbuilding is phenomenal with all kinds of scientific advancements in a progressed society. This was what I loved the most about the book. However, the book had sporadic pacing and random events that made it hard to follow at times.
For the most part, I liked Ben. In the midst of recovering from his own tragedies, he’s a force to be reckoned with. At times, I wanted to root for him, but other times, I wanted to strangle him. All in all, this wasn’t a bad read. Just be prepared to possibly listen to the story twice. That’s what I did to gain the necessary clarity to really enjoy the prose.
Narration was well done.
This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.
This book was intriguing, captivating, compelling, and thought-provoking!
I really enjoyed the complex and creative story line filled with lucrative and well-developed plot points!
I liked the main characters, Ben, Susan, Laurel, Lenny, and Ben’s twin brother’s Ed and Francis. Ben is 29 years-old and is raising his 7-year-old twin conjoined brothers on his own. Ben is clearly still damaged and distraught over the car accident and rape that severely injured him emotionally, physically, and mentally and took the life of his father. He continues to struggle to get his life back on track and move forward. He begins a volunteer position at the Saint Center by painting images from the Saint’s journals to help make their coma sleep happier, comfortable, and peaceful. Ben is tormented, guarded, insecure, brave, curious, stubborn, and determined. I really liked how down to earth Laurel was and how much she wanted to help Ben overcome his troubles. Laurel even had Ben stay with her on the farm after the accident when she saw he had become significantly depressed. She wants Ben to watch the Archive video of the accident as she believes this will help him work through the tragedy, but Ben is resistant. She is also very good with the twins! I enjoyed Lenny as he was very silly and entertaining! He provided some quick laughs through a more dark and serious reading. And of course, the twins! They sure were an interesting pair! It’s hard not to feel for them and their situation, but they were extremely needy, and it was understandable why Ben occasionally tended to resent them. I feel like all the characters were important, but I wasn’t able to connect with any of them or find them relatable or engaging. Perhaps that’s because of the genre and theme of this book? Or because their character arcs didn’t really seem to develop as far as I’d hope these characters would have gone?
I really liked the original story line and the stimulating scenarios.
Being able to go back and watch past memories sounds very intriguing. Although, I’m not sure how often I would actually watch as I would have lived those moments already, I wouldn’t need to watch them. I guess I’d go back and watch old memories with my great-grandparents that have since passed on as I miss them dearly. But the premise that ANYONE can pull these files ANYTIME is eerie and disturbing. Private moments should be private. If I want someone to know about a certain memory, I’d tell them. However, after the Archive is implemented there is very little crime. That right there is HUGE!!! I guess I might be willing to give up complete privacy if the crime rates were extremely, extremely low. Knowing that giving up my privacy could save lives would be worth it. Is there anything you wouldn’t give up if it meant no murder, no gangs, no war?
This story line is something everyone will be able to connect to and is at the forefront in today’s society – the fight for privacy.
This story had incredible world-building which is very important in science fiction books. I was very pleased with the significant detail that Mr. Wind provided. It was very easy to picture.
Furthermore, I’d also like to point out that I think the author did an impressive job defining his structure specifics as it all sounded credible and cohesive. Technology is constantly on the rise and fancy new gadgets are being released on the daily. It’s only a matter of time until perhaps these creations are developed. So, at no point did I feel like what I was reading was questionable regardless that this book genre is sci-fi.
Although the story line worked and there were definitely quite a few plot points to keep the story going – this book seemed on the longer end even though it was technically only 160 eBook pages. This book felt a bit complicated and confusing at times as there was so much going on in the story. There were several passages I had to re-read to figure out what was happening and get back into the story. This is not a book that you can read lightly while doing other things. This book needs your full attention to comprehend the full picture otherwise you get lost in the words and it’s just a jumble of letters.
There are some predictable scenes. However, there are still a few very unexpected twists and turns that you won’t see coming!
This book is not part of a book series at this time and therefore, can be read as a standalone.
All in all, I enjoyed reading this book and would absolutely recommend it! I think all science fiction and speculative fiction readers will like this book too! So, add it to your TBR List and get to reading – you won’t be disappointed!
**Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book and have voluntarily provided an honest, and unbiased review in accordance with FTC regulations.**
Many of us are teetering between paranoia and vigilance over exactly how much of our lives are being recorded by the government and somewhere somebody can watch many of our private moments. While this is fiction, it has such an air of reality to it that it is frightening. That makes this book totally awesome.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
A Curious State of Being
Some books are meant to just pass the time. Some are meant to offer thrills and breathless moments of excitement. Some are meant to scare us. Some to make us dream of all the what ifs. But this book stretches the imagination. It forces the reader to think. To envision this world you must be fully engaged. To grasp it, though, the reader must remove all of their filters and open doors to a reality that we all face but don’t want to admit or see. In a very abstract way, the author takes us on a journey of pure reality. For ears that hear and eyes that truly see.
Grand Read!
Wind pens an unique story in Bulb. I haven’t read anything from this author before, and I liked this story. A dystopian story but not so different from the world we live in now. It’s one of those stories that stick with you, making you want to continue. It’s a cross between sci-fi and dystopian, with a mixed cast of characters. The main character is Ben, but the story follows more than just his journey and interaction with this futuristic world. Survival and adventure participates in Ben’s journey, along with several interesting characters, and I personally liked the conjoined Twins (Android or AI) Ed and Francis, who were written well. They were created with a mind of a young child, which brought both seriousness and flair to the story. With humor and the unknown, this story is a grand read. I look forward to reading more by this author. This book is a definite recommendation by Amy’s Bookshelf Reviews.