Machinehood

By: S.B. Divya

Narrated by: Inés del Castillo, Deepti Gupta

Zero Dark Thirty meets The Social Network in this “clever…gritty” (Ken Liu, author of The Grace of Kings) science fiction thriller about artificial intelligence, sentience, and labor rights in a near future dominated by the gig economy - from Hugo Award nominee S.B. Divya.

Welga Ramirez, executive bodyguard and ex-special forces, is about to retire early when her client is killed in front of her. It’s, 2095 and people don’t usually die from violence. Humanity is entirely dependent on pills that not only help them stay alive but allow them to compete with artificial intelligence in an increasingly competitive gig economy. Daily doses protect against designer diseases, flow enhances focus, zips and buffs enhance physical strength and speed, and juvers speed the healing process.

All that changes when Welga’s client is killed by The Machinehood, a new and mysterious terrorist group that has simultaneously attacked several major pill funders. The Machinehood operatives seem to be part human, part machine, something the world has never seen. They issue an ultimatum: stop all pill production in one week.

Global panic ensues as pill production slows and many become ill. Thousands destroy their bots in fear of a strong AI takeover. But the US government believes the Machinehood is a cover for an old enemy. One that Welga is uniquely qualified to fight.

Welga, determined to take down the Machinehood, is pulled back into intelligence work by the government that betrayed her. But who are the Machinehood, and what do they really want?

A “fantastic, big-idea thriller” (Malka Older, Hugo Award finalist for The Centenal Cycle series) that asks: if we won’t see machines as human, will we instead see humans as machines?

©2021 Divya Srinivasan Breed. All rights reserved. (P)2021 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

A future with too much jargon for my taste

Am imagined time when population growth has continued, climate change has caused havoc and technology has produced sentient artificial intelligence. The artificial intelligence is demanding human rights, to be considered human. Conflicts has become theater with warriors being paid with tips. Civilization is evolving to a new phase. The characters don’t seem As believable to me as I’d like but produce an engaging plot.

I like the premise but deliver fell short for me.

I like the premise but deliver fell short for me. For some reason I had a hard time staying with this book. The premise is good but for me it was a bit hard to follow. If your in the tech thrillers you might like to spend a credit on this. Its not bad I just struggled with it for some reason.

excellent!

good flow with quality social dynamics and true to form technology. very enjoyable read for near future (100yrs) scenarios.

Great listen give it a try

It was a great sci-fi option give it a try you will like it

Excellent sci-fi

There is so much I loved about this book, but probably the way the author imagined our near future with variations on existing social problems still impacting our daily lives made it so very realistic. I loved the strong female roles, diverse supporting characters, and plot twists. I'm going to have to get this book in hard copy to share with some of my students.

A good example of passive main characters

A lot of time spent with characters hammering on about the themes of the book, little time experiencing these themes in any emotional sense.

The plot kind-of resolves itself with major clues being given to the protagonists for no apparent reason, or enemy agents just giving up. It never felt serious. No character seemed clever.

The whole book felt less like an action-adventure story with escalating stakes and more like a couple peoples journals during a particular time is future history.

Might be useful as an example of an interesting concept written poorly and performed well.

An excellent listen

I really enjoyed this book. A few heavy accents but they fit well in the story. A very interesting view of the future of our planet. Well written and well read. I can easily recommend this book.

Believable and throughly provoking.

Great story, writing and an interesting reflection of a very plausible future. I love how in this future, gender inclusivity is a given.

Interesting questions

The writing and story are a bit simple but the overall premise gives it a higher rating. The narration is excellent and none of the simplicity was distracting. It kept me thinking all the way through. This is one that will sit with me for a while

cool

a thoughtful novel of humans possible future. cool
premise and well executed. I like the reader's too.