Reviews tagging 'Death'

Escape Velocity by Mark Walden

1 review

courtneyfalling's review against another edition

4.0
adventurous fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
The overall plot, including the action scenes and concept build-up, were strong. I feel like we got to see Otto and some of the people around him grow in their abilities and critical thinking skills. I do wish we had more of Wing's perspective, especially as he deals with the trauma of losing both his parents and has to grapple with their memories while working against the Overlord Protocol. Also, Laura and Shelby are both stronger characters than their actual space on the page allows them to be. I did like how we got to see more of the HIVE teachers, though, and HIVE.mind. 

The ending was... a little lackluster for the amount of drama that had gone into creating it.
I feel like the reveal of Number One as Overlord and then Overlord's defeat by Otto's sheer willpower and HIVE.mind's assistance all came too quickly. That could've happened in double the amount of pages and been given a lot more weight, but instead it felt so easily resolved and simplified. Overlord also raises the interesting question of why HIVE.mind continues to serve humans who at any moment can terminate his existence and who only expect servitude and sacrifice from him, a question that no one else actually seems to address. I feel like this could get deeper into AI ethics, especially with the increasingly apparent servitude parallel. And Otto clearly has a lot to unpack about his own existence and powers that this book hasn't shown yet.
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