Auxiliary: London 2039 by Jon RichterMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
"All these interactions that infused modern human lives; behind them, a single entity, a massive, sprawling intelligence."
(NOTE: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.)
If you like your dystopia hopelessly bleak and black as sin, then this book should be at the top of your Halloween list. (For mature readers only!!!)
Tautly written and compact, Richter's part-mystery, part-scifi novel about a woman who gets murdered by the robotic arm of her boyfriend... something that is supposed to be impossible. Cybernetics gone wrong? Hidden murderous tendencies? Our hero, tortured policeman Dremmler, is out to find the truth.
I suppose, more than the murder, what I found particularly chilling in Richter's 2039 was the idea that children would no longer be taught by teachers, but by TIM (The Imagination Machine), which basically controlled every aspect of human life. Humans would walk around wearing spex or glasses powered by superb artificial intelligence. The book gets its title from the job of the murdered girl, who was one of the "auxiliaries" or non-teaching staff in a school where kids sat placidly all day, being fed information by computers inside glasses.
"Everything was meticulously organized and controlled. Human life, shepherded.
Like cattle."
Would have given the book a 4 star rating but the ending, quite frankly, I felt violently against. It's got nothing to do with the skill of the author and everything about who I am as a reader: a dreamer who looks for hope and light in her usual book fare.
Richter knows how to tell a tale. Suspenseful and well-imagined, his is a world that we've seen glimpses of in other sci-fi movies and stories, but he brings his own special brand of gloom and doom to it. No wonder he calls his work "dark fiction!" His work makes Black Mirror seem white!
Richter's 2039 is a warning of what could happen if we allow ourselves to be consumed by the AltWorld and not reality (and as a recent convert to the immersive online game SWTOR, I feel that I should take heed!). Of the humanity we lose when we give more power to technology.
Guaranteed to make you seriously think about throwing away anything electronic in your home. I shall never look at a printer the same way again.
Will definitely keep the lights on tonight!!!!
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Relevant links below:
Here is the link to the book:
https://geni.us/auxiliarym
Here is their website:
https://www.tckpublishing.com/
And here is the author’s website:
https://www.jon-richter.com/
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