The Evolution of Robert Carr
By Paul K. Lovett
Publisher: Lulu
Publishing Services
Published: April 17, 2015
ASIN: B00WRI23XU
Amazon Synopsis:
Paul K. Lovett's science fiction satire The
Evolution of Robert Carr is an audacious, operatic romp through a
dystopian near future where genetic enhancements have pushed
the divide between rich and poor ever closer to its social breaking
point.
The subversive tale opens on Robert Carr's eighteenth birthday when
he is about to join the top 2% of the population by becoming a recipient
of an exorbitantly expensive neural enhancement procedure. Yet
Robert is rather uniquely reticent to the prospect. He fears becoming distant,
cold, inhuman, like his enhanced best friend. And that his girlfriend, one
of the revolutionary Dragoons, will spurn him. Ultimately, Robert accepts
the procedure, citing all the advantages in life it will give him. But
he gets much more than he bargained for. Aurora, the
supercomputer used to create the enhancement program has become sentient,
giving Robert an unexpected 'gift.' And once he leaves the confines of uDesign,
the giant bio-tech corporation that performed the enhancements, his life
takes an extraordinary and unexpected turn.
Book Links
In this science
fiction, dystopian novel, artificial intelligence has been created. Its name is
called Aurora. Humans were now being enhanced, changed genetically and
neurologically. Without the enhancements it was extremely difficult to get into
a good university or get a good job.
Robert Carr was
turning eighteen and his parents had remortgaged their home in order to provide
the enhancement procedure for their son. Though reluctant to undergo the
procedure, he did it anyway to please his parents. To his parents delight, the
company provided the just released version 2.1 of the Z14 neural implant for
free. Upon waking from the procedure,
Robert hears a voice in his head. He thinks he has gone crazy, but in reality
he has met Dez, Aurora’s offspring.
Often when we look
at artificial intelligence and human longevity in novels the humans want to
load themselves into the computer as a way of living forever. In this novel,
the computer wants to become human in order to experience all that humans can
experience. The AI does not have the five senses that the human body does and
Dez relishes all the experiences he feels while he inhabits Robert Carrs body.
I have to admit I
was very surprised by this novel as it was not what I had expected. There were
a lot of twists and turns, some which went places I was totally surprised at.
I liked the struggle
to decide whether or not to get the genetic alterations and the neural implant.
It really would change a person. Robert voiced those questions well. There were
some definite positives to the procedure though – curing of illnesses and
allergies, increased longevity. But would things like never sleeping again be a
negative or a positive?
I thought that the
method the Dragoons were using to fight the authorities to try to get equality
was a very poor way to go about it and found it somewhat ironic that Dez, as an
artificial life form was helping them.
The story moved
along at a good clip occasionally veering off course to explain or describe
situations of other characters related to the main characters. This helped the
reader to better understand the main character.
There was quite a
bit of profanity in this novel and reference to sex so if this is offensive to
you as the reader, you’ll want to consider this before you pick up the book.
I thought the book
would have been better without the profanity and references to sex. It was
perhaps longwinded in some areas but the premise of the story was quite
interesting. I gave The Evolution of
Robert Carr 3 stars out of 5.
Thank you to the
publishers for providing a copy of the book in exchange for a fair and honest
review. A positive opinion was not required. All thoughts are my own.
About the Author:
Paul
K. Lovett is a seasoned Hollywood screenwriter with the emotional scars,
caffeine addiction and chiropractic bills to prove it. He is best known for the
feature film Four Brothers, starring Mark Wahlberg. Paul has penned over thirty
scripts in every genre for most of the major studios, including Universal,
Sony, Paramount, Fox, Disney, Dreamworks and HBO. The Evolution of Robert Carr
was born out of a desire for genuine self-expression, resurrected from the
smashed and trampled piñata pieces that once comprised Paul's creative
integrity. He lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife and daughter.
Author Links
No comments :
Post a Comment