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The This cover art

The This

By: Adam Roberts
Narrated by: Elliot Fitzpatrick
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Summary

The This is the new social media platform everyone is talking about. Allow it to be injected into the roof of your mouth and it will grow into your brain, allowing you to connect with others without even picking up your phone. Its followers are growing. Its detractors say it is a cult. But for one journalist, hired to do a puff-piece interview with their CEO, it will change the world forever.

Adan just wants to stay at home with his smart-companion Elegy - phone, friend, confidante, sex toy. But when his mother flees to Europe and joins a cult, leaving him penniless, he has to enlist in the army. Sentient robots are invading America, but it seems Adan has a surprising ability to survive their attacks. He has a purpose, even if he doesn't know what it is.

And in the far future, war between a hivemind of AIs and the remnants of humanity is coming to its inevitable end. But one woman has developed a weapon that might change the course of the war. It's just a pity she's trapped in an inescapable prison on a hivemind ship.

©2022 Adam Roberts (P)2022 Orion Publishing Group

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  • TJ
  • 25-03-23

Too complex for its own good

I have a masters in philosophy, a degree in a medical science, and read plenty of SF amongst other genres, so I'm not scared of complicated or highbrow. However, this experimental novel - which may turn out, once all is said and listened to, to be a masterpiece - made me want to cover my ears. After about half an hour of battling to be engaged, I called it a day. And was relieved.

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