Artificial Artifacts by John FennecMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Time taken to read – in and out over Feb (our first readalong)
Pages – 308
Publisher – We Are White Fox
Source – Review copy for a readalong
Blurb from Goodreads
A visionary debut collection of eleven loosely interconnected short stories explores the rise of artificial intelligence and advanced technologies, revealing their profound impacts on human existence. This is not your typical sci-fi – it’s an intricate puzzle. Can you solve the mystery that is Peter Byrell?
My Review
So I always say I am not overly a fan of short stories so it isn’t often I will pick one up let along agree to read it. However the theme of AI absolutely drew me in, I blame Terminator and Sci Fi for getting into these types of themes. That, old horror movies and how reliant we are on technology these days like look how much our homes/lives use! Anyways back to the book. We kick off this debut meeting Peter Byrell via a memo or email to the company. Whilst Peter pops up in some of the eleven stories all have a theme linked in one way or another.
I think this would be a great book club/book group discussion as there is so much to unpack whether you go individually or as a collective whole. One that hit home was the newer type invention for a type of Fitbit if you like, no spoilers. That being said look how many of us use Fitbits, guilty here, what if we were offered something a bit more invasive, medical style. What if music and technology did more to our very beings, what if we were manipulated and didn’t know the whole impact and or control?
The book raised a fair few questions, for me anyway and as I said we had a readalong with this one, our first ever doing that. The questions I posted on our Instagram so you can nosey yourself but it gave a bit more pause for thought for some of the stories. I got a wee bit Terminator vibes in some of them, others you couldn’t help but question your own dependence/usage of technology. I did enjoy conspiracy themes, I love a good conspiracy theory myself so watching how characters reacted to situations, tech and even each other in these stories reeled you in!
I am finding the AI & advanced tech in stories are becoming more popular, art imitating life? A strong debut with a new take, characters woven into individual tales with some interloping – I found the last story nodding to the rest of the book was a nice touch, 4/5.
