Artificial Artifacts by John Fennec

Artificial Artifacts by John Fennec
My 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.

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Host by Robin Cook

Host by Robin Cook
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 2 days

Pages - 416

Publisher - MacMillan

Source - The Works

Blurb from Goodreads

The explosive new thriller from New York Times–bestselling author and master of the medical thriller, Robin Cook.

Lynn Peirce, a fourth-year medical student at South Carolina’s Mason-Dixon University, thinks she has her life figured out. But when her otherwise healthy boyfriend, Carl, enters the hospital for routine surgery, her neatly ordered life is thrown into total chaos. Carl fails to return to consciousness after the procedure, and an MRI confirms brain death.

Devastated by Carl’s condition, Lynn searches for answers. Convinced there’s more to the story than what the authorities are willing to reveal, Lynn uses all her resources at Mason-Dixon—including her initially reluctant lab partner, Michael Pender—to hunt down evidence of medical error or malpractice.

What she uncovers, however, is far more disturbing. Hospitals associated with Middleton Healthcare, including the Mason-Dixon Medical Center, have unnervingly high rates of unexplained anesthetic complications and patients contracting serious and terminal illness in the wake of routine hospital admissions.

When Lynn and Michael begin to receive death threats, they know they’re into something bigger than either of them anticipated. They soon enter a desperate race against time for answers before shadowy forces behind Middleton Healthcare and their partner, Sidereal Pharmaceuticals, can put a stop to their efforts once and for all.



My Review

Ooft the blurb from Goodreads gives away so much! Lynn is close to finishing her training and becoming a doctor. When her boyfriend is getting some minor surgery she recommends the hospital she is a trainee in, why wouldn't she it is a great hospital. However something goes wrong and Carl doesn't come round from the anaesthetic. Lynn and her fellow trainee Michael start digging and uncover worrying information. Soon they are threatened and can either let it go and save themselves, risking many innocents, or fight to protect their patients and uncover what exactly is going on with Carl.

I do like a book that makes you think or check out conditions so a medical thriller will always get a start straight off for that for me. However, there was so much going on that I didn't like. Lynn and Michael have a great friendship, very loyal and Michael goes out on a limb for her. However the dialogue at times is very boxy and forced it just didn't flow at times for me. There is an incidence of animal cruelty that that scene really wouldn't have been affected had they just omitted it, animal cruelty always gets a stars down from me particularly when it adds zero to the scene/story.

The whole how are for why, whilst original and something different it just didn't work for me overall. Too much of it I just sat and thought, really? Just no! I think some of it is really heavy on medical jargon/details which may switch some readers off, I actually didn't mind this although it was a bit heavy going at times.

The main character was really lacking in emotion at many key points where regardless of your job, with what had just happened with your partner, you would have an emotive reaction. On the other hand there were scenes her emotions almost blew what they were trying to accomplish, it just didn't work for me personally.

Interesting although disjointed in parts and I felt the ending came swiftly and let me asking if that was really how we were wrapping it up, sure many will be fine with it. 2.5 out of 5 for me this time, I would read Cook again, I did enjoy some aspects of the book however too much annoyed me that over shadowed the bits I did like.

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Review - Feed by Mira Grant

Deadline by Mira Grant
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Time taken to rad - 8 days

Publisher - Orbit

Pages - 524

Blurb from Goodreads

Shaun Mason is a man without a mission. Not even running the news organization he built with his sister has the same urgency as it used to. Playing with dead things just doesn't seem as fun when you've lost as much as he has.
But when a CDC researcher fakes her own death and appears on his doorstep with a ravenous pack of zombies in tow, Shaun has a newfound interest in life. Because she brings news-he may have put down the monster who attacked them, but the conspiracy is far from dead.
Now, Shaun hits the road to find what truth can be found at the end of a shotgun.


My Review

This is the second book in this series, I would strongly suggest reading Feed, the first in this series, to get an idea of the background story. Shaun Mason has nothing left to lose, nothing is what it used to be, nothing is fun, he has only one purpose left now. Reporting the truth, reporting what is happening with the zombies and trying to unravel what happened in the first book is what drive Shaun. When a CDC researcher reaches out to Shaun and his team, after faking her own death, she puts his team in peril and gives him another opening to pursue the truth and try and expose the conspiracy, once and for all.

Ok so yes it is a zombie book however, it is more dealing with whats happened in the past, focusing on and unraveling the conspiracy and, I felt, product endorsement! There isn't a whole lot of zombie action, the threat is always there, always looming, however it is who is the bad guys, why have they done what they did and picking up the pieces and trying to escape and get the truth. Shaun and his team blog the news, they have cameras following them, reporting to the people about the zombie situation whilst the surviving public go to work in controlled environments.

I have to say, for large portions, I was bored or frustrated. I wanted something to happen, don't get me wrong, sometimes something did but it was a long time coming. There isn't enough zombies, if there was one comment about why the main character drinks copious amounts of coca cola, there was thirty. Not quite as much, but still in repetition, Avon skin so soft, mentioned several times that I did feel if there isn't a product endorsement, there should have been as she mentioned them often enough!

The story itself could have been cut down by at least a quarter and not affect the tale that is told and the main character Shaun I could have slapped at times. Often he is threatening violence towards other characters, women included and sees nothing wrong with this, which really annoyed me. That said, the last three pages made me want to get the next installment of this trilogy, three pages generated enough spark for me to want to find out what happens. I can't say I liked many, if any, of the characters. I didn't hate the book, I just didn't like a whole lot of it, the parts I did like, reminded me a bit of resident evil, especially the last three pages. So 2/5 for me this time, I feel I have to read the next one, for closure and just because I am too nosey not to.

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