Replica by Jack Heath
Feb. 14th, 2015 10:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
”Whose body is that on the table?” I ask.
She stares at me, as though the answer is obvious.
“It’s yours,” she says.
Chloe wakes up to find all her memories have been wipes. And the only person who knows what happened is a teenage girl who looks and sounds exactly like her.
Who is she? And what does she want?
Chloe is running out of time to discover the truth. But she’s in even more danger than she realizes, and nothing is as it seems …
17-year-old Chloe Zimetski wakes up in the basement of her house. She’s lost her memory and can’t move. Her captor is a girl who looks exactly like her but the real shock comes when she realises that her head has been separated from her body. She soon discovers that she’s an android created from open source artificial software to serve as the real Chloe’s stand in while she investigates why a group of sinister men are following her. But events soon spiral out of control and the Chloe-bot finds herself in the middle of a conspiracy involving murder, primate military companies and quantum computers. Even worse, she discovers that her creator has secrets of her own that could hurt Chloe more deeply then she could possible imagine …
Jack Heath’s YA SF thriller is a fast-paced affair that touches on what artificial life is and the implications of quantum computing. Normally I enjoy slick YA thrillers but here I wished that the book had been a little longer as I wanted more reflection by Chloe on her relationship with Becky and her parents and the dangers and benefits of quantum computing. I also felt that the plot was stretched a little too far at times, especially in relation to a key character death which lacks impact. That said, Chloe is a believable character and Heath does a good job of showing her coming to terms with who and what she is. Heath also raises interesting points about the role of private military companies and how their interests can diverge from their governmental paymasters. All in all, while this book didn’t quite come good for me, it was still an interesting read that kept me turning the pages and I’d certainly check out his other work.
One of the best scenes in the book is where Chloe goes on line to check out the AI used to make her. There’s a particularly chilling moment where she encounters another AI on line who asks for her help and I really wished that Heath had made more of this, even had Chloe engage with the on-line people who helped to make her. I also liked the scenes between Chloe and Becky and wished that this had been allowed to develop more, mainly because there aren’t enough lesbian relationships in YA right now.
The Verdict:
Jack Heath’s YA SF thriller is a fast-paced affair that touches on what artificial life is and the implications of quantum computing. Normally I enjoy slick YA thrillers but here I wished that the book had been a little longer as I wanted more reflection by Chloe on her relationship with Becky and her parents and the dangers and benefits of quantum computing. I also felt that the plot was stretched a little too far at times, especially in relation to a key character death which lacks impact. That said, Chloe is a believable character and Heath does a good job of showing her coming to terms with who and what she is. Heath also raises interesting points about the role of private military companies and how their interests can diverge from their governmental paymasters. All in all, while this book didn’t quite come good for me, it was still an interesting read that kept me turning the pages and I’d certainly check out his other work.
Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the free copy of this book.
She stares at me, as though the answer is obvious.
“It’s yours,” she says.
Chloe wakes up to find all her memories have been wipes. And the only person who knows what happened is a teenage girl who looks and sounds exactly like her.
Who is she? And what does she want?
Chloe is running out of time to discover the truth. But she’s in even more danger than she realizes, and nothing is as it seems …
17-year-old Chloe Zimetski wakes up in the basement of her house. She’s lost her memory and can’t move. Her captor is a girl who looks exactly like her but the real shock comes when she realises that her head has been separated from her body. She soon discovers that she’s an android created from open source artificial software to serve as the real Chloe’s stand in while she investigates why a group of sinister men are following her. But events soon spiral out of control and the Chloe-bot finds herself in the middle of a conspiracy involving murder, primate military companies and quantum computers. Even worse, she discovers that her creator has secrets of her own that could hurt Chloe more deeply then she could possible imagine …
Jack Heath’s YA SF thriller is a fast-paced affair that touches on what artificial life is and the implications of quantum computing. Normally I enjoy slick YA thrillers but here I wished that the book had been a little longer as I wanted more reflection by Chloe on her relationship with Becky and her parents and the dangers and benefits of quantum computing. I also felt that the plot was stretched a little too far at times, especially in relation to a key character death which lacks impact. That said, Chloe is a believable character and Heath does a good job of showing her coming to terms with who and what she is. Heath also raises interesting points about the role of private military companies and how their interests can diverge from their governmental paymasters. All in all, while this book didn’t quite come good for me, it was still an interesting read that kept me turning the pages and I’d certainly check out his other work.
One of the best scenes in the book is where Chloe goes on line to check out the AI used to make her. There’s a particularly chilling moment where she encounters another AI on line who asks for her help and I really wished that Heath had made more of this, even had Chloe engage with the on-line people who helped to make her. I also liked the scenes between Chloe and Becky and wished that this had been allowed to develop more, mainly because there aren’t enough lesbian relationships in YA right now.
The Verdict:
Jack Heath’s YA SF thriller is a fast-paced affair that touches on what artificial life is and the implications of quantum computing. Normally I enjoy slick YA thrillers but here I wished that the book had been a little longer as I wanted more reflection by Chloe on her relationship with Becky and her parents and the dangers and benefits of quantum computing. I also felt that the plot was stretched a little too far at times, especially in relation to a key character death which lacks impact. That said, Chloe is a believable character and Heath does a good job of showing her coming to terms with who and what she is. Heath also raises interesting points about the role of private military companies and how their interests can diverge from their governmental paymasters. All in all, while this book didn’t quite come good for me, it was still an interesting read that kept me turning the pages and I’d certainly check out his other work.
Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the free copy of this book.
