Review of Terms of Service
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Laura Brothers
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Review of Terms of Service
[Following is a volunteer review of "Terms of Service" by Craig W. Stanfill.]
In a dystopian world where AI technology is so intricately integrated into society that artificial intelligence programs are almost regarded as people, Kim works for the Artificial Intelligence corporation to train AI neural networks. Kim has always loved the idea of working with AI, but she craves more than simply working with the low ordered AIs that deal with the trivial aspects of society like the transportation system. Day in and day out she works to monitor the actions of citizens only to catch them violating the vague yet unrelenting rules that dictate this world: the Terms of Service.
Kim has bigger aspirations to work with higher order AIs that have a greater sentience and therefore a capacity to think, and more importantly learn, but this seems out of reach for the middle class citizen whose record was far from perfect. The reason for this less than perfect record was her childhood friend, Shan who always wound up getting them both in trouble. Kim had a good job and was doing well to mind the rules of society, and blend in without occurring violations living away from her childhood friend. This pattern would resume, however, on the day that Shan moved back into the city and changed Kim’s life forever when they went for a seemingly innocent bike ride. Delve into this futuristic world with Kim in Craig W. Stanfill’s science fiction book called Terms of Service.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, but there is an adjustment period where the reader must come to fully understand this world. As a result, the first part of the book is focused on explaining the world and defining what makes it dystopian. This society is focused on creating a group of citizens that do not have preferences for anything. Showing a desire for food, music, and even gender in a partner deems the individual “selfist” and makes them a target for the UCE (Unity, Community, Equality) Organization whose righteous phrase is “All are One when One is All.” Defiance from this ideology makes you a target for brutality almost worse than death. After the world comes into focus, the rest of the book is centralized on how Kim’s perception of her world shatters, and is ultimately faced with a heart wrenching decision. Besides this one negative, I was truly drawn into the world. The author has a way of keeping you engaged with the story that truly never has a dull moment.
A fair warning to readers: this book does contain sexual content and the internal struggle of having a sexual preference for partners. It may also be triggering to those who do not like the idea of same sex relations, as the gender of the characters are not always explicit. There are not necessarily graphic depictions of the act itself, but the book does cover emotional intimacy as well as generalized descriptions of sexual encounters. The dystopian world also normalizes the use of drinking and drugs especially in these dating and sexual scenes, even though every action is consensual regarding all parties involved. Because of this, I would warrant the age of the reader to be at least 16 years of age. Additionally, a warning to avid book readers, this book is not perfectly wrapped up at the end of its pages. There is a sequel to Terms of Service that continues the next phase of Kim's journey: The Prophecy of the Heron: An AI Dystopian Novel.
I rate Terms of Service 5 out of 5 stars for an outstanding plot that kept me hungry for more and flawless editing.
Furthermore, I recommend this book to those who truly love dystopian novels as well as those who love science fiction and technology and who are also at least 16 years old.
******
Terms of Service
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
In a dystopian world where AI technology is so intricately integrated into society that artificial intelligence programs are almost regarded as people, Kim works for the Artificial Intelligence corporation to train AI neural networks. Kim has always loved the idea of working with AI, but she craves more than simply working with the low ordered AIs that deal with the trivial aspects of society like the transportation system. Day in and day out she works to monitor the actions of citizens only to catch them violating the vague yet unrelenting rules that dictate this world: the Terms of Service.
Kim has bigger aspirations to work with higher order AIs that have a greater sentience and therefore a capacity to think, and more importantly learn, but this seems out of reach for the middle class citizen whose record was far from perfect. The reason for this less than perfect record was her childhood friend, Shan who always wound up getting them both in trouble. Kim had a good job and was doing well to mind the rules of society, and blend in without occurring violations living away from her childhood friend. This pattern would resume, however, on the day that Shan moved back into the city and changed Kim’s life forever when they went for a seemingly innocent bike ride. Delve into this futuristic world with Kim in Craig W. Stanfill’s science fiction book called Terms of Service.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, but there is an adjustment period where the reader must come to fully understand this world. As a result, the first part of the book is focused on explaining the world and defining what makes it dystopian. This society is focused on creating a group of citizens that do not have preferences for anything. Showing a desire for food, music, and even gender in a partner deems the individual “selfist” and makes them a target for the UCE (Unity, Community, Equality) Organization whose righteous phrase is “All are One when One is All.” Defiance from this ideology makes you a target for brutality almost worse than death. After the world comes into focus, the rest of the book is centralized on how Kim’s perception of her world shatters, and is ultimately faced with a heart wrenching decision. Besides this one negative, I was truly drawn into the world. The author has a way of keeping you engaged with the story that truly never has a dull moment.
A fair warning to readers: this book does contain sexual content and the internal struggle of having a sexual preference for partners. It may also be triggering to those who do not like the idea of same sex relations, as the gender of the characters are not always explicit. There are not necessarily graphic depictions of the act itself, but the book does cover emotional intimacy as well as generalized descriptions of sexual encounters. The dystopian world also normalizes the use of drinking and drugs especially in these dating and sexual scenes, even though every action is consensual regarding all parties involved. Because of this, I would warrant the age of the reader to be at least 16 years of age. Additionally, a warning to avid book readers, this book is not perfectly wrapped up at the end of its pages. There is a sequel to Terms of Service that continues the next phase of Kim's journey: The Prophecy of the Heron: An AI Dystopian Novel.
I rate Terms of Service 5 out of 5 stars for an outstanding plot that kept me hungry for more and flawless editing.
Furthermore, I recommend this book to those who truly love dystopian novels as well as those who love science fiction and technology and who are also at least 16 years old.
******
Terms of Service
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
