ARA Review by M. D. Sanders of Ninety-five percent Human

[M. D. Sanders]

[Following is an OnlineBookClub.org ARA Review of the book, Ninety-five percent Human.]

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4 out of 5 stars

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In Ninety-five percent Human, a young man trying to run a failing farm with his Nan- despite the inclination of his brother to sell- stumbles across a beautiful young woman throwing herself off a waterfall. And after ruining her perfectly solid suicide attempt, finds himself taking her in and getting wrapped up in her secrets. So follows the story they weave together as they encounter government agents, computer life forms, outdated mob trope debt collectors, a geologist whose sense of humor is a bit... rocky, aliens, the army, tourists, and keepers of the planet... all while falling in love.

And I'd say it's worth a solid four out of five stars. (At three I would've finished it but not considered it worth continuing the series, where at five I'd not only finish it, but consider it possibly worth rereading at some point, and continue the series even if I had to pay for sequels that weren't available in a library/Kindle Unlimited.)

The premise is decent. The plot and characters properly fleshed out. There's a nice amount of suspense with a satisfying payout. And the dialogue, while not amazingly spectacular, is solid. It feels decently realistic and gets the message across smoothly.

Personally: I prefer a bit more wit and banter, and the romantic buildup was a bit tame for my taste. (Not in the sense of wanting them doing naughty things, but rather, I prefer a little friction and tension- where they mostly just mutually fell for each other with all the suspense coming from external issues.)

Also the main character has a knack for being a touch useless in a pinch, freezing up or being dumb or getting dragged along while others lead the action. Not always, or entirely unrealistically given he is just a regular teenager and facing off against things well beyond him, but frequently enough for him to feel just a bit like a male damsel in distress even when he's not the one who needs rescuing.

All in all though, it's a decent enough Sci-fi romance, and I'll probably pick up the sequel and continue it at some point.

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