Review of The eMusketeers

Michael Valentine · Post by **Michael Valentine** » 07 Jun 2023, 18:12

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The eMusketeers" by Bob Witty.]

3 out of 5 stars

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The eMusketeers by Bob Witty is a fascinating read where the author portrays technology through four different personalities. He talks about Sam, who represents all forms of social media; Al, who is an algorithm; Bill, who keeps the phone record; and Mike, who is the speaker and microphone in our homes and devices. He writes ten different short stories showing and talking about how these different technologies have impacted our lives and how, in one way or another, we have come to depend on them. In each story, he singles out one or more of these technological personalities and passes a message about how a character is attached to them and depends on them one way or another.

Bob Witty, in each story of his book, writes about how these technological personalities converse with each other and get tasks done; he also writes about how these musketeers converse with humans to get tasks done. In his book, he passes what I think is a subtle message to his readers, telling them that technology is everywhere, watching us, and ready to share our information.

I appreciated a few things about this book. First, I loved most of the short stories. I loved the first and fifth stories very much. I appreciated how the writer shared both the dangers and usefulness of technology in our world today. I also appreciated how he named each of the forms of technology and made their personalities part of our everyday lives; that was very creative. I loved how he didn’t come out outright to list the disadvantages of some of these technologies but subtly pointed out these disadvantages in each story. It was brilliant.

There were things I really didn’t like in the book. First was how most of the stories were centered on the disadvantages of technology and how it wrecked the lives of his characters; it felt like the author was saying that technology has done more harm than good; however, he noted in the book's introduction that this was not the message he was trying to pass. I also did not understand the last two stories in the book, Chapter 9 and the epilogue, to be precise. I had to read them twice and still didn’t get the plot or storyline. Readers will find these stories confusing if nothing is done about them and if they are not written and explained better. I also didn’t appreciate the fact that I kept on running into errors, especially punctuation errors; it destabilized the free flow of reading the book and prevented me from completely enjoying the beautiful stories the writer penned down so finely.

I rate this three out of five stars because I felt it was a good read. I deducted two stars from my rating because of the errors I found and the other dislikes I noted above. The positive aspects I found prevented me from rating it any lower. I recommend this book for readers looking for a calm and relaxing read—nothing too thrilling that will get the mind and brain worked up. This is the perfect read for such a mood.

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The eMusketeers
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Amy Luman · Post by **Amy Luman** » 09 Jun 2023, 14:26

I always knew that my technology was listening to me. I suppose it’s OK since that part of it works together with the other parts to help me. I’m sorry for all of the errors.

Ivana_5 · Post by **Ivana_5** » 11 Jun 2023, 09:58

Sam, Bill and Mike on creative way description and present eMusketeers storytelling. This novels put on new age of information technology. Old history story about Musketeeres gave a new demension and be modernity novels. I recommend everyone why like aventurine story about three Musketeers.

Okocha Victor · Post by **Okocha Victor** » 11 Jun 2023, 18:02

"The eMusketeers by Bob Witty is a fascinating read where the author portrays technology through four different personalities. He talks about Sam, who represents all forms of social media; Al, who is an algorithm; Bill, who keeps the phone record; and Mike, who is the speaker and microphone in our homes and devices." Ohhhh, That's why it's E musketeers, not 3 musketeers. Now I understand. I was confused by the title of the book, but your review cleared that up accurately for me.

Cherry Rollings · Post by **Cherry Rollings** » 14 Jun 2023, 09:40

Books about technology are my favorite. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Odichimma Okoye · Post by **Odichimma Okoye** » 13 Jul 2023, 05:30

I can sense that the author's creativity ran from cover to cover. I thought at first that the "e" in "eMusketeers" was an error until I got down to the business of going through the review and realized that it meant "electronic." It's easy for a person to acknowledge the bad and forget the good. While technology has had a lot of negative impacts, it is important to remember the wonderful breakthroughs we've had in our world today as a result of this technology.