Review of The Boy Who Saves The World
Posted: 14 Apr 2025, 11:38
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Boy Who Saves The World" by Bruce Deitrick Price.]
“The whole texture of reality seems to be at war with itself.” Bruce Deitrick Price offers The Boy Who Saves The World as a collision between varying forms of dispassionate, algorithmic genius and untainted, genuine human emotion, which creates such dangerous chaos, it’s impossible to tell the good guys from the bad guys. Dr. Jon Newman has been working for the US government to explore the newest advances in artificial intelligence; however, Newman has secretly gone far beyond his assignment, creating an advanced AI prototype that escapes Newman’s laboratory, self-animates, and inserts itself into the mind of a boy named Carlos. Thus begins the urgent crisscrossing of intentions: Carlos’ mother searching for her lost son, Newman searching for his lost “robot,” the US military searching for the renegade Dr. Newman, Dr. Newman’s nemesis, Dr. Charlotte Carlyle, searching for a scientific way to stop all the chaos, and Carlos searching for any way to turn off the voice in his head and go back to his innocent world of video games and girls.
The premise of this book centers on the Frankenstein-esque concept of out-of-control technology but adds the more nuanced question of who is at fault, with an equal measure of blame being introduced with each chapter. The characters and their situations are so fully drawn that the readers’ allegiance is pulled in different directions simultaneously. It’s simply brilliant. Price smartly chooses an omniscient point of view so that readers learn the thoughts of all characters as they struggle through the dangers of the storyline. There is delicious irony in the fact that the government actually hired Newman to create “smart soldiers” (human killing machines) by merging artificial intelligence with natural intelligence, and that’s exactly what he irresponsibly did. The intellectual mind games that Price plays with his audience go beyond the average futuristic, high-tech, science fiction genre.
However, the book is not without flaws. In my opinion, Price creates two unrealistic and unnecessary romantic storylines. I think the sexual innuendo between the two federal agents was intended to be titillating, but I found it only served to disrupt the action of the storyline. And the romance between Sammy and Ophelia, Carlos’ mom, was completely unbelievable to me. At a time when both should have been terrified, frantic, and grief-stricken, Ophelia tells Sammy, “Okay, I want you to … kiss me. And then we will go look for Carlos.” In another instance, Sammy tells Ophelia, “So we sit here comfortably and hours go by and this has been a wonderful time.” I was also frustrated with the lack of editing. I found dozens of errors, some very obvious: simple spelling errors and periods dropped into the middle of sentences.
I rate this book 3 out of 5 stars. I love the concept, the action, and the well-developed characters. Unfortunately, a misstep with the romantic storylines and the lack of proofreading bring the rating down.
I think this book is aimed at adults. It is littered with vulgar language and contains sexual innuendo more appropriate for mature audiences.
******
The Boy Who Saves The World
View: on Bookshelves
“The whole texture of reality seems to be at war with itself.” Bruce Deitrick Price offers The Boy Who Saves The World as a collision between varying forms of dispassionate, algorithmic genius and untainted, genuine human emotion, which creates such dangerous chaos, it’s impossible to tell the good guys from the bad guys. Dr. Jon Newman has been working for the US government to explore the newest advances in artificial intelligence; however, Newman has secretly gone far beyond his assignment, creating an advanced AI prototype that escapes Newman’s laboratory, self-animates, and inserts itself into the mind of a boy named Carlos. Thus begins the urgent crisscrossing of intentions: Carlos’ mother searching for her lost son, Newman searching for his lost “robot,” the US military searching for the renegade Dr. Newman, Dr. Newman’s nemesis, Dr. Charlotte Carlyle, searching for a scientific way to stop all the chaos, and Carlos searching for any way to turn off the voice in his head and go back to his innocent world of video games and girls.
The premise of this book centers on the Frankenstein-esque concept of out-of-control technology but adds the more nuanced question of who is at fault, with an equal measure of blame being introduced with each chapter. The characters and their situations are so fully drawn that the readers’ allegiance is pulled in different directions simultaneously. It’s simply brilliant. Price smartly chooses an omniscient point of view so that readers learn the thoughts of all characters as they struggle through the dangers of the storyline. There is delicious irony in the fact that the government actually hired Newman to create “smart soldiers” (human killing machines) by merging artificial intelligence with natural intelligence, and that’s exactly what he irresponsibly did. The intellectual mind games that Price plays with his audience go beyond the average futuristic, high-tech, science fiction genre.
However, the book is not without flaws. In my opinion, Price creates two unrealistic and unnecessary romantic storylines. I think the sexual innuendo between the two federal agents was intended to be titillating, but I found it only served to disrupt the action of the storyline. And the romance between Sammy and Ophelia, Carlos’ mom, was completely unbelievable to me. At a time when both should have been terrified, frantic, and grief-stricken, Ophelia tells Sammy, “Okay, I want you to … kiss me. And then we will go look for Carlos.” In another instance, Sammy tells Ophelia, “So we sit here comfortably and hours go by and this has been a wonderful time.” I was also frustrated with the lack of editing. I found dozens of errors, some very obvious: simple spelling errors and periods dropped into the middle of sentences.
I rate this book 3 out of 5 stars. I love the concept, the action, and the well-developed characters. Unfortunately, a misstep with the romantic storylines and the lack of proofreading bring the rating down.
I think this book is aimed at adults. It is littered with vulgar language and contains sexual innuendo more appropriate for mature audiences.
******
The Boy Who Saves The World
View: on Bookshelves