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The book ended with Project Tau and Kata escaping GenTech after killing everyone who was inside except one scientist who they spared. The scene was left bloody and traumatic, but I found a sense of morbid justice had been archieved.
Did you find the ending to have served the same morbid justice?
What are your thoughts on the ending?

I thought they were justified in killing the same people who had tortured them, but I was glad they spared one. The ending may have opened the door for a sequel.

There was definitely a lot of deserved justice delivered in the ending, especially because I was particularly upset about Reinfield's death. I just wish a lot of other details were resolved. regarding the info sent out to Amy Saunders and Jimmy Salvatore, and I really want to know where Kata and Tau will go from here.

Given how much of a cliffhanger the ending was though, I'm hopeful that there will be a sequel!

I feel the ending did not provide enough justice to Kalin even though he killed most people involved in inflicting pain to him. Kalin had lost himself forever even though he killed all the culprits.

I thought it was perfect, a bit of a cliffhanger but still everything accounted for. All the sadistic handlers and lesser scientists who watched and said nothing shot to death by their own security system (kinda ironic how they got killed by the system that was supposed to keep them safe), Dennison deserved more than just a broken neck but Tau isn't about the torture, and Mason with a slit throat and sliced open. They let Chatton live and he gave them the code to get to Mason and the shuttle code so they could get away easier. The only thing I would have changed would be for Mason to have been fed to Project Epsilon instead of Renfield. More appropriate.

I feel the end didn't serve enough justice, because the damage done could not be reversed. However, I'm glad they did get justice.

I was actually really satisfied with the ending of this book. Often I feel unsatisfied. The major (and several minor) conflicts were resolved, but there is the possibility of a sequel. I am slightly curious as to what Amy does and what Dr Chatton does, but I don't need to know. Likewise, I have curiosity about the future of Tao and Kalin, but I feel complacent in their success.

I was both glad and a bit sad that Kalin got his revenge. The fact that he had changed so much that he was able to kill all of those people was heartbreaking, but I won't deny reading about their deaths was satisfying.

My only real qualm with the ending was that it seemed a little too convenient that Kalin was able to hack into the security system. Yes, he is very bright and took some IT class a while back, but a facility that top secret and advanced I wouldn't expect to be easy to crack.

I think there is plenty of story left to tell with what the author has set up. Amy’s pregnancy, the sparing of Dr. Chatton, Tau and Kalin (or Kata if you prefer that persona) going out into the world. I would love to see this world that Jude Austin created filled out a little more. We’re obviously in the future and we’re not limited to one world. I’d like some exploration on that front. Also, GenTech isn’t limited to the facility they destroyed. We’re told that some of the scientists may have escaped during the chaos. I highly doubt we’ve seen the end of GenTech’s hand in the lives of Tau and Kalin.

Odette Chace wrote: ↑11 Apr 2020, 15:15My only real qualm with the ending was that it seemed a little too convenient that Kalin was able to hack into the security system. Yes, he is very bright and took some IT class a while back, but a facility that top secret and advanced I wouldn't expect to be easy to crack.

Okay, I hereby add an exception to my hands-off policy stating that I'm allowed to be hands-on for the sake of clearing up misunderstandings

Although Kalin thinks of it as hacking in the sense of gaining illegal entry, he doesn't hack the system in the true sense of the word. While he's arguably talented enough - particularly as regards IT - to do so if given enough time and privacy ("the IT classes hadn't taught him anything about programming he didn't already know, and he'd gotten in trouble for removing the restrictions on the school's internet") you're absolutely right that it would take even him a very long time to pull off, and he'd most likely end up being caught long before he really got anywhere.

Instead, he gets access to the mainframe - including the security systems - by stealing Chatton's login credentials in Chapter 12

(Stepping forward until the dark background of the screen didn't reflect his (Kalin's) face, taking care to keep his back to the security camera in the room, he flicked his eyes down, watching not the screen but the scientist's fingers on the keyboard, watching the word they spelled out.
[...]
Crossing over to the computer, he tapped in Chatton's name and password, then started to explore. The man had administrator privileges.[...]He accessed the database and set up a completely new account. Name Taylork, password Renfield.)

Since Chatton, as one of the senior people on the facility, has administrator privileges, Kalin's able to use his account to create another one for himself with those same privileges, essentially allowing him to dig into the mainframe undetected. In a lab that employs a few thousand people, one more new person starting there wouldn't raise any red flags in the system. Chatton himself would have no reason to check his own activity - he knows what he's been doing - and anyone who does spot Kalin would likely assume that, since the account was created by someone as senior as Chatton, it must be legit. The fact that Kalin set up his own account also means there's no chance he can get locked out again in the event of Chatton changing his password or quitting his job.

We also know that working the system, becoming familiar with it and reprogramming it like Kalin does isn't something he pulls off overnight (Over the weeks and months that followed[...]Some four months after first gaining access to the mainframe etc.) This means that by the time Dennison actually catches him in the act at the end of the book, Kalin's been working on the system for a long time, getting all his ducks in a row. He only has to change the execution of his plan from, "when Tau and I are ready and it's a good opportunity," to "sometime in the next five minutes."

I do think it’s a little strange that someone under constant watch was able to access computers for long enough to achieve complex tasks with a high school level of education. Aside from that, I would have liked to see them connect with Amy to see them set up with a new life. I feel like that was set up and never paid off.

I think it was poetic justice.

I personally don’t think that there was much sense of justice at all. You can’t equate a broken neck or a slit throat, which is moments of pain before the escape of death to end that pain, to having your humanity and your very being stripped away from you in such a cruel way

raindropreader wrote: ↑14 Apr 2020, 17:04 I personally don’t think that there was much sense of justice at all. You can’t equate a broken neck or a slit throat, which is moments of pain before the escape of death to end that pain, to having your humanity and your very being stripped away from you in such a cruel way

I thought there was justice, but after reading your comment I may change my mind. What would be justice in this situation?

Whether or not justice was achieved remains a matter of debate but for one scientist to escape the killing is enough reason to expect a sequel.