Official Review: Death is a Machine by Zebulon Grey

[jechamer]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Death is a Machine" by Zebulon Grey.]

Devlin has an abnormality in his blood cells and is expected to die. However, not everyone is willing to just let him die and he is put into cryogenic stasis without his knowledge. Devlin wakes up to a very different world than when he went to sleep. He’s in pain, can’t move or talk and is being taken care of by a beautiful woman he has never met. As time goes on, the pain goes away and eventually, he is able to talk and get out of bed. His nurse tells him that he was put in cryogenic stasis for thousands of years. There were thousands of others put into stasis as well.

During the time that Devlin was in cryogenic stasis, other planets were colonized. Unfortunately, humans still could not get along and there was a galactic war that wiped out the colonized planets and just about wiped out earth. Devlin is told that he was brought out of status help rebuild the earth.

As Devlin recovers, his nurse allows him to get up and takes him on a tour of the facility that he’s in. As the story unfolds, Devlin finds that he’s to be entertainment in a gladiator-style event where he will be expected to kill “sub-humans.” Machines appear to have taken over. His nurse, while initially appearing to be trying to help him, seems to be part of the enemy. Devlin escapes and attempts to escape this fate. He meets up with sub-humans and takes up their cause to fight against the machines.

The story starts very differently with five people talking about an operation and one of these cracking jokes. The individual that is making the jokes doesn’t make any sense until a couple more chapters in, but the incongruity of the first chapter is intriguing and falls into place fairly quickly.

The story is a somewhat depressing vision of our possible future with a war that not only almost destroys our own planet but others as well. Even with our tendencies to destroy ourselves, however, the story also shows the ingenuity and the survival instinct that humans have.

My rating for this book is a 3 out of 4 stars. It catches your attention with the first page and keeps it throughout. The story moves on nicely and has few slow areas. While there are a few items that are fairly expected, such as machines taking over, there are surprises as well.

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