Review of Terms of Service

[adrian ashby]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Terms of Service" by Craig W. Stanfill.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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In his book,'Terms of Service’, Craig W. Stanfill tells the story of Kim, a worker in a tightly-controlled, dystopian future city strictly regulated by Artificial Intelligence, where citizens are treated as ‘customers’, and all laws, and rules of conduct have been codified into the ‘Terms of Service’, a strictly enforced, non-negotiable contract, ignored at peril.

In the course of her job, Kim is manipulated into creating an A.I. of a very high order (an extremely rare feat). Her creation begins to malfunction, and disappears into cyberspace, but not before leaving Kim cryptic hints that all is not well, and not as it seems. Kim must now find a way to save her new friend, at the risk of her freedom, and possibly her life.

Mr. Stanfill tells a good story. The pace is steady, and the story does not seem to lag, or become too heavy or awkward. He has created believable characters, with whom readers may find themselves becoming emotionally invested. This might be considered as a cautionary tale of the danger of allowing technology to become so prevalent, that it overrides compassion and common sense in favor of conformity and allegiance to the state.

I give this story four stars out of four. I thought it was well-told. There is nothing really negative or objectionable about it. There is no profanity, but there are descriptions of several sex scenes that are integral to the story, in that they help show one of the darker aspects of society. Gender lines have been blurred, and the personal sense of self is strongly discouraged,

I felt that a good job was done in providing a sense of fatalism, and the oppressiveness that comes from life under such conditions. I would recommend this to those who like science fiction, technology, or just a good story. Please note that this is only the first half of the story. There is a forthcoming sequel.

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Terms of Service
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