Review of Terms of Service

[Mayang Bature]

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

---

5 out of 5 stars

---

Share This Review

---

In a future civilization where artificial intelligence appears to be the norm, clothing, transportation, food, and even dating are all administered by separate companies. They use AI to closely monitor and record everything a person does to ensure that it complies with their company's terms of service.

Kim was a junior employee at the AI firm who was always ecstatic when she encountered high-order AIs, which were uncommon. She discovers the truth about how the world works when she is promoted and given the opportunity to interact with more intelligent AIs, and she is not pleased. Her new goal is to reconcile her personal beliefs with the facts she has discovered.

Terms of Service was a book I enjoyed. Because it has a developed society, it has many features that our current development has yet to achieve. The author took the time to gradually describe them with very detailed explanations of how they work, making them appear very familiar. The three-way concurrence, in which three AI trainers must agree in case of any discrepancy, was relatable. Even if you were correct, you would be at a loss here if you were the odd one out. It is a sad truth that even in our world, people care more about the majority's choice than the objectively correct choice. In such cases, it would seem best to follow the crowd. It also described the newly developed AI as being similar to children. Even something so intelligent required some training and mentoring to serve effectively. If the time it would take to complete a task is 3 million years, they would have to recognize that this would most likely not be beneficial to humans and learn to narrow down the search parameters. Simple descriptions like these had a big impact on my reading and were what I liked the most.

I love a little humor while reading, and Stanfill did not fail in this regard. In her previous apartment, I always enjoyed Kim's interactions with her fridge, with the fridge doing its best and Kim almost always being unappreciative. Another thing I liked was that Kim will not have a problem on evenings when she parties and drinks excessively because hangover pills are available in this world—something that many people in ours would kill for.

Craig W. Stanfill, the author, spent a lot of time detailing this book to ensure the reader understood his universe. Following Kim in her daily activities was useful in letting us know how the world worked and how people interacted, so that minor differences with our own would not confuse anyone. This is one of its flaws, as some readers may find the slow pace boring. Furthermore, numerous events occurred near the end, making these events appear to be somewhat overwhelming.

Terms of Service was a wonderful experience for me, despite its limitations, and I do not believe the aforementioned flaws warrant lowering its perfect rating. I only found an error, which shows how thorough its editing is. In light of these, I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars. This novel will appeal to anyone who enjoys dystopian fiction. It does, however, contain a significant amount of drug use as well as some erotica. If you can overlook or do not mind these, you will appreciate this story a lot more.

******
Terms of Service
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes

[Stephen Christopher 1]

Yay, another review about a dystopian future. This one is already on my list to read, but after reading your review I'm moving it closer to the top.Thank you.

[Charmaine Mahlangu]

Well done. This is quiet an interesting genre and I am already fascinated about AI and the consequences it brings in future. Well done on your review ,you have certainly made this book interesting.