Review of Terms of Service

[Sandra Engelmeyer]

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

---

5 out of 5 stars

---

Share This Review

---

Terms of Service by Craig W. Stanfill is a riveting, dystopian story of AI gone wrong.

Kim is an ordinary woman, trying her best to live an ordinary life and under the radar in a society where every aspect of life is dictated by A.I. As one domino falls into another, she finds her life slipping even more under control of the A.I. and the corporations that own them. Threads unravel as the illusion of society becomes more visible to Kim and her scramble back to ordinary. Terms of Service is the first book in a series but can easily be read as a stand-alone book.

Stanfill takes a relevant topic and uses it to create a realistic future setting. Current controversies and advances in A.I. today, make this read an extremely engaging story. Stanfill does an excellent job creating a realistic, believable future world. It was very easy to envision the world Stanfill created becoming real in the not-too-distant future.

The world building of this story is very well done, with many layers and great depth. One aspect of the world within this book is on the theme of inclusion. All characters were designated she/her when referred to in the third person. This led to some confusion as the story progressed. It was hard to determine if all characters were female-identifying or if society just determined that a singular third-person pronoun was to be utilized. The fact that characters had an ”in” or “out” showed that there were characters of male and female biology. Based on other aspects of the plot and themes of the created society, my assumption would be that a singular classification pronoun for everyone in this storyline was society-dictated regardless of individual characters’ biology or gender identity.

Overall, this was an amazing read. I really enjoyed the storyline and the pace that was set. It was a believable future, and the book had a lot of depth to it. While there was confusion over the singular third-person pronouns, it didn’t detract from the enjoyment. There was very minimal typos and the book appeared professionally edited. I would highly recommend this to anyone with an interest in science fiction or dystopian thrillers. I rate this at five out of five stars.

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