Official Review: Silicon Burning by Thomas McCaughley

Allyseria · Post by **Allyseria** » 05 Sep 2018, 21:58

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Silicon Burning" by Thomas McCaughley.]

4 out of 4 stars

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Silicon Burning is the first book in the Singularity Rising series, written by Thomas McCaughley. It is a science fiction and fantasy book that is set in the year 2045, almost thirty years after a nuclear terrorist attack. The Mother Mind, an advanced artificial intelligence created by the Virtualife Corporation, was then swiftly created to keep the citizens safe, but discontent from the population has led to the creation of Spiritform, a group of renegade hackers. Now there are two factions: humans and cybernetically-enhanced Transhumans. However, when data to a secret project within Virtualife is stolen, it becomes a race to recover the data before Spiritform can decrypt the files and reveal the truth. But who is the serial killer nicknamed Jack-21 and how does he tie in with everything?

I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars.

The author successfully keeps you engaged throughout this fast-paced book with his plot twists and his very visual writing style. He paints a very realistic world in the readers’ eyes and the book reads just like a movie. The author is good at creating tension and he keeps you guessing throughout. Although the book is nearly six hundred pages long, I read it in three sittings.

I was extremely impressed with the characters. Every single character, including the minor characters, were fully developed and had their own distinctive voice. I had a lot of laugh out loud moments and I really have to give the author credit for giving his characters a lot of diversity. The author also manages to make you care for every single character and makes you want to root for them, despite them having very different and opposing views. This clearly shows you the talent of this author.

Now, onto the minor details. Sometimes the author overuses italics for emphasis and ‘...’ for hesitation and there were a few typos and grammatical errors, especially towards the end of the book. However, considering the length of the book, I believe it is to be expected.

Overall, I highly recommend this to everyone who loves reading about artificial intelligence or cyber humans. If you’re still unsure after reading this review, I encourage you to read the sample on Amazon. I guarantee that the sample will hook you in and you can expect the same fast-paced and engaging writing style throughout the book. You won’t regret it! This is by far my favourite book of the year and I can’t wait to read the next in the series.

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Silicon Burning
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Mindy Conahye · Post by **Mindy Conahye** » 07 Sep 2018, 08:44

I like that the author knows how to keep the reader engaged. I like when there is good use of visual writing and you are able to become part of the book. I usually don't get too into sci-fi books, but your review makes this one sound like one I would enjoy. I think it's great when you are reading something and you literally laugh out loud.

peterhead · Post by **peterhead** » 07 Sep 2018, 12:50

love the readers engagement in this book i just remember a sumiliar book i red based on human drafting souls from spirit form for entertainment which later became deadly.good expo from the author.

Sahar Majid · Post by **Sahar Majid** » 08 Sep 2018, 06:12

The plot seems like almost a believable one in the world that we live in today and the war between human and the human made. A serial killer in the midst of this seems to make this book even more interesting. On top of this, realistic and individual characters are so important but so difficult to portray so kudos to the author and to you for bringing us such a wonderful review! Thank you.

Sakilunamermaid · Post by **Sakilunamermaid** » 08 Sep 2018, 13:53

This has a lot of elements that make me need to read this. Well developed characters, AI, hackers, a serial killer, and a futuristic dystopic setting. Thanks for the review, love getting unique and interesting new recommendations. I will never read all of the books on my tbr list hah

Allyseria · Post by **Allyseria** » 10 Sep 2018, 16:16

mac83 wrote: ↑07 Sep 2018, 08:44 I like that the author knows how to keep the reader engaged. I like when there is good use of visual writing and you are able to become part of the book. I usually don't get too into sci-fi books, but your review makes this one sound like one I would enjoy. I think it's great when you are reading something and you literally laugh out loud.

Thank you for leaving a comment! Yes, I think it's great too when there are laugh out loud moments in books because there are many books that attempt it, but very few succeed

Allyseria · Post by **Allyseria** » 10 Sep 2018, 16:17

peterhead wrote: ↑07 Sep 2018, 12:50 love the readers engagement in this book i just remember a sumiliar book i red based on human drafting souls from spirit form for entertainment which later became deadly.good expo from the author.

Thank you for leaving a comment! Wow, that sounds like an interesting book. Do you remember the name of the book?

Allyseria · Post by **Allyseria** » 10 Sep 2018, 16:18

Sahar Majid wrote: ↑08 Sep 2018, 06:12 The plot seems like almost a believable one in the world that we live in today and the war between human and the human made. A serial killer in the midst of this seems to make this book even more interesting. On top of this, realistic and individual characters are so important but so difficult to portray so kudos to the author and to you for bringing us such a wonderful review! Thank you.

Thank you for reading my review

Yes, realistic characters are so hard to write so I was impressed that the author did it so well!

Allyseria · Post by **Allyseria** » 10 Sep 2018, 16:19

Sakilunamermaid wrote: ↑08 Sep 2018, 13:53 This has a lot of elements that make me need to read this. Well developed characters, AI, hackers, a serial killer, and a futuristic dystopic setting. Thanks for the review, love getting unique and interesting new recommendations. I will never read all of the books on my tbr list hah

Thank you for leaving a comment

I have so many books on my to-read shelf too

There are too many good books out there!

Debjani Ghosh · Post by **Debjani Ghosh** » 13 Sep 2018, 04:28

This science fiction book must really be good for you to recommend it so strongly. I will definitely look it up. Thanks for the review!

Barney J Barnett · Post by **Barney J Barnett** » 13 Sep 2018, 11:08

I love a book with characters that can actually make you laugh and you can get invested in. I am gonna have to check this one out.

Allyseria · Post by **Allyseria** » 20 Sep 2018, 13:40

Debjani Ghosh wrote: ↑13 Sep 2018, 04:28 This science fiction book must really be good for you to recommend it so strongly. I will definitely look it up. Thanks for the review!

Thank you for leaving a reply! Yes, it was very good in my opinion

Allyseria · Post by **Allyseria** » 20 Sep 2018, 13:41

godfroi469 wrote: ↑13 Sep 2018, 11:08 I love a book with characters that can actually make you laugh and you can get invested in. I am gonna have to check this one out.

Thank you for leaving a comment! Yes, I love books that have laugh-out-loud moments. It's usually very difficult to do