What happens when an A.I, programmed to go into space, changes its mind, and decides to live its own life?

 

Preston tackles the question of Artificial Intelligence and what happens when they are so self-modifying and quick to learn that they can function as a human being who can also control a frightening amount of electronic and internet-based information.

 

A thought provoking and fast=paced story.

 

 

Preston and Child are back with the third? fourth? of the Gideon Crew series.

I didn't read the first few because I wanted to get to the nitty gritty of the encounter and attempted destruction of the creature.

 

The authors do a good job of making this a stand-alone book, with enough references to the previous events that you get backstory to understand their angst, stress (beyond dealing with a sea creature), and what's at stake, without rewriting the whole series. The creature's description is well done to provide detail and plausible interaction.

 

If you enjoy creature books, like Alien and Meg, and want an easy read (with a sprinkle of gory details), you might enjoy this trip to the bottom of the ocean.

When I finish a book that totally blows me away, I have to either change genres completely or go to reread a very old fave.  This time, I chose to change genres and try a new - to me - series.  And it did the trick!

This was an enjoyable read.  Sort of like the Ilona Andrews book, it  felt like some good junk food to my reading brain.  The story clipped along at a decent pace - the chapters weren't very long which helps a lot, keeps things from dragging.  The plot was intricate enough to keep me interested yet not so complicated that I was stopping to try and figure out things. 

The main character, Gideon Crew, is an interesting fellow.  Clever and smart, he reads people really well.  He has a great sense of humour.  And he has a sense of purpose and is just dark and cynical enough to appeal to me.  I liked following along with him on his 'mission'. 

There is a small cast of supporting characters that have the potential to increase their interestingness over the coming books. Apparently one of the guys comes one of the writing duo's other series, but I'm not ready to go hunt that down yet.  :)

So, I've found another series to follow when I need some tasty junk-food reading and that's a good thing!

I enjoyed The Ice Limit, although approach Preston's works reminding myself that fiction is "the willing suspension of disbelief." The books is a well-researched lark, just as it's intended to be. I appreciate the author's well-developed characters. The writing is quick and concise. The Ice Limit is a bit of a rollicking good time, perfect for a vacation read.

Wow, I'm only giving 3 stars to a Pendergast novel. Why? It did not strike me as the best work of my favorite authors. There was a little preaching by Pendergast at the conclusion and did we really need that Epilogue regarding Constance? It started off with a bang with all the beheadings, but the ending and the 'killer' were unsatisfying. I've been reading these guys since Relic, and that's when it was released, not afterward. While Relic was made into a movie, changing the museum from New York to Chicago ruined having any of the other books made into movies. It became a good stand alone movie (that I watch every now and then) but there was no continuation. As I'm not a Gideon fan, I hope Douglas & Lincoln go back to Pendergast fresh next time. Maybe tell us about how he got into the FBI. However -PLEASE! No political stories. I'd stay far away from any such novels mixing politics and the FBI.