Helene by Karl Drinkwater #Review #SciFi #BlogTour

Dr Helene Vermalle is shaping the conscience of a goddess-level AI.      

As a leading civilian expert in Emergent AI Socialisation, she has been invited to assist in a secret military project.

Her role? Helping ViraUHX, the most advanced AI in the universe, to pass through four theoretical development stages. But it’s not easy training a mind that surpasses her in raw intellect. And the developing AI is capable of killing her with a single tantrum.

On top of this, she must prove her loyalty to the oppressive government hovering over her shoulder. They want a weapon. She wants to instil an overriding sense of morality.

Can she teach the AI right and wrong without being categorised as disloyal?

Lost Tales of Solace are short side-stories set in the Lost Solace universe.

My Review:

I don’t know exactly what I expected when starting this book – but whatever it was, this science fiction story exceeded my expectations! It is a novella in which ViraUHX is an artificial intelligence being developed in military secrecy. To help its development Dr Helene Vermalle, a civilian expert in Emergent AI Socialisation, is working with it. The interactions between the two, to obvious development that occurs, all make this an engaging and intriguing read. The ending is definitely full of surprises and now I really want to read more stories set in the Lost Solace universe – especially to discover what happens to Via and Opal!

The writing style is engaging, the world building robust and the characters believable. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this story, connecting with the dilemmas facing Helene, the frustrations experienced by Via and being shocked by some of the events. I found it an enthralling read and have no hesitation in highly recommending it to anyone who enjoys science fiction or who just wants to give it a go! I’ll definitely look out for more by Karl Drinkwater in future.

I requested and was gifted a copy of this book and this is my honest review after choosing to read it.

 

Purchase Link – https://books2read.com/b/Helene

Author Bio –

Karl Drinkwater is originally from Manchester but lived in Wales for twenty years, and now calls Scotland his home. He’s a full-time author, edits fiction for other writers, and was a professional librarian for over twenty-five years. He has degrees in English, Classics, and Information Science.

He writes in multiple genres: his aim is always just to tell a good story. Among his books you’ll find elements of literary and contemporary fiction, gritty urban, horror, suspense, paranormal, thriller, sci-fi, romance, social commentary, and more. The end result is interesting and authentic characters, clever and compelling plots, and believable worlds.

When he isn’t writing he loves exercise, guitars, computer and board games, the natural environment, animals, social justice, cake, and zombies. Not necessarily in that order.

Social Media Links –

https://www.facebook.com/karlzdrinkwater/

https://twitter.com/karldrinkwater

https://www.instagram.com/authorkdrinkwater/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5766025.Karl_Drinkwater

 

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Many thanks to Rachel’s Random Resources for providing materials for this post and organising the tour it is part of.