“Machinehood” Review

“Machinehood” by S.B. Divya

Welga Ramirez, executive bodyguard and ex-special forces, is about to retire early when her client is killed in front of her. It’s 2095 and people don’t usually die from violence. Humanity is entirely dependent on pills that not only help them stay alive, but allow them to compete with artificial intelligence in an increasingly competitive gig economy. Daily doses protect against designer diseases, flow enhances focus, zips and buffs enhance physical strength and speed, and juvers speed the healing process.

All that changes when Welga’s client is killed by The Machinehood, a new and mysterious terrorist group that has simultaneously attacked several major pill funders. The Machinehood operatives seem to be part human, part machine, something the world has never seen. They issue an ultimatum: stop all pill production in one week.

Global panic ensues as pill production slows and many become ill. Thousands destroy their bots in fear of a strong AI takeover. But the US government believes the Machinehood is a cover for an old enemy. One that Welga is uniquely qualified to fight.

Welga, determined to take down the Machinehood, is pulled back into intelligence work by the government that betrayed her. But who are the Machinehood and what do they really want?

A thrilling and thought-provoking novel that asks: if we won’t see machines as human, will we instead see humans as machines?

Review

I enjoyed this one for the most part but I do prefer the author’s later books “Meru” and the sequel “Loka” to some degree. Though to be fair – the main difference with those two books is they are more about individual struggles vs worldwide struggles which might be someone else’s preference. Also “Meru” and “Loka” are set much farther into the future than this one (it’s only 2095 in “Machinehood”) and I feel like that setting works better with the creation of AIs and how they developed. Especially considering the issues with AIs in today’s world.

I did feel like this book took a bit of effort to get through as there was a lot of world building and development of what was going on. Sometimes I felt like more could have been explained but it also would have made the book even longer. The book has two point of view characters, Welga and her sister-in-law Nithya and one of the things I did like was the way the plot developed around them. I felt like the dual plots worked well as they both figured what was going on with the Machinehood and possible solutions. The family dynamics were interesting to read as well though there was a minor sub-plot that felt oddly place and not necessary to the overall plot (unless there was an intended point I missed). I did like the resolution of the core situation but it was obviously only the beginning of the changes that would be coming and issues that would need to be solved.

One thing that did bug me was that Welga uses intelligence based insults a lot. It was enough that I started to really get annoyed when often I can let it go for the sake of the story. That said it did almost fit with the setting and the concepts around intelligence and whether the AIs had gained sentience. Most of the usage was along the lines of taking about a AI and whether or not it was useful and comparing people to it which is where it got annoying. It makes me wonder how disabled people, especially those with intellectual / developmental / cognitive disabilities, are treated in this universe.

Warnings and additional reviews are available on the StoryGraph page for “Machinehood”

Book Details

The background of the cover for Machinehood is a computer circuit board that is white and pale blue above that are two round gear shapes one inside the other and then a white band of light in a circle. In the center of all of that is a white robot or android body from mostly the chest up with its head turned towards the center. The title is at the top with the author's name at the bottom.

Author’s Website
S.B. Divya
Publisher / Date
Gallery / Saga Press, March 2021
Genre
Science Fiction
Page Count
404
Completion Date
November 5, 2024

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