I received a copy of this book for free and am leaving this review
voluntarily.
What would you talk to God about if you could meet Him in person? How would
that even be possible?
For the characters in My Digital Soul, a new hard science fiction thriller
mixed with mythological horror by Michael McGinty, that will give one pause to
think about those questions.
I enjoyed this character-driven tale that moved at breakneck speed. There
was never a dull moment, and every page contained twists and turns that
enhanced the thrill ride to amazing heights.
I'm including the book's blurb from the author:
What awaits in the afterlife beyond the code is not always God’s divine
mercy.
Brilliant software engineer Dr. Susan Parker is about to create God in the
Machine. Bankrolled by property mogul Brice Woodlands, she has only two years
to devise the ingenious technology to digitize human souls and submit them to
her virtual God for assessment inside the cyber-sphere.
Five troubled strangers—a high-class escort and prodigal daughter, a war
refugee burdened by terrible guilt, a reckless eco-warrior, a financial guru
who believes he might be God, and Brice’s brother, Bryan—all desperate to meet
God, volunteer to upload their souls to the prototype. But the expected
paradise descends into chaos when a malevolent construct exposes their darkest
failings and casts them into twisted versions of binary Hell.
Battling their inner demons and tormented by devils forged from legend,
their quest for absolution becomes a fight for survival. Friendships form,
sacrifices are made, and unlikely heroes emerge. But can they overcome the
malefic force born from source code and haunted by divine ambition?
Blending speculative technology, mythological horror, and spiritual
reckoning, My Digital Soul is a harrowing, genre-bending tale of sin, remorse,
and the search for forgiveness in a simulated world where the deepest secrets
of your soul are laid bare.
While the entire story is great, I found getting to know the characters in
the beginning of the book the most enjoyable for me. The five people driving
the plot are all interesting, and are all flawed and/or scarred in some way.
Susan is a brilliant software engineer who is given the task of creating God
in the machine. She, and her assistant work to make the code behave according
to the instructions of the person who hired her and is paying a premium for her
services.
An upper-class escort call girl named Roxy pursues a man from her past. The
meeting does not end well.
Ahmad is desperate to save his family when the government in his home
country falls. What he does to escape will haunt him for the rest of his
natural life.
Rebecca cares about the environment and is willing to go to dangerous
lengths to force change.
Thomas is an investment banker who makes himself and his friends rich at
great expense to others.
And finally, Bryan, an old man with a terminal medical condition, who wants
to know what awaits him in the afterlife.
These people have their own reasons for getting involved in the enormous
project that takes a heavy toll on Susan.
My favorite plot point in My Digital Soul is character development. The
characters mentioned above are all well developed, and the way they were
written made me feel bad for them. I didn't see them as evil people, but rather
as people who made some reprehensible mistakes in their lives. They will be
forced to look at what they did and evaluate themselves.
But then, there are also the characters I did not mention. There is a
virus-like being in the machine, as well as mythological characters who look to
take advantage of the people entering the machine to meet God. These
mythological characters add a spice to the story, taking it over the top, in a
good way.
As I read through the story, I couldn't help but think of it as a
modern-day, artificial intelligence adult version of The Wizard of Oz. The more
I read, the more the theme of being on a quest of self-discovery surfaced. Now,
please don't misunderstand; the tale does not parallel the old story by Frank
Baum; it is definitely not a rewrite. This is just one aspect that stood out to
me. Your mileage, of course, may vary.
My takeaway from My Digital Soul comes from Plato's account of
Socrates’ trial for impiety and corruption. The quote is: "An unexamined
life is not worth living."
I think what the philosopher was telling us is that each of us should spend
time in introspection of our lives. The question to ponder is, am I living the
kind of life I want people to remember?
But that's just me.
My Digital Soul is an entertaining, character-driven story I could not stop
reading. I loved the character development and how the tapestry of the tale was
woven around them. The science is accessible to the average reader, and the
mythology has an interesting modern twist. This is one of the best artificial
intelligence stories I have read to date, and I look forward to future projects
by this author from Down Under. I recommend My Digital Soul to anyone who likes
a well-written, fun story full of action and unexpected plot twists.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
With a good science fiction novel in hand and a lifelong passion for
technology and innovation, I have always imagined a future for humanity built
around technologies that might seem impossible today, yet possible when we
imagine tomorrow.
When not writing, I run a software development company
(https://www.cyinnovations.com), love 70s heavy rock music, and cheer on my
beloved West Coast Eagles AFL team. And I often go fishing in the Australian
never-never.
Well, there it is...
Qapla!
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