Splitting Skies: A Metaphysical Sci-Fy Dystopia By Mikhail Gladkikh - Calling The Nature Of Reality Into Question

Splitting Skies: A Metaphysical Sci-Fi Dystopia by Mikhail Gladkikh

I received a copy of this book for free and am leaving this review voluntarily.

Splitting Skies is the latest novel by Mikhail Gladkikh. It is a breath-taking tale of Artificial Intelligence that has left a world full of people addicted to living anywhere but the real world, but the artificial world is also becoming less and less desirable. It is full of twists and turns moving at warp speed that will have the reader asking many questions, including calling the very nature of existence into question.

From the back of the book:

Humanity’s thirst for simplification in a world driven by technology leads to the ultimate creation: Designed Consciousness. This invention destroys the framework of society and brings humanity to the verge of collapse. But the implications for the structure of the universe itself are much more sinister. An older man who has lost his purpose and a blind artist girl embark on the impossible quest to prevent the disaster. As the fabric of reality begins to unravel, the two unlikely heroes must question if the world even deserves to be saved.

My favorite point of plot in this story is illustrated by the opening line:

"If you die in a dream, do you survive in reality? And what is reality, anyway?"

As I write this review, my daughter is in the next room playing a video game. She is controlling a character who wanders a virtual countryside collecting items and building strength to help her eventually defeat a foe threatening the world she moves her character through.

Is the character nothing more than the result of code written by another human being? Does my daughter see this as a real person she is helping to reach his goal? Is the world he moves through real to him? It makes one think deeper, and some things that come to mind can be a little unsettling.

Here, in reality, we like to think we have free will. But do we really?

Are we nothing more than pawns in someone's imagination being moved through a world created for us by someone?

Most rational people would say no. Many philosophers call existence into question. Others are convinced we have no self-determination, and we are living in some sort of matrix while being moved and manipulated as we move through life.

And if it is the case, we are living in a virtual reality, how would we know in the first place?

Splitting Skies gave me all these thoughts as I turned the pages and read this fascinating tale where the virtual world becomes real, and the threats are also as deadly as those in our mundane existence.

My takeaway from Splitting Skies is to recognize how the human imagination continues to grow, and the stories we tell beyond that imagination eventually become reality. How far will AI go? Only as far as we allow it would have been my answer before reading this book. I'm not so sure anymore.

I have come to expect excellent and thought-provoking stories from Mikhail, and Splitting Skies is no exception to my expectations. But be warned, this is not a book to be taken lightly. It is a complicated tale that will demand the reader’s full attention. It is deep with science fiction, philosophical, and existential ideas that can make your head spin. In a word, it is excellent reading, and I recommend it for those who don't mind being disturbed for a short time before getting back to the rigors of mundane life.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

About the Author:

I am a technologist and a science fiction author.

My professional career provides me with a unique perspective on the technologies of the future. I am working at the forefront of the 4th Industrial Revolution, advancing 3D Printing, Artificial Intelligence, Digital Supply Chain, and Energy Transition. You can read my fiction and connect with me at my website mikhailgladkikh.com.

Join me in my quest to imagine the future world!

Well. there it is...

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The Age Of Heroes By Mikhail Gladkikh - Historical Sci-Fi Adventure To Stimulate The Imagination

The Age of Heroes by Mikhail Gladkikh

I received a copy of this book for free and am leaving this review voluntarily.

After reading this author's first novel, Out of Time, I wanted more from him. I was thrilled when he contacted me, telling me about his new novel, The Age of Heroes. I was surprised to learn it is a sci-fi tale set in the late Bronze Age, a time when people explained events they didn't understand through mythology rather than science.

What I kind of expected was a retelling of the ancient stories of destruction retold for a more modern audience, i.e., the story from Homer's Iliad. Although the siege and sacking of Troy is included in the tale, it is not simply a retelling of Homer's epic. The Age of Heroes is a completely new story covering the strife in locations all around the Mediterranean. Constant conflict was the order of the day, including the sacking of cities, starvation, and the dispersion of large populations reduced to having to be hunter-gatherers, as in even more ancient times.

Out of this tale, heroes arise, but everyone seems to know that their age is coming to an end and will give way to a new age, and those not willing to embrace change will be condemned to oblivion.

I have always been fascinated with mythology and how people reasoned in ancient times. As stated in the Foreward, this book is not intended to be a retelling of history, nor is it intended to be an alternative to actual events. It is intended to be entertaining and thought provoking. It is a speculative story of imagination and adventure and a fun read.

What the populations of several city-states perceive as their gods is actually a group of aliens who are on a mission to survey and learn about the people of the earth. The gods, who are an alien race called Soarers, have made their presence known in numerous cultures and are worshipped and feared by the people. When the commander calls the group together to decide how to proceed with their relationships with Earth's population, an argument breaks out. Some see the humans as a growing society to be nurtured into the future, while others see humans as a dangerous race who, if allowed to grow and explore the stars, would bring death and destruction with them, maybe even causing the extinction of the Soarers themselves. The council splits and the commander of the alien crew loses control, and the gods start using their vast technology to cause even more mayhem among the already constantly warring population.

One aspect that stands out for me is the character development of the major players in this story.

There are numerous characters to keep track of, with many diverse cultural roots and beliefs who clash along the way. Some are quite compassionate, while others set themselves up as oppressors of their people and cause much strife for others.

The Soarers all have different jobs in the crew and have different ideas about what to do. Whether to actively interfere or stand back and observe the lively happenings among the humans. Their leader, known to the Greeks as Zeus, is a kind of sad figure who wants the mission to succeed. He is powerful, but so are his fellow crew members. They all have vastly advanced technology at their command. I felt sad for Commander as he worked to keep his group in order, but ran into failure at every turn.

The greatest hero of the story was Echelaos, the Achaean Prince of Pylos, who goes on a quest. He is driven to be reunited with his beloved Helen, who, while betrothed to him, is also promised to the prince of Troy. It is a journey he pursues through the entire tale and illustrates how heroism often comes with a lot of pain and suffering.

My favorite point of plot in The Age of Heroes is the colorful descriptions of the places we get to visit. I also found the characters remarkable in how well we get to know them early in the story. They are human in every way, quite vulnerable, and have to rely on their wits to keep going, especially Echelaos.

There are numerous scenes of battle that capture the brutality of the age. Those are also well described and can be disturbing to readers sensitive to descriptions of battle, destruction, and death.

For me, my takeaway was in the theme of how hubris can play both a positive, but more often a negative, role in the affairs of humans. Commander is surrounded by beings who have been manipulating people with great success for so long, they begin to believe in their human-given roles as gods. Even with their immense power, they think themselves beyond what they really are and sometimes overstep their bounds. Many become corrupted by the self-perceived power leading to the downfall of them all.

This makes The Age of Heroes worth reading if for no other reason.

I give high recommendations for The Age of Heroes. As a fan of mythology and sci-fi, it is an excellent story that will provide fodder for thought. It is a fascinating tale of speculation on a period of history we are still exploring and learning about. There are great characters in a story that moves along at a good pace and is loaded with vivid descriptions of people, places, and events that will trigger the imagination. 

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

About Mikhail...

I'm a technologist and a science fiction author.

My professional career provides me with a unique perspective on the technologies of the future. I am working at the forefront of the 4th Industrial Revolution, advancing 3D Printing, Artificial Intelligence, Digital Supply Chain, and Energy Transition. You can read my fiction and connect with me at my website, mikhailgladkikh.com.

Join me in my quest to imagine the future world!

Well, there it is...

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Out of Time by Mikhail Gladkikh - Breathtaking Hard Sci-Fi

Out of Time by Mikhail Gladkikh

I received an advance review copy for free and am leaving this review voluntarily.

When Dr. Mikhail Gladkikh contacted me via email asking if I would read his new book, and sent the blurb along, I did not know what to expect. I just finished reading Out of Time and I will admit, it left me breathless. It is an amazing roller coaster ride of scientific discovery, political intrigue, and mayhem perpetrated by those who are power hungry megalomaniacs. There are a plethora of characters, both good and bad, who embark on a journey to save, or destroy, the very universe we live in.

This story is based on concepts constantly under the scrutiny of real astrophysics every day. Chiefly, some concepts explore the nature of spacetime, dark matter/energy, and the effects of gravitational waves. When I read or listen to podcasts dealing with much of this subject matter, I come away only partially understanding what I've taken in. This story discusses these concepts as well, but the author does a great job making it easier to understand for the common person.

The tale itself is well paced, moving from chapter to chapter, following the exploits of the characters in their various roles.

In short, if you only read one hard sci-fi novel this year, this should be it.

Set in the year 2057, humanity seems to have gotten itself together enough to move off planet and explore the solar system. The people of Earth have changed little in the future, and there are those who have massive amounts of wealth and power, but enough is never enough. It's politics as usual. Things go awry when something strange happens in the outer solar system.

On Oberon, the outermost moon of Uranus, an anomaly seems to increase the gravitational pull of this body. When a team is sent to investigate, a probe is destroyed, revealing few answers. Not long after, the same type of anomaly grips the Earth's moon and sends the satellite on a collision course with the planet.

A crack team of scientists is gathered to address the problem. As they work on this, a college student, Jim Steel, begins having visions of the future and helps police solve a crime.

There are several threads to this story that weave together into a complete tapestry of deeper scientific understanding of the workings of our universe, and the dangers presented by those who would manipulate the laws of nature to their own advantage.

My favorite point of the plot in Out of Time was how the science was written. At one point, a character proposes what she conjectures to be the mechanics of how the universe continues to expand and what is causing the anomalous problems that exist in the story. What I most enjoyed about this is how Galdkikh made the prose so clear even I could understand the explanation, while still making it sound more like science than science fiction. There are two hypotheses put forth that seem so plausible that they must be something under study in the real world.

At another point, there is some discussion of how the universe will end. This takes place within the mind of the character Jim Steel, a college student who has glimpses of the future and helps solve some problems presented in the story. The idea deals with the theory that since the universe was created in a massive explosion, it would end in just the opposite way, with a Big Crunch.

In the first idea, it is the addition of (dark) matter/energy that inflates the universe, and in the second, the universe will in a kind of overcrowding of matter and energy, which will lead to a Big Bang; the creation of a new universe in a new epoch.

Whatever the truth is, we may never know, but it is fun to think about and come up with new ideas and argue about the old ones. In any case, my point is that the science in this book is written so anyone can understand what is being discussed. The handling of science in this story made it more accessible to me and easier to visualize, which I appreciate.

My takeaway from Out of Time is how science can be corrupted by introducing politics into problem solving. We see this today when we look at the problem of global climate change and how this debate is developing. I will not offer my personal views here, but I will say that it disturbs me how everything science, which is supposed to be the search for the truth, is spun to fit whatever one tends to believe.

This story is a perfect example of how scientists are charged with finding truths and solving problems and when politics become involved, how the issues become clouded to where the common person doesn't know what to think. 

This tale is engaging and entertaining and at no point was I bored with this book. There is a lot in this book to keep track of, but it is so well written and organized that there are no problems with understanding the action taking place. I love the way the threads of the story, which in many cases seem unrelated, come together at the end. I give Out of Time my highest recommendations for a high-quality hard sci-fi story.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Mikhail Gladkikh is an author and a thought leader, driven by the quest for knowledge, learning, and advancement of humanity.

Mikhail Gladkikh, Ph.D. Applied Mathematics, is a new fiction author. His sci-fi short stories are published in multiple online journals. Mikhail’s short story “Sea-born” has been selected as the story of the month for November 2021 and nominated for the Pushcart Award by “The Big Purple Wall” magazine. His professional career provides him with a unique perspective on the technologies of the future. He spent sixteen years at Baker Hughes, an Energy Technology Company, where he is working at the forefront of the 4th Industrial Revolution, advancing 3D Printing, Industrial Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, and Digital Supply Chain. 

Well, there it is...

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