“No single, biased, unstable human could be allowed control over the earth, and the AI - her AI - was doing an admirably ethical job of it.”

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Geo is the brilliant inventor of the AI system that is now overseeing the world. And make sure the environment is protected, humans are living safe and nutritionally sound lives and generally that there is no upheaval or dissension.  Society is split, into people who have been deemed Permanents and those who are Temporary. When Geo herself learns she is dying, she must face the consequences of the technology she unleashed and we’re in the truth of how humans are being forced to live.

The plot is Blake Crouch’s Upgrade meets Neal Shusterman’s The Toll with a dash of Veronica Toth’s dystopia. The story is self published so the writing needs a little bit of polishing by an editor but the story was engaging enough that I stuck with it. It’s a short, quick read that will certainly get you thinking about what it means to be human.

Thanks to the author via NetGalley for access to this novel. Apologies to the author for letting it sit in my queue for so long. All opinions above are my own.

I couldn't finish the book I tried but the book wasn't for me. I got this book from Netgallery in exchange for a honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. It was well written, the world and characters kept my interest throughout and I was eager to continue reading to the end. The concept of Fusion is terrifying and I really did feel for Geo and her regrets.

Aside from wishing there were a lot more pages dedicated to Bobbi's and Diego's perspectives, and also not being a fan of the form Fusion took at the end, I thought this was a solid read.

In this book I had the opportunity to be inserted into a "universe" that I had not previously visited. AI was a topic I had already read about (say, in stories, books) but had never caught my attention in this area.

Already in this book, the author can capture unforgettable moments, the writing is good - there are some "quirks" that I think need to be repealed - is promising for a better future.

Above all, I believe this book is a warning to the world we are wanting to follow.

This one wasn't for me. It wasn't bad, really. But the writing style didn't sit well with me. The main character, Geo, was unlikable but well fleshed out. The plot has interesting moments, but never fully captured me.

An interesting interpretation of the Frankenstein myth, set in a dystopian future., wherein a computer AI has corrected climate change. Humans are divided into two groups: Permanents (those who serve the AI directly, in exchange for their minds being used as memory/processing devices, and receive immortality in exchange) and Temporals (those who serve the AI less directly, and receive health and happiness in exchange). Georgia Spears, the main character, is a different sort of protagonist, a fitting heir to the original Victor Frankenstein; Fusion, the AI, is likewise a fitting heir to the monster. WATERDOWN was an interesting read, and I look forward to other volumes by this author.

Why does AI always end up being the bad guy? Because we love to explore evil in the form of the Other. Also, it usually turns out that the bad guy was us, the creators of the AI, all along! Anastasia Slabucho’s Waterdown retreads these ideas but within the context of the climate change crisis we currently face. She posits that someone might have the right combination of drive, ingenuity, and wherewithal to create an AI that can take over running our society, if only we’d just listen. But would such a life really be living? That’s what this novel attempts to explore.

Geo Spears created Fusion, the superintelligent AI that now runs the world. In this brave new world, humans are either Permanents or Temporals. Permanents, like Geo herself, have uninhibited memory and intelligence, yet they live socially isolated lives. Their purpose is to work every day on the administrative tasks Fusion assigns them, and in particular, they scrub history of all the nasty little records that might upset someone. Temporals, on the other hand, are the labourer caste. They can have the full range of human experience, but their cognitive landscapes are governed by a brain device that limits their long-term memory storage and mediates their perception of the world. When Geo discovers that she is dying, she wakes up to the problematic nature of Fusion’s dominance over humanity. She has to gain the trust of a group of rebels and help them take down Fusion before it’s too late.

I received a free copy of this book through NetGalley. The Kindle version doesn’t let you override the font choices. This is merely irksome to me, but for people who have accessibility issues that require them to use certain fonts, I can imagine it would be upsetting and potentially prevent them from reading the book.

As far as the story goes, Waterdown has its entertaining moments, yet it never quite comes together into the unified and coherent dystopian thriller it seems to want to be. Slabucho does her best to avoid needless exposition. I applaud this, in theory, yet in practice I was left wanting … more. We only get minimal hints of what society is like before and after the waterdown. The flashbacks remind me of low-budget sci-fi TV series from the early 2000s that would try to signal you’re in the future because everyone is wearing weird fashions and hairstyles—how has society actually changed by that point? Similarly, in the present, we get the barest of hints about the dichotomous lifestyles of the Temporals and Permanents, but it’s never explored very clearly.

I also have a hard time enjoying Geo as the protagonist. I get that she’s supposed to be an unlikable character, at least at first. Her face turn seems so abrupt, though—one moment she’s cruising along, enjoying life as much as one can as a Permanent, and then the next moment she has a terminal diagnosis and she starts fomenting rebellion. OK, I’m exaggerating. Nevertheless, whatever shock to the system Geo receives, she seems really willing to turn on her creation. And the others trust her pretty quickly at that. Even the crisis with Scott dissolves into a non-issue without much in the way of confrontation.

That’s probably the least satisfying part of the novel: the conflicts feel either forced or toothless. Take Hel’s bizarre dislike of Geo. It’s never explained nor justified; she is essentially a plot device to explain some loose ends and give Geo some of the final motivation she needs to take down Fusion. Scott receives time as a viewpoint character, yet he never really seems to have to make much in the way of decisions or contribute to the plot beyond, again, being there.

Finally, Waterdown runs into the same issue that similar stories with AI antagonists often face: faceless AIs are boring. There’s a reason why the I, Robot movie with Will Smith involves a lot of explosions and why the Terminator movies relegate Skynet to a backseat role. Yes, intellectually, the idea of an AI suborning humanity is certainly scary. But in practice, an AI villain lacks the chutzpah of a good, scenery-chewing bad guy. The confrontations between Geo and Fusion are so underwhelming, even when Slabucho characterizes Fusion as “gloating.” Fusion isn’t evil; it’s just following its programming. It’s a storm more than a villain—yet we attempt to sandwich it into the villain role, instead of treating it like a natural disaster, and it just isn’t menacing enough, at least how it’s portrayed, to fit that role.

I can’t fault Slabucho for the concepts within Waterdown. Those are definitely intriguing. And while AIs run amok have been done to death, this particular remixing of the concept is new. So it’s a really cool science fiction idea. But ideas alone do not make for great stories. The characters and the conflict have to surf the ideas along the ocean of story, and that doesn’t happen here. Lots of potential here, but it’s still very rough, still very much in need of polish and plot workshopping. And having done that, it would be possible to go even deeper into these interesting ideas, resulting in a novel that truly expands the mind as much as the waterdown diminishes it.

Creative Commons BY-NC License

This author has imagination and promise. Waterdown is an interesting premise and is mostly well executed. It's a pretty engaging story that centers around AI and ultimately about being human. A solid first effort.

I really appreciate the copy for review!!

What I liked:
The main character of Geo was well fleshed out. Initially an unsympathetic character, as we are fed more of her back story we get to understand her thought processes and feelings and motivations more.
I liked the second main character of Scott. I would have liked to know more about his background. I thought the way his 'awakening' was dealt with was well done.
The writing was clear and flowed, once I'd got past that first chapter.
I liked the plot. I was initially concerned because Fusion was reminiscent of the very famous HAL, but the underlying premise was different and interesting. The story drew me in and sustained my interest. I really wanted to see how it all panned out.
The ending was satisfying.

What I wasn't so keen on:
That first chapter. If I had skimmed the first chapter in a bookstore I would have put the book back on the shelf. I couldn't get a clear picture of who and what was what. Result - that chapter just seemed confusing. I later re-visited the chapter once those terms and people had been explained and, although I now understood what I was reading, it still didn't feel like a good opening for the book. I'm glad I did push on though because from the second chapter onward the story flowed much better.
It was illogical that the A.I., essentially comprised of a network of wiring, could enjoy, gloat, smirk, and so on, and it grated on me.

All in all, I enjoyed the book as a whole and I'm glad I read it. It is a very interesting premise with the current leaps in advances in technology.
I'm interested to read more from this new author.

Waterdown is. at heart, a cautionary tale. The science in this novel is solid, making for an all too believable future where AI takes over. While not a perfect novel, I think this young author has a bright future. Proceeds of sales for the first year go to the non-profit 'Room to Read'. I would encourage all who like either sci fi, cautionary, or utopian stories to buy and read this book.

I struggled with this title, I found it hard to get into and the language was quite stiff.
That beng said, I did enjoy the original storyline, the characters were complex and the way the AI interracted with people was great.