It took a bit to get into this book but overall it was a good read at what could, technically happen. The book was written well and I felt a connection to the characters.

TL;DR

The gritty world of Neil Sharpson’s When the Sparrow Falls stayed with me long after I finished. This dystopian thriller is highly recommended to SF and mystery fans.

Disclaimer: The publisher provided a copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Any and all opinions that follow are mine alone.

Review: When the Sparrow Falls by Neil Sharpson

Rarely do I read dystopian fiction anymore. It’s hard to read those stories as democracy comes under assault, but when I do, I remember why I like dystopian fiction. These stories bring up important questions about us as humans. Dystopian fiction asks what does it mean to live under authoritarian regimes. The answer is often fatalism. Humans accept it. We resist in small ways, but we also have to survive. Dystopian fiction asks is merely surviving actually living. At the beginning of When the Sparrow Falls, Neil Sharpson’s main character is just surviving day-to-day. But when given a dangerous assignment that brings someone from his past to him, his memories show him living a life that’s more than just work. Will he wake up and resist or simply survive?

State Security Agent Nikolai South has lived most of his life by keeping his head down and avoiding notice. He attends the minimum number of party meetings; he doesn’t pursue promotion opportunities. He’s content working as a low level agent. On an assignment to check out a suspected CONTRAN (short for Conscienceness Transfer), he and his partner find two bodies as the women underwent the illegal procedure. The Caspian Republic styles itself as the final bastion for ‘natural’ humans. There is no artificial intelligence to control life; there aren’t even smartphones. Outside the Caspian Republic, three super AIs have taken over for humanity, and the problem of transferring human conscienceness has been solved. Humans can now join AIs in post-singularity electronic worlds. But the thought of this is revolting to the people of the Caspian Republic, even Agent South.

Upon the death of one of the Caspian Republic’s most famous propaganda writer, the government learns that he was a ‘machine.’ This writer was an AI in a human body, who had come to the Caspian Republic for unknown reasons. The writer’s widow is given special dispensation to come to the Caspian Republic to identify him. Agent South is given the assignment of escorting her and determining if she’s a spy. South finds himself exactly opposite of what he wants; he’s in the eyes of powerful government officials and being watched by State Security’s nemesis, Party Security. When the widow shows up looking exactly like his late wife, his loyalty will be tested. His beliefs will be tested, and South’s afraid he’ll sacrifice all for the machine that looks like his wife.

When the Sparrow Falls was an atmospheric story. It reminded me of the stories about Soviet Russia. The Caspian Republic is an authoritarian state beset by sanctions from and technologically behind the rest of the world. Everyone is afraid of the state, even those doing the thug work of the state. People are starving; people are afraid. Outside the republic, people are living much better lives and living potentially forever in a post-singularity world.

Sharpson has written an excellent noir story set in a horrifying society. The main mystery, what was an AI doing in a society opposed to its being, is supported by little mysteries throughout the story that add up to something very interesting. This story embodies the saying that the journey is better than the destination. While the solves mostly satisfied, following South through this repressed society was fantastic. As I read, I felt the same oppressive air as South. Sharpson portrayed the Caspian Republic’s stoicism in such a way as to make Russians proud.

Fallen

Agent South carries the novel, as is necessary for a first person perspective. He has the noir detectives fault of wanting to do the wrong thing but having to do the right thing. He’s not one for grand gestures of resistance, but he does engage in kindness here and there. In the beginning of the novel, he warns a man to run even though it could cost South his freedom. In reality, Nikolai isn’t living, though. He’s just going through the motions that look like life. South never got over the death of his wife. Their relationship, which it would be generous to call it rocky, scarred him for life. Throughout the novel, she’s never far from his mind. How could she be with the AI he’s protecting looking exactly like her?

But what defined South was his determination and stubbornness. Even while guarding the AI, he’s still thinking about and interested in the CONTRAN case from the beginning. He may not want to pursue the case but he can’t help but be curious. His worn down realism about the Caspian Republic means he knows imprisonment or death follows any wrong step; yet, he still sticks his nose in where he shouldn’t. He still talks to the ‘machine’ even though she may corrupt him.

Sweet Surrender

Nikolai is the main character, and the Caspian Republic is the biggest supporting character. The reader will learn about it, its history, its politics, and, even, the dirty secrets it tries to hide. Nikolai isn’t exactly a patriot, and his cynicism regarding his country feels earned. Through him, we get to see how and why the Caspian Republic exists in a world dominated by AIs. All the other characters aren’t given much time, but through each of them, we see the world sketched without Nikolai’s personal biases. It’s excellent world-building.

One of the interesting things about this world is the role of philosophers and journalists in maintaining the status quo, in perpetuating the propaganda. It says a lot about how media shapes a society, which is then undercut by no one in society believing the media. But Sharpson doesn’t leave it at this simple of a portrayal. The book opens with the hanging of a writer, beloved by the state, because of his betrayal. He did the worst thing a state-sponsored propagandist can do, he publicly changed his mind.

Building a Mystery

I love when science fiction mixes with mystery. It may be my favorite subgenre of sci fi. Solving the mystery drives the story, but it’s not why we read these stories. We prefer stories with interesting characters that reveal information in a way that keeps us glued to the page. I’ve heard that the main character should be one step behind the reader in solving the mystery. I don’t think this is true because I enjoy mysteries where I don’t really know how they will be solved. But I want them to be solved in a way that is satisfying. Sharpson does that with most mysteries. There’s one mystery that I’m not sure I understand the answer to it. If what I think is correct, it’s unsatisfying; so, I prefer to think I don’t understand the answer. In the end, my nitpick is small and a personal preference. Other readers will disagree with me, and that’s great.

Conclusion

Neil Sharpson’s When the Sparrow Falls is an excellent dystopian thriller. Agent South and the world-building are wonderful. Despite the Caspian Republic being a horrible place, I looked forward to returning to it each time I picked up the book.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of When the Sparrow Falls!

The premise intrigued me quite a bit, and I usually enjoy this kind of sci-fi novel. However, I just really couldn't get into this one. I had trouble connecting with the writing style, and the opening chapters just didn't grab my attention in the way I was expecting. I didn't really connect with the characters, either, and I found the world-building choppy. The plot was plodding, and it was hard for me to get really invested in any of the events in the story. Unfortunately, this one just wasn't for me.

One Sentence Summary: When the victim of a killing is discovered to be a "machine" in the last sanctuary for humans, Agent Nikolai South is tasked with escorting his widow, but something greater seems to be a play, and it may have to do with this machine who bears an uncanny resemblance to his late wife.

Overall

When the Sparrow Falls is the kind of dystopian novel I've been searching for. I love that I could clearly figure out how the world went from here to there. At times, the Caspian Republic felt like a post-war country, but there was a sci-fi edge to it with AI running the world outside of the Republic. The characters were all playing complicated games and had secrets hiding up their sleeves like a deck of cards, all of them maneuvering South around the board like a chess piece, no matter how he tried to outwit them. When the Sparrow Falls is an incredible dystopian novel with fear in the air and change on the horizon.

Extended Thoughts

When AI arose and the reins of government handed over to the Triumvirate, a trio of AI from three different continents, the Caspian Republic was formed to be the last home for humans and humankind. AI are not allowed and one has never set foot inside its borders. Until now.

After his unfortunate death, famed journalist Paulo Xirau is discovered to have been a machine. Around the same time, Agent Nikolai South and his partner are called in to investigate the deaths of twin sisters. They discover it's a case of consciousness transfers (contran), in which the women's consciousnesses were transferred out of their bodies in order to put them into AI bodies, which is illegal in the Republic. But, before he can investigate further, South is called on for a special task: escort the deceased AI's widow to identify his remains.

But the widow, Lily, bears an uncanny resemblance to South's late wife. Even though she is machine, he begins to see her in a different light, one that will have him caught in many webs as the Republic is on the brink of incredible change.

For years, I've called myself a fan of dystopian fiction, but hadn't ever actually found one I loved. In their own ways, they all failed to convince me of their dystopian nature. When the Sparrow Falls is the first to give me everything I didn't know I needed all of my dystopian reads to have. I loved that I could clearly figure out how our world became South's world. Of course, there were some things I had to assume, but it was like following breadcrumbs, and then the world just exploded in my mind.

The world building is fantastic. The history is all laid out, not in a linear manner, but in bits and pieces that are still easy to follow and put together. The world makes complete sense to me, and even feels plausible as a possible future. There were some things that did feel a little far-fetched, but I loved how impressive the Caspian Republic was. There was so much depth to it that it made me feel like I was there, following South around.

As great as the world building is, though, there isn't exactly much else to the book. There is some mystery, but it's not nearly as front and center as I expected considering the curious fact that Lily appears identical to his late wife. South's job is to escort Lily, not try to figure out who contranned the sisters, but there are a lot of moving pieces around him and he and Lily seemed to be somewhere in the middle. This isn't so much the reader looking over his shoulder, peering in to see how he's sorting things out. It's more of we're in his head, seeing history from his eyes, and putting together a timeline and information about all these moving pieces to figure out the next step. While the mystery is deftly and softly tied into the story, I felt it was more about the detailing of history and South putting together pieces from his past to figure things out in the present. Otherwise, he spends an awful lot of time talking to people and sitting around while Lily works on identifying her husband's remains, which is itself a fascinating point.

But I still really enjoyed reading this. I was surprised by just how easily and quickly I flew through it. The world was so immersive, the history so fascinating, that I couldn't wait to pick it up again. It's quite incredible that all the plots, machinations, and uncovering of plots and secret identities happened in a very compressed amount of time. In a way, it seems fast-paced, but there's so much thinking and retelling of the past that it kind of messed with my sense of how time progressed in the book.

The only thing that really bothered me was most of the last 10 chapters. It got weird. Of course, the book required a good ending and couldn't really end earlier than those last several chapters, but I wish it had been smoother. Instead, it was a bit jarring and kind of knocked me out of the story. Still, it did provide a good end for all the characters.

The characters were all remarkable. Many of them did blend together and I had a difficult time remember who was in which Party (which also confused me a lot), but the main characters were absolutely fascinating. The higher ups have their own orders and chess games going on and absolutely played their public and private roles to perfection. Lily felt like such a nice breath of fresh air despite being a machine. Being in a human body is completely new to her and she's stuck with the duality of being human and AI. I both loved and hated South. As the narrator, the reader comes to know him very well. He's a good worker, just going along under the radar, but there's a lot of depth to him, a lot from his past that explains just about everything about him. But it very often felt like the story was spiraling out of control around him and he was just caught up in it for the ride. He was overshadowed by the world and the story, which felt weird considering the reader gets the story through his eyes.

Still, When the Sparrow Falls is the most impressive dystopian novel I've had the pleasure to read. I loved everything about the world and was quite pleasantly surprised by just how in-depth the characters were. They all had their histories and motivations and it all helped push the story forward. It did feel like everything just suddenly decided to come to a head with Lily's arrival, but I suppose everything needs a catalyst and she was convenient. Overall, though, a delightful dystopian read with tons to offer a reader.

I would like to thank Net Galley and the author for providing me the opportunity to preview this book.

I found the book to be a breezy, fast read, written in a very easily followed conversational tone throughout.

The content is filled with futuristic technology, intrigue, politics, and plot twists that kept me turning the pages to see where the story was going.

This is an enjoyable tale worth savoring.

When the Sparrow Falls, by Neil Sharpson, is a great novel. The writing is excellent, the plot is thrilling, it’s extremely emotional, the characters are great, and the themes provide smart and insightful commentary on our current political landscape. It does all of this in a relatively small package of about 300 pages. It is probably the best thing I have read this year so far and it is a shoo-in for our best-of list at the end of the year.

Sparrow is a spy thriller set in a sort of North Korea analogous country called the Caspian Republic. The world is now run by AI supercomputers, and the Caspian Republic was founded on the idea that it is the last hold out in the fight for a humanity run by humanity. We follow the life of Agent Nikolai South, a State Security agent who works hard enough to remain unnoticed in his country. But when a Party propagandist is killed – and is discovered to have secretly been an AI in hiding – he’s given a new mission. He must chaperone a second AI from outside country borders as she (the AI has a gender) attempts to investigate what happened. But when South sees that she, the first “machine” ever knowingly allowed into the country, bears an uncanny resemblance to his late wife, he begins to question everything he knows while defending the AI for various Caspian groups who think she might destroy the Republic for good.

The bones of this story are built on a spy thriller, the paper pusher kind that John le Carré likes to write. The Caspian Republic is a surveillance state, filled to the brim with espionage and secrets. If you are simply looking for a good thriller, this definitely will meet that criteria with a fresh science fiction twist. However, Sparrow is a lot more than its spy origins.

The first thing that gripped me about the book is the excellent writing. The metaphors, analogies, observations, and characterizations that fill the book are transportive in nature and flawless in execution. The prose feels both poetic and smart at the same time while also making it easier for the reader to digest some complicated ideas and beliefs. The narrative style feels like it is half an autobiography of Agent South and half a historical recounting of the Capsian Republic. The book starts with a very narrow view of what is going on in both the Caspian Republic and the larger world, but it widens to revelatory effect as the book progresses. There are also (in-universe) historical quotes at the start of each chapter that add flavor and insight into the world. My personal favorite was:

“The Progressive Caspian People’s Party. A footnote that dreamed it was a chapter.”
–Samuel Papalazarou Junior

The characters are also fantastic. We spend the majority of the time with South, who is extremely well realized. His personality begins very muted but slowly warms up over the course of the novel in a very satisfying way. On top of South, there is a delightful roster of supporting characters including other agents, the AI named Lily that South is escorting, and the various historical Capsian figures that get brief vignettes in the story. Sharpson is so good at getting you to care about these people and getting invested in their struggles. And struggle they do.

This is not a happy book. Many of the themes surround the purpose and effect of human suffering, the nature of religion and god, the responsibility and effect of government, and the nature of humanity. I don’t actually agree with all of the conclusions that Sharpson comes to through the exploration of the themes, but I do think they were presented in a fantastically compelling manner, and I found myself thinking about the points of the book every time I set it down. The last fifth of the story also has a tonal shift that feels a bit mismatched with the rest of the story. The first 80% is all a spy thriller from South’s perspective, while the last piece is written as a third-person historical recounting.

When the Sparrow Falls is an absolute home run of a book that succeeds on every possible metric I review books by. It will be one of our top picks of 2021 and we recommend getting your hands on it as soon as possible. Its poetic writing and sharp observations will make you think, while its thrilling nature and great characters will keep you engrossed. The Quill To Live highly recommends this book to everyone.

Rating: When the Sparrow Falls – 9.5/10
-Andrew

The Caspian Republic is a Soviet-style dystopia, but set in a future in which it is the sole holdout against rule by Artificial Intelligence (AI,) against virtual living, and against downloading one’s consciousness. When, Nikolai South, an unimpressive agent of the State Security agency is given the seemingly undemanding, yet diplomatically sensitive, job of escorting the foreign widow of a deceased “journalist,” something is amiss. Nikolai’s work philosophy has been to find the sweet spot where he is neither noticed as a shirker nor for his excellence, and his mastery of this Goldilocks Zone has made him nearly invisible to upper management – or so he thought. What makes the job tricky is that the journalist, a man who wrote rants against AI and downloading of consciousness, turns out to be a downloaded consciousness, as is his wife, making her visit a little like the head of the Dalai Lama Fan Club being invited to Beijing.

I found this story compelling. The book perspective jumps toward the end (throughout most of the book, it’s first-person narrated,) but for the most part the perspective shifts aren’t problematic. While this shift away from first person narration isn’t hard to follow, I would say this section goes on longer than I would have preferred. There is a point about two-thirds of the way through at which we lose the the thread of Nikolai, and at that point the story becomes largely a history of a fictional country (which, sans a central character, is a bit tedious,) but then the book resumes a character-centric story to the book’s end (and I resumed enjoying it.)

If you’re interested in books that make you question what being human means, and where the boundaries lie, you’ll find this book intriguing and worth reading.

When the Sparrow Falls is a remarkable book. Sharpson's prose is some of the freshest, most vibrant that I've read in years, and his world is incredibly fleshed out.

I loved the idea of AI taking over the world in a (heretofore) benevolent way, and of one country eschewing computer overlord in favor of a surveillance state perpetually on the brink of war.

The first two-thirds of the novel are amazing. Nikolai South is an intriguing protagonist, and he serves as excellent eyes through which the reader can view the world. The spy-thriller/sci-fi wombo combo is just...insanely good. But Sharpson abandons his suspenseful narrative at the back end of the book, instead opting for blatant exposition following the "main" events of the book. It's jarring, and it makes some semblance of sense within the narrative. But this switch was generally disappointing.

Still, an awesome book, an an easy 4 star read.

How many books are contained within When the Sparrow Falls? I would answer 2 l/2. Packing in a lot of plot in some cases makes a novel fast-paced and what some people call “unputdownable.” In the case of Neil Sharpson's novel, however, something else occurs. The “main” story is intriguing and engaging set in a dystopian future world built with multiple layers of dimension.

The first-person narrator, Nikolai, has been a state security (Stasec) agent for twenty-nine years in Caspian, an Organic Supremacist country surrounded by other countries, actually most of the world, run by super AI. Even the State and Party agents live in fear; thus Nikolai has lived his life with his head down, doing absolutely nothing to be recognized as an individual. He is loyal to the New Humanist Party, but he resents the price of loyalty – the fear and hopelessness in which his country is mired. The entire populace lives in dread of Stasec and Parsec (Party security) which run the country with the typical totalitarian machinery. Yet it is the only country restricted to fleshly, human beings.

Even the state and Party agents live in fear; thus Nikolai has lived his life with his head down, doing absolutely nothing to be recognized as an individual. This approach leads him to be the perfect State escort for a special visitor to Caspian since he will not be missed if things go awry. The visitor is special because she is an AI who has lived her entire life in an “ocean” where anything she thought of or wanted would appear. To be in the Caspian Republic, Lily had her consciousness downloaded into a synthetic body. This is the only way she could enter the country to view the remains of her husband who lived in Caspian for twenty years without being unmasked as an AI himself. Her visit sets off a series of frantic spy vs. spy episodes and frantic soul-searching for Nikolai.

The second story is the creation of the Caspian Republic from the former Azerbaijan and adjacent territories and the rise of StaSec and ParSec. When the Sparrow Falls, somewhat reminiscent of The City & The City, embeds a scrupulous history of these events within the first story's narrative: too much for many readers, I suspect, though those parts can be skimmed. The half-story exists at the end of the novel, recounting in summary the overthrow of the Republic and the subsequent lives of Lily and others living in Caspian. Enough there for a full novel of intrigue, betrayal and – finally! – hope.

It's definitely worth reading to the end; the finale contains many surprises as well as a better future for the Caspian Republic.

This is a pretty excellent thriller that takes place within a police state centered around the idea of the natural state of man. While the rest of the world is governed by the Triumverate, three super AI that have solved most of the world's issues, the Caspian Republic has decided to go it's own way. Seen through the eyes of Agent Nikolai South, the book is incredibly detailed in its portrayal of a police state that is not technological.

Sharpson's writing is also top notch, with excellent dialogue, perfect descriptions and thoughtful opening quotes to each chapter. There is a mixture of actually existing quotes, and repurposed fake quotes that lend a character to the Caspian Republic. It's an incredibly well thought out book that is compelling from front to back. If you love spy thrillers that dive a little deeper into contemporary politics and the nature of authoritarianism, I definitely recommend you take a look at When the Sparrow Falls.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I picked up an early copy of this book, but WOW. It turned out to be a gritty noir political thriller set in a 1984/North Korea-styled dystopian far future.

I'm not usually a fan of books with complex political intrigue, but the world building was so cleverly layered into the story that I was gripped from the beginning to the unexpected end. The writing was excellent, the plot twisty, and the ideas intriguing.

An impressive and most enjoyable novel. Thank you Netgalley for providing an ARC.

In my mind, a 3-star review means this is a good read. The plausible premise of a country thinking it is holding out against the end of humanity, yet has become anything but humane, makes for a good tale.

Unfortunately this did not quite do it for me! The blurb made me expect a fast-paced, hard sci-fi book about AI. Instead I got... sort of a quiet noir-ish story set in an authoritarian regime? Even though it's set in the future, it reads like an alternate history. It gave me vibes of... Nineteen Eighty-Four meets The Yiddish Policeman's Union, even though there is nothing Jewish about this book at all.

The world and the setup for the plot are all interesting. I liked Nikolai – and the other characters, too, especially the women running the show, Augusta Niemann and Sally Coe. I found Nikolai's struggle to work through his wife's death compelling. But the beginning and the end of the book both dragged severely for me, and one of the big reveals was kind of a letdown. Still, again, the world was clever and the characters are good, so if you're into quieter detective-type stories with a sci-fi bent, I would recommend it.

I received an e-ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fascinating book. A glimpse into a future of AI and the few who have resisted. Some great characters and a very creative plot. I was surprised by the ending. The book ended, but dang, I wish there was more to come. This was an interesting world.

It's a dystopian Earth. Most of the world is overrun by Artificial Intelligence. Only a small segment of the world are true humans- born, not grown in a lab or uploaded from saved consciousness to a human body. The small factor of living humans are being snuffed out by their own kind for a variety of rule breaks. Life is hard. People are poor. People are afraid of their neighbors-never knowing who to trust. When it is discovered that for decades an AI was living in the human world- a truce is made to allow the AI's spouse to identify his remains. If she comes home there will be no war. If she doesn't- the fate of the world is unknown. A lone Intelligence agent from the Caspian Republic has everyone's fate in his hands.

I thought this was beautifully done. I would recommend to my friends and family.

When the Sparrow Falls scores a home run in three genres. It is a sure-fire contender for a Hugo Award nomination in science fiction, with a beautifully crafted future history and worldbuilding worthy of masters like Philip K Dick or even the sainted Asimov. It is a truly riveting thriller full of murder and conspiracy in which the protagonist knows exactly who he can trust: no one. It also explores human themes with a depth and careful attention to the writing that it merits the title of literature.
The book is narrated by protagonist Nikolai South, an agent for State Security in the Caspian Republic. The Caspian Republic is the bastion defending pure humanity against the rest of the world, which allows “contran”, the transfer of a consciousness from an organic body to an artificial server or vice versa. Nikolai supports the principles of his country, but he is all too aware of its authoritarian nature and makes comments like, “Nominally the currency of the Caspian Republic was the moneta, but in truth the coin of the nation was fear.” When the most widely read writer in the Caspian Republic is killed and turns out to be an AI, South is assigned to escort his wife, who has come to identify and claim the body. He knows it will be a challenging assignment, but he finds his patriotic, professional, and personal loyalties challenged in ways he could never have imagined.
The Prologue gave me the feeling that this was going to be a good read. It opens with “a clear, bright , quite savagely cold day… when poor old Mendelssohn was brought out into the courtyard before a crowd…and hanged from his neck while they watched and shuffled their feet against the cold.” Each chapter opens with a helpful quote from protagonist Nikolai South’s own time or from historical figures like Elon Musk.
Now that Neil Sharpson has entered the world of the novel, I hope that he will be writing more. When the Sparrow Falls has a beautiful and satisfying ending, but there are certainly enough interesting aspects to the world he created that it could inspire another. Or, since Sharpson clearly does not lack imagination, he could give us another possible future. Whichever it is, I will be eager to read it.
I received an advance review copy of this book from Netgalley and Tor.

5 stars - thoughtful, well observed, pretty great!

In the not too distant future earth is ruled by three super-AIs and a large part of humanity has uploaded their souls and left their bodies to live online or in a cloned biological suit. They share the world with AIs who have become sentient and live with humans as equals.

And then there is the Caspian republic: built on an ideology that refuses anything "Machine" and the self-proclaimed home to the last remnants of humanity.
But as it can be with states that are built on an ideology Caspian ends up being authoritan and deeply paranoid.

The story is being told bei Nikolai South, an agent of State Security in the Caspian republic and the plot is actually told in a few sentences: Nikolai, a very average agent living a life under the radar, is assigned with welcoming a very unusual visitor. The first AI ever to visit Caspian is coming over to identify a dead man. But why does she seem to be the spitting image of Souths dead wife? And is her visit connected with the recent problem that someone is illegally uploading people to storage chips and smuggling them out into the free world?

As it is with good books, it is not the story itself that sets it apart but rather the way it is told. The tone gets the balance just right: Caspian is bleak and it is clear right away that this country is destined to fail. Yet, there is always a sense of hope - being a decent human being, trusting your instincts about someone even if it goes agains everything you have ever been indoctrinated with - you cannot get that out of people, no matter how oppresisve the world you live in is. The story is very engaging and manages to end on a high note, which might come unexpected from just knowing the setting.

The worldbuilding is great, dense and beautifully captured. As are the main characters of our story. It does show its roots in a play - the dialogue is spot on and we learn so much about the characters between the lines. And it is quite obvious that the author cares about his characters, they feel real and complex.
This is a "truthful" book - by that I mean that the author knows people well, and the organizations and countries they form. There's so many excellent observations about human behaviour, which for me personally makes a book an instant winner.

Judging from the cover (yes, I know), I expected a much bleaker, darker story and was pleasantly surprised. This one had me drawn in with the first sentence, actually. A great and rich reading experience, I'll definitely read anything Neil Sharpson puts out next!

I thought this was for the most part an excellent book. I enjoyed the political and technological threads running through the book. It was one of the most creative books of its type that I have read. I enjoyed the characters and the twists and turns of allegiance were well thought out and well executed. However, for me the story peaked too soon. This made the book unbalanced. The story reaches its climax at the end of Chapter 34, there follows a historical review which, I found to be too long before concluding in the final chapter.

Wow, was I impressed by this book. First of all, Sharpson makes us understand the Caspian Republic very quickly. To me, it seemed like a sort of future mashup of East Germany and North Korea. Because the Caspian Republic is the only country in the world that bans artificial intelligence—which by then has been incorporated in humankind everywhere else—it’s essentially a hermit kingdom, a pariah country and a surveillance state. The StaSec (state security), which Nikolai South works for, and ParSec (party security) tightly control all aspects of life in the country and anyone even slightly deviating from rules and orthodoxy is dealt with summarily. Life is harsher by the day, as other countries have blockaded the country, the infrastructure is crumbling and even the country’s leaders are slowly starving.

In addition to reminding me East Germany and North Korea, there are unmistakable reminders of white supremacists, as the Caspian Republic is staunchly philosophically human supremacist. They have their version of “replacement theory” too, and the concomitant hatred and fear of the other.

Anyway, so we start out with impressive world building. Sharpson treats this novel almost as if it’s history, with detailed descriptions of the origins of the Caspian Republic and all the military and political fighting that led to its establishment.

Now on to characters. For a guy who has spent decades trying to ensure he doesn’t garner any attention from anybody, especially ParSec, Nikolai South quickly becomes an indelible character. He has a gently mocking tone in his inner dialog, with his tart observations directed at himself and to his country. Imagine his surprise—and fear—when the StaSec chief orders him to report to her. It turns out that it is precisely because of his decades-long self-effacement that she deems him the perfect person to handle a no-win assignment: be the minder for a foreign visitor who has come to identify her husband Paolo Xirau, a staunch party loyalist who was killed and found in his autopsy to be AI. Of course his widow Lily is AI too, and Nikolai is gobsmacked to find that she looks like his long-dead wife.

Now Nikolai is in jumbled state of mind, wondering exactly what is going on and having great difficulty dealing with the maelstrom of his feelings about Lily Xirau. Not as sharp as he maybe should be, considering that there are forces within the Caspian Republic who want to kill Lily for the great sin of being AI and being in their country at the same time.

This is a real standout read, positing an imaginable future not so many decades away. A future that is dauntingly dystopian in many ways, but full of humanity’s potential when it is open to possibility.

I love well-crafted stories that incorporate AI, and this is no exception. This is one of the best sci-fi thrillers I've read in a while. I don't normally enjoy (and often openly despise) political thrillers, but this is such a unique spin and Nikolai South is such a great character that I couldn't help but to love the book. I will be buying a few copies for my local library system so that everyone can have an opportunity to enjoy this book as much as I did. Thanks to the publisher Tor Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this excellent ARC.