This cyber sf novel uses multiple protagonists to show how society looks, figuratively speaking, through the ever-present “specs”—a type of VR glasses that enable you to plug into life online. It seems that the greater part of the population sneers down at those people without specs—regardless why the specs may be absent. Interestingly, the specs enable users to make money by means of short projects called “joblets.” However, any full-time job, especially hands-on, is considered déclassé. When the perspective switched to a priest looking for Jobs, I assumed it had to do with work units larger than a joblet. Nope. His quest pertains to finding the downtrodden and disadvantaged who are living a humble and tormented life like Job from the Bible. But once he finds these people, he has no plans to help them.

I got about a third of the way into the novel and found myself disliking all of the main characters who all seemed to be cut from the same mold: shallow, crass, bawdy, unwise, and treating other people like they are objects to manipulate or levers to pull. I had a glimmer of interest regarding the Job candidates who were dying mysteriously, leaving the priest feeling guilty as if he had murdered them. How could he be guilty? I understand that the premise of this book concerns people who want to destroy all of the technology on earth. I was left not caring whether they destroyed every bit of technology AND all of its self-absorbed users. Minus the poor Job people who didn’t despise or prey on others.

A thank you to NetGalley and Andrew Burt for a copy to review in exchange for my opinion.

Andrew Burt has written a great novel about the dangers of AI. The book goes into detail about the battle for mankind and how the human race must evolve, I look forward to Burt's next book.