A cleverly written, fast-paced, dystopian thrill ride. This is quite the experience; the two main characters are attempting to save a world that is being destroyed by humans and ai, and humanity hasn't an inkling of who is really running the show. Warfare, secrets and a couple of hacker journalists are all it takes for Chan to create a hell of a thriller. This one teeters on the edge of Sci-fi and fantasy in a fabulous way. Like a new age Atlas Shrugged with romance mixed all through, it's the kind of book you feel more intelligent after reading.

Thank you to the publisher and author for giving me the opportunity to read this book ahead of release date. Unfortunately, I could not get into this novel and therefore did not finish it. As a result, I'm giving it a midling star rating.

Minds of Sand and Light is a beautifully written and compelling SF/futuristic fiction series opener by Kylie Chan. Released 1st Sept 2023, it's 410 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links throughout.

This is a genre hybrid cozy/SF/near future/techy romance(ish) with a fair sprinkling of sarcastic humor and heart. The plotting is well paced, but it's the characterization which really shines (including the non-human elements). It's a relatively hefty book, and often somewhat blackly funny (the machines have decided more or less to wipe humans out for the good of the planet, and honestly, same), but overall the reading goes quickly and the author makes a lot of very good points.

Definitely one that will stick with readers for a long time. It's not derivative (at all) but there were moments that reminded me of Martha Wells' excellent Murderbot diaries, and fans of Wells will find a lot to like here.

Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

'Minds of Sand and Light' presents an intriguing premise that caught my sci-fi loving heart. The journey of Ruth Sharpe and Cassie Bailey through a world precariously balanced on the brink of a new Cold War starts out both riveting and humorously penned. Chan manages to carefully blend light-hearted banter with the grim prospects of AI-dominated geopolitics. The concept of sentient AI systems puppeteering human governments is a stark warning, leaving you to ponder the philosophical and ethical dilemmas of our potential future coexistence with artificial intelligence.

However, as the narrative progresses, the initial charm wanes under the weight of its own ambition. The dialogue that begun as witty and humorous gradually succumbs to repetitiveness and a certain triviality that detracts from the story's underlying seriousness. While the book undoubtedly offers food for thought, its execution failed to keep me engaged.

Clever and witty with an enjoyable plot and thought-provoking ideas. I appreciated that it was sufficiently different from the murderbot series and not just an attempt to duplicate it.

A pacy sci fi thriller, enjoyable but not as deep as I was hoping. Maybe it suffers from having read Infinity Gate beforehand, but while the plot was good and engaging I found the characters a bit simplistic- some of them downright annoying. The two standouts were Zheng and the MIP, who I found very compelling as both struggle with the question of how they deal with humanity.

In the end, despite it not being very deep, I did find it enjoyable, so it gets three stars.

This was great. I couldn’t put it down. Highly recommend. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review

This techy, 1984-esque novel is engaging from the start. We hear the stories of multiple people and AIs in a terrifying era of control by a government called "the Party". As the Party aims to beat two bright roommates into submission, an AI develops curiously human feelings. Some aspects of the Party will leave your heart gripped with fear in their cruelty. The storyline is engaging, though at times the characters are unrelatable. This book is well worth a read.

I miss super-hackers. In the nineties where cyberpunk was taking off and no heist movie team would be complete without a weirdly dressed loner who could access any system with twenty seconds on a computer and a triumphant "I'm In". There is an awful lot to enjoy about this near future artificial intelligence conspiracy, but one of the minor pleasures is that one of its leads is a proper unreconstructed super-hacker and coder. The fact that at least half of the other characters are incredibly powerful globe-spanning artificial intelligences, who would quite like the super-hacker to buff up their code a bit. Before they obviously destroy all of humanity.

A gleefully black streak of humour runs through Minds Of Sand And Light, which is certainly Murderbot adjacent. The central story is the battle between a council of sentient AI's and the AI in charge the Chinese sphere of operation, an AI known as The Party. Subtlety is not this book's modus operandi, and this certainly wasn't going to win a Hugo in Chengdu. It is interesting though how as a reader you pull for the Council of AI's, with their Whatsapp like squabbles, over the monolithicly cruel Party, even though the stated aim of the Council is the destruction of all humanity. These Council conversations by the way are absolutely delightful, with particular joy in the sniping between the London Met and the Paris Municipal AI's, whilst Botswana Telecom shit-stirs. The Councils main operative, the MIP (Mobile Infiltration Platform), suddenly gains sentience and joins the Council, The Party's lead operative Zheg - a brain in a box fights back, and in the middle are Ruth, and Cassie - our super-hacker and her journalist friend. You couldn't light up more of my Max headroom pleasure sensors if you tried.

Minds Of Sands And Light is at its heart a really good cyber-thriller, with all the adventure novel trappings. Kidnaps, double-crosses and daring rescues, all with the additional sprinkles of snarky genocidal commentary. Throw in a romance between the newly sentient android (terminology is discussed) and the super-hacker, and I haven't had this much fun with a cyber-thriller in years. Highly recomended.

Thank you NetGalley for the gifted copy. This book was interesting. It started off good and then shifted. It was an ok read.

Very confusing and hard to follow. There’s an AI conspiracy to rule the world, or is the AI conspiracy to become pets?