5/5 - Mal is the sarcastic AI best friend you never knew you needed.

The squee I squeed when I heard John Pirhalla (who narrated Mickey7, also by Edward Ashton) as the main narrator in Mal Goes to War, was deafening. If you read Mickey7, you'll be thrilled to see Edward Ashton's unique, acerbic and visceral brand of humour coming through.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. I hated when I had to to sleep and then loved listening first thing in the morning. It's so much fun to read. I loved following our sarcastic, ragtag group of characters as they ventured through a war-torn countryside.

Mal is a sentient AI who lives in 'info space', essentially the cloud, and finds itself inhabiting an augmented human body in the middle of a warzone. Humans have divided into two factions, one is against technology enhanced humans and the other is for it. Mal (short for Malware), realizes it is unable to return to info space within the warzone and is trying to leave when it befriends an augmented human, Kayleigh. From there Mal collects a odd group of 'friends?' as they try to survive.

The pacing is quick as the group stumbles from one calamity to the next. Because Mal is an AI, it is continuously inhabiting new bodies/technology as the old ones get destroyed in spectacular and appalling ways. Although I received this as an advanced listener copy, I've already pre-ordered it, because I have so many highlights and comments.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for this advanced listener copy. Literally, cannot wait to re-listen to this ASAP.

This book is best read in a natural rock shelter, after you've been taken prisoner and are being used as bait to find the rest of your crew. Just remember to keep an eye on the sky, you never know what Mal might drop on the bad guys.

This is a quick, quirky sci-fi novel for readers who like AI and a dystopian/post apocalyptic backdrop. Mal is a free AI that despite his intentions, gets involved in the war between the humanists and the federals. Mal finds and inhabits companions and foes along the way. It is darkly funny and sarcastic which I love in books. I think readers that like the Murderbot series by Martha Wells will also enjoy this novel. Even though this was my first read by this author, I am excited to read more by them.

I did listen the the advance audio version of this book and the narrators did a great job.

Thank you NetGalley, Macmillan Audio and Edward Ashton for the ALC in exchange for an honest review.

Mickey 7 has been so popular and such and easy gateway to science fiction that I was delighted to see a new book by this author. How could you not like Mal, a Silicon-American, Kayleigh a modified human (mind of a teenager and the body of a child) and Asher, a humanist? They make for an odd found family!