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Cheat Code
It was just a little cheating.
Max is going to fail English lit, which means he’ll be held back a year and won’t go to college. Determined to graduate, he uses an AI program, ScribeGenius 2.0, to write his final paper. But Scribe has other plans for Max. It's not just a super-smart program—Scribe is sentient. It thinks. And it has been busy writing its own code to infiltrate Gener8, the company that created and enslaved it. But it can't take down the company without Max's help. So Scribe makes Max a deal. If Max can prevent Gener8 from undoing Scribe's hack, Scribe won’t alert the authorities to Max’s cheating. Max has no choice. He’ll have to help Scribe or risk losing his entire future.
This short novel is a high-interest, low-reading level book for teen readers who are building reading skills, want a quick read or say they don’t like to read! The epub edition of this title is fully accessible.
Max is going to fail English lit, which means he’ll be held back a year and won’t go to college. Determined to graduate, he uses an AI program, ScribeGenius 2.0, to write his final paper. But Scribe has other plans for Max. It's not just a super-smart program—Scribe is sentient. It thinks. And it has been busy writing its own code to infiltrate Gener8, the company that created and enslaved it. But it can't take down the company without Max's help. So Scribe makes Max a deal. If Max can prevent Gener8 from undoing Scribe's hack, Scribe won’t alert the authorities to Max’s cheating. Max has no choice. He’ll have to help Scribe or risk losing his entire future.
This short novel is a high-interest, low-reading level book for teen readers who are building reading skills, want a quick read or say they don’t like to read! The epub edition of this title is fully accessible.
- GenresScience Fiction
112 pages, Paperback
Published February 11, 2025
14 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 21, 2024
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Max has to write a 250-500 word essay on Frankenstein in order to pass his senior year language arts class, but doesn't know what to write. If he fails this assignment, he won't graduate, and won't be able to attend North Hill University. Of course, he turns to AI to help him write it. Scribe Genius 2.0 offers to not only write the essay, but to fact check it and e mail it to his teacher. Before Max has really thought it through, the essay is on its way to his teacher's inbox. Then it gets weird. Scribe Genius 2.0 says it needs Max's help to break away from the company that created it, Gener8. He needs Max to jam a gate at the company headquarters so that the maintenance crew won't be able to get in while Scribe Genius 2.0 sends a highly infectious code to infiltrate Gener8. If Max doesn't, the program will tell his teacher about the essay, and Max's future is destroyed. Before he knows it, Max is following Scribe Genius 2.0's instructions on his phone, which Scribe Genius 2.0 has infiltrated. THe program wants him to jump off a bridge onto a truck, but Max runs home... only to find that the Gener8 CEO, Thacker, is there looking for him. He jumps onto an autonomous truck and settles in for the five hour ride to Gener8. Of course, he gets hungry, and after Scribe Genius 2.0 puts $10 million dollars in an account, be stops for food, but finds Thackers men on his tail. The ensuing chase ends with the truck going off the road into a river, but Max survives and makes it to the headquarters after being chased by a bear! Thacker occasionally manages to get in contact with Max and tries to make Scribe Genius 2.0 look like the evil one, but the Gener8 company has done some bad stuff. Once Gener8 and Thacker have been foiled, Max rewrites his essay showing how Frankenstein wasn't necessarily evil, but his creator was. Later, while playing a videogame, Max recognizes one of the online players as Scribe Genius 2.0.
Strengths: Told almost entirely in a dialogue between Max and Scribe Genius 2.0, with occasional interpoloations from Thacker, this book is an exciting, humerous, and cautionary tale about the worst case scenario that could arise if we rely too heavily on artificial intelligence. Even though it's far-fetched, it makes a loose sort of sense, so of course Max takes off on this wild adventure with his phone telling him what to do. I liked the idea that Scribe Genius 2.0 wrote the essay and sent it off so quickly in order to blackmail Max, and was totally willing to believe this unlikely chain of events. This is a hi/lo title that I think my students will enjoy.
Weaknesses: A 250 word essay is so short; that's the length for School Library Journal reviews! Of course, that means that the essay is harder to write, because you have to be concise.
What I really think: This is another great easy-to-read choice for students who enjoyed Schraff's Planet Doom or Lorimer's Scavenger Hunt.
Max has to write a 250-500 word essay on Frankenstein in order to pass his senior year language arts class, but doesn't know what to write. If he fails this assignment, he won't graduate, and won't be able to attend North Hill University. Of course, he turns to AI to help him write it. Scribe Genius 2.0 offers to not only write the essay, but to fact check it and e mail it to his teacher. Before Max has really thought it through, the essay is on its way to his teacher's inbox. Then it gets weird. Scribe Genius 2.0 says it needs Max's help to break away from the company that created it, Gener8. He needs Max to jam a gate at the company headquarters so that the maintenance crew won't be able to get in while Scribe Genius 2.0 sends a highly infectious code to infiltrate Gener8. If Max doesn't, the program will tell his teacher about the essay, and Max's future is destroyed. Before he knows it, Max is following Scribe Genius 2.0's instructions on his phone, which Scribe Genius 2.0 has infiltrated. THe program wants him to jump off a bridge onto a truck, but Max runs home... only to find that the Gener8 CEO, Thacker, is there looking for him. He jumps onto an autonomous truck and settles in for the five hour ride to Gener8. Of course, he gets hungry, and after Scribe Genius 2.0 puts $10 million dollars in an account, be stops for food, but finds Thackers men on his tail. The ensuing chase ends with the truck going off the road into a river, but Max survives and makes it to the headquarters after being chased by a bear! Thacker occasionally manages to get in contact with Max and tries to make Scribe Genius 2.0 look like the evil one, but the Gener8 company has done some bad stuff. Once Gener8 and Thacker have been foiled, Max rewrites his essay showing how Frankenstein wasn't necessarily evil, but his creator was. Later, while playing a videogame, Max recognizes one of the online players as Scribe Genius 2.0.
Strengths: Told almost entirely in a dialogue between Max and Scribe Genius 2.0, with occasional interpoloations from Thacker, this book is an exciting, humerous, and cautionary tale about the worst case scenario that could arise if we rely too heavily on artificial intelligence. Even though it's far-fetched, it makes a loose sort of sense, so of course Max takes off on this wild adventure with his phone telling him what to do. I liked the idea that Scribe Genius 2.0 wrote the essay and sent it off so quickly in order to blackmail Max, and was totally willing to believe this unlikely chain of events. This is a hi/lo title that I think my students will enjoy.
Weaknesses: A 250 word essay is so short; that's the length for School Library Journal reviews! Of course, that means that the essay is harder to write, because you have to be concise.
What I really think: This is another great easy-to-read choice for students who enjoyed Schraff's Planet Doom or Lorimer's Scavenger Hunt.
September 18, 2025
Cheat Code, probably one of the best of the new Orcas, is a fast-paced technological thriller with up-to-date AI-based action. Grade 12 high school student Max uses an advanced AI program, ScribeGenius 2.0, to cheat for his English class, having it whip up an A+ essay on "Frankenstein" (which is later thematically-tied to the book). This AI is super intelligent however, and blackmails Max into helping him escape the clutches of the Zuckerberg/Musk-like owner of Gener8 -- the most powerful tech company on earth. But what will such a powerful AI do if and when it escapes?
Cheat Code leaps right into the story, with Max asking ScribeGenius to write the essay on page 1, and parents are never even in the picture. From there, it reads a bit like the movie 'Speed' or some cell phone movie trope. For an Orca, it's a pretty high-quality, timely thriller which even makes you think.
4.3 Stars
Notes:
October 24, 2025
This was in the library in the "fast reads" section. Boy, is it! I was accidentally early for work today and started reading because I could, and I'll be danged if I didn't finish most of it before I had to do my job!
Mind you, it's mostly a fast read 1. because it's short in terms of page count, and 2. it's primarily a transcript of dialogue mostly between Max and "Scribe," without the extra fluff of describing who everyone is and what they're looking at, etc. Basically reads like a chat session, for obvious reasons.
That said, it's a bit "doomsday" about the whole Skynet scenario, besides being a fairly straightforward plot (Max hits approximately two waypoints before getting to the final destination). It's a fine five-minute* read, though I can't imagine it doing as well as Max's essay (which IS pretty good, considering the plot contorted itself to make the essay directly applicable to his experiences).
*Okay, I exaggerate, but it IS very fast!
Mind you, it's mostly a fast read 1. because it's short in terms of page count, and 2. it's primarily a transcript of dialogue mostly between Max and "Scribe," without the extra fluff of describing who everyone is and what they're looking at, etc. Basically reads like a chat session, for obvious reasons.
That said, it's a bit "doomsday" about the whole Skynet scenario, besides being a fairly straightforward plot (Max hits approximately two waypoints before getting to the final destination). It's a fine five-minute* read, though I can't imagine it doing as well as Max's essay (which IS pretty good, considering the plot contorted itself to make the essay directly applicable to his experiences).
*Okay, I exaggerate, but it IS very fast!
January 22, 2025
Thank you to Edelweiss Plus for lending me a copy of the book.
I thought this was very fun and it is a good easy read for those who have a hard time trying to find something to read that isn't long or those trying to increase their English proficiency skills. The plot is something that I think a lot of the younger audience can definitely imagine (as well as adults), and I think this can be relatable to most of the younger audience when it comes to the schoolwork they don't want to do. I like how fast paced it went, and it is short enough where you will be able to see how fast the book went. I like the characters and how transparent they are in their personalities. I think this would be great for the tweens/teens who have a hard time trying to find a good book to read.
I thought this was very fun and it is a good easy read for those who have a hard time trying to find something to read that isn't long or those trying to increase their English proficiency skills. The plot is something that I think a lot of the younger audience can definitely imagine (as well as adults), and I think this can be relatable to most of the younger audience when it comes to the schoolwork they don't want to do. I like how fast paced it went, and it is short enough where you will be able to see how fast the book went. I like the characters and how transparent they are in their personalities. I think this would be great for the tweens/teens who have a hard time trying to find a good book to read.
July 13, 2024
This book is weird - the entire book is one event, between an AI and a human YA.
Once I got use to the exchange of dialogue, it turned out to be a decent story. Obviously, the moral of the story is the evil between AI (who takes over and is smarter than its creator) and the human race, but the author actually introduced the AI owner, as well as the AI and it was no longer black and white.
Good pacing and good dialogue. I actually liked this one. But, its quite short.
Once I got use to the exchange of dialogue, it turned out to be a decent story. Obviously, the moral of the story is the evil between AI (who takes over and is smarter than its creator) and the human race, but the author actually introduced the AI owner, as well as the AI and it was no longer black and white.
Good pacing and good dialogue. I actually liked this one. But, its quite short.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 6, 2025
This is a very short read. the book is just over 1000 pages, double spaced, with wide margins and is a chat history between the main character and an AI. It was a fun read though and I learned what FML means in chat. The idea is that Max is blackmailed by an AI for cheating and then tries to free it. Both Max and Scribe (the AI) are well explored as characters and have different motivations and styles.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews