Project: Perception: Strings are Everywhere

by Joshua C. Cook

Librarian Notes: this is an alternate cover edition ASIN B00MGBA0AG - Project: Perception: A Story of Reality.

Mankind is stagnant. Still fighting the same fights since the end of the 20th century. While technology advances at a blistering pace, socially, humanity is becoming stunted. Someone or Something, known only as the 'Administrator' is determined to change the path that humanity is on. A small push in certain places, and the combined weight of public opinion will change. But who is the Administrator? What is the ultimate goal? And who will get sacrificed to reach the endgame?

Seeing should never be believing.

131 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 5, 2014

About the author

Born and Raised in Sunny (sometimes) Florida, I grew up in a house of readers. I've always been into good Sci-Fi, fantasy, and technology. In fact I ended up somehow working in the IT field for the last 13 years.
One of the things that surprised me about my career was the interaction of people with technology. How blindly trusting people are of whatever the computer says on it, regardless if what it's saying is even possible.
When I decided to write, I chose to play in the space of the interaction between people and technology, and reality vs. perception.

Reviews

[Catrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting thriller with a sci-fi take. The reveal of “The Administrator” was a twist that I didn’t totally see coming.

I was definitely entertained by this story written by Joshua Cook and narrated by Skyler Morgan.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and I have voluntarily left this review.

[Esi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a sci-fi tech fantasy mystery mix. The author took the time to really develop the characters. The character development helps to give a strong plot in this book. I must admit that I was not expecting so many surprises in the book. However this is what made the book amazing for me. The ending really caught me by surprise, as I am sure it will catch you by surprise too. Overall, this is a great book and I look forward to reading more books by Cook.

[Korra II Allison Baskerville · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s difficult to talk about this story without spoilers. So be warned.

Starting off, the story is interesting. I thought it was going to be a story of a protagonist locked in a small room, slowly losing his mind. Nope. He was killed off and the perspective changed. It was well done, sure. But part of me was more interested in the first protagonist.

When the story introduces this mob boss-esque “admin” character and then later mentions an AI that left the planet. It became blatantly obvious who and what this admin was. Whle that reveal fell flat for me, others were a pleasant surprise.

The thing I found myself annoyed with was the side plot of these two guys who were looking into the protagonists. The whole story you’re given glimpses to what they’re doing, their suspicions and how they’re onto the the protagonists. All that buildup and it fizzles out at the end like a wet fart. It didn’t go anywhere. It was a total waste of time.

I enjoyed this one, for what it was. It had an uphill battle because I can’t stand SciFi. I request review copies via. genre and I didn’t realize the ones listed were SciFi stuff. So I was really pleasantly surprised with this one. It wasn’t just the side story that was a dud, it was the ending as a whole. But the story overall was good.

The audiobook has some issues. Chapter 2 is extremely quiet. The audiobook in general seemed too quiet to me. I could barely hear it with my phone volume turned up to max. The volume was all over the place. When chapter 3 started, it sounded slightly louder than 2, but from there, I got used to it and stopped paying attention to it.

Overall, the narrator was good. I got sick and tired of him mispronouncing the word across. It’s seriously annoying when people add letters to words. “acrosst” isn’t a word and it cums up over and over in this story, compounding my annoyance.

NOTE: This copy was provided to me free of charge as a digital review copy. The opinions stated in this review are mine and mine alone, I was not paid or requested to give this book a certain rating, suggestion, or approval.

[Julie Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did enjoy this book but felt at the end of the story the big question for me was what just happened? It is definitely not your normal type of book. I loved the first part of the book but I kind of got lost what was happening in the second part, as it jumped from character to character and situation to situation. I think I was also still expecting the first character we learnt about to come back and play a part. It still made for an interesting listening and I did understand the concept of what was happening but I guess I was expecting the bad guys to get there comeuppance and I don't think that happened in the end.
Will humans ever learn from there past mistakes, the administrator does not think so and sets in motion a plan to change the world forever. Can using social media and influencers for good really change the world and at what cost?
The narrator was good and I liked his style of narration.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

[Lori Peterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Received as an audio review copy from Story Origin, this is an honest review. Narrated by Skyler Morgan and it's in part due to whom narrated this story of why this review is there stars. The narrator was okay but ( at least for myself ) didn't make the story more memorable that can happen with them right vocal performance. Besides that issue the book itself was intriguing with its harrowing future with certain test subjects locked below ground, isolated by their mindless boring job that pays really well for eighteen months of work without their damn minds. When everything hits the fan with your isolated protagonist, the guy must escape or go insane as the technology keeping the underground bunker functioning starts to fail. Plenty of secrets to unravel but a good story nevertheless.

[Roger]

Project: Perception: Strings are Everywhere, my third read from author Joshua C. Cook. I loved the premise of the book, but Skyler Morgan’s bland narration took away from a well-written book's enjoyment Well-written epic fantasy with intriguing characters. 5-hours 33-minute/136-pages. I was given an Audible copy of this book and am voluntarily reading & reviewing it. I'll be reading more from this author, I recommend a print edition to get the most enjoyment from this book. (RIP Marley January 20, 2014 - July 24, 2018).

[odedo1 Audio book worm. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Changing humanity.




After hundreds of thousands of years humanity behavior of wars and the collection of the all mighty coin never changing , The author Joshua Cook have written a book about an experiment of changing humanity perception which might change humanity all together to avoid its demise.
A twist like no other
appears.
Which makes it all worth it.

Excellent narration by Skyler Morgan for each of the characters in this book.

Recommended !!!


Oded Ostfeld.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the beginning of this story. It totally captured my interest; however, the middle part of the story was a little flat, but then the story ended with a great twist. On the whole, I found this book interesting and entertaining. Skyler Morgan does a great job in the narration of the story. I was given a free copy of the audiobook and I have voluntarily left this review.

[James Hockley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, I liked this book a lot. My positivity is edged with a note of disappointment (I’ll get to that later), but this is nonetheless a very satisfying read. It’s a great core idea, if not entirely unique, and the details around the edges really add a depth to the tale. It’s fair to say that one has to take some rather bold leaps in accepting the path of events, but they are not insurmountable – simply challenging to validate. And the story would be nothing without its trajectory, which is ultimately a good one.

The book starts with a brief prologue, before really proceeding in earnest with a character called Jameston. Jameston is a ‘sphere jockey’ – effectively an engineer locked up in a remote underground maintenance unit; completely isolated from the world. While completing his year and a half assignment, Jameston starts to notice some strange ‘goings-on’, and what follows is a series of chapters dedicated to Jameston trying to establish whether he is going mad with isolation or whether it is more sinister. The book then broadens quickly, but I will get to that later.

Now, this starting sequence of chapters is really well done. We get close to Jameston quickly, and really associate with his isolated situation and the concerns that he harbours. Such a lonely narrative has to be strong to maintain interest, and this certainly did – it was really well done. I found myself sympathising with Jameston, and egging him on.

But this somewhat contained sequence eventually opens up and we are given a much broader space within which to breathe – and in fact, our protagonist switches. No longer is Jameston the centre of our universe, but instead Harry takes over. The transition is done well, but it is the existence of the transition that leaves me a touch disappointed.

But it is a good disappointment, really. The first passage of the story, Jameston’s time, was so good that I didn’t want it to end. I would happily have followed Jameston further, but alas, it was not to be. Instead, we find ourselves thrust into a secret underground project to unite humanity (don’t worry, there is a very good link between the two parts of the story), and we then follow their efforts to make their plan reality.

Now, there are a few good sources of friction to keep us intrigued, but I don’t think the ‘project: perception’ itself was one of them. The tools that the project uses are cleverly thought out, and at times slightly challenging to believe, but despite this, that the project will succeed never feels like uncertainty. Of course they will succeed!

Instead, the friction comes nicely from the project ‘overlord’ – a mysterious character called the ‘Administrator’. It is in fact an uncertainty around the true underlying project intentions which keeps us piqued, and Harry too starts to question his loyalty. But can he question deep enough? Will he be able to act freely, or is he so entangled in the project that he is destined to follow the designated path? All good stuff, and keeps us turning pages.

There are also a pair of investigators who start snooping around, and this does add another layer of uncertainty, which is good.

Now, as something of an international story, the author has chosen multiple POVs for the second ‘half’ of the book. This jars a bit against the first part where we are absorbed in Jameston, but not uncomfortably so. We are focussed on Harry primarily, as we should be, and then we dip into other characters in a number of places, which is well done on the whole and does add to the story.

However, there are instances of ‘head-hopping’ which can become disorientating, particularly because they occur at high pace. They are not difficult to work through, but they do distance the story somewhat. Just a warning.

And this may actually be the biggest challenge with the book – the character association itself. We build a delightful rapport with Jameston, but just as we are really getting in deep, he steps back from the limelight to be replaced with Harry. And because Harry lives in a world where we also need to see other POVs, we never quite get to know Harry as well. He’s certainly not lacking depth, and is a sympathetic character with a grounded moral base and likeable flaws, but we are just not quite as close to him.

Oh, and perhaps the only other thing that sticks out is the rather sharp end to the book. It is a good ending, and certainly leaves a lot of interesting questions on the tongue, but there is no ‘closing statement’ to sate the reader’s interest. And indeed, there is no suggestion of a sequel. It’s all a bit sudden. A good and largely pleasant outcome, but certainly not laboured. Perhaps one additional chapter would have sufficed.

Overall, though, this is a really good read – well thought out and executed, with an interesting structure. There is a heavy tech feel to this (not really something I’m into), but it never feels more forced than it needs to be. It stays true to the story, and indeed to the characters. Recommended if you like ‘post-apocalyptic’ or ‘break the system’ type novels.

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating story of mankind not moving ahead. Will things change for them. I was lost in the story as if I was a part of the plot.

[Kirsty Barrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written, and plausible enough. Not keen on narration on audible - too monotone I feel.

[Emma Price · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fanbloodytastic 💖extremely well written and intriguing storyline and one of the best books I have read a in a long time ☺

[Andreas · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is not really a book. It reads like a teenagers first attempt at writing a story. Take this excerpt:

"She had gotten up early, and she had spent twice as long as normal getting herself ready. She wanted this chat to go perfectly. She staged herself, her background, perfectly. She sat down and waited for the encrypted call."

If you start four sentences in a row with "She" without trying some poetic stunt, you shouldn't call yourself a writer. You can't think of some other word than "perfectly" two sentences in a row? Nope. You don't know how to tell a story with adjectives and adverbs that envelops the reader with a mood? Stop selling books and go back to reading.

I feel I've been scammed into buying this because it looked like a real book on amazon - won't do that mistake ever again.