The Church of Virtual Saints

by Michael Brookes

While experimenting with human consciousness Adam Samuels discovers a being which transforms his life. It's a religious experience beyond anything possible in the conventional world, and together the two lay down the plan for humanity's ultimate quest - to become like God. But some consider the development a threat to mankind itself, and will stop at nothing to put an end to it. Despite the destruction of the artificial intelligence known as Misty Felice, GCHQ investigator Sarah Mitchell and hacker Dan Emmet each continue to suffer from its twisted legacy. The Church of Virtual Saints follows on from Faust 2.0.

280 pages, Paperback

Published January 23, 2016

About the author

Michael Brookes is a Game Consultant with Frontier Foundry so rather than making games he now helps publish other people's games. He is also a volunteer and committee member with the German Shepherd Dog Welfare Fund assisting mostly with their online activities. And because he decided that he isn't busy enough has various other projects on the go including a website attempting to chronicle the history of his local village and using AI art tools to illustrate a new edition of John Milton's Paradise Lost.

Reviews

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This SF / techno thriller book interestingly mixes philosophy with hacking and weaponry. When I say it's interesting, personally I found the conversations about the nature of human personality and identity, and whether they could successfully be stored on computer, slow going at the length featured. But as a computer has recently beaten the world champion at Go, and AI controlled cars and truck convoys are being tested for road readiness, it's clear that this is a discussion we are going to have to have.

I had not read the previous book Faust 2.0 which introduced the main characters. This one spends a bit of time recapping the events of that book which does mean you don't need to read that one - the author could have been wiser to say less. Someone who has read the first book will be more interested in the characters - probably more outraged that the female protagonist Sarah Mitchell is introduced here as captive in a cell in a British complex, then imprisoned more chillingly by a visionary man who wants to create a church around immortality by means of computer bank. Sarah is a skilled programmer.

Dan Emmet is a jailed hacker who is offered the chance to leave the violence and tension of prison life, if he works for a nebulous company trying to hack in to the group which is creating this church. Apparently Dan was a less than heroic personality originally, but the author makes up for that by giving Dan a chance or two to shine. We see some fun sequences such as a DDOS attack on cell masts and servers, also some lively action scenes.

Of all the characters, Dan comes across as the most rounded, while Sarah is not in the least feminine. So she's jailed for three months. What state is her hair in? Why isn't it driving her mad? She doesn't even think how long it's got. Have her fingertips and lips cracked from water, soap and no moisturiser? Women's skin is thinner than men's. Other characters feel one-dimensional, but many readers won't care. There is also not a lot of grounding in reality, such as asking if the church has got planning permission from the local council. But it's not a long book.

The tale contains a lot of violence so I recommend it for adult readers.

[Kath Middleton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book follows directly from Faust 2.0 in which a spontaneously occurring artificial intelligence effectively took over the internet. A number of people cooperated to defeat it, but here, there appears to be another intelligence within the web. Michael Brookes has sufficient knowledge of the workings of these things that he can conjure a believable scenario for someone like me, who thinks sending an email is a bit whizzy. Two of the characters from the previous book find themselves cooperating with the lawyer Morton after each has been imprisoned. Sarah is introduced to the new entity by someone who purports to be running a Church and welcoming her, because of her gifts. Dan is given the job of finding what the Church is up to and how.

The story alternately tells what happens both to Dan and Sarah and the concepts are fascinating. Morton and his intentions are the real mysteries here. I found the parts when two characters explained the concepts to one another a little repetitive in places and I really don’t like cliff-hanger endings. I feel cheated. I don’t need total resolution, particularly in a series, but I feel a story should be complete in itself. That said, I found the idea totally gripping and anyone who enjoyed Faust 2.0 will lap this up, as I did.

[Joo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This follows on from Faust 2.0. The two characters at the end of that one are incarcerated. Dan in normal prison, Sarah in a top secret one. Morton, the lawyer (or evil mastermind) needs to use them.

The Church in the title is an on-line one and Sarah gets dragged into it. Dan is released from prison on the proviso that he'll help Morton get into The Church to see what they are up to. In this story Dan was the better character for me.

This was a bit heavy on the technical side of things and I'm not sure I liked the "fighting" bits of the book, but it was a decent read and I expect I shall read the next book if there is one. This book ends satisfactorily but lends itself to further adventures.

[Lexie Conyngham · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second in the series featuring the mysterious lawyer Morton and the ex-agent Sarah Mitchell. Resourceful and intelligent, she is a prisoner after the events of Book 1, the plan that she will give up all the information she has about the elusive Misty Felice. Dan, meanwhile, the subterranean computer geek of the first book is now working to analyse the Church of Virtual Saints, an enigmatic body with impressive computing powers. Complex and thoughtful, the plot examines not only the idea that dark powers might take over the world wide web for their own purposes, but the nature of being and faith themselves. My favourite so far.

[Jonathan G. Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. Even if you don't know a lot about the Internet, the author guides you through. Good characters. I thought the ending was a little abrupt.