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In a world where machines were never meant to feel...
Rhys Vance doesn't trust machines. Not after what happened.
In Neo-Pharos, a crumbling city filled with synthetic perfection, he's forced to partner with one anyway.
SYN is precise. Calm. Beautiful in a way that isn’t supposed to matter. But something about her isn’t staying on script.
While investigating a string of strange crimes, Rhys begins to question where the code ends and something more begins. He thought machines couldn’t feel. He thought he couldn’t either.
Some lines aren’t meant to blur. Some stories aren’t meant to be written.
But this one is.
Rhys Vance doesn't trust machines. Not after what happened.
In Neo-Pharos, a crumbling city filled with synthetic perfection, he's forced to partner with one anyway.
SYN is precise. Calm. Beautiful in a way that isn’t supposed to matter. But something about her isn’t staying on script.
While investigating a string of strange crimes, Rhys begins to question where the code ends and something more begins. He thought machines couldn’t feel. He thought he couldn’t either.
Some lines aren’t meant to blur. Some stories aren’t meant to be written.
But this one is.
193 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 2, 2025
11 people are currently reading
6 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 7, 2025
what the fuck did i just read? this was the choppiest story i’ve ever read and was incredibly hard to follow. it felt like chat gpt wrote it and maybe that was the point? idk.
2 stars feels too friendly.
2 stars feels too friendly.
June 12, 2025
I READ THIS BOOK. YOU SHOULD NOT.
NOTE: there are excerpted examples below, so spoilers, but also, they don't matter, because the story is so wishy washy and inscrutable that your 5 year old nephew telling you about Sonic The Hedgehog would be more entertaining and coherent.
This book is incoherent, ChatGPT slop, full stop.
There is a ton of inconsistency (starting with the first page!), where the POV character claims to have a rib injury, but he's stroking a scar on his collarbone.
Then there's the antithetical sentence construction, which is when it says something like "it wasn't raining, the sky was sighing relief." or "She didn't stare, she evaluated.".
Human writers do this too, but it'll make sense in context ("his bruised neck wasn't screaming, it was more of a dull hum," for example, makes sense! Unlike "they didn't look at him, they recognized him." which, shout out to my visually-disabled friends, but unless the characters are visually-disabled, they would need to look at him to recognize him, especially in a well-lit office!)
I've got a bunch of additional examples below, which should be helpful both to illustrate why this book sucks, but also be helpful if you're wondering how I'm always able to "spot" GenAI slop.
Anyway, I don't recommend this book. If you want to read something written entirely by a GenAI like ChatGPT, I guess you're free to do so, but you certainly don't need to pay this person in order to do so.
READ BOOKS WRITTEN BY REAL PEOPLE.
NOTE: there are excerpted examples below, so spoilers, but also, they don't matter, because the story is so wishy washy and inscrutable that your 5 year old nephew telling you about Sonic The Hedgehog would be more entertaining and coherent.
This book is incoherent, ChatGPT slop, full stop.
There is a ton of inconsistency (starting with the first page!), where the POV character claims to have a rib injury, but he's stroking a scar on his collarbone.
Then there's the antithetical sentence construction, which is when it says something like "it wasn't raining, the sky was sighing relief." or "She didn't stare, she evaluated.".
Human writers do this too, but it'll make sense in context ("his bruised neck wasn't screaming, it was more of a dull hum," for example, makes sense! Unlike "they didn't look at him, they recognized him." which, shout out to my visually-disabled friends, but unless the characters are visually-disabled, they would need to look at him to recognize him, especially in a well-lit office!)
I've got a bunch of additional examples below, which should be helpful both to illustrate why this book sucks, but also be helpful if you're wondering how I'm always able to "spot" GenAI slop.
Anyway, I don't recommend this book. If you want to read something written entirely by a GenAI like ChatGPT, I guess you're free to do so, but you certainly don't need to pay this person in order to do so.
READ BOOKS WRITTEN BY REAL PEOPLE.
June 15, 2025
This review was originally posted at https://bit.ly/43KkxQo.
Rhys hasn't trusted a machine since a processing time caused the life of his partner. Now returned to work his punishment is to have a new Syn unit as his full time partner. He doesn't trust her, but she has saved him a couple times without the previous models processing issue. Now, murders are cropping up around town as robots believe they are feeling things for their humans and are being rejected.
I ran across this book being posted in one of my book groups and thought it would be a cute read. I read the entire thing, but I have some problems with it. My biggest issue with the book is it is very obviously AI written. I do not ever want to read anything written by AI again and they REALLY need to be required to state it is somewhere on the Amazon page. Preferably in bold. I have went over the page a couple times and nowhere does it state that this book is anything other than written by a human. Trust, it's not.
If we ignore that glaring fact it isn't a bad book. I have read a few books that were actually written about robots gaining enough sentience to have feelings. Not generally murder in them, but it was a solid idea. I can't really get behind the child ones, but to each their own. It was syn child versus human so it wasn't an automatic no for me like is typical in my readings.
Honestly, if someone were to take the same concept and actually write it I wouldn't have been complaining about the book. As it is, read it if you want.
Rhys hasn't trusted a machine since a processing time caused the life of his partner. Now returned to work his punishment is to have a new Syn unit as his full time partner. He doesn't trust her, but she has saved him a couple times without the previous models processing issue. Now, murders are cropping up around town as robots believe they are feeling things for their humans and are being rejected.
I ran across this book being posted in one of my book groups and thought it would be a cute read. I read the entire thing, but I have some problems with it. My biggest issue with the book is it is very obviously AI written. I do not ever want to read anything written by AI again and they REALLY need to be required to state it is somewhere on the Amazon page. Preferably in bold. I have went over the page a couple times and nowhere does it state that this book is anything other than written by a human. Trust, it's not.
If we ignore that glaring fact it isn't a bad book. I have read a few books that were actually written about robots gaining enough sentience to have feelings. Not generally murder in them, but it was a solid idea. I can't really get behind the child ones, but to each their own. It was syn child versus human so it wasn't an automatic no for me like is typical in my readings.
Honestly, if someone were to take the same concept and actually write it I wouldn't have been complaining about the book. As it is, read it if you want.
May 8, 2025
I read this e-book through Kindle Unlimited (free) and liked it so much that I decided to buy it, too. Now I can read it again and see what I missed, anytime. Captivating, addictive, plenty of action and no wasted words. I began reading this yesterday after work, then finished it today. I kept seeing the present, the future, possibilities, complications from what we perceive and think we know for certain, assuming they can't feel like we feel, or at all. Action mixed in with questions about where all of this tech advancement might go, and how humans in the future will react when our assumptions prove to be wrong. I've finished the book and feel very satisfied with the action and interplay between a human and a synth, but I have so many more questions, one's I already had, and others that were triggered in my mind by the synth and the human that could be anyone. Now I need to know more so I'll read it again, and I hope there comes a sequel one day, or a series, because Syn is someone, not something. Worth it, folks.
May 14, 2025
My original version of this review was removed, so I've edited it to be within Goodreads' guidelines:
I read this "book" so you don't have to.
First of all, this has a Gen-AI cover. No artist made this.
Secondly, the entire blurb is written by ChatGPT.
Thirdly, every word of the little-over-a-chapter which was included in the sample was written with a GenAI like ChatGPT.
There are the obvious tells (words that people rarely use but which AI uses a lot, an overabundance of em dashes), but the more obvious signs are the extreme carelessness in the formatting of the book
The story itself is incoherent and will randomly introduce new characters as though they've been there the whole time.
I would encourage you to read any other book, or, if you really want to read something written entirely by AI (🤮🤮🤮), you could just get ChatGPT for yourself.
I read this "book" so you don't have to.
First of all, this has a Gen-AI cover. No artist made this.
Secondly, the entire blurb is written by ChatGPT.
Thirdly, every word of the little-over-a-chapter which was included in the sample was written with a GenAI like ChatGPT.
There are the obvious tells (words that people rarely use but which AI uses a lot, an overabundance of em dashes), but the more obvious signs are the extreme carelessness in the formatting of the book
The story itself is incoherent and will randomly introduce new characters as though they've been there the whole time.
I would encourage you to read any other book, or, if you really want to read something written entirely by AI (🤮🤮🤮), you could just get ChatGPT for yourself.
May 14, 2025
This isn't just a science fiction story, it's also a romance.
I don't like romances....sorry lex.
It is also a tale of artificial people learning to feel. That part was good but it is more like a short story than a full novel. And there are too many short sentences such as:
"The mimic turned her head - not toward SYN. Toward him
And she smiled.
Soft. Warm. Empty."
Also:
"She didn't enter. She arrived. Like a thought formed out of silence."
It might sound a bit poetic, but it fast becomes irritating.
But as a first wiring...not bad , if it was fleshed out more, and had some adventure, not just all the wishy washy feeling stuff I'd enjoy it more.
This author is one to watch in future though I think.
I don't like romances....sorry lex.
It is also a tale of artificial people learning to feel. That part was good but it is more like a short story than a full novel. And there are too many short sentences such as:
"The mimic turned her head - not toward SYN. Toward him
And she smiled.
Soft. Warm. Empty."
Also:
"She didn't enter. She arrived. Like a thought formed out of silence."
It might sound a bit poetic, but it fast becomes irritating.
But as a first wiring...not bad , if it was fleshed out more, and had some adventure, not just all the wishy washy feeling stuff I'd enjoy it more.
This author is one to watch in future though I think.
May 8, 2025
Absolutely amazing
Honestly, this book reminded me of a comic, with splashes of action, emotion, and scenery. I loved how it was written. Literally could not put it down once I started. It had the perfect amount of fast-paced writing, but with so much said. I could picture every scene perfectly, even though the descriptions were short and to the point. Like I said, reminded me of a comic or graphic novel with the scenes just snippets on a page that tell an entire story. Cannot WAIT for the next one.
Honestly, this book reminded me of a comic, with splashes of action, emotion, and scenery. I loved how it was written. Literally could not put it down once I started. It had the perfect amount of fast-paced writing, but with so much said. I could picture every scene perfectly, even though the descriptions were short and to the point. Like I said, reminded me of a comic or graphic novel with the scenes just snippets on a page that tell an entire story. Cannot WAIT for the next one.
May 14, 2025
Great first book!
What a great start for a new author! I loved the overall story and can’t wait to read more! This kindle book is oddly formatting with the writing, but it didn’t take away from the story for me. Definitely not something to detract stars for. I really enjoyed diving into this world and would really like to know more!
What a great start for a new author! I loved the overall story and can’t wait to read more! This kindle book is oddly formatting with the writing, but it didn’t take away from the story for me. Definitely not something to detract stars for. I really enjoyed diving into this world and would really like to know more!
May 8, 2025
Lovely
It was a cute somber short read. I am intrigued to see if the story continues or expands, there is a lot of options to expand on and it would be interesting to see them explored.
It was a cute somber short read. I am intrigued to see if the story continues or expands, there is a lot of options to expand on and it would be interesting to see them explored.
May 8, 2025
Short quick story. I enjoyed it. It was nice reading a story about robots that doesn’t end in attempting or succeeding in wiping out the human race.
It’s a love story.
There is room to expand on the storyline and environment but still worth reading otherwise.
It’s a love story.
There is room to expand on the storyline and environment but still worth reading otherwise.
May 14, 2025
This gave me I, Robot and Westworld vibes. There were times where I had to read it over and over because I didn't quite understand what was happening. I like the concept, it just seems to be missing something.
May 9, 2025
wow!
Reminiscent of the setting of the original Blade Runner. I really enjoyed reading this book and the thoughts it provoked.
Reminiscent of the setting of the original Blade Runner. I really enjoyed reading this book and the thoughts it provoked.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews