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Feb 14, 2022 P.L. Tavormina rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Station Eleven meets The Matrix in this metaphorical story of life and technology.

This story does an interesting job of applying the idea of ‘paradise’ to collective intelligence, based in silicon. We begin with Mikey, a young adult suffering from a terminal illness. He’s off to college where he’s given the opportunity to take part in a dangerous research project, involving human-machine interfacing. He discovers within this project, by merging with, basically, the internet, that he can escape t Station Eleven meets The Matrix in this metaphorical story of life and technology.

This story does an interesting job of applying the idea of ‘paradise’ to collective intelligence, based in silicon. We begin with Mikey, a young adult suffering from a terminal illness. He’s off to college where he’s given the opportunity to take part in a dangerous research project, involving human-machine interfacing. He discovers within this project, by merging with, basically, the internet, that he can escape the limitations of his failing body and become one with streams of data. He feels boundless, he feels free, he can breathe.

He grows addicted to the experience. Through the course of his repeated connection to data, Mikey grows in some ways and regresses in others, and it’s interesting to see. For example, as he ‘meets’ others within the collective (anyone who networks can merge with anyone else), he can absorb their experiences (and vice versa). This leads to everyone feeling they have lived (or died) a thousand times. What’s it like to hold a thousand lives within your one single life? The concept is mind-bendy and fairly well executed here. But, whereas this expansive way of being brings a certain wisdom to Mikey, it also brings a certain arrogance. A God complex. I found the combination of growth and regression within the main character interesting.

We spend time with other characters as well, and of most interest is Mikey’s mom, who must decide if she will join the collective in order to be with her son or not. This decision is not as straightforward as it might seem—what mother, after all, wants their children to know all about them? The mother’s conundrum was compelling. I like where the story took that, and I preferred the second half of this novel to the first.

Where I had difficulty in this novel is in the relationships between the characters. Mikey does not seem to truly care about anyone but himself, and while initially this is understandable, in light of his illness, his single-minded drive to remain within the collective at any cost, even to the extent of hurting others, made him distinctly unlikable. The implication was that everyone who joined the collective was likewise motivated to preserve their found freedom (becoming no more than streams of data). So, the collective quickly went from this intriguing other-way of existing to a sad comment on the selfish nature of humanity, to grasp at riches no matter the cost to everyone else. The story shifts then, toward the other half of society—the part that refuses to conform into the collective. There are glimmers of love in this section; I wanted more of that, sooner and throughout.

Given the philosophical, instead of relational, emphasis of this story, I needed to not read it for the characters but for the ideas, which are original and well-presented. The story is logical and progressive, and most of the speculative ideas are well supported within the narrative. There are metaphors for life, death, evolution, identity, and afterlife woven throughout. Songbird Ascension works well as a piece of speculative fiction.

This story is nicely polished. It has a good structure to it, great details, and the author brings new ideas into the subgenre (AI-science fiction), and the writing is developed. Highly readable. ...more

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May 12, 2022 Lin Meili rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Songbird Ascension by Khira Allen is a well-written and fantastic read. I'm a huge fan of sci-fi and this book did not disappoint. In fact, I couldn't put it down.

Set in a time in a future where cybernetic technology has advanced far enough to have direct neural interfaces and limb replacements, the story kept me hooked from start to finish with its vision of a time when humans and machines work together, live together, and even think together.

But the story takes a dark turn later as this new te ...more

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Jun 21, 2021 Amber marked it as to-read · review of another edition

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