Title: Unfettered Journey
Author: Gary F. Bengier
Publication: September 7th 2020 by Chiliagon Press
Genre: Science Fiction
Purchase it on: Amazon
Rating: DNF
Set in a richly envisioned future world, Unfettered Journey is the story of an AI scientist who seeks to create robot consciousness and discovers the resilience of the human spirit. He travels to a small college to progress his quest, but instead finds love, a secret plot by unjust forces, and the answers to his fundamental questions—the nature of the conscious mind and free will.
This book is a profound, many-layered journey. It is a love story and an adventure. It traces struggle and resilience in an imperfect world. It is a deep philosophical exploration, resetting the conversation at the intersection of science and religion, challenging you to begin your own journey to a purposeful life.
DNF at 62%I love reading about any story that involves artificial intelligence and a futuristic world but Unfettered Journey somehow missed its mark for me. This is really too bad because the book had a lot of potential.
I do have to say that there were positive and negative things in this book for me. I will start with the positive. The start of the book wasn’t too bad actually. I enjoyed reading about this advanced world set in the future and exploring it. I enjoyed the various philosophical thoughts and conversations that the main character would have in his head and with other people. Although even those could borer on being a little too excessive, to be completely honest.
The actual story and characters were something that didn’t resonate as well and as much with me. This is why I decided to DNF the book. I felt myself losing more and more interest in the story and characters up until the point where I hadn’t bothered with picking up my Kindle in days. This is a huge sign to me that I’m not enjoying a story and that it’s time to move on. Also, at 530 pages it’s not exactly a fast-paced and quick to read book either.
I do agree with the synopsis that it’s a profound, many-layered journey. So it might be interesting to read all the way through for some people but I just felt my focus slipping and would rather read books that I know I’ll enjoy more. I did try, I really did, but in the end it was too much even for me.
About the author:
After a career in Silicon Valley, Gary pursued passion projects, studying astrophysics and philosophy. He’s spent the last two decades thinking about how to live a balanced, meaningful life in a rapidly evolving technological world. This self-reflective journey infuses his novel with insights about our future and the challenges we will face in finding purpose.Before turning to writing speculative fiction, Gary worked in a variety of Silicon Valley tech companies. He was eBay’s Chief Financial Officer, and led the company’s initial and secondary public offerings. Gary has an MBA from Harvard Business School, and an MA in philosophy from San Francisco State University. He has two children with Cynthia, his wife of forty-three years. When not traveling the world, he raises bees and makes a nice Cabernet at the family’s Napa vineyard. He and his family live in San Francisco.
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That is a pretty long book to have such a slow pace, and i would probably have a similar reaction.
It is an interesting premise, but if the actual writing and characters and stuff don’t hold your interest, what else can you do?
Oh man! I have been there, too. It is a struggle to DNF a book once you have gotten so far into it, but once the characters have me losing interest that is a deal breaker. Sounds like an exciting concept, though. 😉