Review of Singularity Series Bks 1 & 2

1) Will the blending of man and machine that’s happening today ever obsolete humanity as we know it? 2) If we reach singularity, what will the next step to our advancement be? If these questions have ever crossed your neurons The Singularity series by Susan Kaye Quinn might well tickle your synapses further.

The Legacy Human (Book One) Summary:

What would you give to live forever? Seventeen-year-old Elijah Brighton wants to become an ascender—a post-Singularity human/machine hybrid—after all, they’re smarter, more enlightened, more compassionate, and above all, achingly beautiful. But Eli is a legacy human, preserved and cherished for his unaltered genetic code, just like the rainforest he paints. When a fugue state possesses him and creates great art, Eli miraculously lands a sponsor for the creative Olympics. If he could just master the fugue, he could take the gold and win the right to ascend, bringing everything he’s yearned for within reach… including his beautiful ascender patron. But once Eli arrives at the Games, he finds the ascenders are playing games of their own. Everything he knows about the ascenders and the legacies they keep starts to unravel… until he’s running for his life and wondering who he truly is.

WHAT I THOUGHT

I read this book back in April this year and found it to be thought provoking. What does it mean to be human in a world filled with ascended humans who will live forever like the alchemists envisioned and legacy, unascended humans. I loved how when we meet Eli, he is drifting in unexamined narratives that ascending is the goal of legacy humans. Ascending is best. But as he hears a new, and opposite narrative for the first time, he is forced to consider it. I won’t give away what he chooses or why, but the author does an amazing job working the question of what it means to be human in the form of a YA novel with action and intrigue. Well done. I’ll definitely be reading the rest of the series!

Get The Legacy Human (Amazon)

The Duality Bridge (Book Two) Summary:

What does it mean to be human? Elijah Brighton is the face of the Human Resistance Movement. He’s the Olympic-level painter who refused an offer of immortality from the ascenders—the human/machine hybrids who run the world—in solidarity with the legacy humans who will never get a chance to live forever.

Too bad it’s all a complicated web of lies.

Worse, Eli’s not even entirely human. Few know about the ascenders’ genetic experiments that left him… different. Fewer know about the unearthly fugue state that creates his transcendent art—as well as a bridge that lets him speak to the dead. But the Resistance is the one place he can hide from the ascender who knows everything the fugue can do. Because if Marcus finds him, he’ll either use Eli for his own nefarious purposes… or destroy him once and for all.

WHAT I THOUGHT

I just finished reading book two in the series and it is as good as the first, examining not only what does it mean to be human, but what does it mean to access God. This book had me think of the ancient Hebrews constructing the tower of Babel to reach god. In this future reality, those who call themselves believers have their faith challenged and find their preconceived and most times unexamined narratives may be baseless. What does it mean to go beyond the bounds of human cognition? To access another dimension of existence and reality? This installment in the planned five book series had me thinking beyond my average read. Well done!

Get The Duality Bridge (Amazon)

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I also invite you to download the free ebooks of the Prequel and Book one in the Andy Smithson epic fantasy series. Links are along the right side of this page.