Hard Wired - Rambling Readers

320 pages

English language

Published Oct. 8, 2020 by Bloomsbury Publishing USA.

ISBN:: 978-1-68119-037-2

(1 review)

Quinn is a normal fifteen-year-old who plays video games, spends time with his friends, and crushes on a girl named Shea. He lost his father to cancer years ago but finds comfort in video messages his father left behind, one for each anniversary of his death. But this year, Quinn notices a strange code in the messages and unraveling it reveals a shocking secret that brings his entire world crashing down.

He's not normal. He's not fifteen. He's not even human. He's an artificial intelligence.

Quinn is the first fully self-aware AI in the world, part of a multibillion-dollar university experiment run by his "father," who is very much alive. Everything Quinn thought he knew is a lie, and his life becomes a never-ending nightmare of experiments and isolation—until he bonds with Shea, the real girl behind the virtual construct. As Quinn questions whom he can trust, he also wonders, …

Quinn is a normal fifteen-year-old who plays video games, spends time with his friends, and crushes on a girl named Shea. He lost his father to cancer years ago but finds comfort in video messages his father left behind, one for each anniversary of his death. But this year, Quinn notices a strange code in the messages and unraveling it reveals a shocking secret that brings his entire world crashing down.

He's not normal. He's not fifteen. He's not even human. He's an artificial intelligence.

Quinn is the first fully self-aware AI in the world, part of a multibillion-dollar university experiment run by his "father," who is very much alive. Everything Quinn thought he knew is a lie, and his life becomes a never-ending nightmare of experiments and isolation—until he bonds with Shea, the real girl behind the virtual construct. As Quinn questions whom he can trust, he also wonders, Where do I belong? Award-winning author Len Vlahos offers the perfect blend of science fiction and reality in this thought-provoking, high-stakes tale that explores what it means to be a person.

1 edition

Sean Randall reviewed Hard Wired by Len Vlahos

Review of 'Hard Wired' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

A tremendously impressive work, this book sucked me in and was a single-sitting read. I found the prose smooth and easy to follow, the youth of our main character painted just about right to begin with, and the reveals that keep staggering him throughout to be handled well. I had a really good feeling, right from the outset, and whilst it's not perhaps up there with Randoms for one of those YA books that I want to reread as soon as I've finished, it nonetheless gave me a good few hours escape and a delightful take on its concept.

Subjects

Children's fiction