Genius, wealthy and life regenerated, Adam Spenceworth is living the dream aboard his custom spaceship run by Mum, his first designed AI, protected by Gort, his first robot, and occupied by Eve, his sexbot. With each regeneration he returns to start over as a twenty-five year old man ready to enjoy the pleasures of his success. What could go wrong? Except, maybe, planetary wars, territorial space battles, alien invasions, and the disturbing fact that each regeneration is taking exponentially longer than the one before bringing him into one galactic crisis after another. A frolicking space drama filled with references sure to strike home with any science fiction aficionado.
I Am
by Michael Drakich
Series
n/a; standalone
Genre
Adult
Science Fiction
Space Opera
Publisher
Independent
Publication Date
December 14, 2015
I Am is a book I’ll find hard to forget. It starts off in a way that doesn’t shed the main character, Adam, in a particularly good light, but as his regenerations cast him further and further into the future, all that changes. Instead of using his inventions and monetary clout for his own interests, he’s increasingly forced to consider the welfare of others and the consequences of choices made centuries, even millennia ago.
I love how this story spans time and space beyond the point one can truly imagine and with that comes insane new inventions and developments in the evolution of both man and robot. Beyond that, the experience was immersive and the descriptions fantastic and mind expanding. It was also heartbreaking. Sure, the guy lives countless full lives, but each regeneration catapults him further beyond everything he knows until, well, I can’t say… You’ll have to read it to find out.
There’s also a deeper story going on, beyond Adam’s own drive to survive even as he begins to realize it’s only going to get worse. Fans of stories about the evolution of AI will love this deeper story, its implications, and its relevance to humanity itself. Adam’s robotic and AI companions are as central to the story as he is, although the whole thing is told from Adam’s perspective. I won’t go into any details here, except to say I found them all relatable, likeable, and, in many ways, tragic.
Overall, this story meets all my criteria for an excellent science fiction. Its epic scale, rich world, plausible futures, and focus on the people (both organic and not) make this one for the bookshelves, definitely worthy of reading over and over again. I’d highly recommend this to folks who love science fiction: hard, epic, space opera or otherwise.
The review copy of this book was supplied by the author in exchange for a fair and honest review.
About Michael Drakich
A new and exciting author in speculative fiction, Michael brings a repertoire of science fiction, fantasy and thrillers to readers everywhere. Michael lives in the quaint neighbourhood of Olde Walkerville in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Father to three, the family home is an historic Albert Kahn design built in 1895. When not writing, you can find Michael walking down the majestic trees lined streets. Writing is a passion of his that has led to the books you see featured here. It is his hope you enjoy his works.
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