The Life Engineered

By: J-F. Dubeau

Narrated by: Amy Landon

Length: 6 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

The Life Engineered begins in the year 3594, when humanity is little more than a memory, a legend of the distant past - destined to reappear. Capeks, a race of artificial creatures originally created by humans, have inherited the galaxy and formed a Utopian civilization built on the shared goal of tirelessly working to prepare for their makers' return.

One moment a cop dying in the line of duty in Boston, the next "reborn" as a Capek, Dagir must find her place in this intricate society. That vaguely remembered "death" was but the last of hundreds of simulated lives, distilling her current personality. A robot built for rescue and repair, she finds her abilities tested immediately after her awakening when the large, sentient facility that created her is destroyed, marking the only instance of murder that the peaceful Capeks have ever known. For the first time in their history, conflicting philosophies clash, setting off a violent civil war that could lay waste to the stars themselves.

Dagir sets off on a quest to find the killers and finds much more than she sought. As the layers of the Capeks' past peel away to reveal their early origins, centuries-old truths come to light. And the resulting revelations may tear humanity's children apart - and destroy all remnants of humankind.

©2016 J.-F. Dubeau (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Will life created by man inherite it's flaws?

This book has a few mysteries piled on top of each other in a unique setting filled with unique artificial life forms. It starts with a murder mystery that occurs almost immediately after the construction of the main character, Dagir, and moves on to a bizarre cover up about the artificial race of Capeks' very long existence.

 This setting is very inspired and very thought provoking in certain ways. The book plays with the ideas behind the creation of artificial life at the hands of humans. If we were to create sentient machines why would we do it? How would such beings view the universe and how would the marks of humanity affect their outlooks and priorities? What would their societies be like? These questions stimulate the imagination alongside others in a way pleasing to fans of science fiction.

The narrator, Amy Landon, does a great job and just makes the audiobook pop in personality. Her cool and flexable voice was perfect for Dagir. Dagir had humanity, yet was a machine and needed a narrator that could relay that level of complexity to listeners.

While "The Life Engineered" is not exactly the most lengthy of audiobooks at roughly six and a half hours, there is a lot of obviously thoughtful detail put into it. It is highly recommended to listeners who enjoy science fiction focused on the concept of sentient machines and want a story told from a unique perspective of a unique iteration of those concepts.

Brilliant

Completely engrossing. I only stopped listening to sleep. This was so original and despite the length, felt completely epic. I'm sure there's the chance my perspective is limited, but I've never read a story like this. Please give it a try and decide for yourself.

Very interesting story with a good rhythm

Can't wait to get more stories in this universe and to see how the characters evolve.