Systemic

By: Chris Lodwig

Narrated by: Dave Cruse

Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

For generations, a sentient AI has watched over the world and solved all of humanity’s problems. It was an era of objectivity, social equality, and ecological recovery.

It should have been a golden age.

Now, three strangers are on a pilgrimage through the arid lonely sagelands and underpopulated cities of the Systemic era on their way to the seemingly innocuous town of Prower. There, they will uncover the secrets that lay buried beneath the town and learn the truth about their half-remembered pasts. In the end, they must choose between their sanity or solving humanity’s final and most intractable problem.

Systemic is a refreshingly optimistic version of an AI-fueled dystopian future. It’s like watching an episode of Black Mirror without having to drink yourself to sleep.

©2019 Chris Lodwig (P)2020 Chris Lodwig

Thought Provoking AI

This one starts slow as others have noted. There are a lot of moving parts, so give yourself time to settle in and get the flow down. There are several main characters and you need to keep track of motivations and goals as you figure out the background story. The author deals well with the concept of a AI controlled humanity and how the lack of purpose impacts us collectively and individually. Well narrated by Dave Cruse. I was given this free audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Great futuristic sci-fi story

Systemic is a great futuristic sci-fi story that is brought to life with Dave Cruse’s excellent narration using varied voices for the characters. There is a bit of time devoted to building up the various characters background in the first third of the book. It gets more interesting when the characters then start meeting each other. Then becomes quite exciting towards the end with a rather interesting twist.

Amazing story, Amazing Author, Amazing narrator

Absolutely loved this book! Read the book and had to get the audible!! This story is is Absolutely amazing and genius!

Great and imaginative read

Systemic manages to be an engaging character-driven story while also exploring big picture ideas, like whether a future full of benevolent AI assistance is truly happier, and what it would mean for individual well-being. Not quite a techno-thriller, not quite hard SF, not quite road trip... but a little bit of each. Narration is spot-on and expressive, with the single narrator giving each character a distinct voice.

Perfection!!

Give this man a movie deal !!
This is one story I never want to end.

Loved the twists

Slow to start but after that first twist I was hooked. Everything I thought would happen didn’t! The story is fresh an engaging. Now on to “Host”

Exceeded Expectations

Great story and character development that kept my attention all the way to the end. Great mix of reality and AI that makes you think about where we came from, who is our creator, what’s the purpose of life and best way for society to survive. I started on Friday and finished on Sunday :)

loved it!

WOW . started slow but gained momentum and so many surprises, totally recommend this one!

Awesome Slow Burn

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

So what happens when a sentient, seemingly benevolent AI controls the lives of humans in a dystopian-like setting, assuming the role of producing human happiness? You get a novel that is part thriller, part sci-fi, and part adventure time with engaging, character-driven stories. The characters were refreshingly realistic, the story flowed well resulting in a slow burn throughout listening, and the details attributed to the settings were like lucid dreams. Some obvious time and attention was put into the various storylines to fully encompass the reach of the AI beings and Cruse did an excellent job giving various tones to each character and narrating at a steady pace. He's softer spoken than other narrators I've listened to, but sometimes louder ones can sound like they have a "hot mic". Cruse did not sound like this and was so easy to listen to. Kudos to Ludwig for such a pleasant, yet intelligent idea.

Fresh ideas, excellent execution

Best sci-fi book of the last few years. Truly fresh ideas. If you tire of formulaic sci-fi, and need to be reminded what great characters, writing and plot look like, look no further.