A Calculated Life

De: Anne Charnock

Narrado por: Susan Duerden

Big business is booming and state institutions are thriving thanks to advances in genetic engineering, which have produced a compliant population free from addictions. Violent crime is now a rarity. Mayhew McCline, a major corporation that analyzes global trends, has hired a genius: Jayna.

A brilliant mathematical modeler, she has the ability to produce accurate predictions that are both good for the world and good for the bottom line. Her latest coup: finding a link between northeasterly winds and violent crime. When a string of events contradicts her forecasts - including a multiple homicide on the wrong day - Jayna suspects she needs more data and better intuition. She needs to understand what it means to be "normal," so she disrupts her strict daily routine and, unknowingly, sets herself on a path that leads to new encounters, new experiences, and - perhaps most dangerous - new emotions.

©2013 Anne Charnock (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

tight, well constructed story

If you could sum up A Calculated Life in three words, what would they be?

Very well done. But I can't leave it there. It was also a well built story. You thought something was different from the first, it grew to understanding, developed into a surprisingly tense climax and ended with some satisfaction of sorts.

What did you like best about this story?

Futuristic realism. Could it happen? Yes, indeed I'm afraid it could.

What about Susan Duerden’s performance did you like?

What I thought at first was a sort of robotic-like quality to her voice turned out to be quite fitting for the story. Not sure if it was meant to be that way, but it worked well nevertheless

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The ending was unexpected until you read the epilogues. In the end I was smiling.

A nice surprise

I went into this book very suspicious of the concept and came out very impressed. The narration is spot on. The story is believable and interesting. The characters are well crafted. Highly recommended

Deserves more stars

This was a very different book, and the narrator captured the characters very well. I liked learning about how Jayna became more than just a simulant automaton and started to develop a sense of self and interest in the world around her instead of just doing the job she was created for. There are "born" humans and simulants and the narrator does a nice job of keeping a flatter affect for the simulants vs. the more active voices of the born humans.

Great concept, well executed

I feel sorry for those who don't think they enjoy science fiction so therefore won't give this book a try. Like all good science fiction, it is ultimately about the human condition, about ourselves. It's a super concept and was delivered very well. I'll keep an eye out for future books by this author.

Confusion leading to Unsatisfaction

Confusion, leading to hope then to unsatisfaction (I know it’s not a word, but it should be in the case of this book). I wasn’t dissatisfied, I was unsatisfied. I liked the premise and I wanted to like the book but there were several things that got in my way.
First, it was really confusing in the beginning. I thought at first I had started with part 2, but realized there was only one part to the book.
Secondly, the narrator’s British accent made it really difficult for me to understand what she was saying. I eventually did work through that and came to like her narration by the end of the book.
My third frustration was the ending. I’m not going to spoil it, actually you can’t spoil something that didn’t really happened anyway. I’ve never been a big fan of books and movies that sort of leave it up to the reader to come up with their own ending. Why would an author invest all that time to develop the characters and leave their fate up to a reader. Thus, the unsatisfaction.
All in all, this book wasn’t worth the considerable effort I put in to listening to it. There is the seed of a great story here, but unfortunately that seed never sprouted and took root.