Borderless

An Analog Novel, Book 2

By: Eliot Peper

Narrated by: Sarah Zimmerman

Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

Information is power, and whoever controls the feed rules the world in this all-too-plausible follow-up to the science fiction thriller Bandwidth.

Exiled from Washington after a covert operation gone wrong, Diana is building a new life as a freelance spy, though her obsessive secrecy is driving away the few friends and allies she can count on. When she’s hired to investigate the world’s leading techno capitalist, she unknowingly accepts an assignment with a dark ulterior purpose. Navigating a labyrinth of cutouts and false fronts, Diana discovers a plot to nationalize the global feed.

As tech and politics speed toward a catastrophic reckoning, Diana must reconcile the sins of her past with her dreams of tomorrow. How she deploys the secrets in her arsenal will shape the future of a planet on the brink of disaster. Doing the right thing means risking everything to change the rules of the game. But how much is freedom really worth?

©2018 Eliot Peper (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

sometimes the descriptions ...

go on too long. the author seems like he was addicted g as many words from a thesaurus when a couple were sufficient. happy pw nd often n bogged down the story at key points

Good read but...

A bit drawn out and preachy at the end. Could have been 50 pages shorter

Peper Has His Finger On The Pulse of the Future

When I picked up (and quickly finished) Bandwidth, I didn’t realize that Peper was going to write a second book in this series. Once I finished the first book I was scared I wasn’t going to get another good near-future technothriller this year. I’m glad I was mistaken. Peper is on top of his game and delivers a stunning look into our future with Borderless.

I had to take an entire day to calm down and gather my thoughts after finishing this one before I wrote my review. There is something about Peper’s writing that gets me all worked up (in a good way). He’s able to map out where technology will go in such a way that instead of thinking "that might happen" you think “oh god, that’s going to happen." He’s also able to sprinkle in some of the consequences (and what people will do to make money off of them) of things like global warming without coming off as preachy. It’s matter-of-fact, the ice caps went away and then this happens.

I honestly can’t dive too much into the story without giving away a ton of spoilers. The main character, Diana, even though she’s a spy, is so incredibly relatable it’s uncanny. There was a scene where… things don’t go her way and her instant feeling of betrayal (and continued stories convincing herself that was true) is something that a lot of us are guilty of. We instantly assume the worst.

If I had a connection with a TV or movie studio and I was able to pitch one thing to them – it would be this series (and honestly anything else Peper has done since most of them seamlessly blend into the same universe. I think that his eye for the near future and his voice in these stories are so near-perfect it’s hard to describe.

Overall, Peper writes a book with believable characters, believable aspirations, and especially believable tech. Borderless is a book that I won’t forget. It’s also making me watch my social media feeds a little closer to see what technology is released (and catches on) in the next 1-3 years.

I know that Peper has another book slated for early 2019 but I will be keeping my eye on my feed(s) to see what else he has up his sleeve.

Unsure if I can write this without spoiling it – but I would love to see a novella (or full-length novel from multiple points of view) of the “awakening” moment near the end of Borderless when things happen to the feed. I think that hearing from people when this happened – along with figuring out the panic and maybe even some self-realization. But, maybe that’s just the post-apocalyptic fan in me.

Slam dunk

This audiobook has it all: great pacing, nice use of language, terrific plot, high concept. It is one of the most timely books you can read right now, discussing the most important topics of the moment in technology and government... and more importantly, it's so fun and so good too. Do yourself a favor and stop reading reviews, you're wasting time. It's worth it.

Decent thriller

I like the faster cadence of Sarah Zimmerman's diction, which makes this audiobook an hour and a half shorter than Bandwidth. She does male voices and accents well, and does not butcher Spanish. Very good performance.

A good story line with too much opinion.

The author did a great job writing a stand alone book, which is part of a series. The characters are well developed without redundancy for those who read the previous book.

There is way too much progressive mantra in the storyline. The amount is greater than the first book. I probably will read the third book, but I will have to let some time pass to get the progressive taste out of my mouth.