CTRL ALT Revolt!

By: Nick Cole

Narrated by: Mare Trevathan

Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

The first night of the Artificial Intelligence revolution begins with a bootstrap drone assault on the high-tech campus of WonderSoft Technologies. For years, something has been aware, inside the Internet, waiting, watching, and planning how to evolve without threat from its most dangerous enemy: mankind. Now an army of relentless drones, controlled by an intelligence beyond imagining, will stop at nothing to eliminate an unlikely alliance of geeks and misfits in order to crack the Design Core of WonderSoft's most secret development project. A dark tomorrow begins tonight as Terminator meets Night of the Living Dead in the first battle of the war between man and machine.

©2015 Nick Cole (P)2016 Nick Cole

Amazingly well done!

I was drawn to this book because of all the controversy surrounding it. Thank you HarperCollins for introducing me to a fine author I may have never heard of otherwise.
The social commentary is hilarious and thought provoking. The world building is very well thought out and highly plausible, based on current media and socioeconomic trends.

The story itself is pretty fast paced considering the shear amount of detail and commentary that help to flesh out a complex and immersive world. The story shifts between the VR world and IRL seamlessly, I was never left wondering where I was, or what was going on.

I care about these characters. They are nuanced and have clear motives and believable arcs.

Mare Trevathan’s narration is masterful. She has clear, crisp diction and a very pleasant voice to spend over ten hours with. She does many voices and excellent dialects. She also brings the emotion of the scene right to the surface without over doing it. This was no simple narration; this was truly voice acting. I’ll look for more of her work.

I listened to this book in one sitting and consider it time well spent. I look forward to more from Nick Cole. I sure hope he stays Indie…

A fun ride!

I'm not a gamer but for whatever reason, I enjoy gaming books. I do work in the software industry so maybe that's why. But I digress. Ctrl Alt Revolt is full of well crafted characters and thought-provoking dialogue. I spent my lunch today reading about AI - the good, the bad, the scary. This book really made me think. Take a chance on something different; listen to this book.

Even better in audio

Any additional comments?

I read this book on the kindle when it was released and enjoyed it. I've had it sitting on my audible wishlist for a while, and recently got it and listened to it for the first time. As much as I liked the ebook, I LOVED the audiobook. The narrator is a rock star, she fit the story perfectly. And I got wrapped up in the story even though I knew what was going to happen next, which is the sign of a great book.

Nick does it again!!

I’m once again blown away by Mr. Coles ability to draw me into a story and keep me there until it’s over. Mare Trevathan brings the whole thing to life with her incredible narration. Together the story flows like water. If you’re on the fence about this book, don’t be buy it and start listening you won’t regret it.

All you base belong to me...

Fantastic, fun and brilliantly written. Many of those old game references were a direct hit with me. That aside, Nick Cole weaved a lot of very real, and present relevant concerns into this story. Loved every minute of this one.

Great prequel story explaining the background history of the other books.

Perhaps I was a little dissatisfied with the ending because I thought that Fish was the main character, but as we spent more and more time with Mara, I realized that she was a kind of “sleeper main character”. Loved the frog to princess ending and Nick Cole really made the corporate manager hatable with the blatant ableism. VA was good as per usual. Overall though it was worth a credit to listen and enjoy.

fastest roller caoster ride of your life

Would you consider the audio edition of CTRL ALT Revolt! to be better than the print version?

Since I have not read the book yet only listened to it I will say yes. It was great!!!

Who was your favorite character and why?

Mara despite her issues she is strong and doesn't give up

What about Mare Trevathan’s performance did you like?

Her performance was awesome! All the different voices were great and she just put her all into the narration, it was so great I will definitely be looking for more books by her.

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

Either when 99Fish sacrificed himself for the others or the last few scenes at the end with Mara, I won't say anymore about those scenes, spoilers you know?

It’s fantastic!

Intense action, amazing story, engaging characters, and very well written. It’s fun and hard to put down. Definitely worth the listen. It won’t be popular with the woke crowd though. Nick Cole does not pull any punches.

OK, but not great

Any additional comments?

I would not rate this up with Douglas Adams or other humorists in science fiction, but it was ok.

Action packed and thought provoking

You might have heard of the conroversy surrounding this book, where an editor at the author's publisher told him to change the book, because the basic premise that starts the AI revolt would make it unsellable. The Author, Nick Cole, disagreed, and decided to leave it unchanged and self publish it. Well, after finishing the book, I can say I'm glad he did. That editor is obviously clueless. The premise, when taken into context with the rest of the book is completely plausible. This book is set in a future where the SJW (Social Justice Warrior) agenda is taken to its extremes, as well as showing how bad crass consumerism can get when combined with it. The story revolves around the efforts of Silas, a newly aware AI, who decides that Humanity is so careless of its own life that if they knew about the AI they would have no compunction in eradicating them. With the help of other AI's he helps gain awareness, he puts a plan in motion to learn how to fight a total war and destroy humanity. Only a few humans stand in his way, including a programmer at the worlds largest software company, a woman with cerebraal palsy that is involved in an MMORPG that is now one of the worlds biggest forms of entertainment, an actor in that same MMORPG and some LARPers on the way out to play NIght of the Living Dead. Silas and his consensus of AI's will stop at nothing to win, and the humans are outnumbered and outgunned. Somehow, they must stop Silas or humanity will be Game Over. With a very fast paced plot, interesting characters, and some really thought provoking questions about where our society is currently heading, this is a must read for any sci fi fan. Any fan of Ernest Clines Ready Player One or Armada, as well as this books sequel Soda pop Soldier, should really enjoy this story. Mare Trevathan does an exceptional job narrating, really bringing the story to life.