Absolute Ambition: Memoria

By: David L. Van Horne

Narrated by: Daniel Greenberg

Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

To the people of the planet of Pearl, vim is everything. Vim is an energy resource that exists deep beneath the surface. A life force, it approximates the idea of a human soul. When the people of Pearl die, their vim is returned to the soil. And each new baby takes a little back out.

The company of Megacorp wants to change this natural process forever. They’ve found a way to mine the vim and use it to power numerous gadgets and machines on the surface. While this industry has given the planet’s inhabitants a better quality of life, it threatens to shift the balance of their entire existence.

Cirrus Stark is determined to stop them. When he is inducted into WAVE, a shadowy secret rebellion, he is determined to break Megacorp’s monopoly and destroy the company. As he grows closer to the other members of WAVE and nears the achievement of his main objective, Cirrus realizes some startling things about the planet - and his own place in the universe. He is just one piece of a larger cosmic puzzle.

Will he ever comprehend the entire picture, or is he destined to simply perpetuate systems put in place millennia before?

©2017 David L. Van Horne (P)2017 David L. Van Horne

Do you enjoy reading Science Fiction?

If so, then read the book entitled, "Absolute Ambition: Memoria" by David L. Van Horne.

Welcome to the planet of Pearl! Urba, the main city, is shadowed by a titanium plate and is home to a company named Megacorp which offers stable, well paying jobs to its citizens with its eight vim reactors.

People compete against each other for jobs and rise above the titanium plate living on high-priced properties and shopping at upscale retail shops while others live beneath the plate in the slums of the capital. Toxins from Megacorp's reactors' pipes leak and poison the field, farms and villages beneath the plate. Megacorp ignores complaints from those living there. The people live with the hope and faith that there is "always a light to vanquish the dark, a warmth to thaw the cold, a good to counter the evil."

Cirrus Stark grew up in Highwind and dropped out of school to join Megacorp's military. He is devastated when he loses his job as a Mercenary and becomes homeless. He frequents the Division Six train station and spends his nights begging for shill (money) and sleeping in the lobby.

Segacious Gard grew up in Highwind with Cirrus. They were friends and eventually Cirrus felt as though he was her guardian. When Aggeroth Wyvern, Cirrus' role model as a child, kills Segacious' father, Segacious goes after him. Without hesitation, Cirrus saves her from her wound with his mystics healing glow. Segacious sets out to find Cirrus. They meet at the train station. Cirrus can still see her natural beauty as well as her physical strength. Segatious and her daughter, Darlene's Uncle Dash, help Cirrus. He overhears them planning to blow up one of Megacorp's eight reactors and impact the power grid because they believe Megacorp is becoming too powerful of a corporation. Segatious tells Cirrus that she is in a group called WAVE whose mission is to "protect the planet and their heritage." She believes that, "Megacorp, her daughter, herself and Cirrus are all connected by the vimstream". She wants it protected and "no one else is doing anything to protect it."

Cirrus joins WAVE to help bring down Megacorp. Cirrus' experience as a Mercenary and his ability to perform mystics with mystic green essentia orbs and mystic crystals powered by vim will help them. Read on to find out if WAVE will be successful in bringing down Megacorp's reactor seven and power grid.

Who will survive this battle?

Reluctance becomes enchantment with Audible

I must admit, this was my first go with the Audible feature. I’ve always found it a bit strange to listen to a reader. Even as a child. I preferred to be the storyteller. Yet, I gave it a reluctant shot.
Initially, I caught the Total Recall/Hunger Games vibe. Perhaps I had to assign a label since the narrator (Greenberg) painted the picture of Van Horne for me? A major irony of this work was authors name - Van Horne – which forced me to reminisce of the classic The Witches of Eastwick.
I loved Greenberg’s dance of Van Horne’s word play. I found myself stunned at the flashbacks from Sagacious. She entranced me and I loved her immediately. My face was a flutter with this adventure. Eyebrows raised, smirks plastered on my face as I listened. Yes, I became perplexed. Found myself confused among the fabric of the intricacies. In spite of only my personal mental limitations, I grasped onto the piece with utmost abandon. I was open to the voyage and journey.
For me, Lucius made the book, second of course to Sagacious and her glory. He had me disgusted one moment and laughing my ass off the next. I loved that this book pushed the limits of my mind and opened me to more possibility in my own journey.
Overall, I am thrilled I gave this book a shot and amazed it struck such a deep chord with me!

Review for Absolute Ambition: Memoria

This is truly a classic sci-fi narrative, in the vein of the old Rod Serling Twilight Zone. Absolute Ambition: Memoria by David L Van Horne follows Cirrus Stark and his journey to at least in his mind save his planet. All of this is very and appropriately alegoric, the planet Perl is obviously a stand in for our planet earth. On Perl the corporations have taken over, they have taken the old song 16 tons by Tennessee Ernie Ford literally. The inhabitants of Perl have a special energy called vim an energy that naturally transferred in a transcendental method. However the corporations have found way to harness this energy to use in industry. It has created higher standards of living for some but not all. Cirrus’ journey takes him to or lack of a better term take up arms to counteract this perversion of the natural order. As he joins a rebellion called WAVE. However, the path to hell is laden with good intentions as Cirrus Stark all too late is about to find out.
This metaphorical allegory, as stated above is very much preaching the how one must be careful of ones “good” intentions, as they can easily lead to the worst of out comes.
I saw this story to be relating if not purposely at least poignantly, the adage of the guitar string some attribute this to Siddhartha Gautama or The Buddha, “A guitar string that is too tight breaks, and one that is too loose will not play, but exactly in the middle of tightness and looseness it has perfect pitch.” As Cirrus finds out all too late, there are no good guys or bad guys, and it is not about winning but really should be about balance.

Interesting universe and mystical powers

While some others may disagree, I really liked the plot of this novel. The narration was alright, but in my opinion this is subjective for every listener. The plot centers around the planet Pearl and a mysterious, magical, and spiritual energy known as Vim. While the book briefly address the lore associated with Vim it becomes apparent that it is some sort of life force or spiritual energy that can be found both within each living person but manifests in the actual planet they live on. A person can interact with Vim by using mystics (or magical powers of a kind) producing through crystalline "essenia", formed beneath the planets surface. Anyways, The novel opens on main character Cirrus Stark, a recently discharged from service ex-mercenary soldier with a drinking problem. As fate would have it he is quickly reunited with his childhood sweetheart by the name of Sagittarius. As it would turn out, Sagittarius is now a member of a small Eco terrorist organization by the name of WAVE that is set upon ending the industrialized and debatably malicious harnessing of natural Vim for the production of energy and capital gain. Cirrus eventually Is persuaded to join WAVE and help WAVE with a terrorist movement intending to strike an explosive blow of freedom to the industrialized corporation of Megacorp. The book has SEVERAL cliffhangers and parts of the plot I hope the author expands on and I hope there will be a follow-up or sequel.

Pleasantly surprised!

Absolute Ambition: Memoria is a sci-fi novel wherein a giant corporation (aptly named Megacorp) basically rules the world. Power comes from a substance called vim, which is sort of like the novel’s version of a soul, a life force from the earth that humans figured out how to use to power machines, systems, etc. I really appreciate the author’s ability to build this world. Tolkien had to figure out all the details for LOTR; JK Rowling had to create an entire magical history, its own set of rules and whatnot. Similarly, Van Horne created an entire world with its own unique elements, history and cultures, which is not an easy thing to do! I know a previous review said that this is essentially the plot in Final Fantasy, but I’m not familiar with that series so I can’t confirm. However, I will add that the plot reminds me a little of Avatar (the movie with the blue aliens, not The Last Airbender). And there’s nothing wrong with that! I enjoy stories about conflict between environmental issues, capitalism, corporate greed, good vs. evil, so this novel was right up my alley. This was also my first audiobook so I’m no expert on how good the narrator was, but I thought he was fine and I appreciated that he tried to use slightly different voices for each character. I think this book would make for a great series or movie!

Overall, if you enjoy sci-fi, dystopian novels, adventure, you’ll like this novel.

True Sci-Fi Book

I just finished listening to Absolute Ambition: Memoria. It was interesting book if you are able to follow it. I did find it a bit confusing at times because the author jumped around a lot and sometimes I just didn't understand if what I was reading was something that was currently happening or something that happened in the past. There were numerous characters in the book that seemed to have their lives intertwined with each other through the city's main corporation Megacorp. Either they were currently Mercenaries for Megacorp, had a relationship with someone who was with Megacorp, or ex-mercenaries who wanted to bring down the evil controlling corporation. There were six people who formed the group WAVE to bring down Megacorp. There plan was to break into one of Megacorp's reactors, jam their airways with WAVE's own message, and blow up a reactor. They all knew it would probably cost them everything but they didn't care as long as people could finally see the truth behind Megacorp's actions and principles. That part of the story was interesting to me because I wanted to see if they succeeded in their mission of bringing down Megacorp or if they would get caught before they could execute their plan.

I did find each characters stories interesting but again, had a hard time following the order the author put them in. There were so many battles going on between the living and I believe the dead that I just wasn't sure if the dead were trying to take over through the livings bodies or if I just totally misunderstood its significance.

I do recommend giving this book a try if you're a sci-fi lover.

Good for a first book

The narration of this book is done well, but I’d likely enjoy it more if I was reading the hard copy version rather than listening to the audio. The narrator’s voice makes you want to keep reading, but it’s hard to give the book your full attention. The descriptions of characters and landscape are really lengthy. The conversations between characters allow for a mental change in scenery and gives the listener a break from the descriptions/explanations. There is also little enthusiasm expressed in the narration, and the seriousness of all the information makes the book a challenging listen. Even with the clear portrayal of the characters emotions it’s still a challenge to keep reading.
In a nutshell, this book is about the precarious balance between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’ as well as the inevitable desire by those who clue into this imbalance to tilt the scale from what’s ‘wrong’ to ‘what’s right ‘. As it is a time old tale, the authors use of a futuristic environment enables him to appeal to those who enjoy language that is technical in nature. It does however make it a challenging read for anyone who either isn’t interested in descriptions of technology, or isn’t interested in the use of language that attempts to describe technology in a way that is palatable. The author has great ideas, and the book is well written, therefore the hope is that it grows on you with time. It’s a good effort for a first book, hence the four stars.

Real-life Characters and Unearthly Powers

I hate to think what this says about life on planet Earth right now, but I’ve recently experienced quite a few stories that share some elements of Absolute Ambition’s problematic world. Life in a big city where the rich and powerful live far from the slums and the dead zones their enterprises cause; planetary government co-opted by a giant corporation; environmental degradation, caused by mining the energy source; deadly authoritarianism that brooks no dissent and tosses the lives of “little people” around like depressing confetti; normal joes who risk it all to become hunted terrorists as they plot to…in this case, destroy a power reactor. I think Absolute Ambition differs from other apparently similar tales in two ways: a focus on everyday human life, with real characters and emotionally true conversations; a different, distant, spooky viewpoint, planet Pearl the way angels and demons see it. Yes, besides corporate evil and regular folk, we have an angel and a demon struggling to control the planet’s fate. Again. Apparently, this has all happened before. The demon and the angel argue like a divorced couple, randomly possessing the bodies of earthly characters. You have homey scenes, for example when conspirator and single mom Sagacious introduces old childhood crush and disgraced ex-mercenary soldier Cirrus to her daughter. And you have mythic scenes, like when the Demon and the Angel possess Cirrus and a passing gardener, proceeding to fiercely debate the end of the world. Other abrupt character and scene changes in this story can either be confusing, or create an unreal, dreamlike atmosphere. If you listen to audio books doing chores, wandering around the house, you’re going to miss a detail and get lost. Save this one for a long walk or a road trip. The narrator is clear and does subtly different voices for all the characters. Near the end, you’re going to wonder how the story will resolve in an hour; it won’t. Be prepared to let go and await the next book!

A rousing launch to a sci-fi series

Absolute Ambition: Memoria is a sci fi/fantasy with an environmental theme. The story begins with the introduction of planet Pearl and its valuable resource- the vim. The vim is an energy source that sits beneath the Earth surface and is being mined by the very powerful company of Megacorp. They currently have 8 reactors in the capital city of Urba but plans to build more to harness vim which is used to power machinery and gadgets on the planet. The downside however, is the pollution caused by the reactors. Enter Cirrus Stark who is a former mercenary for Megacorp but now joining hands with eco terrorists to take down Megacorp and stop the pollution that is devastating the planet and its people. They hatch a plan to bomb the reactor and the story goes on from there.

David L.Van Horne weaves a story that becomes even more complex towards the end of the book and there is obviously going to be a sequel. I enjoyed being drawn deeper and enjoyed the narration of the story as it alternates between several characters, each with their own struggles. Feelings of guilt, inadequacy, challenges to their personal belief systems, shifting loyalties, and navigation of the planet on the brink of destruction are complicated but didn't feel convoluted.

Since this is an audiobook, I enjoyed parts of the story through the wonderful narration that heightened my enjoyment of it and I recommend giving it a read.

Science Fiction story about Redemption

Absolute Ambition: Memoria by David L. Van Horne is a science fiction story about doing the right thing no matter what the cost. It is about redemption, and getting the chance to correct (or at least balance out) the evils that you may have been part of in the world once your eyes are opened and you truly see what is going on around you. This story will appeal to fantasy lovers and people who love stories about space and alternate universes. For me, it was really reminiscent of Avatar and I liked some of the aspects of that movie that got attention in this story, too.

I really liked that the story starts with the main character, Cirrus Stark (anyone else think about Tony Stark/Iron Man connections?). He’s having a bad day. Or you could say, a bad life. I liked that the story started when he was at the bottom. His sorrow and frustrations at no longer being a mercenary really rang true to me. I think a lot of people will be able to relate to the idea of having a plan and then having something mostly out of your control ruin those plans. Now what comes next? What do you do? This sense of helplessness felt very authentic.

But, of course, everything is not as it seems and Cirrus soon realizes that he has a lot to learn about what’s going on. I liked the emotional struggle of the characters. For me, this was the best showcase of Van Horne’s writing talents. I also enjoyed the narrator. A bad voice can ruin a good story, but not in this case!