Book Review: Aaru (The Aaru Cycle Book 1) by David Meredith

Introduction

ASIN: B073V7CZ1Q

Genre: Fiction/ Sci-fi

Publishers: Amazon

Price: Rs. 449/- ( I got the book for review from the author)

Behind the Book

"…Death and the stillness of death are the only things certain and common to all in this future…"
-Friedrich Nietzsche

Rose is dying. Her body is wasted and skeletal. She is too sick and weak to move. Every day is an agony and her only hope is that death will find her swiftly before the pain grows too great to bear.

She is sixteen years old.

Rose has made peace with her fate, but her younger sister, Koren, certainly has not. Though all hope appears lost Koren convinces Rose to make one final attempt at saving her life after a mysterious man in a white lab coat approaches their family about an unorthodox and experimental procedure. A copy of Rose’s radiant mind is uploaded to a massive super computer called Aaru – a virtual paradise where the great and the righteous might live forever in an arcadian world free from pain, illness, and death. Elysian Industries is set to begin offering the service to those who can afford it and hires Koren to be their spokes-model.

Within a matter of weeks, the sisters’ faces are nationally ubiquitous, but they soon discover that neither celebrity nor immortality is as utopian as they think. Not everyone is pleased with the idea of life everlasting for sale.

What unfolds is a whirlwind of controversy, sabotage, obsession, and danger. Rose and Koren must struggle to find meaning in their chaotic new lives and at the same time hold true to each other as Aaru challenges all they ever knew about life, love, and death and everything they thought they really believed.

About the Author

David Meredith is a writer and educator originally from Knoxville, Tennessee. He received both a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts from East Tennessee State University, in Johnson City, Tennessee. He received his Doctorate in Educational Leadership (Ed.D.) from Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, Tennessee. On and off, he spent nearly a decade, from 1999-2010 teaching English in Northern Japan, but currently lives with his wife and three children in the Nashville Area where he continues to write and teach English..

One look at that cover and I was sold. Oh my God! That cover had a story of its own to convey and then the captivating blurb. I couldn't wait to dive straight into the book the moment I got it from the author.

This sci-fiction novel gave me goosebumps and made me cry with sheer joy at the same time. I really admire the way the author has used technology in the book. What a brilliantly innovative way to look at it in a story! Truly a commendable effort in weaving across such a wonderful story around the sole concept of losing a loved one and being able to see them again. What seems like horror isn't scary exactly but is more thrilling and nerve chilling.

I enjoyed the way the author balanced the emotions of losing them with the joy of being able to see them again and sprinkled liberal doses of excitement on it in the way the sisters are able to communicate. Flawless narrative, tingling descriptions one that leave you with ample goosebumps if you are reading at night like me that you can be rendered sleepless. I cannot wait for the next part.

I would recommend it to all sci-fi lovers, this is something that can easily be called an exciting read that will leave you with a wow feeling in the end.

Foodie Verdict

This book is like Baked Rasogulla - Old sweet with anew twist adding more to the deliciousness!

Source: The Brunette Diaries

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