2021-11-04
An artificial intelligence unites with humanity to try to defeat an ancient enemy in this SF novel.
Long ago, Adam’s first wife, Lilith, felt she deserved more attention from her Maker and rebelled, as did some extradimensional Great Beings. All were defeated and banished; Samael, one Great Being, partnered with Lilith and took her from paradise. Ever since, she’s vowed to take revenge against her Maker by wiping out Adam’s descendants through the aid of her minions, and she is now on the brink of successfully instigating worldwide war. But luckily, a self-aware version of the internet has been watching. After presenting its evidence to Dr. Maxim Chu, “a cyber-gypsy, technical madman, and conspiracy genius,” the internet AI agrees to help, killing Lilith with a space weapon—or so it appears—and rounding up her cabal. With the AI evolving exponentially, Chu sets up a virtual reality sandbox where it can experience human vulnerability. In the process, the AI adopts an avatar called Amun; meanwhile, a Lilith doppelgänger hidden within the system also takes form as Maat, intending not to destroy people but to rule them. With the world in cataclysm, can humanity and a benevolent AI prevail? Ellison gives his third novel an enormous, captivating scope that spans history, time, space, and dimensions, with many rich, philosophical musings. Intriguing as these themes are, they often become lost amid some unnecessary digression, exposition, and repetition. For example, much time is spent on the logistics and timeline of Chu’s VR setup, although it’s tangential to the actual plot. The style, too, can be clunky, with awkward phrasing like “Judging by her physique, his suspicions of substantial strength now carried the grace and speed of a viper.”
An ambitious AI tale—with much food for speculation—but the storytelling sometimes stumbles.
